Jaci Burton's Blog, page 39

Life Outside

Our daughter came over this weekend to give Lucy, our Aussie Shephard/Lab mix a shave. Lucy has an abundance of thick hair, and she gets really hot in the summer. That's why she has to have her own swimming pool (think mini pool–cheap and plastic). If we'd move Lucy to the frozen tundra of Iceland, she'd be one happy camper. This winter when there was two feet of snow and ice on the ground and the temps dropped to well below freezing, we brought the outside dogs in at night to keep them warm in the heated house. Yeah, Lucy wanted none of that. She begged to go outside so she could lay out on the ice. I think her internal thermostat is messed up.

But isn't she just adorable with her new shorter do?

The vegetable garden is growing like crazy. Nothing like hot temperatures and a lot of rain to get things going.

Our tomato plants and potatoes. There are also green peppers growing in there, but no way can you see them.

Our zucchini and yellow squash take over half this garden. The rest are peppers and herbs and a few onions. And we've been fighting squash bugs…ugly beetle looking things. Bleh. Hate bugs. We've got them on the run now, though.

Our onion plants look like they're about to give birth. Heh.

And a final shot…yes, this is what she likes to do…sit practically right on my feet. (But that face…so irresistible)

Carina Press Anniversary Winner!

Thanks to everyone who posted here yesterday and wished Carina Press a Happy Anniversary!

The winner on this blog, chosen by random.org is:

TAMMY RAMEY!

Congrats, Tammy! You will be contacted by Carina Press about your prize.

Thanks again everyone, and I hope you continue to frequent Carina Press for an amazing array of wonderful books!

Carina Press First Anniversary – Guest Blog and Contest!

Happy 1st Anniversary to Carina Press! It's hard to believe a year has gone by already since Carina first launched. So many new books have been released, and if you haven't been over there yet, you've really been missing out.

It's a thrill and an honor for me to write for Carina. Due to my insane schedule, I've only released one book with them, with another coming out this year. I hope to do more in the future because I love digital publishing, and Carina does it so well.

I'm hosting a blog for one of the Carina Press team today, so read on, congratulate them on their success, and check out the awesome contest!

