4 Time RITA Winner Cheryl Reavis

THE FIRST BOY I LOVED

Bell Bridge Books

Vietnam took her first love away from her.
Now it may take her next love, too.
After her husband dies Gillian Warner realizes how many sorrows she carries inside her, including her unresolved grief over her first love, who died in Vietnam decades earlier. Haunted by his death in combat as well as by a tangled web of guilty secrets, she books a guided trip to the battle site.
The tours are led by cynical Vietnam War vet A.J. Donegan, who makes his living taking naïve Americans on what he calls “Guilt Trips, Inc.” If they’re looking for peace of mind, they can forget it.
A prickly attraction sparks between Gillian and Donegan, with neither able to let go of the past without the other’s provocative challenge. In a test of willpower and desire, they’ll have to share much more than a journey to a place and a memory; they’ll have to travel deep inside the walls they’ve built around their hearts.

Read a little, Buy the book

AN UNEXPECTED WIFE

Love Inspired Historical

THE SOLDIER'S WIFE

Love Inspired Historical

4 time RITA WINNER & 4 time FINALIST

MORE ABOUT CHERYL

 ANGI: How often to you get lost in a story?

CHERYL: As a writer, I used to get "lost" all the time, completely, totally lost. I got to the point where I needed to make sure the season of the year in my story matched the actual season, because it was such a jolt coming out of my make-believe summer and finding it was really the dead of winter, and vice versa. Now, however, I'm a card-carrying member of the "T'ween" Generation, and my writing time is so fractured, it's very difficult to get to the level of "lost-ness" that I once did. Interruptions are the order of the day, so much so that I refer to my cell phone fondly as "The Bat Phone."

As a reader, I'm sorry to say that it's not often that I get lost in the story. I think it just that writers read with a different "eye." I'm apt to stop cold to admire some turn of phrase I think is very well done or to wonder why something was done the way it was, or what something means--those "Wait--what?" moments. It's wonderful when a story is so strong I forget to pay attention to technique. Sometimes--when a book is really good--I can get lost AND do my assessments. I'm currently reading the Chief Inspector Gamache mystery series by Louise Penny. I really like these books, the characters, the complexity of the murder mystery, and especially the texture, i.e., the subtle inclusion of details about things I don't know. I love to learn and be entertained at the same time.

THE SOLDIER'S WIFE CABIN

ANGI: What’s the first book you remember reading? 

CHERYL: The first book I remember reading all the way through was a "Dick and Jane." (The reading series for first graders WAY back in the day.) The reason I remember is that my teacher allowed me to take the book home--but ONLY if I didn't read past the reading assignment. As it was, I stayed in trouble a lot of the time in the "reading circle" because I could already read, and as a result preferred a "talking circle." Unfortunately, the teacher didn't. ANYWAY, I was absolutely thrilled to be able to take the book home. I got it out of my blue and green plaid book satchel (they were "satchels" in those days, not bags), hopped on my bed with a handful of vanilla wafers and began to read. Now if any of you have ever seen/read a Dick and Jane reader, you know they're not exactly riveting, but I got lost in the story anyway. I kept reading and turning pages and reading--and suddenly there was the glossary. Scared me to death. I had done exactly what my teacher  told me not to do--several times. Having gotten in so much trouble for my reading circle infractions already, I wasn't sure she wouldn't kill me for this one. In fact, I think I'm still traumatized.

ANGI: What’s your favorite “love” word?

CHERYL: Not sure what this means, Angi. Do you mean an endearment? If so, I prefer my actual name.

ANGI: Can you tell us about a real-life hero you’ve met?

CHERYL: Fortunately, I've met several. My husband is a real-life hero, as is my son and grandson, and a young teacher whom I worked with when I was a school nurse. My husband (then boyfriend) made a friend for life when I was in nursing school. I had an instructor who taught out of one book, but tested out of another, one we students had no access to. The books differed in content, so that one test question might have two different answers, depending on which textbook you were looking at. But she absolutely would NOT accept any answer from our textbook. It had to be what HER book said. Needless to say this was really upsetting--apparently, I have a low tolerance for academic bullying, which I considered this to be. I intended to buy my own copy, but the book cost a fortune--there was no way I could afford it. But one day, my husband showed up at the dorm, and he gave me the book. Did I say he made a friend for life?

ANGI: What’s your favorite fairy tale?

CHERYL: I would have to say Cinderella. I never got to see the Disney movie when I was a child, and my son, who knew that was one of my Little-Cheryl-Growing-Up regrets, bought me the video one Christmas when he was a teenager. (I said he was a hero, too.) I was thrilled. Finally got to see Cinderella and have since watched it many times with my granddaughter.

 

THE UNEXPECTED WIFE'S KITCHEN

ANGI: What’s your favorite cartoon character?

CHERYL: I like the Porky Pig/Sylvester the Cat duo, especially when they're in a haunted house. And the Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck/Elmer Fudd hunting adventures. I like the Powder Puff Girls, too. And Sponge Bob. He's such a lovable birdbrain.

ANGI: What do you like about the hero of your book?

CHERYL: I like that he's a decent man, despite his flaws, and that he is kind to children. It also didn't hurt that, in my head, he looks something like Mark Harmon.

ANGI: Is there a playlist you’d recommend for reading your latest release?

