(I’m going to be reposting the contest rules at the beginning of each post. If you’ve already read them, scroll down for today’s post and questions.)
To celebrate the release of ENTWINED, I’m giving away a BUNCH of prizes. There are two parts to this contest:
PART ONE :
Post the ENTWINED widget (below) on your FB page, blog sidebar, tweet about the contest and/or book, email your friends and spread the word…basically, any way you talk up the book or contest will enter you for one of three $25 gift cards to the online bookstore of your choice. Winners will be selected after I return from RWA Nationals, the first week in August. Once you’ve done that, email me at elisabeth@elisabethnaughton.com and tell me blabbed about ENTWINED. Be sure to put ENTWINED Release Contest in the subject line. (If you already posted the widget from the blog post I did last week, you’re already entered.) Enter as many times as you like. Every time you spread the word about book 2 in the Eternal Guardians series, send me an email.
PART TWO: Each day for the next two weeks I’ll be giving away AWESOME prizes and spotlighting some fabulous authors. Comment on the daily post to be entered into that day’s drawing. Winners will be chosen randomly from comments and will get to pick their prize. Once a prize is chosen, it’s crossed off the list. Here are the prizes you can win:
Got Demon? Mug from author Saranna DeWylde
Beneath the Surface by MJ Fredrick
Primordial by Denise Agnew
His Darkest Embrace e-arc by Juliana Stone
Unbridled by Beth Williamson
Huddle With Me Tonight by Farrah Rochon
Relentless by Lauren Dane
Revelation (ecopy) by Lauren Dane
Sunrise in the Garden of Love & Evil by Barbara Monajem – won by Barbara E (day 3 winner)
All He Desires by Anthea Lawson
The Phoenix Charm by Helen Scott Taylor
Animal Instinct (ecopy) by Michelle Pillow
$10 Starbucks Card from Phyllis Bourne
Montana Dawn by Caroline Fyffe
Dangerous As Sin & $10 Borders Gift Card from Alix Rickloff – won by Robin L (day 2 winner)
Ancient Whispers by Marie-Claude Bourque
Forged of Shadows by Jessa Slade
Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison – won by Giada (day 3 winner)
Lord of Pleasure & $10 Starbucks Gift Card from Delilah Marvelle
$20 Borders Gift Card from Joan Swan – won by Limecello (day 1 winner)
Deadly Fear by Cynthia Eden
Forbidden Highlander by Donna Grant
Today is another Two-Fer! Which means two more great books, two awesome authors and two more fantabulous prizes to give away!
Up first we have…Beth Williamson!
Beth’s latest release is UNBRIDLED, which released just this month from Berkley Heat. In Beth’s own words:
“Hot erotic romance, cowboys, sex, emotion and an HEA. What else could you ask for?”
Hell hath no fury like Alex Finley…
For as long as Alex could remember, life had taken everything from her. Her father had abandoned her and her dying mother, only to return upon her death to reclaim the family’s Wyoming ranch—with a new wife. Alex’s rage drove her away to Los Angeles to live with a man who could never satisfy her.
Only after ten years does she come home—and she hits the town with a vengeance, unleashing her pent-up lust on willing cowpoke Connor Matthews. But she’s in for several shocks. It turns out that the ranch is now a resort, that her late father split the estate between Alex and her young step-brother, and that Connor—the bucking bronco she wants in her bed—is running the place.
Now, Alex is torn between accepting a new family, and a lover who can give her everything she needs—or selling out to a smooth-talking neighbor and leaving the past behind her. But only when her life is on the line does she realize what she desires most of all…
Read an Excerpt of UNBRIDLED
Order UNBRIDLED Now
More awesome abs. This book is on fire.
And second we have…DELILAH MARVELLE!
Delilah has a brand new series starting from HQN next winter. The first book in her Scandal Series, PRELUDE TO A SCANDAL, hits store shelves in February, 2010. Here’s a sneak peek:
Having been raised in the jungles of South Africa, assisting her father in the study of mammal copulation, Lady Justine sweeps back into London to embark upon her coming out. She soon discovers animals are far more civilized than the men surrounding her.
