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.

I’m just back from Sydney where I attended the Australian Romance Readers annual awards dinner. I’ll post more about that later. I went up to Sydney a few days early as I wanted to catch up with some friends. One of them took me to The Marble Bar, a heritage-listed and very ornate Victorian-era bar in the heart of Sydney (in the basement of the Hilton).

Originally built in 1893 by George Adams (of Tattersalls sweepstakes fame) and costing a massive 30,000 pounds, from the amazingly ornate ceiling, to the massive arched columns and  the carved and gleaming bars,  every surface is lushly decorated either with marble, stained glass panels, mirrored surfaces, carved mahogany, or large, elegant paintings.

The site faced demolition in the 1970’s, but sanity ruled, so piece by marble piece, the entire interior of the bar was painstakingly taken apart, and reassembled in the Hilton Hotel in 1973. 

That’s me having a drink in a quiet corner, surrounded by Victorian-era gorgeousness.

If you ever get to Sydney, drop in and visit this remarkable place. I promise, you won’t regret it.

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.