Amanda Ashby profile picture

Amanda Ashby

Everything tastes better with chocolate

About Me

I'm a writer who was born in Australia but have spent the last ten years dividing my time between England and New Zealand. My first book is called, YOU HAD ME AT HALO (NAL Out now!!!!) and is about a woman who dies with unresolved issues and comes back in the body of her geeky co-worker in order to sort them out. What could be more fun than a story of life, death and body sharing? ............................................................ .................I've also got a young adult book called, ZOMBIE QUEEN OF A NEWBURY HIGH (Puffin Spring 2009), about a girl who accidently turns her entire school into zombies and has to find a cure before she ends up as the main course ............................................................ ...................You can find out more at www.amandaashby.com and http://amandaashby.blogspot.com/ ............................................................ ...................Here are some of my reviews for You Had Me at Halo: ............................................................ ................... “It’s The Lovely Bones meets Bridget Jones in this fluffy take on what happens after death. It's a fun, witty traipse through the afterlife.” Publisher’s Weekly ............................................................ ................... “This book has a delightfully quirky concept that develops into a fun and interesting story. Peopled with a fascinating variety of characters, it also has an intriguing mystery and a charmingly different type of interaction between the hero and heroine. Expect a delightful tale with a wonderfully distinctive ending.” 4½ stars Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine ............................................................ ...................“Drop-dead funny. Readers will fall inlove with Holly Evans – a girl who won’t let a little thing like death keep her from getting everything she wants out of life.” Brenda Scott Royce, Author of Monkey Love........................................................ ....................... “Who knew the afterlife could be so funny? Dead – it’s the new alive!” Allison Rushby, Author of Friday Night Cocktails

My Interests

writing, reading, watching tv, Liverpool Football Club, reading waaaaaaay too many celebrity gossip blogs,

I'd like to meet:



Music:

Snow Patrol, U2, Counting Crows, Veruca Salt, Pink, Split Enz, INXS, Meatloaf, Neil Diamond, Johny Cash, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Simon and Garfunkel, David Bowie, Elvis, The Beatles

Movies:

Princess Bride, Star Wars, Clueless, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Serentity, The Castle, Galaxy Quest, Valley Girls, Breakfast Club, Once Were Warriors, Shaun of the Dead, Adventures in Babysitting, Lost Boys.

Television:

Angel, Buffy, Firefly, 24, Angel, Angel, Angel (did I say that one already?), Big Brother (UK version), My Name is Earl, How I Met Your Mother, Friends (sniff. Has it really ended? I'm still in mourning.), Supernatural, Hex (thanks to my fab agent for putting me onto this one)

Books:

Here is a random selection of some of my favourite authors, though it doesn't come close to covering it.Julie Kenner, Michelle Rowan, Shanna Swendson, Stephanie Rowe, Georgette Heyer, Jilly Cooper, Jane Austen, Janet Evanavich, Jill Mansell, Katie Fforde, Christina Jones, Liz Young, Betty Neels, Essie Summers, Raymond E Feist, Sarah Mason, Ursula le Guin, Anne MaCaffery, Christopher Paolini, Eoin Colfer

Heroes:


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My Blog

A little meme and a little Tera Lynn Childs

The lovely Tera Lynn Childs tagged me with a cute meme the other day and I thought that while I did the meme, it would also be a great time to talk about Tera's debut young adult book, Oh. My. God...
Posted by Amanda Ashby on Fri, 09 May 2008 12:01:00 PST

GCC presents Shanna Swendson

Today I'm touring Shanna Swendson and her latest Katie Chandler book, Don't Hex with Texas, but before I begin, I've just got to say that I seem to have fallen into some weird time rift, because I...
Posted by Amanda Ashby on Tue, 06 May 2008 04:45:00 PST

American Title Winner

Woot! I'm so thrilled that Helen Scott Taylor has won the Romantic Times/Dorchester American Title Winner. And she's from England! Gotta love it! Anyway, as most of you know by now, I read Helen's ...
Posted by Amanda Ashby on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:38:00 PST

Tina Ferraro

Well, I ended up having a lovely birthday. I got some nice presents and my kids were pretty adorable when they blew out my candles for me. I even got some red high heeled shoes, which somehow seems...
Posted by Amanda Ashby on Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:57:00 PST

Happy Release Day Michelle Rowen!!!!

Hurrah! Today is the official release of Michelle Rowen’s Lady and the Vamp, which is cause for tres excitement. Some of you might know that Michelle is one of my fav writers ever, mainly be...
Posted by Amanda Ashby on Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:40:00 PST

A quick round up

I’m not really here, you can’t see me, but if I was here (which I’m not) I’d probably mention that I’m blogging over at the groovy, Shelley Munro’s today ...
Posted by Amanda Ashby on Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:38:00 PST

Meet Marta Acosta

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I had planned to post this on Saturday but life and whatnot got in the way. Anyway, today I’ve got a very funny interview with Marta Acosta, who as I’ve mentioned...
Posted by Amanda Ashby on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:04:00 PST

My Perfect Sunday Morning

Don't you just love it when you wake up and all is well in your world?   This morning I sat in bed and wrote a half a chapter while my kids played (quietly) and my husband was in the kitchen maki...
Posted by Amanda Ashby on Sat, 08 Mar 2008 02:19:00 PST

Split by a Kiss

Some of you might remember that awhile ago I did a big boasty thing about how I suddenly managed to wrangle a whole heap of arcs. Well, one of them was a young adult book called Split by a Kiss by ...
Posted by Amanda Ashby on Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:57:00 PST

GCC presents Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Give us a J. Give us an E. Give us an...okay, so I admit it that I've never done a cheer in my life, since there really wasn't much call for it in suburban Brisbane where I grew up, but thanks t...
Posted by Amanda Ashby on Tue, 26 Feb 2008 01:47:00 PST