Fiona Lowe and her RITA nominated BOOMERANG BRIDE!

Amid all the upheaval she is facing, I managed to get Australian author Fiona Lowe to give us a few minutes of her time! So here she is, sharing with us about how she felt when she found out her first single title book, BOOMERANG BRIDE got nominated for the prestigious RITA® awards by the Romance Writers of America®.

Thanks so much, Nas for having me here today at Romance Paradise. It’s always a pleasure!

I’ve had a huge week! Last Tuesday morning I woke up to hear my iPad going ‘ping, ping,’ and I assumed it was my calendar reminding me of appointments, only I couldn’t think of anything special that I had to do apart from start a new book.

As my feet hit the floor, the pinging went into overdrive and I realized they were Tweets coming in and again, I was confused because the day before I had only tweeted once or twice and I couldn’t imagine such a response. I found my glasses, got to the kitchen, switched on the light and saw, ‘Hey @FionaLowe Congrats on your #RITA12 nom for Boomerang Bride. ‘Just like some of my heroines, my mouth dried and my heart leapt in my chest!

BOOMERANG BRIDE

I couldn’t believe it. I instantly checked the answering machine for a message from RWA in Texas because I had been told by past nominees that a phone call was how they found out they were finalists, but there was no blue light or any missed calls.  I tried to find the RWA list on the internet but my fingers were all wobbly so I rang Angela James from Carina Press and asked her if it was true. She laughed and said, ‘Yes’. She also told me that Boomerang Bride was the first Carina Press book to be nominated for a Rita. Woot! Squee! This book, which took a long time to find a home keeps kicking goals. I was excited when it got  print published in the US as I always thought it would only ever be an  eBook and now it has garnered three nominations but there is still some bigger news coming about it soon but I just can’t say exactly what yet.

It seems to be a tradition that when I get great publishing news my husband is out of the state! When I sold my first Harlequin Medical Romance he was in Canberra. This time he was in Sydney so I called him and then I spent a wonderful Tuesday floating and answering the wonderful emails, tweets and Facebook messages from the very generous writing and reading community.

Then reality hit the next day and I got sick with the virus The Lad had brought home from school. Not happy!  However, lying on the couch with the iPad meant I had time to check out flights to the US because my husband said, ‘You must go.’  So I am! How we are going to sort out the boys for two weeks when their father isn’t home weekdays will be interesting and I will probably fall into the plane seat a wreck before I’ve started after having organized casseroles, enough school shirts and socks to last the distance, but I am coming to the conference. I’m so excited that I will be meeting in person writers and readers I’ve only ‘E’ met. And Nas!  I’ll meet Nas, although I am hoping to meet her when I am in Fiji in late June. 

 [I'm also looking forward to meeting Fiona in person at long last! In Fiji and at RWA in Anaheim!]

So if being nominated for a Rita wasn’t enough in a week I’ve also sold my 18^th medical romance, a Christmas story out in November, my second ‘Bride Book’ to Carina Press which makes my 20^th novel to Harlequin. Oh and I have a new release.  Sydney Harbour Hospital: Tom’s Redemption. This is a standalone book as well as being the fourth book in the Sydney Harbour Hospital series and it took me a long way from my ‘small towns with big hearts’ and back to a big hospital in a vibrant and cosmopolitan city. It was a lot of fun to write and Melanie Milburne’s husband was a great help with the technical details of surgery. I also loved the trips to Sydney for research!

I have visited many places because I have read about them in books. I finally got to Prince Edward Island when I was 30 after reading the ‘Anne of Green Gables’ as a child.  To celebrate my wonderful week, I’m giving away a copy of Sydney Harbour Hospital: Tom’s Redemption to a lucky winner. Just tell me where have you visited because you read about the place in a book?

Fiona Lowe is an award-winning, multi-published author with Harlequin and Carina Press. Whether her books are set in outback Australia or in the mid-west of the USA, they feature small towns with big hearts, and warm, likeable characters that make you fall in love. When she's not writing stories, she's a weekend wife, mother of two 'ginger' teenage boys, guardian of 80 rose bushes and often found collapsed on the couch. A current RT Book Reviwers' Choice Award nominee, you can find her at her website, facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Boomerang Bride is available now from Carina Press,Amazon Kindle, Nook and all other online book stores.

Congratulations to Fiona on the RITA nomination!

Sydney Harbour Hospital: TOM'S REDEMPTION

US Edition

Sydney Harbor Hospital's most elusive—and eligible—doctor has returned…Two years ago, renowned head of neurosurgery Tom Jordan disappeared. Now he's back and his secret is out. Tom's blind and will never operate again.

He's the proudest, rudest man registrar Hayley Grey has ever met. Nevertheless, the chemistry between them is mind-blowing—yet there could be so much more, if only Tom would let Hayley see the man behind the mask.…











It's available now in the UK & the USA. For pictures and background information, head to Fiona's website. She has written a neurosurgeon who becomes blind in an accident and there is fantastic amount of background information on her website. 

UK Edition

To celebrate Fiona is giving away a copy of Sydney Harbour Hospital: Tom’s Redemption to a lucky winner. Just tell her where have you visited because you read about the place in a book?





Amazon          Amazon UK