Jaci Burton's Blog, page 46

My Favorite Reads of 2010

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! Is it just me or do these things seem to come along pretty damn fast every year?

Everyone seems to be doing their favorite reads of 2010 lists, so I figured I'd do mine.

I read some great books this year, and want to share some of my favorites:

[image error] Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis – This is the first Jill Shalvis book I ever read. Yeah, where the hell have I been? Read it, loved it, then proceeded to devour Jill's entire backlist. I'll read the phone book if Jill writes it. She's an autobuy for me now, and I'm kicking myself for not reading her sooner.

[image error] Same for Julie James. I hadn't read her either before this year. What can I say? Sometimes I'm a little slow. But once I catch up? Get out of my way. I've read everything Julie has written, and if you love fun, sexy contemporary romance, so should you. My favorite…well my favorite is a book that isn't out yet (lucky me…heh), but otherwise JUST THE SEXIEST MAN ALIVE was one of my favorites.

[image error]Shannon Stacey is one of my best friends.  Just going to give you a heads up on that. And now I'm going to tell you how wonderful EXCLUSIVELY YOURS was. It was fun, it was laugh out loud funny, and it was romantic as hell. And if you haven't read it yet, you've missed out on one of the best books of the year. She did everything right with this book–romance, family, comedy, and happily ever after. And she made me very jealous that I didn't write this book.

[image error] Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh – I have been a fan of Nalini's Psy/Changeling series since book 1. I'm amazed and in awe of Nalini's talent to create such a broad, ever changing world, and to keep her readers enthralled and on the edge of their seats waiting for the next installment. I'm one of those readers. Her talent is limitless and Max and Sophie were heartbreaking and romantic. I loved this book. I can't wait for Hawke's book in 2011.

[image error]Another disclaimer – Maya Banks is another good friend of mine, but even if she wasn't I would devour everything she wrote, and beg to read it early. Her KGI series debuted this year, and it's amazing. Hot, sexy, suspenseful, filled with dynamic, emotional characters you root for, and heroes and heroines that make you ache. I love the way this woman writes (and also hate her just a little bit for her limitless talent *g*). NO PLACE TO RUN was the second book in this series, and my favorite so far.

[image error] HAPPY EVER AFTER by Nora Roberts – Nobody but nobody does romance like Nora Roberts. I read the first three books in Nora's bride quartet back to back, then gnashed my teeth and wished I had waited to read all four at once, because I couldn't wait for Parker's story. Unfortunately, I had to, and when it released, it was so worth the wait. I loved this quartet of stories. And okay, I'm a big sappy romantic and I love stories about friendship. Happy Ever After made me sob and was my favorite read of the year. I will read this quartet of stories again and again, because I fell in love with all the characters in these books.

There were so many more great books I read that I loved, but those are the highlights. I have several on my To Be Read pile that I bought last year and I can't wait to dig into.

And yes, as you can tell I'm a big fan of contemporary romance!

According to my Goodreads account I only read 37 books last year. That amount seems so pathetically low. As I went over the list I knew there were some missing that I didn't get loaded in there, but hell if I know which ones they were, and I'm not about to go figure it out now. Who has the time? The problem of spending so much time writing is that I don't have much leisure time to read. But I know I read more last year than I read the year before, so that's a good thing. And I think I'll make that a resolution for 2011–more reading time!! We'll see how it goes.

So what was your favorite read of 2010? Share and I might pick up some new favorites [image error]

My Year In Review

It's been a stellar year for me, and I can't let it end without reviewing it here.

Some of the highlights of my year are as follows:

1. I got to be in an anthology with an author I've known for years, and have admired since I first became published–Lora Leigh. She knows how much I love her. And if you haven't read NAUTI & WILD, what are you waiting for?

2. I also attended Lora Leigh's Reader Appreciation Weekend (RAW) for the very first time. Lora has been trying to get me to come to RAW for years, and my schedule hasn't been conducive to go, but this year I finally got to attend, and I had the best time ever. Honestly, if you get a chance to go to this event, please do. It's a relaxed, fun atmosphere where readers and authors can interact. I've never had so much fun & can't wait for next year!

3. I made the New York Times and the USA Today bestseller lists for the first time. It was a huge milestone in my career, and I'm oh so grateful to Lora Leigh and to all you wonderful readers for helping make that happen.

