I went to a marvellous party…
Apologies to Noel Coward (actually the lyrics to this song are a hoot if you’ve got time to look them up)!
Fabulous Bandita Christine Wells held a launch last Thursday night at Rosemary’s Romance Books in Brisbane. Christine’s wonderful, witty Regency romance Scandal’s Daughter has now been presented to the world in style.
Christine asked two of her writer friends to do the honors and make a speech. Denise Rossetti who writes sensual fantasy for Ellora’s Cave, Avon and Berkley gave us all a wonderful riff on the future good behavior of Christine’s muse. I said a few heartfelt words about what a wonderful writer she is and how this book deserves to sell its socks off! Not as elegant as Denise's sparkling toast to SD's future success but definitely sincere!
The very romantically decorated bookstore overflowed with friends and well wishers. In Regency terms, it would have been classed a huge success as it was definitely a crush! Our hostesses Rosemary and Glenda made everyone welcome. Hmm, and the copious wine that was flowing may have contributed to the atmosphere too. But of course, I wouldn't know about that. Cough. Cough.
Guests included Amy Andrews who writes Medical romance for Mills & Boon, Andrea Lunt from The Courier-Mail, and well-known academic Glen Thomas who brought along all his Masters in Romance Fiction students. And why not? All of these talented writers aspire to achieve what Christine has with her major American release! We were also lucky to have a lot of the Brraddicts with us (Brisbane Romance Reading Addicts) who are always such fun.
Christine, the launch was a fabulous success and everyone had a great time sending your first book out into the world. Good luck! You're a huge talent and you deserve every scrap of your success!
58 comments:
Congratulations, Christine! And thanks for the rundown, Anna. Wish I could have been there to witness the 'birth' :)
Kate
Anna, thank you so much for that post, and for making a wonderful speech launching Scandal's Daughter. You and Denise did a magnificent job! I was so touched by your kind words (which were every bit as elegant as your wonderful prose, btw!) I know it was a huge effort for you to be there, so I'm very grateful.
Doesn't Rosemary's store look beautiful? It was lovely of her to host the event, particularly since the guests seemed loath to leave!
I had a fantastic time, despite the fact I only had one glass of wine the entire evening, ::cough, cough::--but I'll let that slide. Denise's wonderful husband provided the majority of the wine, btw--thanks Mike! And yes, in Regency parlance, it was a dreadful crush! I had to resort to my smelling salts several times.
Btw my father-in-law, George, took these wonderful photos and helped me cart food, wine and sundry items to the venue. I couldn't have managed without him. Thanks George! And thanks to my mother and mother-in-law for all their help with the event and to dh Jamie, who made all the men wear Scandal's Daughter bookmarks in their breast pockets and took us out to dinner afterwards, where Amy, Anna and Denise bought me a wickedly expensive bottle of champagne.
What a wonderful evening! Let's do it again soon:) Hmm, Untouched is being released in the not-too-distant future...
Oops! That comment was longer than Anna's post! Hi Kate! Woohoo, great to see you made it to the blog. Wish you could have been there, too!
Thanks for the congrats. Hope to see you next time you're in Brisvegas:)
Hey Christine. What a great night and what great fun at dinner after with that gorgeous view of the Story Bridge and that wicked bottle of bubbly.
Thank you for your lovely comments on my copy of Scandal's Daughter. I'll cherish it forever.
Amy Andrews
Actually, Christine, my middle name is Baldrick and this was a cunning plan to get you to talk about your launch! Bwahahahahaha! And unlike most of Baldrick's cunning plans, this one actually worked!
Kate, we missed you. Wish you could have been there too.
Amy, you're such great company. And I say that even when I'm sober! You're right about the champagne. It was seriously spectacular. Or perhaps I should say that in my best French accent - eet voz zereeeeeouzleeeee zpectacularrrrrrr, mon amie Amy!
Amy, thank you for sharing the night with me! Anna's right, you are great company, and it doesn't hurt that you brought flowers and bought champagne:)
Anna, you keep projecting this image of me as shy and retiring! Where do you get it from?? Anyway, ABC, thanks a bunch!
Congratulations Christine I wish I could have been there sounds like a wonderful party with lots of great friends and family. I am still waiting on my copy of Scandals Daughter hopefully it will arrive one day this week so as I can start reading it. Best of luck with sales i am sure it will do really well.Anna I love the post thanks.
