Book Boyfriend Blog Hop for #ChickLitMay

Welcome to my stop on the Book Boyfriend Blog Hop for #ChickLitMay. I’m pleased to introduce you to a grumpy but gorgeous romcom hero, Gabriel Anderson, from my debut romantic comedy novel, Girl on a Plane.

Meet Gabriel Anderson from Girl on a Plane

“I suppose I should tell you something about myself even though I hate giving media interviews. By now I know it goes with the territory of being a CEO of a global travel company. I’m Gabriel Anderson, I’m 32 years old and I live in Melbourne, Australia. Some women tell me I look like a surfer, and it’s probably true. I love to surf and swim. Travel is my other passion. But travelling as often as I do, there’s been no time for anything serious with a woman, that’s for damn sure.”

Image of Gabriel Anderson, hero in Girl on a Plane

“There’s something else you should know about me – I’m in no mood to deal with distractions or time wasters. Everything was going smoothly in my world, even if it was constantly busy. My migraines have been coming on hard and fast and I have my Mum’s illness always at the back of my mind. But I had it all under control. Now, everything is up in the air. Because of her.”

“Let me explain. I met a woman named Sinead, a flight attendant with Mermaid Airlines. She has the sexiest Irish lilt to her voice and that’s what I call her: Irish. She’s tall and stunning with platinum blonde hair and the most amazing breasts…but that’s not what I find most attractive about her. Oh, no. She’s got me thinking about her constantly, with the way she made me laugh, about Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee of all things. When she teased me about Nude Espresso and winked at me as she swayed down the aisle of the plane.”

“After one night together in Singapore, I knew I’d never get enough of her. She’s incredible. A firecracker. The only woman I want. I want her in my bed, I want her with me. If I have to chase her to London, or Dublin, or freaking Japan, I’ll do it.”

“I’m going to make her mine.”

Image of Gabriel Anderson, surfer CEO

About Girl on a Plane

Girl on a Plane is the debut romantic comedy novel by Cassandra O’Leary, released in 2016. Winner of the global We Heart New Talent writing contest run by Avon Books/HarperCollins UK. Cassandra was also nominated for Best New Author in the AusRom Today Reader’s Choice Awards 2016.

Girl on a Plane by Cassandra O’Leary, book cover image

CLIMB ON BOARD . . . WITH THE GIRL ON A PLANE

When feisty Irish flight attendant Sinead Kennealy locks eyes with sexy Australian CEO Gabriel Anderson in First Class, sparks fly. But as they jet across the globe from Melbourne to London, it’s clear that they’re in for a turbulent journey . . .

Stressed-out Gabriel doesn’t do relationships. And Sinead isn’t about to be fooled by another bad boy after escaping her stalker ex. Then a storm hits, causing the plane to land unexpectedly, and Sinead and Gabriel are thrown together in Singapore.

The pressure rises as Sinead’s unhappy past threatens to catch up with her. But might Gabriel be the one to heal her heartbreak? If he could open up about his troubling secrets, maybe a relationship could actually get off the ground. Fasten your seatbelts – this WON’T be a smooth ride . . .

BUY NOW – Girl on a Plane is now available from major e-book retailers

Enter to win the Book Boyfriend Blog Hop GRAND PRIZE

Vote for GABRIEL ANDERSON as your book boyfriend – email traciebanister@gmail.com

Hop to all the stops, collect the candidate’s name at each stop, then submit all 30 names to that same address in order to be entered in our Grand Prize giveaway. This giveaway includes a Kindle Paperwhite + 30 e-books, one from each of the authors participating in the hop. My book, Girl on a Plane, is one of the prizes on offer!

Entries for the hop will be accepted until Sunday 21 May, midnight E.D.T. in the United States. A winner will be chosen on Monday 22 May. This Grand Prize giveaway is open internationally.

Visit all the authors in the Book Boyfriends Hop…

Continue reading→

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!

Prepare for take-off!

My debut contemporary romance/romantic comedy novel, Girl on a Plane, will be released globally as an e-book on 18 July 2016. As I batten down the hatches and prepare for take-off, I’ve been excited to have a bit of pre-release publicity.

A Book To Watch!

First of all, a massive thanks to the AusRomToday site for featuring my book as one of 5 Books To Watch in July. I’m in such great company too, with some fabulous Australian romance authors. I want to read all of these books, stat!

Check out the cool promo video here:

5 Books To Watch in July – AusRomToday

Hearts Talk article

Today, the July issue of Hearts Talk magazine hit the inboxes of about 1000 members of the Romance Writers of Australia. I was lucky enough to have a full-page article published in the magazine, outlining my path to publication following the We Heart New Talent contest win (with Avon Maze/HarperCollins UK).

Hopefully the aspiring and emerging authors who read it will find it interesting, to learn about the process from entering a contest, to winning, to getting the book ready for publication.

Here’s the full article, if you’d like to read it.

Prepare for take-off article in Hearts Talk magazine

Soon, I’ll have something else exciting to share here, in the lead-up to release day. In the meantime, I’d love for you to pre-order Girl on a Plane, or sign-up to my newsletter mailing list on this page, for a couple of exclusives coming soon.

Girl on a Plane – social media cover reveal wrap-up

A few weeks ago, the team at my publisher, Avon Maze, digital first imprint of HarperCollins UK, organised a coordinated book cover reveal on social media. There was a great response, and here’s a snapshot from Twitter. I’m playing around with the Storify site, so check out a summary below.

More book news to come soon and the count down to release day is on! 22 more sleeps until 18th July launch date… but you can pre-order now!

