A happy new year to all of you! May 2013 be a wonderful year!

Thank you so much to everyone who picked up THE WINTER WIFE: A CHRISTMAS NOVELLA, still available at $1.99 from Amazon and other good e-book retailers. And thank you especially to everyone who left a review or a rating for the book on the various social media sites. I had enormous fun with my Christmas novella and I'm hoping to do another novella for next year as part of the festive season.

Speaking of THE WINTER WIFE, Kimba the Caffeinated Reader gave the story a lovely review:  "If you are looking for a quick historical romance with a little Christmas magic then THE WINTER WIFE is sure to delight. Campbell's novella gave us a strong sense of the characters and an understanding of their troubled past. Filled with passion and second chances this is sure to get you in the holiday mood."

If you live on the Gold Coast, don't miss the Absolutely Austen! Celebrating the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice event from Tuesday, 29th January to Saturday, 2nd February.

I'm taking part in two free events:

Some more nice reviews for SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED. Karyn's Romanorum gave the book 4.5 stars and said "highly recommended".  Tash on Confessions of a Romaholic  gave ROGUE a lovely five star review and called it "enchanting." Helen at the Australian Romance Readers Association loved the story and said, "I highly recommend this book. Ms Campbell writes magical stories, don't miss this one."

If you're interested in historical romance, make sure you check out the new article on this website. "Getting Intimate with History" first appeared in WQ, the newsletter of the Queensland Writers Centre in August 2011.

This month's My Favorite Things is about antique English china and make sure you check out my new contest, Christmas in January, where you can win one of five downloads of THE WINTER WIFE: A CHRISTMAS NOVELLA

Firstly some fantastic news - SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED has finaled in five categories in the 2013 Australian Romance Readers Association Awards. I'm delighted and a bit overwhelmed that Rogue is up for:

And I'm up for Favorite Australian Romance Author of 2012.

Wow! Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who voted for my book and congratulations and good luck to all the nominees. You can see a list here. Special congratulations to my two brilliant critique partners Annie West and Christina Brooke who have also been nominated in multiple categories. Winners will be announced at the gala dinner at the convention on Saturday, 2nd March.

More good news (last month was full of good stuff!), Australian online bookseller Booktopia just closed their poll on Australia's Favourite Novelist. To my great surprise and delight, I ended up winning my heat then coming in 28th overall. Thank you to everyone who voted for me. You can see a complete list of the top 50 here.

A huge thank you to everyone who picked up my Christmas novella, THE WINTER WIFE. I was absolutely overwhelmed by the response I received to this simple, heartfelt story about two estranged lovers who come together one snowy Christmas Eve. For a couple of heady weeks in December, it reached the top 10 Regencies on Kindle. I loved having a seasonal story out - I'll definitely do another one next year. It's still available (if slightly less seasonally appropriate) at $1.99 from Amazon and from Smashwords.

There have been a couple of lovely reviews of THE WINTER WIFE.

While we're on the subject of reviews, accolades have continued to roll in for SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED.

And the most fabulous review for TEMPT THE DEVIL from Jayne who I met at GenreCon back in November: "Wow, this book blew me away. I was expecting a sweet historical romance; instead I got a sexy, multifaceted love story between an unconventional couple- a lord and a courtesan. Not only was the story set largely in the bedroom, but it was also more focused on the male protagonist's perspective than the female. I was captivated at every scene. Campbell expertly captures the mood, highlights what is at stake for each character and purposefully makes them face their fears. Both Olivia and Julian were so well developed and their internal conflict dissected until just the bare bones of the character remained."

If you're an Aussie romance reader, do you know about the fabulous Australian Romance Readers Convention to be held in Brisbane from 1st to 3rd March this year? The cream of Australia's romance writers will be there (and me!) as well as fabulous international guests, Kristan Higgins and Rachel Vincent. There's also going to be a huge signing on Saturday, 2nd March, from 3:30 to 5:30 with over 60 authors including our international guests. These conventions are such fun and so friendly. You'll meet so many great people and have a chance to rave about romance fiction with like minds. Check it out! I'd love to see you there.

