Behind the Shortlist – Press release!

Choc Lit has six books included in the recently announced 2013 Festival of Romance shortlists. The publisher has also been shortlisted for two industry awards, having snaffled one of them in 2012.

While it is helpful commercially when a book is shortlisted, very little information about the books on the list is usually made public, with attention usually centring on the eventual winners of each award, once the judges have made their decision. In a bid to change the status quo, the publisher has released the following information about their shortlisted titles.

Hubble Bubble by Jane Lovering and Is This Love? by Sue Moorcroft have made the shortlist for Best Romantic Read 2013. Hubble Bubble, which was a Book of The Month on the iBookstore in June takes a tongue in cheek look at modern witchcraft. Heroine Holly Grey feels a bit silly mixing potions on the moors, and has only joined the coven to prevent her ditzy best mate from being taken advantage of. But then, to Holly’s disgust, some of the amateur witches’ spells start having an impact.

Is This Love? by Sue Moorcroft will be published in paperback on 7 November, on the eve of the festival. Sue, who won this category in 2011, has returned to her fictional village of Middledip. The Rix familys’ lives have been changed forever by the hit and run that left their daughter Lyddie brain damaged. Lyddie needs constant care, and the aftermath of her accident tests the boundaries of different types of love and forgiveness.

Choc Lit also has two shortlisted titles for the best Historical Read award. Christina Courtenay’s The Gilded Fan, is about Midori, the orphaned daughter of a Japanese Warlord, and her journey to Europe aboard a ship in the employ of the Dutch East India Company. Lovereading described it as, “Gorgeous, a highly enjoyable read.”

Liz Harris will compete against Christina Courtenay for the Best Historical Romance. A Bargain Struck, set in Wyoming 1887, was described by the Daily Mail as “another sure hit.” This austere tale of the loveless bargain struck by a widowed homesteader who advertises for a woman to help raise his daughter, and Ellen O’Sullivan, who applies for the job, has proved popular on both sides of the Atlantic. Liz Harris is also competing in the short romance category with The Art of Deception.

In the ebook category Laura James’ Truth or Dare is amongst five titles shortlisted. Laura is a promising new talent, and one of a collection of authors to publish their first novel with Choc Lit. In Truth or Dare, Laura tackles some thorny issues, showing that contemporary romantic fiction is not all flowers and swooning heroines. Declan O’Brien is a problematic figure. Having sworn never to be a father, he has parenthood thrust upon him when the love of his life is raped but determined to have the baby.

Ends