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Sunday, August 16, 2009

Welcome to Aussie & NZ Author Week!

Australia's hottest romance writers have converged on my hometown of Brisbane this weekend for the annual Romance Writers of Australia Conference. So, being the self-sacrificing blogger that I am, I packed up my laptop and headed into a luxury hotel for the weekend to surround myself with authors I admire and adore. Gee it's hard to be me sometimes...

Inspired by the post-conference high of RWA, this week we thought we'd share our favourite fiction by Aussie and New Zealand authors! We've got Historical Romance by Christine Wells, Anna Campbell and Anne Gracie, Paranormal Romance with Nalini Singh and Historical Fantasy with Juliet Marillier and Jules Watson! So grab yourself a cuppa and a packet of Tim Tams and settle in for a week jam-packed of fantastic fiction.

GIVEAWAY ALERT: The lovely Jules Watson and her wonderful publishers at Bantam are giving away a copy of her latest book, The Swan Maiden this week on Royal Reviews!

The competition officially closes 5PM AEST 31st August 2009 and you can enter here. As an added bonus, everyone who leaves a legitimate comment on Royal Reviews during Aussie & NZ Week will gain an additional entry to the giveaway!

PS...If you do manage to get your hands on a packet of Tim Tams (lucky you!) make sure you remember to do the Tim Tam Slam.

See below for instructions :-)



Princess of the Past

19 comments:

Alaine said...

I have to tell you that I regularly watch the Princess of the Past perform this very action. Me, I like my Tim Tams very cold and straight from the fridge! Yum, I think I might have one for tonight!

Marg said...

I can't say I have ever done this! I know. Bad Aussie. I don't like Vegemite either! LOL!

Can't wait to see what you guys come up with this week!

ibeeeg said...

Sounds like a fun weekend!
Look forward to the week of posts.

Being from the States, I gotta ask,what is Tim Tams? And what exactly is Vegemite? I probably could google this stuff but am too lazy. :)

J.T. Oldfield said...

I do have myself a cuppa, but as I hate vegemite/marmite, I'm doing the very American thing and eating toast with peanut butter.

go with happiness said...

Vegemite is the most disgusting thing ever...bleh! LOL.

And I've never heard of Tim Tams, but I'm from the US.

Samantha LeAnne said...

What eactly are Tim Tams? Never hear of them before...but I'm also American, so yea...I have no clue what it is.

Alaine said...

Hi Everyone, firstly I don't blame you for disliking vegemite, I don't mind it, but only have once or twice a year. It is a spread that is made from beef stock and is black coloured.

Tim Tams are the most delicious chocolate discuit. They are kind of like Oreos (with chocolate icing instead of vanilla) and they are covered in chocolate.

Miss K said...

Haha eating vegemite isn't a prerequisite for Aussie week! Personally, I looooooove vegemite...I eat it on toast a few times a week...but I can understand why some people don't like it. It's a very strong taste. Many Aussies seem to love to torture tourists by making them try vegemite ;-) Sick sense of humour that we have!

Tim Tams however are the most amazing biscuits (read cookies...what you call biscuits we call scones). A Tim Tam Slam is biting the ends of the Tim Tam and using it like a straw to drink your tea/coffee through. And Marg - you have to try it...so yummy. Is 8am too early to eat choclate??

Marg said...

For those in the UK, Tim Tams are very similar to Penguins, but better!

Anonymous said...

The Swan Maiden sounds like a great book to read. Please enter my name in your draw.
I tried Tim Tams for the first time a couple of weeks ago and they are yummy! I'd never heard of them before. I'll definitely be buying them again.
wandanamgreb (at) gmail (dot) com

Heather Zundel said...

If this is the fairy tale I'm thinking of, I would love to get my hands on it. Please consider me entered. Now I'm off to make another comment.

buddyt said...

We get Tim Tams in the supermarkets here as an import so they are fairly expensive but very, very good.

They also make quite a range of different biscuit but I haven't been able to try any others.

Please include me in the drawing.

Thanks.

Carol

Miss K said...

Are you in the US Carol/buddyt? You know one thing I wish we could get in Aus - HERSHEYS! Oh man you guys have it good with cookies and cream and hersheys kisses *drool* I think I found them in a very expensive chocolate shop here once and I happily paid for them :-)

ibeeeg said...

OMG...Hershey's is my absolute favorite chocolate! Give me Hershey kisses or a bar and I am a happy girl. I actually had nibble of a treat last night while I snuggled down to read Outlander...not good eating chocolate at 11pm!

Miss K said...

Ibeeeg - didn't you know you get a free pass to eat chocolate when your reading Outlander? The calories don't count in that particular circumstance. Plus, you need to eat extra Hersheys for me anyway ;-)

Alaine said...

Ibeeeg, we love American chocolate especially Hersheys. When we went there on holidays in 2000 we came back with a bag full of chocolate! It was fantastic!

Miss K said...

Mmmm...Baby Ruth Bars....is that what they were called?

Alaine said...

I think it's Babe Ruth bars but not sure. I might have to take a trip up to that little shop at Carindale that sells them all on Friday. Now I just have to have a Hershey Cookies and Cream bar and a Babe Ruth bar!

Miss K said...

I think you definitely should (and remember your wonderful daughter and how much you love her)