C.J. Burright's Blog, page 26
June 6, 2014
Sizzling Summer Reads Party
I know it’s not quite summer yet, but it’s never to early to pretend that it is, right?
Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net/Gualberto107
Drag out your floppy hat, strappy sandals, and sunscreen. Don your bikini, shades, and grab a frosty beverage, cuz there’s a party going on right now! But don’t bring a beach read with you. Instead, win a book or two at The Romance Reviews Sizzling Summer Reads party. There’s a $100 gift certificate grand prize, not to mention four weeks of giveaways – lots of books and other prizes – and games galore. The prizes change every week, so don’t miss out. Especially week four, ahem. I’m giving away a copy of Wonderfully Wicked. But if you’re not feeling lucky and/or don’t want to wait, Wonderfully Wicked is on sale right now for 99 cents. That’s 99 pennies, people! Plus, you’d be saving $3 of your hard-earned cash.
Contest Mechanics – click here to see all prizes
Major Prizes
Want to be eligible to win the Grand Prize of $100 Gift Certificate – click here to see all prizes, and other major prizes? Here’s how.
The Objective!
Match up all the book covers in the Matching Covers Game below. If you complete it, that’s 1 chance. Play and complete the Matching Covers Game everyday, and that will give you maximum of 30 chances to win any of the major prizes.
Each player starts the game with 10 clicks (number of times to open the covers).
Get More Clicks (chances)!
Each correct Q&A you answer gives you 2 additional clicks.
The more Q&A you answer, the more clicks you have to match all the covers.
If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.
Click on the “Reset” button, and the number of clicks you earned will be restored and you can try again to complete a new Matching Covers Game.
Weekly Prizes – click here to see all prizes
Over 100 prizes each week!
How to increase your chances of winning?
Tip: Rack up your points!
How to accumulate points:
Answer the questions correctly – 10 points and x2 multiplier each (You start off with x1 multiplier.)
Visit the featured books to read more – 5 points each
Chat with authors in our Books and Authors pages to join in the discussion or to start one yourself! (Tabs are located on the menu bar above for each of Romance, Erotic and GLBT.) – 1 point each
Illustration and Calculation of points:Assume you made 2 visits that week to play the game.
Day 1
Points
7 correct answers = 70 points x 15multiplier
1050 points
Click on 1 featured book = 5 points x 15 multiplier
75 points
2 comments = 2 points x 15 multiplier
30 points
Day 1 total points
1155 points
Week 1
Points
Day 1 total points
1155 points
Day 2 total points (assume you get 2300 points)
2300 points
Week 1 total points
3455 points
Tip: It is very important to get the correct answers to the questions to get a high multiplier.
Each week, we have more than 100 prizes to give away!
Tip: Rack up your points!
So, what are you waiting for? Go and play!
For questions, email carole @ theromancereviews.com
June 4, 2014
Outlander Count Down
I don’t know about you, but I’m super-psyched and super-impatient for August 9 to just get here already! Join me today in my dreamy sighing over Outlander’s premiere on Geeks. See ya over there. 
May 28, 2014
I’ve Seen the Light
I confess. My teenage self used to be a book snob…in a nerdy way. No freakin’ way would you catch me reading a romance. If it didn’t have swords, magic, and adventure, forget it. And I admit it, I thought anyone who read a romance had to be a fluff-headed girly-girl whose highest aspirations included wedding bells and a clan of ankle-biters. Marital bliss. Pfft.
I knew nothing.
freedigitalphotos.net/Sharron Goodyear
Visit me on GHS for the rest of the post!
May 21, 2014
Judge a Book by it’s Cover
I don’t care what the sages say. We do judge books by their covers, right? A cover is what makes us pause whatever we’re doing and give the book a second look. It’s what spurs us to flip it over (or click, depending on where we’re book-hunting) and read the blurb. Titles might catch the eye, but add it with an awesome cover and BOOM!
Join me for the rest of my post on GHS! Drop in and say hi!
May 16, 2014
Blog Field Trip and Author Spotlight – Cherie Colyer
I’m visiting at author Rebekah Ganiere’s VampWereZombie blog today – swing by and say “hey”…but more importantly…
I’ve got the amazing YA author Cherie Colyer visiting today, and there’s something important you need to know: Challenging Destiny is FREE on Amazon until May 17! I snagged mine, but you’ve only got one day left, people, so hop to it!
