12 Days of Christmas fun & giveaways

Day 3 – Cassandra O’Leary

On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me…a whole lot of festive ebooks! And a $50 Amazon gift card giveaway!

Welcome to Day 3 of the 12 Days of Christmas promotion. I’m Cassandra O’Leary, redheaded Melbourne girl, coffee/wine lover and romcom writer extraordinaire (I might have to print that on my business cards).

I’m super excited to be part of this promotion with so many fabulous romance authors from Australia and New Zealand. Jingle my bells!

All the stops on the 12 Days of Christmas promotion are below:

Day 1 – Kris Pearson

Day 2 – Joanne Dannon

Day 3 – Cassandra O’Leary (You Are Here!)

Day 4 – Annie Seaton

Day 5 – Monique McDonell

Day 6 – Kate O’Keeffe

Day 7 – Cathryn Hein

Day 8 – Tracey Alvarez

Day 9 – Leeanna Morgan

Day 10 – Wendy Vella

Day 11 – Charmaine Ross

Day 12 – Aislinn Kearns

Visit them all and you’ll have the chance to win books and you can also enter the $50 Amazon gift card giveaway.

** This giveaway is now closed and winners have been contacted.**

Heart Note: A Christmas romcom novella

I have a new release romantic comedy novella, Heart Note, to tell you about today. It’s a little bit festive, a little bit naughty and a little bit nice. It’s getting some great reviews so far.

12 Days of Christmas Heart Note promo image

Heart Note is set in the world of a perfume counter at a department store in the lead-up to Christmas, there’s hijinks and baubles, plenty of sexy Santa costumes and a smouldering hot Greek-Australian god (okay, a security guard/ex-cop, but he’s got that Zeus-like thing going on).

This novella has been rocking the charts since its release on 6 November, hitting the top 50 Humour Fiction bestseller list on Amazon Australia, and the New and Hot Releases Humor Fiction lists on Amazon US, UK and France!

Blurb

A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy Christmas novella, perfect for fans of Love Actually . . . from the award-winning author of Girl on a Plane.

Love is like a fine perfume. The top note draws you in, an instant attraction, but the Heart Note is the true essence. Like true love – a great perfume should be a woman’s perfect match.

At least, that’s what perfume counter manager, Lily Lucas, tells her customers in one of Australia’s largest department stores.

It’s almost Christmas, the store is bedecked with baubles and Lily has about eleventy billion gifts to wrap and sell. She and her team of spritzer chicks are glamorous, professional and hoping they don’t have to wear the hideous red onesies and reindeer antlers the store manager has in mind.

The high point of Lily’s work life is Christos Cyriakos, ex-cop, security guard, possible Greek god. He’s a mystery box she’d love to unwrap. But can she trust him?

All Lily wants for Christmas is to kiss Christos (and more), catch a band of thieves running amok in the store, and live happily ever after. Is that too much to wish for?

Buy now from Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Barnes & Noble (Nook), Google Play Books and more stores.

Universal link to all stores – books2read.com/HeartNote

Giveaways

** My giveaway is now closed. I have drawn two winners and contacted them by email — Karen Teasdale and Jill Broussard — check your inboxes!**

Because it’s nearly Christmas and I’m feeling generous and stuff, I’m running a giveaway!

I’m giving away:

1 x ebook copy of Heart Note AND
1 x ebook copy of Girl on a Plane (my debut HarperCollins UK romantic comedy/contemporary romance novel).

I’ll select a winner for each prize and contact them individually on or just after 13 December 2017.

To enter:

Sign-up for my newsletter list by completing the form on this website and leave a comment on this blog post. If you’re already on my newsletter list, just comment!

Tell me…have you been naughty or nice and what do you want for Christmas? COMMENT BELOW!

Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway to win a $50 Amazon gift card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Love Gone Wild!

This past weekend I was lucky enough to attend the Love Gone Wild conference run by Romance Writers of Australia in Brisbane. I don’t think I’d be underestimating if I said the effect of the weather on my mood was magical. Goodbye, frosty Melbourne! Hello, sunny Brisbane!

As soon as I arrived on Friday afternoon, I shucked off the multiple layers of Melbourne clothes and enjoyed the sunshine and 28 degree C temperature. And the super swish room at the luxury Pullman Hotel and my two fun room mates didn’t hurt either.

Love Gone Wild cocktail party

Then it was a chance to get ready for the Love Gone Wild cocktail party, a costume or fancy dress event that’s always a hoot! It was amazing to see some of the wild animals let loose on the dance floor. I especially loved the flamingos and a certain ninja turtle who I didn’t even recognise under her body paint! Check out the pictures below, I’m sure you’ll see what I mean!

Business Hub

Over the next two days I set about learning lots of new information from the fantastic guest speakers in the new Business Hub stream. The content from Google, Draft2Digital and iBooks left my head spinning…but in a good way. I came away with heaps of things to research and study. I’m looking forward to implementing some digital marketing and promotional ideas over the next few months.

