Reader Blogger Marg, you can find her at Reading Adventures and Historical Tapestry, was nice enough to agree to share with us her adventure at the Australian Romance Readers Convention this past weekend.

If we get lucky we can talk her into sharing some more photos and stories.

Ever since I have been blogging, each year when everyone started talking about going to either RWA or other major romance conferences, I have sat here in my chair in suburban Melbourne, Australia turning various shades of green. Whether people were posting about meeting their favourite authors, or the goodies rooms, or the signings, I read all the posts thinking about how it was all kinds of awesome that they were getting to do such fun things. The thing was, no matter how envious I became, the simple fact was that at this point in my life there is no way that I would be able to go to the US to attend such an event.

So when I just happened to read something about an Australian Romance Readers Convention back in December 2007, I was over the moon! And then when it was announced that it was in Melbourne, I was again really excited. And then, in what seems like no time at all, the inaugural ARRC is over, all the delegates have gone home and I am sure that the organising committee members are all collapsed in a heap in exhaustion.

It is difficult to give just the highlights so that this guest post isn’t as long as the weekend itself, so instead I will try to just give a taste of the flavour of the weekend. The most obvious place to start is with the keynote speakers – those who were invited to travel half way around the world to come to visit their Aussie fans, and I can tell you those fans were very appreciative! Mary Janice Davidson, Susan Grant, Liz Maverick, Sherrilyn Kenyon (with special guest Dianna Love), and not forgetting Stephanie Laurens (who didn’t come half way around the world, but we still appreciate her nonetheless). We laughed until we cried, we were inspired, we were challenged and above all we were entertained!

One of the things that I often say on my own blog is that I don’t read enough Aussie authors, and I have to say that I learnt something that kind of surprised me this weekend! There are a LOT of Aussie authors out there. They write in various different subgenres, from Mills and Boon (Harlequin), to the big NY publishing houses, to e-books and other publishers like Samhain. I have come home determined that I am definitely going to read more Aussies – Keri Arthur, Denise Rossetti and others, I am talking about your books! An Aussie author that I already read is Anna Campbell and it was great to see her latest book, Tempt the Devil, officially launched in Australia by Stephanie Laurens on Saturday afternoon.

At Saturday night’s dinner, I was lucky enough to be sitting with the gorgeous Kat O from Book Thingo, plus her librarian (yes, librarian and borrower attended together – how great is that!) with some other girls, including two Samhain authors and we had an absolutely fantastic time, so much so that I forgot to take pictures of some of the award winners and of the people sitting at the table. Kat, Vassiliki, Jess Dee and Lexxie Couper, thanks ladies. And don’t worry, what happened at dinner and what we talked about at dinner, stays at dinner. Have to say though – those mini cakes were to die for!

One of the things that the conference coincided with was the National Day of Mourning on Sunday for the bushfire victims from the terrible fires that started in early February with such devastating loss of life and property. As I write this on Monday night, we have been reminded that the fire crisis is not over with existing firest still burning and new fires starting on the outskirt of Melbourne this afternoon with more loss of homes. My point in mentioning this is that one of the initiatives of the organisers was a silent auction with the proceeds being donated to the Red Cross Australian Bushfires Appeal. There were many, many generous authors and organisations that donated great items, and there was over $7000 raised through the auction, plus an impeccably observed minute of silence on Sunday morning at 11am.

There’s so much more that I could mention, but I have to save something for my own blog (*grin*), but I haven’t mentioned the panelists, the books, the signings. So much to talk about!

In closing I want to say to the organizers of ARRC – thank you, thank you, thank you.

You did an amazing job. I don’t think that I can pay any higher compliment to you than to say my friends and I started to make plans on Saturday night to attend the next ARRC – whenever it is and wherever it is held – with at least two more of our friends. I know that I overheard other delegates making their own plans too!

Marg

Live the Romance Photography Contest

Now it is your chance to be a cover model! Dorchester Publishing is offering readers the opportunity to create their own costumes based on characters in their favorite Dorchester romances for a chance to win cash prizes and free books.

Romance novels have the power to transport us to worlds of fantasy, lands far away, the distant past and the distant future. They capture our imagination and allow us to see, smell, breathe and touch as if we were the character in our favorite book. Dorchester challenges its readers to bring the books to life by “getting into character” and taking some pictures.

Participating is easy. Simply choose your favorite character or scene from a Dorchester book, dress up accordingly, snap a photo and send it in to be judged by our Romance experts.

You could be Egan MacDonald from HIGHLANDER EVER AFTER fighting in his plaid and paint or Rain Tairen Soul from KING OF SWORD AND SKY, shape-shifting and brandishing your deadly blade. Perhaps you’d like to go shoe shopping and mystery solving like the indomitable Maddie Springer from ALIBI IN HIGH HEELS. If the future is your bag, dash across the Northern Waste as Raina Bowen in DRIVEN. The sky is the limit!

