I’m just back from Sydney where I attended the Australian Romance Readers annual awards dinner.  It’s always a lovely event —  meeting up with readers and fellow authors, talking about and celebrating books, and eating good food in a lovely old hotel.

Our table — that’s us in the photo — ended up celebrating quite a lot, as three of us (Kelly Hunter, Keri Arthur and I) won awards.

From left: Jacqui Greig,  Keri Arthur, Kelly Hunter, then I’m across the table next to Alli Sinclair and Jo MacKay (from HarperCollins). Kariss Stone took the photo.

My book, MARRY IN SCANDAL, won Favourite Historical Romance. 

The full list of winners is here. 

Here’s me with my award. 

It was a lovely night, and I’d like to thank Debbie Phillips, the ARRA organizer, and the wonderful volunteers and readers who make ARRA such a special organization.

Nominations for the Australian Romance Readers Association annual awards are out, and I have three listings — Favourite Historical Romance (for Marry in Scandal), Favourite Continuing Romance Series (My Marriage of Convenience series) and I’ve been nominated for the Favourite Australian Romance Author 2018

The full list is here.

The winners will be announced at an awards dinner in Sydney on February 23rd in the gorgeous historic dining room at the Castlereagh boutique hotel. 

These dinners are always a lot of fun, as readers and authors mingle, eat, and talk books. I love them because I get to catch up with friends — both readers and authors.

It’s always a fun night. You can book for the dinner here.

Alternatively (or additionally) you can attend the High Tea that takes place from 11am – 1pm and devour yummy cakes and savories while you meet people and talk books. For the high tea booking, click here.

I’m also pleased because the photo ARRA is using of the awards shows three of the awards I won in 2016 and one by my good friend Keri Arthur.  That was our table — and yes, we did drink that champagne.

Last year my table was also very lucky. I won three awards and my friends Kelly Hunter and Keri Arthur also won. That’s them in the photo below,  holding their awards.

Thank you to all the volunteers who organize and participate in ARRA — romance readers are so wonderful and enthusiastic and encouraging.

Sorry, I just discovered that this post had never gone up. So even though it’s late, I’m posting it now.

ARRA is the Australian Romance Readers Association, and each year they hold an awards night. This year it was their tenth annual awards night—congratulations ARRA!— and was held in Sydney. I flew up to attend.

I was a finalist in several awards, and was thrilled to win three — Favorite Historical (Marry In Haste), Favorite couple in a romance (Emm and Cal from Marry In Haste) and I was delighted to be named Favorite Australian Romance Author — for the third year running.

For me the day began when I met up with friends and fellow authors in the hotel. We sat around, chatting, catching up, talking books and reading and solving the problems of the world. Then we raced off to change into our outfits for the dinner.

It was a fun night. I was seated with ARRA Debbie and Heather, two representatives from Booktopia (a fabulous Australian on-line bookstore (e and paper)) who were co-sponsors of the evening, and a couple of my friends — Kelly Hunter and Keri Arthur, who both won awards! There they are in the pic. on the right.

I caught up with some wonderful readers, too. Unfortunately I can’t post pics of them all, but here’s one of me with the lovely Helen Sibbritt, one of the ARRA stalwarts, who reads and reviews an amazing number of books, and at the same time is a fabulous wife, mum and grandma. 

It’s  tradition at this event to have a “bling-off” but the judges surprised us all when they chose not “bling” but a fabulous skirt, with historical designs. So pretty. Here it is, with Lisa from Booktopia wearing her winning romantic skirt.

The full list of winners is here.

The winners of the 2017 Australian Romance Readers Awards were announced last night at our Awards Dinner in Sydney. We started the announcements off with our Members’ Choice awards:

• Strongest Heroine: the winner was Cressy Knight, The Long Paddock by Alissa Callen.
• Favourite Couple: the winner was Emmaline Westwood and Calbourne Rutherford, Marry in Haste by Anne Gracie.
• Favourite New Romance Author: the winner was Amanda Knight.

In the main categories the winners were:

• The Favourite Paranormal Romance for 2017 is Silver Silence by Nalini Singh. This award was sponsored by Hachette Australia and was presented by Rebecca Saunders.
• The Favourite Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Futuristic Romance 2017 is Blood Kissed by Keri Arthur. This award was presented by Pamela Diaz.
• The Favourite Short or Category Romance 2017 is Casey by Kelly Hunter. This award was sponsored by Harlequin Australia and was presented by Kate Cuthbert.
• The Favourite Historical Romance 2017 is Marry in Haste by Anne Gracie. This award was sponsored by Hachette Australia and was presented by Rebecca Saunders.
• The Favourite Contemporary Romance 2017 is Twist by Kylie Scott. This award was sponsored by Allen & Unwin and was presented by Amanda Knight.
• The Favourite Erotic Romance 2017 is Team Player by Cate Ellink. This award was sponsored by Booktopia and was presented by Tracey Mills.
• The Favourite Romantic Suspense 2017 is Heart Breaker by Shannon Curtis. This award was presented by Brooke Moody.
• The Favourite Continuing Romance Series 2017 is the Psy-Changeling Trinity by Nalini Singh. This award was sponsored by Harlequin Australia and was presented by Sue Brockhoff.
• The Favourite Australian Romance Author 2017 is Anne Gracie. This award was sponsored by Booktopia and was presented by Tracey Mills.

Thank you to everyone who came along to the dinner and made it such a success, and particular thanks to our event sponsor, Booktopia, as well as the award sponsors. Congratulations to all the winners!