When her father’s observations are made public, proving buggery is natural to the animal kingdom, all of London is in a huffing outrage, including His Royal Majesty. Her father is imprisoned and slapped with outrageous penalty fees they simply cannot pay.
Lady Justine becomes willing to trade her good name and her place in London’s gossip hungry society to secure her father’s release. There is only one person she knows she can trust: her father’s patron, the duke of Bradford. A dashing libertine, yes, but one she passionately adores for his unwavering kindness, wit, humor, and a willingness to support her father’s studies when everyone else had laughed her father off. To her astonishment, the duke of Bradford is not the same man. His newly marred face hides a scandal that is about to test them both…
Learn More About The Scandal Series
Pre-Order PRELUDE TO A SCANDAL
***
And now the question…
These are obviously two very different books, with two very different covers, but they’re similar in that they’re both scorching hot romances. What are your favorite type of covers – guys alone, girls alone, or sexy couples – and does your cover style preference change from one romantic subgenre to the next?
Remember there will be two winners chosen today!
July 16th, 2010 at 2:03 am · Link
I like the silhouetted covers seen on a lot of romantic suspense books. I also like stepback covers.
July 16th, 2010 at 2:58 am · Link
I love covers with Highlanders on them # 1. Then I enjoy covers with Alpha males and couples. If the cover draws my attention, then I’m going to at least pick up the book and read the blurbs. Thanks Elizabeth.
Carol L.
Lucky4750@aol.com
July 16th, 2010 at 3:44 am · Link
I’m not usually ‘see’ the covers before i read a book. i’m more blurb reader 🙂
July 16th, 2010 at 6:00 am · Link
argh, can I go with all three variations?? at the first moment I thought I would like them with a guy alone, but then covers came to my mind with girls alone and I thought how could I missed them… and then I looked into my bookshelf and oho, there are books with couples on the cover… I like them with the guys most of all (Beth’s book is the best example!), but the story is much more important than the cover *gg*
Delilah Marvelle is a new author to me and I will check out her books soon…
have a great day, Ina
July 16th, 2010 at 7:19 am · Link
It varies. I like guys alone for paranormal romances. I like couples on historical romances, except for Scottish – which I like a man (in a kilt) alone!
July 16th, 2010 at 7:29 am · Link
Well i like the guy alone and the couple covers the best, in that order. It normally doesn’t change witht he genre, but if they are shapeshifters i kinda like a shadow of what they shift into in the background.
July 16th, 2010 at 7:54 am · Link
I like to see the couple, as long as it is tasteful.
July 16th, 2010 at 8:16 am · Link
I don’t have a preference per say b/c it seems to vary based on the book itself. I tend to like historical romance with both, straight romance with just the guy (and OMG I about swallowed my tongue at that first cover, good god) and paranormal can go either way. I will be honest though and say that I tend to pick up a book based on the cover first. Not to say I havent read books with weird covers, I have. But I gravitate towards a good cover first.
July 16th, 2010 at 8:22 am · Link
I like all kinds of covers. Hot guys alone, girls alone, sexy couples, covers that have an image from the book. I love the cover to Unbridled. Super sexy.
July 16th, 2010 at 8:42 am · Link
I like both kinds of covers. I think as long as it doesn’t look too trashy, they all can be incredible. I like more artsy looking covers, personally.
July 16th, 2010 at 9:21 am · Link
My cover preference does change for genres, I never thought about it that way before. I like the “half” covers that feature the book name and couples in action for romantic suspense (like your stolen series). I love the romantic “soft focus” costumed covers for historicals, couples or the heroine alone. I like a grittier artwork style for Urban Fantasy with the heroine or maybe a couple if that reflects the storyline. I like strong looking hero/heroine for paranormals, with a clue of the type of magical/paranormal premise reflected also. (shifter, vampire, witch, wizard, ghost, psychic, etc) I prefer covers that evoke something from the book itself, a mood or the world. If there are cover models then please do not put a blonde if the hero/heroine is brunette! I hate that. Oh and I dispise cartoon covers. or anything resembling them. I think that’s one of the reasons I stopped reading chick lit.