~ Jaci

~~~~~~~

In celebration of our one year anniversary, I asked as many of our Harlequin team members and Carina Press freelance editors as possible to write a short blog post, talking about what the past year or so has been like for them, working on Carina Press. I deliberately didn't provide any direction other than that, because I wanted to see what people came up with, in the spirit of Carina's 1st anniversary. I was so pleased when I saw what they'd all come up with, and had to say (and some of these posts made me just a little teary)! I hope you enjoy the post, and look for your opportunity to win a Carina Press book at the bottom of this post. ~Angela James

As the Manager of Digital Content for Harlequin and Carina Press, Jenny Bullough oversees the production of all ebooks and manages digital-first workflow and deadlines. She is a voracious reader, an ebook evangelist, and she really, really likes color-coded Excel spreadsheets. You can follow her on Twitter.

By Jenny Bullough, Carina Press team member, former editor and current digital workflow specialist, and voracious digital reader

I can't believe it's only been a year since Carina launched! It's become such an integral part of my daily working life, and has fed so much of my personal reading, that I can't imagine a time when I wasn't a part of the Carina team.

What has it been like over the past year? Exciting. Exhilarating. Exhausting. Occasionally frustrating. And very fulfilling. Working with the Carina team has allowed me to once again flex my manuscript evaluation muscles and polish my meager copy-writing skills, while also letting me indulge my deep need for color-coded spreadsheets and intricate folder structures.

Digital-first can be challenging. We are continually looking for new and better ways to adapt traditional databases and systems that were designed for a print-only model to accommodate digital-first needs. Luckily I like things fast-paced, so the "breakneck speeds" of a digital publisher are right in my comfort zone!

Best of all, though, is that through Carina I've met and fallen in love with new genres and sub-genres like erotic romance, male/male, steampunk, and shifters, and rekindled my love affair with historical romance and mystery. And I've found so many new "must-read" authors that my ereader is constantly full of great stories just waiting to be read – which is, let's face it, pretty much a dream scenario for anyone who loves to read!

It's been a whirlwind first year and I can't wait to see what's around the corner!

To celebrate Carina's one year anniversary of publishing books, we're giving away some prizes. Today, on each of the nineteen blogs our team members are featured on, we're giving away a download of a Carina Press book to one random winner (that's nineteen total winners!) All you need to do to be entered to win is comment on this post. You can enter to win on all nineteen posts. In addition, on the Carina Press blog, we're giving away a grand prize of a Kobo ereader and 12 Carina Press books of the winner's choice. Visit the Carina Press blog to enter to win, and to see links to all 19 of today's blog posts.

And a sincere thank you from all of us, to our readers and authors, for making Carina Press's first year a success!

Shannon Stacey's YOURS TO KEEP Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered to win a copy of Shannon Stacey's YOURS TO KEEP!

I used random.org to select a winner. The winner is:

MICHELLE (MDJORDAN)

Congrats, Michelle! I'll be emailing you shortly.

ETA: Ooop, turns out Michelle already downloaded YOURS TO KEEP via Preorder (Yay for Michelle), so I had to pick another winner.

And the winner is:

DANIELLE WEST! Congrats Danielle. Emailing you now!

The rest of you, today is release day, so be sure to get out there and get a copy of YOURS TO KEEP at Carina Press, Amazon, B&N or your other favorite online retailer. This book rocks!

Shannon Stacey's Yours To Keep Giveaway!

If you haven't read Shannon Stacey's Kowalski series yet, you're really missing out. It's a fun, and often hysterically funny contemporary romance series about a family in the northeast. The guys are sexy and you want to make them yours, the women are smart and can hold their own with the Kowalski clan, and the secondary characters are nothing short of utterly memorable.

Shannon's third Kowalski book, YOURS TO KEEP, releases next Monday from Carina Press. I've read this book and I think it's Shannon's best book ever.

Sean Kowalski no sooner leaves the army than he's recruited by Emma Shaw to be her fake fiancé. Emma needs to produce a husband-to-be for her grandmother's upcoming visit, and, though Sean doesn't like the deception, he could use the landscaping job Emma's offering while he decides what to do with his civilian life. And, despite his attraction to Emma, there's no chance he'll fall for a woman with deep roots in a town he's not planning to call home.

Emma's not interested in a real relationship either; not with a man whose idea of home is wherever he drops his duffel bag. No matter how amazing his "pretend" kisses are…

You can read an excerpt of YOURS TO KEEP here

I'm going to give away a Kindle copy of this book, which I'll gift to the winner on Monday morning. You can read Kindle books on your Kindle, on a Kindle app on any digital device (phone, iPad, etc), and even on your PC.