Have Fun
Helen
Wow!!! Sounds (and looks) like a fabulous party!! I am sure that everyone had a wonderful time celebrating with you Christine.
I bought your book last week and can't wait to start it!
Helen and Buffie, wish you could have been there, as well as the rest of the Banditas! I must say, that was the one thing missing from the evening. At one point I looked around and thought how wonderful it would have been to share it with the rest of the gang.
Anyway, thanks so much to you both for ordering Scandal's Daughter! Hope you enjoy it!
Congratulations, Christine. Talk about a launch party with style!
Hi Gillian, thanks for dropping in! Yes, we banditas know how to do a launch properly. Lots and lots of wine! Oh, and good company, great speeches, etc etc. But definitely lots of wine.
Congrats, Christine! Wonderful post, Anna :)
That looked like so much fun, I can't wait to get Scandal's Daughter, maybe I will just go out and buy it and then when my other copy shows up I can share one.
Christine,
What a wonderful report for your launch party! The pics were fantastic and of course our dear Anna's eloquent recounting of the events just made me wish THAT MUCH HARDER that Australia was closer to Kentucky!
I'm nearly half way through SD and loving it!
BTW, who is that dashing man eagerly awaiting his copy in that last photo?
Congratulations, Christine!! I'm so glad that the night was a fabulous success. Here's a *cyber-toast* to continued success. I'm so looking forward to reading SD! :)
What a lovely post, Anna! And thanks for sharing the pictures.
Christine and Anna, what a fabulous launch party! I only wish we had a venue as lovely as Rosemary's Romance in my part of the world. :-( Alas, we are stuck with chain stores. The smaller bookstores in our area consider themselves too intellectual to carry romance. Pah!
Christine, it was a glorious launch of a fabulous career. I hope you enjoyed the star treatment. I'm sure much more will follow!
Christine, it looks like a marvelous party and I just wish I could have been there as well to toast you and your new career!
BTW, I'm just floored that there's a bookstore devoted solely to Romance Novels! Can it be true?
Now, when the baby cries and demands to have his diaper changed, you can look down your nose and say, "Sorry, I don't do that any more. I'm a famous NOVELIST. Remember?" I'm sure he'll oblige and poop only roses from now on! :-)
-kirsten (donut head)
Thank you so much for sharing the story of Christine's fabulous launch party, Anna!! I so wish I could've been there -- great food, lots of wine and wonderful friends. I can't think of a better way to launch such an awesome book and author to the world :-)
Wonderful post about the party, Anna. Congratulations Christine on a stupendous launch. We raised a glass to you here in NJ. Wish we could have been there with you!
I know SD will be a huge success - can't wait for your next one!
Congratulations Christine! Scandal's Daughter should do fantastic. I just finished reading it and enjoyed it immensely! And from the pictures of the launch party, it looks like you, Anna and the rest had a great time.
What absolute fun! I'm glad the launch went so well. I too think it's really cool that there's a bookstore devoted solely to romance.
What a wonderful launch!
Thanks Anna, for posting it and letting all of us in on the party too.
And Christine, SD is fantastic. I may have been the first Bandita other than you and Anna to get it as our B&N here didn't "notice" the release date and called me two weeks early (I'd ordered ahead to make CERTAIN they knew people were wanting this book). It was just wonderful.
If you and Anna keep going, all us Americans will be standing around in groups gossiping along the lines of "well, it WOULD be nice to be an Aussie would't it? I mean, that's what all the editors are crying for...Aussie writers...."
I'm so pleased you had a great launch.
Great run-down of Christine's launch party, Anna. Those who haven't read Scandal's Daughter are in for a huge treat! jo
Like everyone else, I WANTED TO BE THERE! Thanx for the wonderful update Foanna. Like Joan, I want to know the identity of that good looking guy!
Caren, Raleigh and Sacto. have more in common than State Capitols... we have VERY FEW romance friendly bookstores here either. PFFFT!
And Christine, I finished SD in the midst of my monitor crisis! WONDERFUL story and YUMMY hero! Now that you are sprung from the deadline cave, I'll be anxiously awaiting your next release.
AC
What a fabulous party!! You know we were all there in spirit, toasting your success, Christine! Books, friends and wine -- is there any better combination of ingredients to make for a perfect evening?
Congratulations!!!