A highlight for me will be taking part in the first Australian Lady Jane's Salon. You can find more information here.  Between 6 and 7 on Friday, 1st March, Lady Jane's will provide guest authors, patrons, industry professionals and members of the media the opportunity to meet, mingle, read aloud, and discuss great romance reads in a free-flowing forum. Other authors speaking will be Hope Tarr, Keri Arthur, Cathy Maxwell and Amy Andrews.

It's the time of year when people start releasing their best of 2012 lists. I'm delighted that SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED features on Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer's Top 10. ROGUE also features on Book Chatter Cath's best of 2012 list.

A bit of news about foreign releases. On 20th February, J'Ai Lu will release my RITA finalist UNTOUCHED as L'INACCESSIBLE. Here's the link to the publisher's page. In December 2012, Epsilon Yayinevi released MIDNIGHT'S WILD PASSION. Here's the link to the publisher's page.

This month's My Favorite Things talks about a recent stay in the luxurious Windsor Hotel in Melbourne. And if you haven't entered my Christmas in January contest to win one of five downloads of THE WINTER WIFE: A CHRISTMAS NOVELLA. Why not have a go?

How can it be March already? There are hot cross buns in the shops here and I feel like I only just finished washing up from the Christmas pudding!

First, I've got some big news for you. I've got another e-novella out this month, on 10th March. THESE HAUNTED HEARTS: A REGENCY GHOST ROMANCE is an extended version of "The Chinese Bed", that first appeared in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF GHOST ROMANCE in June 2012. It will be on sale through Amazon and Smashwords at the bargain price of $1.99. Isn't that cover gorgeous?

I love romantic ghost stories. THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR is one of my favorite things (really, check out "Ghosts Are the New Black"). With this story, I got to have fun with not one, but two couples who face dramatic events on their wedding day, one in 1749 and one in 1818. Here's the blurb: 

How's this for another gorgeous cover? J'ai Lu released L'INACCESSIBLE, the French edition of UNTOUCHED, on 20th February. I'm delighted that as I write this, it's still in the top 100 books at Amazon France

M. Thomas at Read, Dream, Relax gave CAPTIVE OF SIN a really lovely review. "CAPTIVE OF SIN by Anna Campbell provides readers with an impressive prose that depicts the angst-filled tale of love, desire, and prevailing against the odds."

Valentine's Day means that romance writers are out and about talking to people about our wonderful genre, and this year, I was no exception. 2013 marks 200 years since PRIDE AND PREJUDICE was published so there are celebrations all over Australia. I was delighted when Gold Coast Libraries invited me to participate in their Absolutely Austen! event at the end of January. On Thursday, 31st January, I spoke to a room full of Austen and Regency enthusiasts at Southport Library about the joys and challenge of writing books set in this fascinating period. On Friday, 1st February, we had another room full of fans who enjoyed a discussion on how Jane Austen has influenced romantic fiction.

I hope you enjoy the photos. As you can see, Georgette Heyer fan Sandra really got into the swing of things. Love that Book from Helensburgh put together an impressive selection of Anna Campbell titles. And I love this picture of Vanda Vadas, Bronwyn Houldsworth and Claire with me at the Southport talk.

On Wednesday, 13th February, I did a talk for the Sunshine Coast Inner Wheel Club at the Caloundra Events Centre about writing romance for a living. Thank you to the ladies who gave me such a warm welcome. Here's a photo of me with Allison Bennett and Vicki Belcher at the dinner.

And finally, there's a book out this month that you won't want to miss. Annie West's CAPTIVE IN THE SPOTLIGHT is crammed to the brim with great stuff and you won't want to put it down. So much emotion and passion in this one! And for North American readers, there's an added bonus of BLACKMAILED BRIDE, INNOCENT WIFE as a free inclusion. Wow, what a bargain!

I've got a new contest up this month where five lucky people can win downloads of THESE HAUNTED HEARTS: A REGENCY GHOST ROMANCE and March's MY FAVORITE THINGS details my latest reading crush, Dick Francis's thrillers.