July 16th, 2010 at 9:31 am · Link
Nothing beats a sexy guy on the cover but for me that does change according to the sub genre. For SFR, I’m really caught by covers that have a lot of color and an otherworldly appearance with or without beings on the cover. And in the paranormal world, especially shifters, I love to see the animal in question on the cover even if it’s just an imposed shadow or small representation.
July 16th, 2010 at 10:16 am · Link
I like all three, especially with the inclusion of some sort of animal. 😀 For covers featuring couples, however, I’m wary of picking up anything that’s not tastefully done.
July 16th, 2010 at 10:36 am · Link
I don’t have a preference I’ve seen great covers featuring all of them. Tatoos do seem to catch my eye though 😀
July 16th, 2010 at 10:36 am · Link
I don’t really like clenchy covers with couples. They tend to be a bit cheesy. My favorite is just the hero alone. It’s very romantic to my mind and helps me put myself in the book. Abstract and artsy covers are also very appealing.
July 16th, 2010 at 10:58 am · Link
My cover style preference definitely change from one romantic subgenre to the next. There are too many similiar covers these days. I like creativity in a cover, so that it can catch my eye.
July 16th, 2010 at 11:37 am · Link
I think it does change for the genre. For mysteries/suspense I like the silhouetted type covers. Shapeshifters I like to see an image of what they shift into somewhere.
July 16th, 2010 at 11:49 am · Link
I like couples, then a guy alone, then a girl along lol.
July 16th, 2010 at 12:30 pm · Link
I think it depends on the story and if I think it matches the blurb in the back and if it’s an inetresting cover, but I usually prefer couples.
July 16th, 2010 at 12:41 pm · Link
I like all kinds. I’m not to picky when it comes to covers 🙂
July 16th, 2010 at 2:45 pm · Link
I still like torso shots of men, and tattoo’s still work for me too. If a character is on the cover, I need it to match the decription.
July 16th, 2010 at 4:37 pm · Link
YAZA!! AWESOME COVERS AND AUTHORS! I SENT YOU MESSAGE ON FB AND JOINED NEWSLETTER.
July 16th, 2010 at 5:09 pm · Link
I prefer covers to feature the couple together. I like if they are embracing but nothing too scandalous because I have small children who are around when I read 😉
July 16th, 2010 at 6:31 pm · Link
I prefer the man on the cover, and that really doesn’t change whatever genre I’m reading.
July 16th, 2010 at 10:42 pm · Link
I think that my preference is that the feel and style of the cover reflect the “mood” of the story between the covers. For many romances, I like to see the couple in some way that hints at their emotional connection. On some of the more suspenseful stories, I tend to prefer just one of them (maybe an “action shot!” ;)) Or if the story is very heroine- or hero-centric, then that’s the character I want on the cover. I do have to say I have a weakness for gorgeous guys on the cover–droolworthy 😉
July 16th, 2010 at 11:09 pm · Link
Oooo both those books sound awesome. Different in good ways, and yet the same in even better ones, right? 😉
As for covers… you know, I’m not big on the clinch covers, or the over blown goofy type, like Fabio-esque or whatever. Romance gets a bad enough rap already – no need to have covers that just scream “easy target!”
I do like the more artistic ones, etc. Anyway – and since we know people judge romance, no need to cater to them. Anyway, an interesting cover spurs conversation and maybe you could talk someone into trying one out. 🙂 [Guess I’m super optimistic today]
July 17th, 2010 at 1:59 am · Link
Love covers with just men and then couples and then women. Do not care for the scripted covers with an object too boring.
July 17th, 2010 at 2:56 am · Link
I think I like the guys alone on contemporaries and girls alone on historicals.
July 17th, 2010 at 4:28 pm · Link
I don’t think I have a particular preference, all depends on how it appeals to me as far as the artistry, or how hot that cover guy is, lol. Sometimes I like just a very artistic scene rather than a person.