Make sure to follow me on Twitter or follow Avon Books UK for more news and cool contests.

Future shock! Seeing my book on the HarperCollins website

As cover reveals go, this one was pretty fun, because it was a complete surprise to the author. In other words, me. I had a severe case of future shock when I suddenly stumbled across my book cover online, a few weeks ago.

I was sitting in my writers group meeting at the Melbourne Romance Writers Group secret HQ, when my writer friend, P.J. Vye, googled me. Cheeky as that sounds, we’ve been friends for over a year now, so I was okay with it. The googling.

She was looking for my blog when what should appear in the search results? My brand spanking new book cover and synopsis on the HarperCollins UK website! I didn’t know it would be live online yet, considering I’d been asked to keep the cover under wraps.

Well, to say I was stunned would be an understatement. I’d have to grab my thesaurus and say I was staggered, shocked, confounded, dazed, amazed and stupified. Or to use Aussie slang talk, I was a stunned mullet. Strewth! But at the same time I was thinking…you little ripper!

Seeing my gorgeous book cover and MY NAME listed under ‘Authors’ on the HarperCollins site is basically a dream come true. I’ve been writing fiction seriously (as serious as I can be, anyway) for about three years, but it’s been a dream of mine to write a novel for many years before that. I’d say it harks back to when I was in Grade 2, when I wrote a story about time travel, dinosaurs, centaurs and a princess. Hmmm, I may have to revive that story idea.

And the other amazing shock…on the first day of pre-orders on Kobo, my book somehow made it up to number 3 on the Contemporary Women bestseller list! Check out my book, hob-nobbing with JoJo Moyes and Danielle Steel!

Screenshot of Girl on a Plane at number 3 on the Kobo Contemporary Women bestseller list, 18 April 2016.

I can’t wait to see how the book goes on Amazon and other sites. Exciting times!

Winner – We Heart New Talent contest and book launch madness!

In 2015, Avon Maze, Harper Impulse and Carina UK ran a joint global writing contest to search for new romance writing talent. I entered the We Heart New Talent contest in February 2015 and now, my debut novel Girl on a Plane is being released globally as an e-book today, 18 July2015.

Woo-hoo! It’s been an exciting few months since I WON the We Heart New Talent contest run by HarperCollins UK. A few months later, I was offered a publishing contract with the digital-first imprint, Avon Maze.

Let me just backtrack a little… I entered a contest in February 2015 and after almost 18 months of gestation, my book-baby is born! How amazing is that? I’ll tell you what, it’s totally amazing to me, and I wrote the book.

How did I get here?

As a new-ish romance writer – I’ve been writing fiction seriously for nearly three years now – I’ve been lucky enough to participate in some fantastic writing workshops and events such as the Romance Writers of Australia conferences. These have been valuable learning and networking opportunities that were pure gold in terms of giving me direction in my writing career. I also absorbed writing articles and blogs almost by osmosis, subscribing to all sorts of feeds.

The first novel I attempted to write, I drafted in three months. Probably complete rubbish, if I look back on it now (I don’t want to, and you can’t make me). But the next story started as a 10,000 word short story or novelette, which I re-worked and then added words, until finally it became a full length contemporary romance novel. That’s the one that finally became Girl on a Plane.

I entered a lot of writing contests. I mean, a lot. Fifteen or sixteen contests in about two years, which is pretty exhausting-sounding if I think about it. So I try not to think about it. But the reality was, those contests were a training ground for me as a writer. I learned how to write a ‘hook’, a blurb, an interesting first sentence, how to format a manuscript and how to write a synopsis (sort of – I still don’t want to write one and you can’t make me). And I received pages and pages of notes from more experienced authors, which were amazing feedback.

My big break was entering and WINNING the We Heart New Talent contest run by HarperCollins UK in 2015. Several months after entering, I received an email from an editor from HarperCollins in London which was an OMG moment… followed by many months of re-writing and eventually going through the editorial process.

The team at Avon Maze also produced a sensational book cover. It’s so graphic, it stands out well branding-wise on Amazon and everywhere online. Which brings us to the marketing side of the equation.

Promo Central – welcome to your destination!

Once I signed my book contract (SQUEE!), I soon realised the importance of planning and building my marketing promotions online. As a new digital-first author, online content and social media interaction are vital for building your profile. Promo Central seems to be my new address! I don’t mind, in fact I enjoy the promotional side of the publishing cycle, from what I’ve experienced so far.

I’ve had a bit of fun playing around with promo graphics in Canva and also commissioned an awesome teaser trailer video from Trailermade Production. Check it out:

Release day articles and blogs

I’ve also had some fabulous promotional opportunities that I’d love to share with you all again – if you haven’t already stopped by my Facebook and Twitter profiles.

AusRom Today – Tell Us Your Backstory feature

Australian Romance Readers Association (ARRA) release day blog

Melbourne Romance Writers Guild blog – Fun In the Sun or Grey Clouds on the Horizon?

Where to next?

I’ll be continuing the book promotion, blog writing, and maybe get some actual fresh-words down on paper for my next book! Yes, that’s right, somewhere in between all the exciting pre-release madness, I’ve managed to write another almost complete novel. It’s going to need a lot of editing though, so once I have my debut book-honeymoon love-goggles off and I can think clearly again, I’ll crack on with editing the new one.

I’ll probably write some short stories or novellas too, since I have a few more ideas bubbling away in the background. Exciting times!

Girl on a Plane has now taken off — go to my Books page for all buy links!