It's always an event in Campbellandia when I have a new cover to share with you - and this cover is a doozy! I'm delighted to present for your delectation the cover of Book 2 of the "Sons of Sin" series, A RAKE'S MIDNIGHT KISS. Don't you love that blue? A RAKE'S MIDNIGHT KISS is out on 27th August from Grand Central Forever in North America and from HarperCollins in Australia and New Zealand. Here's the blurb: 

I'll upload an excerpt closer to the release date.

Talk about best-laid plans going agley! Apologies to those of you who tried to buy THESE HAUNTED HEARTS: A REGENCY GHOST ROMANCE on the 10th March. More apologies to those of you who swung by most of the blogs I listed last month. I'm blaming the fact that Mercury was in retrograde, but for most of the month, I had no internet and no phone. Not only that, but there were hiccups with uploading the novella. So all round, the launch of THESE HAUNTED HEARTS turned into a bit of a squib. The good news is that the e-novella is now up and ready to be read on Amazon and Smashwords at the bargain price of $1.99. You can read the blurb and an excerpt here.

On a much happier subject, I had a marvelous time at the Australian Romance Readers Association convention which took place from 1st to 3rd March at the Mercure Hotel in Brisbane. This month's My Favorite Things is a report with lots of photos from the convention, but I wanted to share some fantastic news here.

During the gala dinner on Saturday night, they announced the winners of the 2012 ARRA Awards. I ended up completely speechless. SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED won:

And I was incredibly touched when I was voted Favorite Australian Romance Author of 2012.

Thank you so much to all the girls at ARRA. Your support means the world to me.

As a teaser for all the photos in MFT, here's a picture of my awards. And here's a fun shot of me with keynote speaker Kristan Higgins.

SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED had a good month. I also heard that it had finaled in the historical category of the Southern Magic Birmingham Chapter of Romance Writers of America Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence.

If you're looking for some light reading, why not check out the new piece posted on my articles page? It's a quick roundup of my talks for Gold Coast Libraries as part of their Absolutely Austen! event. While we're on the subject of Gold Coast Libraries, if you live down that way, don't miss Literati, the huge literary event from 17th to 19th May this year. I'll be there, and so will romance luminaries like Keri Arthur, Helene Young and Lisa Walker. More details to come next month.

Reviews are still coming in for SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED. Here's a lovely five star one for the Tantor Audio Books edition. Audiobook review.

If you haven't yet entered my latest website contest, why not give it a go? There are five downloads of THESE HAUNTED HEARTS: A REGENCY GHOST ROMANCE up for grabs. This month's My Favorite Things talks about the Australian Romance Readers Association Convention and features lots of pictures.

Welcome to May! I'm delighted to reveal the blurb, excerpt and cover for my next e-novella, DAYS OF RAKES AND ROSES, part of the "Sons of Sin" series through Grand Central Forever Yours. I really enjoyed writing this story of love lost and found featuring Lydia, the Duke of Sedgemoor's sister, and her childhood sweetheart Simon Metcalf. This will be available at a special price on 2nd July as a lead-in to the release of A RAKE'S MIDNIGHT KISS on 27th August.

May is always a huge month in Romancelandia because it's when New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak holds her auction to raise funds for research into a cure for juvenile diabetes. So far Brenda has raised over $1.6 million - talk about the power of one!

Check out the range of items on offer and bid generously! You'll find treats and goodies of all kinds including signed books galore. For writers, there is a plethora of critiques, marketing opportunities and other useful things to grab. My donations are:

There's also a fabulous donation from the Romance Bandits! At the time of writing this, I don't have a direct link for that item, but if you search for Romance Bandits on Brenda's site, I'm sure you'll see the listing.

If you're in South-East Queensland, why not pop down for the annual Gold Coast Libraries Literati festival on Friday, 17th and Saturday 18th May at Upper Coomera Library? There's an amazing selection of writers turning up this year including romance stars Helene Young, Keri Arthur and Lisa Walker. I'm taking part in two panels on romance writing and also I'm going to be at the wonderful Literati Feast at the Gold Coast Events Centre on Friday 17th May, starting at 6:30. All daytime events are free and the dinner is $70 including food and wine and the company of 14 scintillating authors (well, 13 scintillating authors and me!). For bookings and further details, including a list of attending authors, check out the website.