To enter, tell me what you'd do if you had a landscaper come to your house or apartment. Plant a tree? Rip out your front or back yard and start over? We need some new trees on the east side of my house. We've lost so many because of the wicked winter storms we get out here in Oklahoma so the east side of the property is kind of barren right now. I'd also like another bird bath. We love to watch the birds.

Rules:

Must be 18 years old or older to enter

Contest void where prohibited

Good luck!

Kiss of Snow Winner(s)

Wow. Over 300 entries on the Kiss of Snow contest! Thanks to everyone who entered. And I loved hearing from all the international readers. Y'all are awesome. Thank you!

Since we had so many entries, I'm going to give away 3 copies of the book.

I used random.org to select the winners, and they are:

BECKY JEAN (rjs4444us)

MARY ANN STEIN

CHRISTINA V (CHRISTNA.VONG)

Congrats to the winners! Please email me at jaciATjaciburtonDOTcom with your mailing info and I'll get the book ordered for you right away!

I hope the rest of you run right out and buy KISS OF SNOW when it releases tomorrow! It's a fantastic book!

Nalini Singh's KISS OF SNOW – Giveaway!

It's no secret how much I love Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling series. I've talked about it before on this blog, and I've done giveaways of her books in this series on this blog. I LOVE this series.

Nalini's first hardcover release comes with KISS OF SNOW, to be released next week, and I couldn't be happier for her, or more excited about this book. I, along with many of Nalini's fans, have been anxiously waiting for Hawke and Sienna's story. Nalini has teased this relationship over the course of several books. And now it's finally here.

I got a sneak peek at this story and oh, it's well worth the wait. The romance between Hawke and Sienna is hot and sexy and passionate and will make your toes curl. The continuing storyline in the Psy/Changeling world is dynamic and suspensful and action packed. And if you haven't read this series yet, I couldn't recommend it more.

Since the moment of her defection from the PsyNet and into the SnowDancer wolf pack, Sienna Lauren has had one weakness. Hawke. Alpha and dangerous, he compels her to madness.

Hawke is used to walking alone, having lost the woman who would've been his mate long ago. But Sienna fascinates the primal heart of him, even as he tells himself she is far too young to handle the wild fury of the wolf.

Then Sienna changes the rules and suddenly, there is no more distance, only the most intimate of battles between two people who were never meant to meet. Yet as they strip away each other's secrets in a storm of raw emotion, they must also ready themselves for a far more vicious fight…

A deadly enemy is out to destroy SnowDancer, striking at everything they hold dear, but it is Sienna's darkest secret that may yet savage the pack that is her home…and the alpha who is its heartbeat…

I'm going to give away a copy of KISS OF SNOW here on the blog. To enter, tell me what you're going to be doing this weekend. I know it's Memorial Day weekend here in the U.S., so for those of you in the States, any big plans? For those of you elsewhere, what's up? I'm on deadline, so I'll be writing, writing, writing.

Rules:

Contest open internationally

Void where prohibited

Must be 18 years old or older to enter

I'll announce the winner on Monday, so be sure to pop back in to see if you've won.

Good luck!

You can read an excerpt for KISS OF SNOW here

Disclaimer: I'm not being compensated for this giveaway. I'm buying the book myself because I love and adore Nalini and her books.

The Heart of a Killer Sneak Peek and Preorder!

You guys, I'm so excited. THE HEART OF A KILLER is finally finished and will be released from MIRA on October 25th!! If you could only see me happy dancing over here…then again, maybe you don't want to see that.

I've updated my website with a Sneak Peek excerpt! You can click here to check it out.

Also, the book is now available for preorder! I'm so excited! Click here for the the Preorder links.

I also have an overview of the Killer series, including character info for The Heart of a Killer. You can find that here.

Hope you enjoy the first look at the book.

Auction Reminder!

Just 8 days left to bid in Brenda Novak's annual auction for Diabetes Research!

There are so many awesome items up for bid. Trips, computers, books, critiques, jewelry, lunches. You name it, it's up for bid.

I'm also giving away a tote bag filled with a butt load of autographed books by me and some amazing authors, along with an autographed t-shirt . I had all of these books autographed by the authors when I was at Lora Leigh's Reader Appreciation Weekend last year. Go check it out and bid on it here.

The Pit Stop

Biker Dude and I went out for dinner last night, and on the way home we HAD to stop at the store for a necessary item.

We were out of dental floss. I ran out of dental floss two days ago. It's an absolute must that we have floss in the house. And of course, while we were there I had to pick up a few more items that we were running low on that I couldn't run out of, like coffee creamer. I can't stand coffee without cream. Also, I was out of cereal. I can't be without cereal. I eat it every day for breakfast. These are essential items that if we run out, I panic. Oh, and bubblegum. I chew bubblegum while I write. It's my crack. Without bubblegum, serious withdrawal symptoms occur and I can't write.

What essential items can you not live without and have to make a dash to the store because you HAVE to have it? (Besides toilet paper, of course. That's a given…heh)