Ally Blake

Ally is a hopeless romantic. She had no choice; it was in the blood, as she was born into a family of romance reading women. She remembers bagloads of books being passed on at family gatherings from her mother, her cousins, her aunt, even her grandmother. She also remembers slithering under the spare bed at her grandmother's house and finding an ever evolving treasure trove of Mills & Boon books. Still today, when staying over at her folks place, there are always a couple of Mills & Boon must-reads left waiting by her bed. Ally's first real job after completing her Bachelor of Arts degree was as a professional cheerleader. And, yes, that's a real job! For three years she danced for a grand final winning rugby league football team, a basketball team and on a weekly television show. After dancing came acting. What an unusual progression, you may say with more than a hint of sarcasm. Ally was quite happily roped into acting in friends' short films. She even wrote numerous scripts herself to try to give herself a better angle at becoming a rich and famous Academy Award–winning actress. And that was how she met her husband. He was the big new thing at a local television station and Ally was a bright-eyed and bushy tailed newcomer who fell for his big talk and his big heart. Ally married her hubby, Mark, in Las Vegas, and it was a blast! Their families and a couple of close friends came along for the ride. They travelled around California (where she developed an unhealthy addiction to Starbucks Frappuccinos) together before going to Nevada for the wedding. They met Hugh Hefner at Disneyland and Tony Curtis in Las Vegas. After being told on the Sunday before Ally's wedding that she was getting married on the Wednesday, Tony Curtis leaned in and said,