Thanks for commenting, Bonnie!
And Hrdwrkdmom, that sounds like a plan!*g* Whatever you decide, I hope you enjoy it!
Joan, that's an old school friend of my husband's. There were quite a few men there, and I think they were very brave to go into a romance bookstore. He does look dashing, doesn't he?
So glad you're enjoying Scandal's Daughter!
AndreaW--
Thank you, that was a lovely toast! ::Raising a cyber glass of Bolly in return::
Caren--
Until Borders arrived in recent years, there was very little US published romance available here. It's still scarce (I've had trouble getting my books into the major chains here) so Rosemary has a great little business going, being the only supplier in town. She gets new releases pretty much the same time as all the US stores, so there's no longer any wait.
Hi Ms. Donut! Your comment gives a new meaning to 'coming up smelling roses!' Yes, wouldn't it be great if they understood what a legend I am, at least in my own mind? The day I got the call, my first task was to deal with a soaking wet bed, so I quickly came back to earth:) But that's a good thing, I think.
WonderBeth, V-A and VampSuz, thanks for the congrats! I'll have to hold out for San Fran to party properly with you all.
Trish, it's funny, but we think it's sad there *has* to be a bookstore devoted to romance. I mean, it's great, but the fact there's such a niche market shows how marginalized romance is here. I simply don't understand the booksellers' attitude when you look at the huge volume of sales romance generates.
Cassondra, it's the Australian invasion!LOL There is quite a bit of talent coming out of Oz. Maybe some of you will have to start coming over here and getting published. Oops, sorry, I forgot. They don't publish romance over here:(
Jo, AC and Kate, thanks so much!
Hee, I'll have to tell dh's friend he was such a hit! He's got such a dry sense of humour, he's a real favourite of mine. I was so impressed at the number of men who braved such a feminine environment. It was really interesting because hardly any of my friends read romance. They were astonished and intrigued by the variety of subgenres available, and particularly interested in the paranormal section. I wonder if there'll be any converts?
Christine, Christine...
You didn't answer the main questions about your husband's friend
1. Is he single?
2. Does he ever come to America?
3. Is he single?
4. How does he feel about SLIGHTLY older women who actually went to the gym today?
And...
5. Is he single?
:-)
Hey, I think its great that so many guys came. Most of you know I let my orthopaedic surgeon read my mss. THE PATRICIAN'S DESIRE. He loved it. But I was also talking to another fellow and when I told him I was a romance fiction author he said "Oh, you're one of those that ruin it for us normal guys."
I looked him dead in the eye and replied "Maybe if you read more of them, you wouldn't have a problem."
Woo-hooo! Looks like a party! Wish we'd all been able to swing by in our bucket boots and bandita togs and raise the noise level by 25%. :> Looks like you had "quite the crush" and enough noise as it was, though. We have a few romance friendly bookstores around our area, but they are scarce ducks for the most part, that's for sure.
Congrats, Christine! :> And thanks for the pix and the rundown Anna. You and Christine look great up there on stage!
Grins,
J
Joanie T, I'm afraid he's not single and has a gorgeous wife into the bargain. Sorry to disappoint you!
Snork! about the guy who said we ruin it for them. I don't know why men don't read more romance. It would give them a huge leg-up, so to speak:)
Duchesse, wouldn't it have been grand if you'd all been there? You could have done your happy dance with the bunny ears, too!
What a fun launch! I wish I'd been there. Thanks, Anna, for the great report. Congratulations to Christine on a fabulous evening.
Joan, your post cracked me up. Especially the VITAL questionnaire! And your response to that dork! Snork to the dork! Yeah, I SOOOO wish you guys had been there. It was great fun but it would have been even better if some Banditas had been there to shake their Bandita Booties!
Congratulations, Christine! Rosemary's looked packed. My copy of SD is still making its way across the Pacific. Can't wait!
Vanessa
Hi Vanessa! Hey, I love your avatar. Tres chic, mon amie! Thanks for the congrats and I hope you enjoy it.
Anna, great blog about Christine's exciting event!
Christine, congratulations on the launch of Scandal's Daughter! It sounds like it was a very fine evening indeed!
Can't wait to get my copy of your book.
hugs
Sharon A
Thanks Sharon! Oh boy I'm getting nervous about so many great writers reading this book! Hope you enjoy it!
