We are so excited to announce the nominations in this year’s Romance Writers of Australia Romantic Book of the Year (R*BY) Awards. The Romantic Book of the Year Award, or Ruby, is judged by Australian readers and writers, and this contest is open each year to any Australian or New Zealand author who has published a romance or romantic elements book.

The winners will be announced August 10th. Congrats to all the nominees. Good luck!

via GIPHY

Contemporary Romance

by Kelly Hunter

She refused his royal proposal…but will she let him unlock the passion within?

King Theodosius must find a queen in order to keep his throne, but his less than romantic proposal letter leaves sheltered Princess Moriana cold. So Theo decides to make Moriana an offer she can’t refuse. If she’ll consider becoming his bride he’ll heat things up by initiating his innocent queen into the pleasures of the marriage bed…

Find it here

by Penelope Janu

A warm-hearted rural romance about getting your life back on course … for fans of Tricia Stringer

A traumatic past, a charismatic stranger and a family legacy … Golden’s quiet country life is about to get messy …

When the diminutive but fiery Golden Saunders falls from her horse and smashes her leg irreparably, and her racing family is disgraced by a corruption scandal, she thinks she’s hit rock bottom.

Then the enigmatic Tor Amundsen, United Nations diplomat (read: spy), arrives on the scene and proves her wrong. His investigation into her family pulls her back into a world she had escaped, and the branch of the family she has tried to avoid at all costs. Tor is infuriated and frustrated by the impossible mixture of fragility and fierceness that is Golden, true, but he is also strangely protective of her.

Golden wants no part of it. Men have pushed her around her whole life. The last thing she needs is an arrogant, irritatingly handsome man telling her what to do. But it turns out Tor has a way with animals, children and, well, Golden…

Before too long, she finds their overwhelming attraction is overriding her good sense, and as they are both pulled deeper into the murky world of dirty money, things are about to get messy, and Golden’s small, quietly ordered life will change beyond recognition…

Can Golden overcome her fears and the shadows of the past and reach for a new kind of future? Will she ever be able to get her life back on the right track?

Find it here 

by Jacquie Underdown

A vineyard, a family in pain, and the healing magic of cupcakes…

Amy Jenkins, a talented and ambitious chef, is left humiliated and debt–ridden, after her city restaurant fails. When her best friend calls asking for help in her small town cupcake shop, Amy jumps at the chance to hide out in the small town of Alpine Ridge while her shattered ego mends.

The youngest Mathews brother, Tom feels over–looked and under–appreciated. His brothers remember every mistake, but never give him the responsibility or opportunity to take his place in the family business. So, he spends three weeks out of every month working at a mine in the back–end of nowhere. But then Amy moves to town to help run his pregnant sister–in–law’s bakery, and suddenly home seems to be where his heart is.

Amy’s move was only ever meant to be temporary, but when tragedy strikes the Mathews family, Amy finds herself unable to move on. As she and Tom get closer, Amy finds every excuse to stay: first, she claims it’s for the family, then she claims it’s for the shop. But maybe, it’s for her own heart…

Find it here 

by Elisabeth Rose

She’s been through hell, so risking her heart should be easy…

Anxious to rid herself and her twins of the dark memories from their past, twenty–three–year old Antonia moves to the small rural town of Flynn’s Crossing. Antonia is frightened but determined to be independent for the first time in her life, so she rents Mango House and settles in to the community to begin the process of healing.

Town councilor and local real estate agent Flynn has secrets. Guilt–ridden over a tragic childhood event, he fled the city and devotes his life to assisting others. He has big plans for Flynn’s Crossing. Without change, the town will shrivel and die. But the townspeople are resistant to his ideas, and his discussions with a luxury resort developer.

When Flynn first meets Antonia, he doesn’t know her sensationalised past, and Antonia feels normal for the first time. Slowly, as they get to know each other, to trust each other, Antonia begins to consider the possibility of something more. But when tensions over the resort development reach breaking point, she discovers that Flynn hasn’t been entirely honest, and her new beginning is at risk of ending. When Flynn has to choose between the town he’s devoted his life to and the woman he barely knows, can she trust that the man who healed her heart will treat it with care?

Find it here 

The Wedding Obsession

by Madeleine Ash

Emmie Morgan woke up from heart transplant surgery, saw her best friend Brandon Tan sitting by her bedside, and promptly asked him to marry her. If there was a faster way to ruin a friendship, she didn’t know it.

One year on, Bran has returned home to open a restaurant and Emmie adds trying to make amends to her already chaotic life. She’s also running her own music venue, battling survivor’s guilt—oh, and secretly tending a wedding obsession sprung from her near-death experience.

Bran needs answers. But all Emmie has are problems. Hating that he couldn’t help her last time, he resolves to ease the trouble in her eyes. He sets aside their attraction and awkward past and tries to focus on being friends again.

If she would just stop trying on wedding dresses…

Find out more 

Speculative Romance

Only her love can heal his broken soul…

Five hundred years ago, facing extinction, a group of powerful witches united to create a pact with the Were to save witch–kind. The pact expelled an ancient evil, known only as the Darkness, that was blocking the Were from their wolves. With the Darkness destroyed, the Packs and their Covens grew strong as they thrived beside each other in their brand–new world.

But the Darkness was not destroyed.