Being Chosen is a terrible thing when
there’s no one you can trust.
Logan Ragsdale and his younger sister, Ariana, have been marked, chosen to be unwilling participants in a war between angels and demons.
Logan can sense something’s not quite right. Like an unexpected chill on a summer’s day, he can feel the unseen closing in. He’s had these feelings before and, each time, someone close to him died. He’s afraid this time it might just be Ariana.
Logan’s fears are soon confirmed when he discovers their new friends aren’t human, but rather representatives from Heaven and Hell sent to Earth to ensure he and Ariana accept their roles in an ancient prophecy. Demons want Logan to open the gates of Hell. Ariana has the power to stop them, but if she chooses to side with Heaven to spare the lives of thousands of innocent people, she’ll damn her brother for eternity.
Together, they must derail the biblical event if they hope to save themselves and the future of mankind…but what price are they willing to pay to keep the other safe?
The Wild Rose Press, Black Rose Imprint * Amazon * Amazon UK
Now available on Kindle – Worldwide release: July 11, 2014
And now, for some author torture questions. I assure you, Cherie answered these voluntarily…eventually.
CJ: In Embrace, Madison and her newfound magic (not to mention Isaac) are so interesting…do you plan to write any more books in the Embrace Series?
CC: I’m so glad you like them. Hold Tight, book two in the series, is now available, and I’m almost finished writing the third book.
CJ: In your newest release, Challenging Destiny, who is your favorite character and why?
CC: Oh, this is a hard one, because I really like Logan and Ariana. But I’m going to have to say Kira Rose. There’s more to her than meets the eye, as Logan and Ariana quickly discover. She’s impulsive, hates to lose, and time has made her ruthless. But she’s also passionate and she fights for what she wants. She’s very human, even though she’s not human at all.
CJ: Looking forward to reading Challenging Destiny!
CJ: Do you prefer to write kissing scenes or fight scenes?
CC: I actually enjoy them both for different reasons. I love the romance in kissing scenes, and I like the challenge of making a fight scene come alive.
CJ: What’s your current WIP?
CC: Book three in the Embrace Series. :)
CJ: What would your DJ name be?
CC: C—
CJ: What? Not the Groovy, Get Down C-Thing?
CJ: What are you currently reading?
CC: Speak of the Devil by Shawna Romkey
CJ: Which character of yours would you like to meet?
CC: Caden from Hold Tight. He’s been around a long time, has seen empires rise and fall, met a lot of people, loves music, art, and literature… a conversation with him would be fascinating.
Favorites Flash Round
Ice cream: Java
Movie: Practical Magic
Book Boyfriend: Bones from One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost.
Season: Autumn
TV show: It was the Vampire Diaries, but the verdict is still out on this season.
CJ: I’m a Damon fan. So long as he’s in it, I’ll watch.
Drink: Coffee
Shoes: In spring/summer, my flip flops. In fall/winter, dress boots
Artist: I’m always adding to this list, so there are too many to name. I recently discovered Josephine Wall.
Sports team: I’m not a sports fan.
CJ: The baseball fan in me will let that slide…this time.
Guilty pleasure: Dove chocolate and white wine
CC: Thanks for having me here.
CJ: And thanks so much for squirming through my torture session!
EMBRACE - Omnific Publishing, December 2011
Sometimes you end up hurting the ones you love.
You find you can’t save them or yourself.
Madison is familiar enough with change, and she hates everything about it. Change took her long-term boyfriend away from her. It caused one of her friends to suddenly hate her. It’s responsible for the death of a local along with a host of other mysterious happenings. But when Madison meets a hot new guy, she thinks her luck is about to improve.
Madison is instantly drawn to the handsome and intriguing Isaac Addington. She quickly realizes he’s a guy harboring a secret, but she’s willing to risk the unknown to be with him.
Her world really spins out of control, however, when her best friend becomes delusional, seeing things that aren’t there and desperately trying to escape their evil. When the doctors can’t find the answers, Madison seeks her own.
Nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover.
Dangerous, intoxicating, and darkly romantic, Embrace is a thriller that will leave you spellbound.
