Friday Feast - Bottoms Up!

Today I'm a guest over at my good friend Cathryn Hein's blog where I'm talking about one of my favourite things - wine!!! Well actually I'm chatting more about the beautiful Margaret River wine region and cheeky kookaburras and there's a chance to win a special goodie just for leaving a comment on my post. I also share some shocking tidbits I picked up while researching for my Roman/Druid romances!!

Cathryn writes the most gorgeous Aussie rural romances for Penguin Australia, and I was captivated by her debut, Promises. I'm so looking forward to reading her upcoming release, Heart of the Valley!

Hope to see you over at Cathryn's so we can party. It's Friday, after all!!!

One of our stops on our wine tour of the beautiful Margaret River region in Western Australia

Sunday Swag

The lovely ladies over at Riverina Romantics are having a Sunday Swag giveaway today. Just hop over and leave a comment for the chance to win a gorgeous Forbidden/Captive bookmark! How easy is that!

Cover Art & Goals Update

I had a wonderful surprise in my inbox yesterday - a sneak preview of the cover for Archangel of Mercy! Berkley Art have excelled themselves once again. The cover is romantic, sexy and mystical - absolutely gorgeous and incorporates all the elements I suggested to my editor last year. I can't wait until I can show it off!

As it's now February I thought I'd better give an update on how my goals are coming along. I'm very happy that I managed to finish and send off the revisions the day before deadline and polished and edited my Highland Warrior book. I'm now back writing book two of my Archangels but my hero and heroine aren't cooperating. Obviously they're not impressed that I left them dangling for two months!

A Naughty Little Bite of Forbidden

Today I'm over at the Dark Side DownUnder blog giving a naughty little bite of Forbidden for your reading pleasure!! I love this snippet as it shows how both Maximus and Carys are used to being in control of a situation, and how, despite this tough Roman's belief, it is actually Carys who's keeping them safe during their illicit encounter.

He was a master of seduction - but no match for the magical allure of the woman he wanted most...

Congratulations Kylie Griffin!

A big congratulations to my good friend, Kylie Griffin, on the release of her debut novel from Berkley Sensation today! Kylie is having a party over at her blog if you want to pop on over and join in the fun!

VENGEANCE BORN: A Novel of the Light Blade
There is no mercy in the demon realm. No escape. In this place of desperation and conflict, anyone who is not pure bred is virtually powerless. Until an unlikely champion is born…

Annika, half-blood daughter of the Na’Reish King, longs for more than her tormented life among her father’s people. Conceived in hatred and bred as a tool of retribution, she’s gifted with a special talent that can heal as well as destroy.

With the Na’Reish vastly outnumbering them, Kalan, a Light Blade warrior, knows the future of humankind depends on him alone. Incursions into human territory and raids for blood-slaves by the Na’Reish Horde have increased. As Chosen-leader, he faces the task of stopping the demons—and convincing the Council of aging Light Blade warriors that change is necessary for survival.

When Annika learns Kalan is a prisoner in her father’s dungeon, her dream of escape seems within reach. She agrees to free him in exchange for his protection once they reach human territory. Now, marked for death for helping him, Annika must learn to trust Kalan as they face not only the perilous journey to the border but enemies within the Council—and discover a shocking truth that could throw the human race into civil war…

Lightning Strikes

In case you thought I'd fallen off the edge of the planet... it certainly felt like it to me! Two weeks ago in the early hours of the morning we were hit by the worst storm I can ever remember. At one point the thunder was so terrific it sounded as if our roof had exploded. The back garden flooded and we later discovered our laptops and air con were fried. This during the hottest heat wave for something like 40 years!!! I'm talking temps hitting the high 90s (that's about 40 degrees I think!) And that lasted for a good 10 days without respite.

We're still without internet access, so thank goodness for whoever invented the dongle! (although who makes up these names?!)

The only good news was just the previous weekend I'd done a massive back up of all my photos and docs (actually that's a bit of a lie, my husband very cleverly managed to save the lot to a stick. I seriously believe he has the gift!) Unfortunately it did wipe off my website program and I'm still struggling to get that back online. So please accept my apologies for the outdated info on the home page of Christina Phillips (I haven't attempted the Christina Ashcroft one yet!). For some reason, although I've managed to reinstall everything on my new laptop, my updates aren't uploading to the server. If any wonderfully techie minded person has an idea why that might be please let me know!!!

Welcome to Christina Ashcroft!