A winner will be chosen in each of the following categories: Best Historical, Best Paranormal, Most Romantic and Most Creative. The winners will receive cash prizes and copies of their favorite author’s books.

HOW TO ENTER: Choose your favorite character, get a costume and snap a photo. Email the photo <a href=”mailto:cnelson@dorchesterpub.com” target=”_blank”>here</a> by September 1, 2008.

There’s video of Day 1 and 2 behind the cut.

‘Cuz you know you need to know.

Rebels of Romance’s video of Day 1.

Alicia’s review of Wired by Liz Maverick
Urban Fantasy/SciFi romance released 3 Jul 07 by Dorchester Shomi

This is the first book in Dorchester’s new line, Shomi. Since I’m always looking for serious SciFi Romance, I have kept tabs on their website from the day I heard about it.

I read the first chapter of Wired before it was released and couldn’t stand the wait to be able to finish the book. I hate that the reviews I’ve seen (even Publishers Weekly!) give a spoiler! I don’t care that the scene is in the first chapter. It is just so much better to let it unfold properly! When I read it, during the time that Roxy doesn’t know who the men are, I didn’t either. That’s the way it should be! That first scene is just so wonderful! Many things happen in that short time that make you go “what?!” and are explained later in the book. Why mess it up?

At first I thought this book would be like Terminator but it isn’t. This book is like a cross between the movies Frequency and Paycheck. A lot more about the puzzle of changing the past than about the action scenes. I absolutely loved this aspect of it.

I usually have trouble with books written in the first person. This book kept me so captivated I totally forgot it was first person. If I had any problem, it was wanting so badly to know what was going to happen next that my eyes would jump ahead and I’d have to drag myself back to where I was. The first person POV was essential to this book because Roxy doesn’t know who to trust. Seeing either of the other main characters’ thoughts would have ruined this, entirely.

Character growth is important to me and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a character grow more in one book than Roxy does in Wired. She sees herself as helpless, paralyzed by fear, at the beginning of the book. The lady at the end of the book would seem to be another person entirely, except we saw her become that person.

Ms Maverick’s imagination is superb. I liked the smartie. It seems like the direction technology could go. I loved the motoway. The idea of motorcycle/roller coasters replacing most city traffic is very cool.

Now for the cons. Please remember that as bad as this part may sound, I did enjoy the book. It’s almost like I’d have half the book rated A++ and the other half rated C-. The negatives are pretty bad.

• First, Roxy behaves in some pretty unbelievable ways, at times. She just seems to let it go way too easily that someone has tried to kill her. She doesn’t just trust them, she jumps right into romantic feelings for them. Even if she’s confused about who’s the bad guy, it would be much more natural for her to be immune to any advances, not drawn. She also does something, at one point, to make herself and one of the guys unable to respond to any threat in a capable manner.
• The romance is, actually, really weak. There was nothing that showed me either H/H actually loved each other. I liked the hero but I didn’t see any explanation for some of the things he did. We’re supposed to accept he had some kind of good reason, or that it wasn’t what it seemed, but it wasn’t nearly enough for me.
• There were, also, a lot of scenes where things just happen. They almost seem like they were, maybe, stripped to cut word count or something. There’s little description or explanation, just this is what happened. And often they were things that I felt wouldn’t work. So, I’m wondering if Ms. Maverick had a good explanation that she took out or if she couldn’t make the scene work, so just skimmed over it. These scenes felt like a different style of story than the rest of the book. More James Bond than Paycheck.
• The end of the book is in this second style, and I found it a little unsatisfying.

Overall there were so many positives about this book that even though it had a few flaws that will put some people completely off, I would recommend it. If you can just accept stuff and enjoy the ride, it’s still fun.

Grade: B-

From the back cover:

     Seconds aren’t like pennies. They can’t be saved in a jar and spent later. Fate seeps through cracks and shifts like fog. Pluck a second out of time or slip an extra one in, the consequences will change your life forever. Is the man you love really the man you think you know, or is there a version of your life in which he’s your enemy? If you didn’t know who or what you were before, would you take a chance on becoming that person again?

     L. Roxanne Zaborovsky is about to discover fate is comprised of an infinite number of wires, filaments that can be manipulated, and that she’s not the one at the controls. From the roguishly charming Mason Merrick—a shadow from her increasingly tenebrous past—to the dangerously seductive Leonardo Kaysar, she’s barely holding on. This isn’t a game, and the pennies are rolling all over the floor. Roxy just has to figure out which are the ones worth picking up.

     Read an excerpt.

that a very very nice girl I work with, who said a few weeks ago she never reads romance cuz it just isn’t’ her thing

Is loving Crimson City that she borrowed from me. She came over here a bit ago sssssqqqqeeeeeeing over a kiss in an elevator. Too funny.

I might end up buying another copy (would be my FIFTH purchase of this book – I really should get a kick back or something from Liz ) and letting her keep this one.

I just gave her Men in Kilts (sorry maili) and I think MJD will so be up her alley.

I will make a romance reader out of her yet.