Books with Heart was a proud sponsor of the fifth Australian Romance Readers Convention held in Melbourne from 24 – 26 February. The event brings together romance readers, authors and publishers and provided an opportunity to talk about all things related to romance fiction.

Bestselling and outspoken historical romance author Courtney Milan opened the convention with a heart-warming and inspiring address.

On the Saturday afternoon, a book signing event at the colourful Bobby McGees took place allowing readers to chat face-to-face with their favourite author. It featured 66 authors, including our very own Pamela Cook (The Crossroads) and Charlotte Nash (The Horseman) as well as Keri Arthur (Winter Halo) and Bronwyn Parry (Sunset Shadows). Our international authors were also represented by Kristen Callihan and Thea Harrison, who appeared via Skype.

However, the best was yet to come. We were delighted to be on hand at the awards dinner that evening when three Hearties walked away with some of the association’s major prizes:

•             Nalini Singh won Best Paranormal Romance for Wild Embrace.

•             Keri Arthur won Best Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Futuristic Romance for City of Light.

•             Bronwyn Parry won Best Romantic suspense for Sunset Shadows.

Books with Heart and Hachette Australia sponsored two of the awards, for Best Contemporary Romance and Best Historical Romance. Digital Manager is Essie Orchard presented popular author Kylie Scott with the Best Contemporary Romance trophy for Dirty: A Dive Bar novel whilst publicist Laura Boon had a personal fangirl moment when she presented Anne Gracie with the award for Best Historical Romance for The Summer Bride: The Chance Sisters book 4.

·         The full list of award winners: 

You can find out who was shortlisted at ARRA's website. 

The Books with Heart table was in the lunch room and afforded us many opportunities to chat to readers and find out what they love to read.

Have your read any of the authors mentioned in this blog post? What was your favourite book of 2016?