Read Embrace today:
Barnes & Noble eBook Paperback
HOLD TIGHT - Omnific Publishing, August 2013What’s one little spell?
When you’re new to magic, one spell can be the difference between getting what you want…and ruining the lives of everyone you love.
Sixteen-year-old Madison has just embraced her magical powers. The trick now is learning how to control them. She and her boyfriend -and fellow witch- can’t even enjoy a simple kiss without getting shocked when their powers collide. Instead of mastering her new skills, though, Madison is stuck watching her kid brother and doing chores.
But being a witch does have its benefits. With a simple spell, Madison instantly conjures the help she needs around the house. Or so she thinks. Her idea of “help” invites trouble of its own as a pair of dangerous yet enticing beings enter her life. When a classmate disappears soon afterwards, Madison discovers she’s the next victim of a threat she’s powerless to resist…and there’s nothing it won’t kill to make her surrender.
Caught in the crossfire between two dashing but deadly creatures, Madison must figure out which one to trust and how to rid her world of the other—before one of them destroys her and everyone she cares about.
Read Hold Tight today:
Barnes & Noble eBook Paperback
Amazon Kindle Paperback
Cherie Colyer is the author of YA and NA paranormal thriller/romance, EMBRACE (available now), and HOLD TIGHT from Omnific Publishing, and CHALLENGING DESTINY from The Wild Rose Press (2014). Check out her website and blog for news on her books and bonus material. Follow Cherie on Goodreads, Twitter and/or Facebook for updates on writing, book and special offers.
May 13, 2014
It’s My Birthday!
Celebrate with me! It’s my birthday! Well, not mine, exactly, but my book’s birthday. Wonderfully Wicked comes out today – WOO-HOO!
courtesy of biomorphosis
I’ve got a Facebook party scheduled on Sunday, May 18. You’re totally invited … just go here for lots of prizes and a wickedly good time. Be there or be square! And if you’re looking for some freebies RIGHT NOW (a copy of Wonderfully Wicked and an Amazon gift card), my publisher Swoon Romance has a giveaway going on. One place to find it: at amazing author Rhenna Morgan’s blog. Click and you’re there!
Today is a day for fun, so I went on gif overdrive and created a blurb to give you the vague story line behind Wonderfully Wicked. Here we go!
There’s this girl, Kalila Montgomery, who wants nothing more than to be normal. Why, you ask? Because she’s a dreamcaster and dreams stuff like this every night:
The nightmares leak while she sleeps too (bonus!) not to mention she has these night visions that come true 99.9 percent of the time. They’re usually about as fun as the nightmares, except she had two visits from this guy, Lydon v’al Endrian … in one, he kills her. The other, he’s her lover. And this is how Kalila feels about romance:
So when her nightmare-stalker shows up at her favorite coffee shop, and then her bedroom, Kalila’s prepared for a fight.
Lydon claims to know a cure for her nightmares, which Kalila totally believes. Not. Then he saves both Kalila and her BFF from a different enemy, and she starts second-guessing her night visions.
Lydon has his own issues. Sure, his master sent him to capture Kalila for the sole purpose of harvesting her nightmares (because that’s how the V’alkara roll), but then he has these … feelings that completely contradict everything he is.
Since his master intends to kill Kalila, and Lydon suspects she may be the key to his freedom, with a bit of his extra-special v’al Endrian manipulation, he convinces her to escape with him. 
And then there’s some of this among the running:
Lydon confesses that with a bit of teaching and practice, Kalila can control her nightmares … and that a certain V’alkara may be the remedy to her lack of snooze time. So there’s some of this:
To save each other, Kalila has to trust Lydon … but when his master springs a trap he can’t slither out of, Lydon faces some hard choices. Which leads to this:
You know how I feel about unhappy endings, so I guarantee that after a long, bumpy road, a few hairpin corners, and some patooty-kicking, you get this:
But you’ll have to read to get the whole journey, right? And if you want a more traditional blurb, here it is:
He haunts her dreams and embodies her nightmares…
A dreamcaster with the ability to channel creatures from her nightmares, headstrong and cynical Kalila Montgomery longs for a peaceful, picket-fence life…until the man literally of her dreams kidnaps her. Survival quickly becomes her number one goal, yet a growing attraction to the man featured in her nightmares is impossible to ignore. While she fears he will kill her, other, more terrifying enemies surround her, and Kalila succumbs to his scheme to escape.