I'm very excited to share some news on the writing front. As well as my historical romances published as Christina Phillips, I'm also now writing hot paranormal romance for Berkley Heat under the pen name Christina Ashcroft. The first of my Fallen Archangel books, Archangel of Mercy, is scheduled for release in December 2012. This is the sizzling story of Gabriel and I'm in the middle of revisions for this book at the moment.

My new website is here.

I've added the blurb below - I hope you enjoy!

Between an angel and a desperate woman comes salvation-
and a raw passion that challenges them at every turn...

When Aurora Robinson attempts to open a rift between dimensions to embrace her true heritage, an arrogant Archangel is the only one who can save her from the jaws of hell. And while she owes Gabriel her life, she's determined not to fall at his feet-despite the desire she feels whenever they're together.

After his wings were brutally destroyed millennia ago, Gabriel has no compassion for humans like those who ruined him and betrayed the ones he loved. But when he inexplicably finds himself defying ancient protocols to rescue a woman from a fate worse than death, he is shocked by the searing attraction he feels for a mortal.

As the ancient forces that seek to punish Aurora for her actions close in, Gabriel offers the tempting woman protection at his private sanctuary. But as they both succumb to their desires, they discover an even deeper connection-one that threatens to consume them.

Cover Art Magic

I always love reading about what goes on behind the scenes at publishing, and one of my favourite things is learning about the cover art process. The fantastic ladies over at Riverina Romantics have just interviewed the awesome Tony Mauro, the cover artist for Captive (which won the Romance Writers of Australia's 20 Years of Romance Covers for best Historical last year). Tony has done everything from posters for the movie Pirates of the Caribbean to Stephen King's novel Under the Dome and also has a stunning calendar out!

DarkSiders Reading Challenge 2012

Hope everyone had a very merry New Year and didn't feel too dreadful the morning after the night before!!!

Eleni Konstantine, the star behind the Dark Side DownUnder blog, has come up with a brilliant reading challenge for 2012. If you enjoy reading paranormal, fantasy, UF and/or steampunk romances then you might find some fantastic new books to add to your wish lists from the Dark Side DownUnder authors.

There are three levels to the challenge:

Light Side Challenge - 6 books

DarkSider Challenge - 12 books

Down Under Challenge - 24 books

I'm putting my name down for the 12 book challenge - any more takers? You can find a list of the DSDU authors here!

Happy New Year!

It hardly seems possible but yet another year has flown by! I'm looking forward to 2012 and although I don't make resolutions I do like to reassess where I am and what I hope to achieve in the coming twelve months. So, urged on by fabulous Carina Press author Rachael Johns, I'm making a list of my goals. The reasoning behind this is if they're out there, then I'm accountable!

So here we go:

Finish the revisions on the first book in my new Berkley series (I have an end of January deadline for this one)

Edit and polish my Highland Warrior book

Finish writing book 2 in my new series (I have about 25k left to go on this one)

Finish writing book 3 in the Forbidden series (I've only written 30k on this one, so have a long way to go!!)

Either - start the second book in my Highland Warrior series ~or~ start book 3 in my new series. 

Keep the mess on my desk under control. Not at ALL sure about this goal, sounds like an impossible ask! Because once I start on my desk it shows up how untidy my bookshelves are, which in turn makes me realise how cluttered the entire floor is as well!!!

Now for the dreams, because we all need to have our dreams!

Would love to make the Gold Coast conference in 2012 *keeping every available digit crossed* I couldn't make the conference this year, although it was huge fun texting with the gorgeous Alli Sinclair from Novel Adventurers on Awards Night!

Attend a weekend writers retreat with my awesome CPs, Amanda Ashby and Sara Hantz.. I'm not convinced we'd get a great deal of writing done but we'd certainly knock back a lot of bubbly and... brainstorm! (because that sounds more writerly than gossiping, heh heh)

What are your goals/resolutions and/or dreams for 2012?

New Look for the New Year

I know I'm a couple of weeks early for celebrating the arrival of 2012 but I thought I'd do a bit of spring cleaning on my blog (despite it being summer here in Oz and winter in my mind!) I'd had the old template for a while and thought it was time for a change.

And I'm so happy that two of my writer friends have releases this week! First of all congrats to fellow West Australian, Rachael Johns, whose debut romance from Carina Press, One Perfect Night is out now!

 
Here's the blurb!

Peppa Grant's fellow employees may call their new CEO Mr. McSexy, but she's also heard that he's aloof and distant. Cameron McCormac certainly seems cold toward Christmas when she meets him at the company's annual party...but he's also the sexiest man Peppa has ever seen. And when he offers to forgive the damage she accidentally caused to his expensive car in exchange for accompanying him to his family's holiday get-together, she agrees.