4. I wrote my first book for Harlequin's MIRA line. Since I first started writing romance, it had been my dream to be published by Harlequin. That dream will become a reality when HEART OF A KILLER releases in 2011.

5. Though technically, my first book did release with Harlequin in 2010, through Carina Press, the digital only branch of Harlequin. Carina Press is a brand new publisher for me this year, and in fact, launched their first books this year. So if you haven't read any of their books yet, go check them out. They have some amazing offerings. And have you all read ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS?

6. I went to the Romance Writer's of America (RWA) conference in Orlando, Florida, and made some new friends who I love dearly. Shout outs to my new bench pals Laurie, Vicki and Megan. I can't wait to see you all next year in New York!

7. I received some of the best covers ever this year, two of which are for books releasing next year. I'm a very lucky author:

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8. I was nominated for a RT BookReviews Reviewer's Choice Award for Erotic Romance for Riding The Night. I'm so honored by this nomination, and I'm in a category with several amazing authors.

9. I published 5 books this year:

LACED WITH DESIRE

BOUND, BRANDED & BRAZEN

NAUTI & WILD

RIDING THE NIGHT

ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS

10. I wrote 4 books and 2 proposals. Three of those books were full length, one was a novella. The proposals were for my romantic suspense series. I'm really tired just thinking about all the words I wrote this year, plus all the editing I did, and I don't do even half the word count some of my friends do.

11. And speaking of friends–Several friends kept me sane this year when things got rough and I needed someone to hold my hand or vent or whine. So extra special love to Shannon Stacey, Maya Banks, Larissa Ione, Stephanie Tyler, Lauren Dane and Angela James who are always there for me when I need them.

12. I launched a beautiful brand new website this month, thanks to the brilliance of everyone at Wax Creative Design! And I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

13. I've set up a Facebook Fan Page, so if you haven't liked my Fan Page yet, please do so. Lots of fun stuff coming up there very soon!

Last but definitely not least–I think of what an amazing year I've had–what an amazing decade I've had. I first started seriously writing romance in 2001, and published my first book in 2003. It's hard to believe it's only been 7 years since I published my first book. I have to acknowledge that I wouldn't have enjoyed this incredible 7 years without the awesome readers who bought my first books, and who continue to follow me book after book.

Authors are nothing without the readers who support them, and I am humbly, truly grateful for all of you. Thank you all so much for helping me realize my dreams.

I wish you all a happy, healthy, prosperous 2011, filled with hot romance and great books.

Stay safe out there if you're going out to party tonight!

The Down Week, Football and New Years Eve

So typically the week between Christmas and New Years is the down week. People are on vacation, most of the publishing world is definitely on vacation, and its quiet out there.

Now me, I'm working. I have revisions due on a book soon, but it's nice to have the quiet time to work on it. I'm not on vacation, sadly. Are any of you on vacation, and if you are, what are you doing this week? Let me live vicariously through you.

But all this week is BCS Bowl Week, which if you're a fan of college football you know what I'm talking about. Every night we've been watching the bowl games. Since we're Oklahoma Sooners fans, we're rooting for the Big 12 teams this week (so far the Big 12 is 1-2…not a great showing, but there's still hope since there are more games to be played.)

And of course tomorrow is New Years Eve. We're not big partiers. We'll go out to dinner–early to avoid the crowds and the drunks, then head home to–you guessed it–watch football!

And on New Years Day, this should come as no surprise to any of you, but we'll be watching football.

Anyone have big New Years Eve plans?

Happy Aftermath!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or in whatever way you celebrate!

We had a great Christmas here. And now I'm glad it's over. As is my tradition, I took down all the decorations the day after Christmas, put them all away and put my house back to normal again. By this time of year I am so over the holiday I don't even want to see anything red and green again for another year. But hey, the presents were nice! Heh.

My best gifts were framed photos of family sent by both my boys. They're already up on the wall of family photos in my living room. I miss the kids (the grown ones and the little ones) a lot, so having photos always helps keep them close. And with us in Oklahoma and both boys and their families out in California, photos and videos are the best gifts ever. Fortunately college girl spent Christmas Day with us and we enjoyed having her around. She's usually at school or busy working or with her social life when she is home, so having a day with her was extra special.