Wiccan Healer–Witch Bronwyn Kincaid wants a quiet life. Her new powers have other ideas. Her increased healing magic and empathy mean she can’t ignore the plight of River Collins, a wolf brought up thinking the animal inside him is an evil he must forever suppress. If Bronwyn can’t control her powers and help River accept his wolf, the evil Darkness that hunts the Were will use them to destroy those they love.

Find it here 

Edge of Eon 

by Anna Hackett 

Framed for a crime she didn’t commit, a wrongly-imprisoned space captain’s only chance at freedom is to abduct a fearsome alien war commander. 

Sub-Captain Eve Traynor knows a suicide mission when she sees one. With deadly insectoid aliens threatening to invade Earth, the planet’s only chance of survival is to get the attention of the fierce Eon Warriors. But the Eon want nothing to do with Earth, and Eve wants nothing to do with abducting War Commander Davion Thann-Eon off his warship. But when Earth’s Space Corps threaten her sisters, Eve will do anything to keep them safe, even if it means she might not make it back.War Commander Davion Thann-Eon is taking his first vacation in years. Dedicated to keeping the Eon Empire safe, he’s been born and bred to protect. But when he’s attacked and snatched off his very own warship, he is shocked to find himself face-to-face with a bold, tough little Terran warrior. One who both infuriates and intrigues him.When their shuttle is attacked by the ravenous insectoid Kantos, Eve and Davion crash land on the terrifying hunter planet known as Hunter7. A planet designed to test a warrior to his limits. Now, the pair must work together to survive, caught between the planet and its dangers, the Kantos hunting them down, and their own incendiary attraction.

Find it here

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Historical Romance

The King’s Obsession 

by Tanya Bird

Love is long-suffering… but she has suffered long enough.

Behind every Companion is a mentor who must prepare her for the role. For nine years, Petra has existed within the castle walls. For nine years, the king has taken whatever he pleases—even her son. When tragedy strikes, Petra realises she can either accept her fate or run from it. But the man who owns her will stop at nothing to keep her. To survive, she must put her trust in enemy hands. To heal, she must learn to open her heart.

Sir Leksi is the prince’s right hand man and Syrasan’s fiercest knight. He is also the kingdom’s most notorious womaniser. When he stumbles across a runaway in the woods, he is surprised to learn her identity, but even more surprised when he is ordered to protect her. Intrigued by the hunted mentor, he decides to see what lies beneath the unsmiling face and vacant gaze. What he discovers might change him forever…

Romantic Elements

Tangled Vines 

by Megan Mayfair

Amelia O’Sullivan is a photographer who has always viewed herself through the wrong lens. When her marriage publicly crashes around her, she flees to the safety of her aunt’s country property to pick up the pieces. Can she adjust her focus to what she really wants from her life?

Born into a wealthy and powerful family, Frederick Doyle may seem like a man who has it all, but behind the scenes, a bitter business feud threatens an irrevocable family split. As he fights for control of the winery he’d built from the ground up, he finds a supportive ally in Amelia and becomes increasingly beguiled by her creative spirit.

Jill McMahon is a successful novelist suffering from writer’s block over her latest manuscript. Finding her niece, Amelia, at her door, reminds her of the bonds of family, but in seeing Amelia and Frederick’s relationship grow, a long-forgotten and painful secret threatens to re-surface.

Can Amelia, Frederick and Jill untangle themselves from their pasts or will history simply repeat itself?

Hearts of Resistance 

by Soraya M. Lane

At the height of World War II, three women must come together to fight for freedom, for the men they love—and for each other.

When Hazel is given the chance to parachute into Nazi-occupied France, she seizes the opportunity to do more for the British war effort than file paperwork. Alongside her childhood friend, French-born Rose, she quickly rises up the ranks of the freedom fighters. For Rose, the Resistance is a link to her late husband, and a way to move forward without him. What starts out as helping downed airmen becomes a bigger cause when they meet Sophia, a German escapee and fierce critic of Hitler who is wanted by the Gestapo. Together the three women form a bond that will last a lifetime.

But amid the turmoil and tragedy of warfare, all three risk losing everything—and everyone—they hold dear. Will their united front be strong enough to see them through?

Find it here 

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Romantic Suspense

Glass Clouds: Her Dangerous Stranger 

by Suzanne Cass 

Her survival depends on a dangerous stranger.

Charlize Brewer is in France to recuperate from the physical and mental scars of a horrific crash that ended her career as a police officer. But her search for a peaceful life is shattered when a wounded man climbs over her garden wall to escape the gangsters pursing him.
Undercover agent, Jean-Luc Munulo, leaves as soon as it’s safe, believing it’s the last time he’ll ever see the beguiling woman who saved his life. But when Charlize becomes an unwitting target of the mobster he’s hunting, Jean-Luc’s forced to take her on the run with him as they try to stay one step ahead of the gang and its vicious leader.
Jean-Luc is drawn to this vulnerable, scarred woman with a core of steel. And Charlize is falling for him. They need each other to survive, but will she be able to overcome her demons to do her part when the time comes?

Glass Clouds is a romantic suspense full of adventure, passion and danger, set in the stunning lavender fields of Provence. If you like a bit of spice in your romance, then you’ll love Suzanne Cass’s page-turning story.

Find it here 

Mission: Her Protection 

by Anna Hackett