Cameron needs a date to the family party to get his matchmaking relatives off his back. Their chemistry is instant and undeniable, leading to an incredible one-night stand. But Peppa wants love and family, while Cameron's only interested in temporary pleasure. When their relationship takes an unexpectedly serious turn, will he run the other way—or will he give love a second chance?

And also big congrats to Kaye Manro who has a Medieval Christmas story out with Red Rose Publishing!

Here's the blurb!

A fortnight ago she left him.

Marcus of Windom stood alone in an empty castle without Lady Liana by his side. The frigid winds brought forth by the Yule Season pressed upon him. He pulled the parchment from whence he carried it and read her chilling parting words once again. I can no longer live as your lady-wife… If ever she returned would her sensual warmth be enough to melt the ice she had caused to form around his broken heart?

Deep in the Revision Cave

Things have been a tad frantic here over the last few weeks, and show no sign of letting up anytime soon - and I'm not complaining!!! It's all good and I hope to be able to share soon :-)

The revisions for my next book landed over the weekend and all I can say is my editor is a goddess. She pointed out things that had completely escaped me but which are vital to understanding the world. All I can put forward in my defense is that I've lived in this world, to a greater and lesser degree, for almost five years and what seemed clear to me in my head absolutely wasn't once it hit the screen. The revs are pretty intense and will keep me well and truly glued to the computer for the next month but I know they're going to make the book so much stronger. I'll be able to share more details about this book very soon, so stay tuned!!!

Behind the Scenes Insights & Giveaways!!

Today I'm over at Magical Musings with my good friend, historical author Michelle Diener. Michelle is another ex-pat Brit who lives in WA and when deadlines and school terms and the planets align we love meeting up for a lovely gossipy lunch!!

Michelle and I are discussing scenes from our books where our heroine first admits her deep attraction to her hero. I chose a scene from Captive and Michelle picked at scene from her paranormal short story, BREAKING OUT, which is included in the charity anthology, Entangled, for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. There are giveaways!! Love to see you over there!!

YES! Party on Now!

Don't forget to pop over to the Romance Reviews and join in the fabulous Year End Splash (YES) party! Today there's a copy of Forbidden up for grabs. All you have to do to enter the contest is answer a simple question - the answer can be found on my website the world of Forbidden (that was an extra clue right there!!)

Good luck!

A Kitty-fest of Cuteness

 Theo is two weeks old today, so I thought I'd share some new photos of him. Last Wednesday he started to open his eyes and by Friday they were fully open and he looked so adorable!

Here he is with mum Ava. She'd just washed him (again! Seriously, she is a very dedicated mama when it comes to cleanliness!) and was giving him a cuddle as he nodded off to sleep.

 Ava doing her top model pose and Theo doing his very best... ah... adorable pose!

I took a quick pic while Ava was prowling. I'd love to get a photo of Theo with his eyes wide open but I'm afraid of the flash damaging him! Paranoid grandma here or what, ha ha! He is truly distracting and I have to say my writing output has plummeted over the last couple of weeks. But then again I'm not on a deadline at the moment and he's growing so fast it would be a shame to miss anything!

Dark Siders First Birthday & Massive Halloween Bash!

An update on the fantastical Halloween party being held over on the Dark Side Downunder blog tomorrow! Here's the full list of fabulous giveaways on offer, taken directly from the blog (because it's awesome just the way it is!!!)

The DarkSiders have gathered and have got a

scarily amazing grand prize, followed by a couple of runner up prizes.

Spookily Fantastic Grand Prize....

• A copy of Rogue Gadda AND a t-shirt by Nicole Murphy
• A copy of Captive AND a bookmark by Christina Phillips 
• Either a print copy of The Goblin King or an e-copy from backlist by Shona Husk
• Love Bites Anthology volumes 2 AND 3 featuring Alexis Fleming
• How Do I Love Thee? edited by Valerie Parv (featuring Alexis Fleming)
• Emerald Ice by Alexis Fleming
• Scent of A Man (ebook) by Maree Anderson
• Vengeance Born tote bag from Kylie Griffin 
• A choice of one ebook by  Cathleen Ross
• A copy of the King Rolen's Kin Trilogy by Rowena Cory Daniells
• Allegra Fairweather: Paranormal Investigator AND South of Salem (ebooks) by Janni Nell
• Darkness Rising AND Darkness Unbound by Keri Arthur
• Death’s Sweet Embrace by Tracey O’Hara
• Winged and Dangerous series (three ebooks) by Mel Teshco
• A Song and Fire and Ice calendar from Eleni Konstantine

Runner ups....