For Australian and New Zealand readers, I've got a new release this month - sort of. HarperCollins Australia has bundled three of my earlier releases UNTOUCHED, CAPTIVE OF SIN and MIDNIGHT'S WILD PASSION together into an e-book collection called SINS AND SEDUCTIONS available at a great price through Amazon.  All these books are previous winners of the favorite historical award through the Australian Romance Readers Association.

As a little treat for people who have read and enjoyed SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED,I've included a small bonus for you this month. Late last year, I was invited to write two love letters for Jonas and Sidonie for the blogs Ramblings from this Chick and Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance.  A few of the commenters asked me to put the letters on my website and May's the month in the lead-up to the release of A RAKE'S MIDNIGHT KISS. You can read the letters here.

A couple of nice reviews came in during the month. The first is from Renee at Addicted to Romance who called SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED "a luscious read." The other is for my latest e-novella THESE HAUNTED HEARTS from Bookworm2Bookworm. Kimberley gave THH five stars and said, "I highly recommend this tension and suspense filled gem. You'll be hooked from the first page to the last. Promise!" Nice!

This month's My Favorite Things is a whole stack of flower pictures I've taken in my travels. I've had great feedback on the botanical pics I've had up on Facebook so I thought I might put a lot of them together in one place. I hope you enjoy. And don't miss out on my new contest where three lucky people will win my latest novella and a book from Heather Snow's backlist. There are two consolation prizes of downloads of the novella. Good luck.

Hurrah! I have the cover for DAYS OF RAKES AND ROSES, my "Sons of Sin" e-novella from Grand Central Forever Yours, which is out from all good e-tailers in North America on Tuesday, 2nd July. Aren't those pink roses gorgeous? And the guy's not too hard on the eye either!

This month, I've also added an excerpt for my next full-length "Sons of Sin" historical romance, A RAKE'S MIDNIGHT KISS, which is out on 27th August (new releases are coming thick and fast at the moment!). Check out what happens when Genevieve goes swimming at midnight on the Duke of Sedgemoor's estate!  Don't forget that RAKE'S MIDNIGHT KISS is available for pre-order from Tantor Audio Books as well as from booksellers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble and the Book Depository.

Also new this month, there's an article about Romance Mythbusting that originally appeared in WQ, the newsletter of the Queensland Writers Centre in April 2013. This one was fun to write!

I've had some lovely contest news about SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED.  Seven Nights has finaled in the historical category of the 2013 Wisconsin Romance Writers of  America Write Touch Readers Awards. Jonas and Sidonie's story has also finaled in the historical category of the 2013 Phoenix Desert Rose Romance Writers of America Golden Quill Awards.

Also in the realm of awards, do you remember back in December, a whole stack of HarperCollins Australia writers (including me) took part in a Twitter Fiction Festival Event called AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 HOURS? Well, I am majorly delighted to let you know that our efforts have been rewarded with a Book Industry Innovation Award nomination. 

From 17th to 18th May, I was a guest at the annual Literati Festival that Gold Coast Libraries run. I had a marvelous time meeting dedicated readers and hardworking librarians and wonderful authors like Helene Young and Keri Arthur. I've got a blog about Literati on my Tote Bags 'n' Blogs post on the 11th June with lots of photos, but I thought I'd share two favorites here. One features the moving force behind Literati, Louise Pieper of Gold Coast Libraries, romantic suspense author Helene Young and me. Helene and I had a wonderful chat to some aspiring romance writers on Friday afternoon as we debunked the myth of a formula for romance writing. Then first thing on Saturday morning, Helene Young, Lisa Walker, Keri Arthur and I spoke to a large audience about the path of true love. The other photo features from left to right, Keri, me, Helene and Lisa.

If you like giveaways (and who doesn't?), don't miss the Romance Reviews Sizzling Summer Reads Event which runs the whole of June and has a grand prize of a $100 gift card. On the 10th, you can win a copy of SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED so don't miss out!

Speaking of giveaways, there are FIVE chances to win my new novella DAYS OF RAKES AND ROSES as well as three Heather Snow historical romances in my current website contest. Easy question! And if you like pretty pictures, check out this month's My Favorite Things which features some photos I've taken of Australian native flora.