Christine, congratulations and congratulations and congratulations once again!! I'm dying for my copy to show up at my fav bookshop.
Yay, to your wonderful family and friends for showing up in droves.
Inara, you hilarious doughnut head! Poop roses?! It must've been far too long since you had your last infant. Time for a reality check. :)
Did you Banditas notice that the pens she had for signing were the same colors as her cover? How cute is that?!
Christine, all the best with your gorgeous book.
As you know, I've read it and I loved it.
You've got a stellar career ahead of you.
Wish I'd been able to come and toast your debut book and party with you and all the gang at Rosemary's.
Keira, I swear the matching thing hadn't occurred to me! I meant to use a pen that my agent sent me when I won the Golden Heart, but unfortunately, it ran out of ink, so I used my fall-backs, the gold and blue. Thanks for the congrats. I appreciate it!
Ms Gracie, thank you for visiting the Bandits! I wish you had been there, too, fluffing your feather boa and waging pun wars with our Anna C. Phooey on living so far away! Thanks so much for your congratulations. That means a lot to me.
Nancy, how did I miss you? Thanks so much for your congrats!
And Foanna, Snork to the Dork? Don't tell them the title of my next book! Sheesh! Talk about letting the cat out of the proverbial:)
Here's Keira making a lame joke...
Christina, clearly FoAnna loves pairing-matching whether they be words or lipstick-n-dress (check out that photo of hers).
Keira-who-loves-to-examine-photos-under-a-microscope
Keira, oh, man, you're right! I tell you, it wasn't deliberate (I'm not convinced about C and her pens!). It's just that's my favorite lipstick and I put it on to give me confidence. You'll also see it featured in the Romance Novel TV interviews! It's woefully out of fashion and I'll cry when it's finished as I'm sure I'll never find that color again.
Actually, I can vouch for the lipstick, even though Foanna won't vouch for the pens! She wears it at the conferences, too. In fact, I think it's the only shade she owns--isn't that right, Foanna? Your natural beauty usually needs no embellishment. Actually, it's a colour that makes Foanna's eyes look fantastic, so I don't blame her:)
Christine, I knew there was a reason I liked you! ;-)
Keira, you're absolutely right! My youngest is 4 and the other day I had to change the diaper for a visitor and EEEWWWWW!!! I forgot how gross those diapers can be. I think when you're in the trenches (um, literally?) you forget what you're dealing with. Ew.
Okay, a little too graphic? I'll just go back to my donuts now...
Congratulations, Christine, on Scndal's Daughter. I am a firm believer that we should celebrate every accomplishment all the way...hells bells, revel in it!
I wish I lived closer and I would have attended your book launch. I love a party, and sounds like it was a good one!
Best, Kathrynn Dennis
Kathrynn, you would have been most welcome! Thanks for your congratulations. I don't celebrate the small things enough, usually, but I didn't want to let this event pass. I also felt the people who have suffered through it all with me deserved a treat!:)
Hey Christine
It was a pleasure to host the launch at Rosemary's. Everyone had such a good time and Scandals Daughter is selling so well.
Looking forward to book#2. Well Done on a great launch!!!
Thank you so much to everyone for commenting on the party. It's been so busy here, it's a bit like the launch itself! Christine, huge congratulations again on your book hitting the stands. I'm sure it's not going to stay there long but will be in everyone's shopping bag when they go home from the bookshop! As Rosemary said, I can't wait for book 2!
Wow, Rosemary! Great to see you here. Thanks so much for a wonderful night and for your congratulations.
And thank you Foanna and everyone who dropped in today for allowing me to relive a lovely evening. I feel like I've had many celebrations this week.
Hey Christine!
That was a great book launch - the best I've been to! Great speeches, entertaining company. Food was fab too. :-) Rosemary's new shop looked a treat with lots of "romantic" touches - including many china busts of Victorian ladies. Pity about the bookshelf attacking me and causing much embarrassment and then Rosemary came over to adjust her misaligned bust and I just lost it and couldn't stop laughing - just what was in that soda water? *g*
Here's to many more books by the fabulous Christine Wells!
(((hugs)))
catherine
Congratulations on the release of Scandal's Daughter, Christine! The party looks like it was fabulous fun.
Great post, Anna... or should I now start calling you Foanna, Flynn?!
Oooh Christine! It sounds fabulous! I'm so sorry I couldn't be there!
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