One

Heart & Craft includes chapters by Alexis Fleming and Kelly Ethan. 

The Crystal Warrior by Maree Anderson

Guilty as Sin by Denise Rossetti

Project Man by Alexis Fleming

A bookmark from Christina Phillips

Who's Your Daddy? anthology featuring Alexis Fleming

Two

Heart & Craft includes chapters by Alexis Fleming and Kelly Ethan

Poisoned Kiss AND Blood Cursed by Erica Hayes.

Passionate Peridot anthology featuring Alexis Fleming

A bookmark from Christina Phillips

Three Wishes (ebook) by Jenny Schwartz

What do you have to do to win?

Come along and comment during our blog bash during 

Monday October 31st, and answer the question.

Food for the Muse

I was talking about hero inspiration with my CP Amanda Ashby the other day, as my editor wanted ideas for the cover conference for my next book *cue much excitement my end!* I've always thought Henri Castelli was a great model for the hero of that book because of his absolutely mesmerizing eyes (OK the rest of him isn't half bad either!!) I've had a bit of a crush on Henri for a few years now (in between my long time crush on Clive Owen!) and totally blame the lovely Cari Quinn for introducing me to his gorgeousness! As it's been a while since I showcased the perfection that is Henri I thought I'd remedy that today, seeing as it's a public holiday here in WA due to the Queen being in Perth!

Sophie's Magical Covers!

My good friend and CP, Amanda Ashby, has just unveiled the covers for her upcoming MG series, Sophie's Mixed-Up Magic - and they totally rock!!! The model is exactly how we imagined Sophie looks and the little details on each cover, that tie in with each book, are just super cool.

The first two books, Wishful Thinking and Under a Spell are out in June 2012 and the third book, Out of Sight will be out a few months later.

And here is the unofficial blurb (culled directly from Amanda's blog!!)

The day before sixth grade Sophie Campbell accidentally gets turned into a djinn and then has to learn how to control her powers and hide it all from her mom (who is still super stressed since Sophie's dad walked out on them four years earlier). She also has to stop her new, recently-deceased djinn guide, Malik from ruining her life. Let's just say that chaos ensues!

Behind the Scenes of Creating a Cover

If you've ever wondered about the process that goes on behind the scenes to create a book cover, then hop on over to fellow Berkley author Kylie Griffin's blog. Not only is she showcasing the stunning new cover for the second book in her forthcoming Light Blade series, Alliance Forged, but she also has Part One of a fascinating interview with the artist who created both covers.

And here's the captivating lowdown on book 2!

(Book #2 in the Light Blade series)

Berkley Sensation

Release date JULY 2012

There is no mercy in the demon realm. No escape. In this place of desperation and conflict, anyone who is not purebred is virtually powerless. Until a blind priestess lays claim to a half-breed warrior, body and soul…

Hunted and marked for death by Na’Reish demons for their half-blood heritage, the Na’Chi are searching for a new home—something an alliance offered by the human leader could provide. With both races divided by prejudice, when Light Blade rebels brutally attack the Na’Chi, the alliance seems doomed to fail.

Varian, leader of the Na’Chi, a hybrid race of gifted warriors, is cursed with the darker impulses of his demon heritage. Controlling the part of himself that craves the high of the battle is a struggle he’s afraid he’ll lose—until he meets Kymora Tayn, a priestess driven to serve her deity. While he’s unwilling to trust anyone outside his people, he finds himself drawn to Kymora’s strength and passionate nature, and discovers she has the power to calm the darkness inside him.

When the Na’Reish raid human territory for blood-slaves and kickstart a war, the key to the survival of both races—Na’Chi and human— is an alliance. However, when Kymora is kidnapped, pitting human against human, Varian realizes he must embrace his darker half, not only to save the alliance…but also the woman he loves.

Welcome to the world!

On Tuesday our gorgeous Ava gave birth to her kittens! There were some complications and we had to rush her to the vet's for an emergency Caeserean. Luckily they managed to save two of her four kittens, and here she is with her two little sons, Theodore and Bartimaeus.








Theodore is the darker one, and spends all his time either nursing or sleeping. Bartimaeus, on the other hand, spends half his time on his back waving his legs around and somehow manages to maneuver himself all over the box using this method! He also makes a lot of noise and I think he might well live up to his mischievous namesake!!!