OXFORDSHIRE author Christina Jones has been shortlisted for Best Comedy Romance for her book Heaven Sent.

Born in Oxford, Ms Jones grew up near Didcot, where she still lives.

She started her career as an author by writing a humorous column for The Oxford Times magazine Limited Edition.

She regaled readers with stories about her 27 different jobs - including shop assistant, waitress, cleaner, secretary, factory worker, market- researcher, nanny, bookseller, night-club dancer, civil servant, blood donor attendant, fruit-picker and barmaid - and her 17 rescued cats.

Her writing career took off in 1995 when she was voted runner-up for the new writers' scheme of the Romantic Novelists' Association, but she only became a published author in 1997, when Going the Distance sold to a publisher and was chosen for the 1997 WH Smith Fresh Talent Promotion.

Heaven Sent, the fourth in a series, set in a cluster of Berkshire villages, was inspired by Ms Jones's wedding and the heroine is an amateur firework maker.

She said: "The theme is one of my own particular passions - fireworks.

"I love fireworks so much that I got married on November 5 and had a firework wedding - fireworks, fish and chips and champagne on the village green."

Also shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan Awards for Comedy Romance are Stephen Clarke, Victoria Clayton, Lisa Jewell, Olivia Lichtenstein and Fiona Neill.

The winning author will be presented with a cheque for £5,000 at a London ceremony on June 18, hosted by comedian Jo Brand.

Judges include authors Joanna Trollope and Sophie Kinsella, comedy actors Jessica Hynes and Alan Davies and Tesco's head book buyer, Gaynor Allen.

Ms Brand said: "I'm always so busy - time allowed for reading in my life is about number 400 on my wish list. So, actually having to read these books is a joy beyond comprehension."