Awards Dinner and Butterfly Ball

The Awards Dinner and Butterfly Ball on Saturday night was a great chance to shake our tail feathers, too. And so many writers that I know and admire were up for the big awards. Special super-dooper congratulations to my fellow Melbourne Romance Writers Guild members, Miranda Morgan and Janis Linford, who were both contest finalists. Correction, Miranda also won the Ripping Start contest!

Of course mega-awesome authors Avril Tremayne and Amy Andrews are two of my absolute favourite Aussie authors, so it was wonderful to see them pick-up the big gongs. Congratulations to both of you. Mwah!

Networking like a #LoveArmy

But most of all, the conference was a chance to network with like-minded romanciers, the fabulous (mostly) women writers who focus on the positive, the good, the love in the world. Something we all need right now. Someone on Facebook mentioned that RWA is like an army of love. I totally agree and propose we all need #LoveArmy buttons.

Anyway, without further ado, please enjoy this Storify round-up of some of the social media around conference including lots of photos.

P.S. I’ll also be writing something else about the conference soon for the Romancing the Genres blog! Yes, I’m going to be a Genre-ista! How exciting. 🙂

Lazy Days of Summer sale – 45+ free and 99 cent reads!

Lazy Days of Summer promotional image

Summer? What’s that? As I write, I’m sitting here in Australia in my fluffy cardigan and Ugg boots, but of course it’s summer for my northern hemisphere readers.

Want to laze poolside or on the sand with books that’ll heat you up, sizzle your skin, and melt your heart? Why not steam up your Kindle this summer with romance e-books from some top Aussie and New Zealand authors? Grab a cocktail and pull up a chair!

Lazy Days of Summer Sale

We’ve got 45+ FREE and bargain 99 cent romances to get you through the rest of summer. From sexy or sweet contemporaries to romantic comedy, historical, paranormal, romantic suspense, erotica, women’s fiction, and urban fantasy/sci-fi/fantasy – we’ve got you covered. Full list of Lazy Days of Summer sale books available here.

My romcom novelette, Chocolate Truffle Kiss, is included. Still only 99 cents and a five-star swoony read according to Amazon reviewers. But it’s also FREE at the moment to my newsletter subscribers!

Chocolate Truffle Kiss 5 star promo graphic

Free novelette for newsletter subscribers!

Check out the books on sale!

There’s a whole lot of fabulous authors participating in this sale, including Tracey Alvarez, Nicola Marsh, Louise Cusack, Joanne Dannon, Cheryl Phipps and many more.

Visit the sale webpage hosted by Tracey Alvarez today.

Valentine’s Down Under giveaway – 25+ FREE romance books

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope your day is filled with love and laughter…maybe even a happy ever after. To help with making your day magical, I’m sharing some details of a fabulous giveaway I’m part of this year

Valentine’s Down Under giveaway

Sun, sand & surf – February Down Under is always scorching hot! And so are these 25+ FREE romances set in Australia and New Zealand! From sweet to sexy to smoking, these books will transport you into a world of Down Under Happy-ever-afters.

Download some of your new favorite New Zealand and Australian authors’ free books while you can – visit our host Tracey Alvarez’s website for details.

Simply click on the book covers you wish to download, and follow the Instafreebie site instructions to have your books emailed to you!

Chocolate Truffle Kiss

If you haven’t read my fun romcom novelette, Chocolate Truffle Kiss, now is your chance. It’s included in this Instafreebie promotion FREE along with so many other great books.

Here’s a little taste of Chocolate Truffle Kiss:

Your eyes meet mine, then retreat
Softness behind glass
Let me break your barriers

The poem on the blackboard enticed her to enter. Just like everyday…

Writer, Beth, visits the same café every afternoon, enjoying her latte and a chocolate truffle while scribbling in her notebook. The delicious treats keep her coming back day after day, not to mention the inspiration she finds there – Samuel. The barista is tall, dark and delicious, and his stare could melt chocolate from a hundred paces.

Since her divorce, Beth’s love life has been close to extinct, but the sight of Samuel, his dark, brooding good looks and amazing dragon tattoo, kick it into overdrive. A smouldering volcano waiting to erupt in flames of passion. But Beth knows it’s unlikely he’d go for her, an older woman, when he could have anyone.

Over the course of a week, the tension between them rises almost to boiling point. When Beth’s friend lets it slip that Beth fancies Samuel, in fact she has a mega crush on him, their customer/barista relationship is tested…but could it be more than one-sided? Is Samuel writing the blackboard poems especially for Beth? Could he be watching and wanting her too?

Note: Chocolate Truffle Kiss is a novelette of approximately 9500 words. This edition also contains an excerpt of my debut novel, Girl on a Plane.

Don’t forget to visit the Valentine’s Down Under giveaway page and download your FREE books! Have a happy Valentine’s Day, and happy reading!