Now I'm back to work on revisions for HEART OF A KILLER. My MIRA editor sent me an extra special gift right before Christmas–a sneak peek at the cover for the book. It's so awesome. I can't wait to share it with you! But first I have to get back to work and finish the book!

Share any special gifts you received. Did anyone get e-readers for Christmas?

The Perfect Play News!

I just received some wonderful news about THE PERFECT PLAY!

RT BookReviews gave THE PERFECT PLAY 4 1/2 Stars and  a TOP PICK in their upcoming February issue!

Here's what they had to say about the book:

Put together a super hunky football player, a sexy single mom and the high-voltage worlds of sports and entertainment and you already have a good story — but in the hands of the talented Burton, the characters leap off the page and the romance sparkles as the sex sizzles.

Reviewed by Pat Cooper

Thank you RT, and Pat!

My New Website is Live!!!

My new website is live!

I'm SO excited to share it with you! Please come in, take a look at all the new features. I hope you browse the book pages and take a look at the connected book series. Just as a note, not all my books are highlighted this way. I've written way too many to go that far back, so I just did my Wild Riders series and, going forward.

I hope you also look at the Coming Soon page to see what's coming up next and look at some of the book pages to see how easy it is to order books both in print and digitally.

Okay, as you can tell I'm just so excited for you to see everything, but I'd really love for you to go to the site and browse, and I hope you love it enough to stay around and click for a few pages. And if you feel like telling me what you like that might just make my day. We've worked very hard on this new site. If you see anything that looks wonky, please do let me know!

There's more about me on this site and more about all my books. I hope it's easier to navigate, and of course I'd love your feedback, so feel free to post your thoughts here or use the contact form on my site.

I'd like to thank Wax Creative for making my new site so beautiful and so functional. The entire team worked so hard these past several months. Wax Creative is teamed by brilliant and creative minds and I couldn't have done this without them! They've created the websites of some of my very favorite authors like Maya Banks, Stephanie Tyler, Sylvia Day and others, which is why I chose them to do mine.

Welcome to the new site!

Blog Hiatus

Just a note to let you all know that my blog will be going on a short hiatus while my web designers move all my archived blog posts from my current site to the soon-to-be-brand-new-website. As soon as I unveil the new website (hopefully very soon!!!) I'll be back on the blog.

See you soon!!

Guest Blogging!

I'm guest blogging all over the place today!

I'm at Novel Thoughts today. Actually, all the authors of the Naughty and Nice collection are guest blogging over there this week. Check our blogs all week and you have a chance to win the Naughty and Nice collection!

I'm also over at the Carina Press blog today talking about holiday traditions.

Annnnd, I'm at Fresh Fiction today talking about small town romance.

So if you just can't get enough of me (ha!), come see me…everywhere!!! I'll love you forever. Honest. [image error]

ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS is Released!!

It's release day!!!!

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ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS is now available for purchase at the Carina Press site!

You can also purchase ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS here at Amazon for Kindle, or at Barnes and Noble for Nook, or at many third party ebook retailers.

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Also, the entire Naughty and Nice collection can be bought at a discount from the individual books, if you want to order the contemporary collection by me, Shannon Stacey, Lauren Dane and Megan Hart, instead of buying them individually. Lots of yummy contemporary goodness! Click here to purchase NAUGHTY AND NICE from Carina Press.

Naughty and Nice is also available from Barnes and Noble for Nook and Amazon for Kindle, as well as third party ebook retailers.

Happy reading!

Naughty & Nice Holiday Giveaway Winners!!!

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the Naughty & Nice Holiday Giveaway!

We had over 500 entries among all 4 blogs!!

I used random.org to select the prize for this blog.

The winner of the $25 Amazon Gift Certificate and a download of ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS is:

CECILE SMITH (Comment #74)

Congrats, Cecile! I'll be emailing you shortly to get your prizes to you!

We drew among all 4 blogs for the GRAND PRIZE OF A KINDLE 3G and the winner was:

SUSANR , comment #45 on my blog! Congratulations, Susan! I'll be emailing you shortly to get your information.

Thank you again everyone, and be sure to check out Shannon's, Lauren's and Megan's blogs for their prize winners!