Breaking news!!

Just had some lovely news.

My Harlequin Romance PRINCESS AUSTRALIA has finalled in the Golden Quill for Best Traditional Romance 2008.

Yay!

Last year was the 'year of the comp' for me. I decided to enter 6 of them and was lucky to final in 4. This year, I've only entered in a few so it's nice to final in one of them. :)

In other news, I think I mentioned I've signed up for Margie Lawson's "Deep Editing" on line course this month?

Well, she's posted the first lecture and it's amazing stuff!

If you're interested in doing the course, you can still register.

What with finishing THE DATING DILEMMA, doing the synopsis for my next Modern Heat (and getting both off to my lovely ed by the end of next week if possible!), the online course and co-hosting over at CataUni, my writing days (well, nights actually) are full.

So much for winding down this weekend ;)

Hot Hero Hunt begins!

As authors, we love finding inspiration for our characters, particularly our heroes.
There's nothing quite like researching a book before you begin, finding that perfect picture/expression/gorgeous guy to inspire your writing.

Interestingly, the same sexy guys keep popping up: Hugh Jackman, George Clooney, Wentworth Miller, among quite a few other popular actors/sportsmen/models. Now don't get me wrong, my hero file is bulging with pics and I've even cast my hero for my next book before finishing the current one.

But in my opinion you can never get too much of a good thing and seeing the same handsome faces crop up time and time again got me thinking...

I want to discover some new talent and that's where you come in!

Every day this week, I'd like you to come up with someone different.
Maybe a guy less known, less famous? Or someone famous most of us haven't heard of? Your choice!

I'll be choosing a winner daily and posting his pic here.

Whoever suggests that winner will be receiving 3 books: my 2 recent releases PURCHASED FOR PLEASURE (that Wentworth inspired!), EXECUTIVE MOTHER-TO-BE and my 07 Romance release, PRINCESS AUSTRALIA.If the winner has any of those books, they're welcome to choose a copy of another from my backlist.

So that's a chance to win 3 books, daily, for a week!

All you need to do is leave a comment suggesting your hot hero, preferably with a link so I can check him out, and that's it!

I'll post the winner from the previous day at midday Aussie time, to give everyone over-yonder-seas a chance too.

I'm sure it's going to be an arduous judging task for me but hey, somebody's gotta do it :)

Meet the bad-boy prince

Meet Dante Andretti, the Prince of Calida in my current Harlequin Romance release PRINCESS AUSTRALIA.

The idea for this story sprung from one picture, that of a scruffy, unshaven Adrian Grenier (of Entourage fame). I hadn't heard of him nor watched the show but the minute I saw that picture I thought it screamed 'bad-boy'.

Now, bad boys are more suited to the Modern Extra romances I write but I really wanted to use this inspiration to write a Romance so what did I do? I thought of what would be the opposite of a bad-boy...and came up with an uptight prince bound by responsibilities!

Once the idea for my prince gelled, the rest of his profile followed.

Dante is a guy about to be crowned prince of his tiny country off the coast of Italy (my fictitious Calida) His bossy mother, the queen, is pushing for him to take a bride and solidify his position in the monarchy but Dante needs a break and travels to Melbourne, supposedly on business, but in reality wants to visit his sister Gina and 2 year old nephew Paolo.

Dante plans a week of blessed anonymity and to do this, he enlists the help of the concierge at Telford Towers, the hotel where he is staying. (More on the concierge and the Towers later this week!)

For me, Dante is ruffled, sexy and charismatic (and yes, definitely inspired by the pic above!) Romantic Times describes him as a 'dashing hero' and I have to agree :)

Are you addicted to your library?

I visited my local library yesterday.
Bad move.
Before bub was born, I'd been raiding their shelves for the past 2 months, so I could stock up the books I'd bought on my 'to be read' pile for after baby arrived.
Well, that pile has diminished and as I was walking past the library yesterday, I ducked in and came out with 5 great books.

Why is this bad?
Last night, instead of writing or sleeping, I read. And read. And read.
I'm hopeless. Give me a good book and I can't put it down. Almost finished the first one, 4 to go. Then of course I have to return them, which involves going back into the library and past all those wonderfully crammed shelves again...oh, how I love books!!! And my own TBR pile is growing again too!

Speaking of which, my one and only Romance release for the year is coming up. PRINCESS AUSTRALIA hits the shelves in June so watch this space for all the 'behind the scenes' goss on this book.
Romantic Times gave it 4 stars: "...dashing hero...sparkling dialogue..."
And here's a snippet of the 4 star review it received at Cataromance:

"Princess Australia is a charming story of strength and conviction, with a hero and heroine that must trust each other before they can really appreciate their unique relationship. I loved Dante and Natasha, their stumbling around trying to trust each other without either knowing it and then having someone try to destroy their budding romance without a care in the world, it made me want to knock the offending party out. I enjoyed reading about this relationship, even when they were both pigheaded and the ending was a tender way to cement their romance. Ms. Marsh is a skilled author and leaves me staggered with her writing because Princess Australia is a feel good, happily ever after story that I want too."

My first Sexy Sensation!

Hot off the press, here is the cover for my first Sexy Sensation BIG-SHOT BACHELOR!

So what do you think?

Don't they look perfectly natural and very, very happy?

The Sexy Sensation covers to date have been really hot! Loads of smooching, sexy clinches and bare flesh.

Mine feels almost tame in comparison ;)

This book is to be released in Australia in May so watch out for it.

For those who want a sneak peek, it's still available here.

In other Sexy Sensation news, I've just discovered TWO-WEEK MISTRESS will be released in Australia in July, the same month as my next Sweet release PRINCESS AUSTRALIA. Should be a busy month!

I'm planning on getting back into the writing tonight, seeing as I'm out tomorrow night doing the dinner thing with the physio girls. However, after doing kinder duty this morning, grocery shopping and cooking a lamb roast tonight, I'm bushed! Going to be one of those nights to force myself to sit in front of the computer, methinks....