The Joan Hessayon Award
I'm so delighted to share with you, that today, Letting in Light was officially announced as a contender for this year's Joan Hessayon Award. I've had to sit on this news for months as it's been top secret until now, so it's lovely to finally be able to let my hands loose on the keyboard and babble on excitedly about this! The Joan Hessayon Award is presented by the Romantic Novelists' Association (of which I am a member) at a glittering prize ceremony in London on the 19th May - definitely one to get the posh frock out for! There are 15 contenders this year, some of which are already published and others, like Letting In Light (new edition) will be published shortly. Here's the full list:
Her Forget-Me-Not Ex by Sophie Claire, Accent Press
Letting in Light by Emma Davies, Amazon Media
Take a Chance on Me by Debbie Flint, Choc Lit
A Street Café Named Desire by R J Gould, Accent Press
The Gunner Girl Clare by Harvey, Simon & Schuster UK
Waiting for You by Catherine Miller, Carina
It Started at Sunset Cottage by Bella Osborne, HarperImpulse
Remarkable Things by Deidre Palmer, Crooked Cat Publishing
The Giants Look Down by Sonja Price, Robert Hale
Sense and French Ability by Ros Rendle, Endeavour Press
The Hidden Legacy by Julie Roberts, Accent Press
The Friendship Tree by Helen Rolfe, Crooked Cat Publishing
French Kissing by Lynne Shelby, Accent Press
The Cherry Tree Café by Heidi Swain, Simon & Schuster
There are some seriously amazing books on this list, and I feel honoured to be among them. I'm lucky enough to have met quite a few of these wonderful authors, and others I know through Facebook and Twitter, but we have all shared in each other's journeys, the highs and lows, and although winning will most certainly be the icing on the cake, in my view we're all winners already. There's no nicer validation of this fact. Good luck everybody, I can't wait to see you all again!
Here's a little challenge for you; how about reading them all and picking your own favourite?