CHRISTMAS WITH… Amy Rose Bennett
CHRISTMAS WITH… Amy Rose Bennett
What are your plans for Christmas 2015?
We are going to have a very quiet Christmas at home this year as my husband will be working over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. We will probably have a nice roast dinner on Christmas Day when my husband comes home from work and delay having a bigger celebration until he has a few days off.
Tell us about a usual Christmas in your home?
The Christmas baking commences weeks before Christmas—there’s Christmas cake flavoured with rum, Christmas pudding flavoured with brandy, and vanilla shortbread. On Christmas Eve, we bake the ham and then (because we have been cooking all day) we have a simple dinner of ham on toast. Our usual celebrations on Christmas Day involve lots of catching up with family and close friends and lots of feasting! More often than not, we usually travel interstate to stay with family. Regardless of where we are, we always begin the day with present opening around the Christmas tree, followed by a champagne breakfast with ham and eggs. Then it’s a hot Christmas lunch (even if we are in North Queensland!) and when we can’t eat another bite, there’s generally a great deal of post-prandial slothing. In the evening, we usually pick a Christmas movie to watch together. ‘Love Actually’ and ‘Die Hard’ are always on the list!
Any gift in particular that you’d love to see wrapped under the tree?
I would love some eye-shadow by Urban Decay, a UK brand, and some Lemon Verbena Shower Gel by L’Occitane. And books—romance and cook books, perhaps Nigella Lawson’s latest (did I mention I love cooking?)
What is a typical Christmas lunch and/or dinner at your house?
Regardless of where we are, there’s always roast pork, chicken and turkey, left-over baked ham from breakfast and lots of roast veges. Very occasionally we have a cold seafood lunch and salads. Lunch is always followed by Christmas pudding and custard, or a Christmas cassata for those who don’t like pudding.
Tell us, what is the one dish that gets served every single year? Is there a story behind this?
I always make a stuffed turkey breast as my husband loves it. The stuffing contains, bacon, onion, grated pear, sage, macadamias and dried cranberries. There are hardly ever any leftovers the next day!
Essentials for an Aussie Christmas…
Family, friends, champagne and an air-conditioned room to nap.
Your best Silly Season survival tip?
Make sure you go for long walks after Christmas Day to keep the extra kilos at bay. And have lots of books on hand when the Christmas celebrations are done. I always think reading is the best way to relax.
What will you be reading this Christmas?
Anna Campbell’s A Pirate for Christmas and a few Georgette Heyer titles. I’ve only recently started to read her stories and I love her wit!
What have been your big achievements in 2015?
Successfully self-publishing my titles, and recently making a few best-seller lists on Amazon in Gothic romance with Lady Beauchamp’s Proposal, and in holiday and Regency romance with Mistletoe, Marriage, & Mayhem a Christmas collection of novellas by the Regency writers group the Bluestocking Belles – I’m one of the Belles. My first full-length novel Lady Beauchamp’s Proposal was also a finalist entry in a number of contests in 2015 so that has been a huge thrill. My book finalled in the 2014 Australian Romance Readers Awards in the ‘favourite historical category’ and the 2015 Carolyn Readers Choice Awards; it was runner-up in the 2015 Romance Writers of New Zealand’s Koru Awards for Excellence in the ‘Best First Book Category’; it received an honourable mention in the 2015 InD’Tale RONE Awards in the post-medieval section AND it was the winning entry in the Georgian/Regency/Victorian category in the 2015 Published Novels Contest run by the Hearts Through History Chapter of Romance Writers of America.
What are your plans/goals for 2016?
I have another full-length novel that has been contracted, coming out in 2016 (I can’t reveal the details just yet but I’m very excited about it). I have another erotic Regency novella in my self-published ‘Improper Liaisons’ series coming out on Valentine’s Day. The Bluestocking Belles have another box set of novellas planned for next year. I’ve recently submitted another full length Regency romance to a few editors and an agent so I’m looking forward to seeing how that goes. And I have plans to write another full-length novel so I’m going to be writing, a lot!
MISTLETOE, MARRIAGE, & MAYHEM is a collection of novellas by the Bluestocking Belles. Amy Rose Bennett’s contribution to the anthology is ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS…
A frosty bluestocking and a hot-blooded rake. A stolen kiss and a Yuletide wedding. Sparks fly, but will hearts melt this Christmas?
When confirmed bluestocking, Tessa Penrose, is thoroughly compromised at a Yuletide ball by Jasper, the Earl of Arlington, she is none too pleased to have to marry him. But not only her reputation is at stake. Can Tessa trust this disreputable rogue with a secret she will do anything to hide? One thing is certain: she dare not trust her husband with her heart.
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