She may be his one hope for freedom…
A deadly combination of power, cunning, and cold-hearted charm, Lydon v’al Endrian fears nothing. Feels nothing. Chained to a brotherhood of men with the supernatural ability to invade dreams, he hunts dreamcasters to be harvested for their dreams and killed. His target: Kalila Montgomery. But Kalila awakens an undeniable dark desire and a longing for a freedom long-lost. To gain everything he craves, Lydon must seduce Kalila before his plot is discovered…a hopeless challenge which, if failed, will earn him a death-sentence.
Caught up in a dangerous world of secrets and obsession, doubt and betrayal, Kalila and Lydon face the nightmare of their lives, where love will either deliver them—or destroy them both.
Available on Amazon and iBooks. Visit me on my book blog tour! Find the stops by hitting the banner below.
May 9, 2014
One Lucky Night Blog Tour
Happy book birthday to One Lucky Night!
One night can change everything…
The crew at Boston’s Brazen Head Pub hasn’t been very lucky in love. Can a mysterious visitor inspire them to look past old hurts and misconceptions and give romance a chance? One Lucky Night is a collection of five sexy interwoven novelettes by Aria Kane, Grace Teague, Ana Blaze, Constance Phillips, and Melinda Dozier.
Lucky Break by Aria Kane
Four years ago, chef Derek Chase walked out of Andrea Rivera’s life after a tragedy neither of them were prepared to deal with. When she’s called to the Brazen Head to repair a dishwasher, old sparks ignite buried feelings.
Lucky Star by Grace Teague
When her life is threatened by a mugger, Charlotte Price realizes she’s in love with her best friend, Tommy Leung. The Brazen Head seems like the perfect neutral place to confess her feelings, but nothing goes according to plan.
A New Tune by Ana Blaze
When it comes to dating, Holly Hall has one unbreakable rule: no musicians. Not even gorgeous ones. Especially not gorgeous ones. Dating them only leads to heartbreak. So why did she let singer-songwriter Cian O’Neill kiss her? And why is she thinking about doing it again?
Lexi’s Chance by Constance Phillips
As a bartender, Sean Whelan meets all kinds of women every night, but none turn his head the way that Lexi has. She’s been playing cat and mouse with him for weeks. Tonight, Sean’s determined to get Lexi to quit teasing and take a real chance on him.
Drink or Dare by Melinda Dozier
A bachelorette party Drink or Dare game pairs paramedic students, Rachel Robertson and Killian Whelan, in a flirting match. Soon, the dares threaten to turn their academic rivalry into something much more.
Goodreads | Amazon | iTunes | Other retailers & Nook
Check out the book trailer!
About the Authors
Aria Kane is a recovering mechanical engineer and romance writer. As a military brat, she grew up all over the country, but now lives in sunny Florida with a 60 lb mutt who thinks he’s a chihuahua.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads
Grace Teague lives in Pittsburgh with her spouse, children and a cat named Mr. Sushi.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Ana Blaze lives near Washington DC with her charming husband and three cats who firmly believe they are royalty. Ana is a member of Romance Writers of America.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | Tumblr
Constance Phillips lives in Ohio with her husband, two ready-to-leave-the-nest children, and four canine kids. Her perfect fantasy vacation would involve hunting Dracula across Europe with her daughter, who also digs that kind of stuff.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | Tumblr
Melinda Dozier teaches English to middle schoolers by day and writes at night. She lives in Guatemala, Central America with her college sweetheart and three sons.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads
Giveaway
The authors are giving away two Amazon Giftcards!
May 7, 2014
Red the Were Hunter by Rebekah Ganiere
I’m at Geeks today, dishing the deets with Rebekah G. on Red, fairy tales, and fun stuff – join me!
April 30, 2014
April 28, 2014
A Visit to the Western Frontier
I’m visiting today on Cynthia Woolf’s blog, so stop by and see me! Since it’s Monday, I’m feeling generous and offering a $5 gift card to Starbucks for one lucky person who comments. We could all use some free coffee, right? Swing by…or else.
Courtesy of Tumblr/talumin