CHERYL: THE theme song for this book is Patty Griffin's "You'll Remember." Here's the YouTube link if you'd like to hear it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aughmxD1n1A

The minute I heard this song, the character of "Gillian Warner" formed in my head, the fact that she'd had a good life, but suddenly, after so many years, her heart and her mind were filled with the first boy she had loved and the sorrow and the guilt she'd never addressed. The words of the song seemed to me to be something he would have wished for her, that someday she would think of him and she'd smile.

Other playlist songs are just about anything from the Vietnam war era, especially "Last Train To Clarksville."

ANGI: Where do you read and how often?

THE UNEXPECTED WIFE's HOUSE

CHERYL: First, let me say that the Kindle has been a godsend to me. I have vision "issues," i.e., I'm legally blind in one eye and I have glaucoma. Besides that, my eyes aren't as young as they used to be in general. But, with the Kindle Fire, I can widen the margins so that the sentence lines are short enough that I can keep them in the part of my lens I use to read without having to constantly turn my head and crane my neck (which must have looked really weird). I also use the white font on a black background and set it larger than most print books, but not as big as the Large Print books. (Don't quite need that yet.) As a result, it is so much easier to read now, so I'm reading a lot more than I did. My usual reading time is whenever I'm waiting somewhere, which as a T'ween Generation person, tends to be a lot--doctor's appointments, car-rider lines at my granddaughter's school, etc. This works out well because even with the Kindle I can't read with the prolonged intensity I used to. The time I have to read in these situations is about what my eyes will tolerate.

ANGI: What sound or noise do you love?

CHERYL: Rain. And wind in the pines. I grew up in a house surrounded by pine trees--not the really tall, spindly ones. The ones that were about the size of a maple tree, but had a large trunk and low enough branches so that you could climb them fairly easily--if you didn't mind getting pine sap all over you. As a child, the trunks were so big I couldn't reach around one. Anyway, the sound of a whispering pine was always a part of my environment then, especially at night as I was falling asleep.

ANGI: Fairy Tale or Action Adventure?

CHERYL: Fairy Tale

ANGI: What was the first story you remember writing?

CHERYL: THE DOG WITHOUT A TALE. Complete with illustrations. I believe I was in the second grade.

ANGI: What’s your favorite movie of all time?

CHERYL: I don't know that I have an absolute favorite. I tried to like SOUND OF MUSIC in the way most people do, but I couldn't get past the rigid father even if he was reformed by the love of a good woman by the end. I liked GWTW a lot, despite Clark Gable. He always seemed so OLD to me. And I liked THE WIZARD OF OZ. And THE HELP. And ON THE BEACH (Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck). And a very obscure movie called THE PURPLE PLAIN (also Gregory Peck). THE MAN WHO LOVED CAT DANCING (Burt Reynolds in his hunky hey-day and Sarah Miles.)

ANGI: Who’s your favorite villain?

CHERYL: I don't think I have one. How about my favorite hero, aside from the Reavis men? Roy Rogers, that would be. I fell in love with the King of the Cowboys when I was three, and I'm still not over him. I think I tell everybody that--even people I've known for five minutes--which may be why I get Roy Rogers birthday cards and family will give me Roy Rogers memorabilia for Christmas. What can I say? Whenever he sings "My Little Buckeroo," I'm in love all over again. You remember I said I call my cell phone "The Bat Phone." Well, Roy singing "Hold On, Partner" is my text message ringtone. I feel like I can face anything if Roy is the one bringing the news. LOL.

ANGI: What is your biggest vice?

CHERYL: My biggest vice, my biggest vice…. Well, I don't smoke, drink, gamble or run wild. I think it must be housework. Or more accurately, not doing it. I love a clean orderly house--but I don't want to be the cleaner. In my part of the country, when I was growing up, a woman who kept a spotless house was considered "smart," a real compliment, especially if a man said it. But I decided a long time ago not to be "smart" in that way--and I still feel guilty.

ANGI: Is there a “Blooper” in your story (it may have been changed before printing)?

CHERYL: Can't think of one offhand, and I hope I haven't missed one. It's easy for me to do when it's my own writing, because I see what I meant regardless of what I said. I'm great at finding bloopers in somebody else's writing, though.

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK: There's a picture on your website of you in the Painted Desert when you were six. It inspired the Silhouette Special Edition™ "Family Blessings" series.  Is there another location that you inspired another book?  (Cheryl, if you have a picture that would be awesome.)

CHERYL'S GOTTA ANSWER:  I often use photographs, staring at them as I write--while listening to the playlist. Sometimes a photo will have inspired an idea. More often than not they are ones that I see later and think "That's it."

FIND CHERYL:

Contact            Website                  Facebook          Twitter  @sCRibblercheryl   

Goodreads              Blogs                    Previous GLIAS interviews

ALL ABOUT CHERYL REAVIS

The former public health nurse, now award-winning romance novelist describes herself as a "late bloomer." Her Silhouette Special Edition™, A CRIME OF THE HEART, reached millions of readers inGood Housekeeping magazine and won the Romance Writers of America's coveted RITA award the year it was published. She has also won the RITA award for her Harlequin-Silhouette novels, PATRICK GALLAGHER'S WIDOW, THE PRISONER, and THE BRIDE FAIR. BLACKBERRY WINTER, THE BARTERED BRIDE and aBerkley novel, PROMISE ME A RAINBOW, as well as THE SOLDIER'S WIFE have been RITA award finalists. She has received numerous awards from Romantic Times magazine. 

Her award-winning literary short stories have appeared in The Crescent Review, The Bad Apple, The Mosaic, The Sanskrit, Laurels, The Emrys Journal and Writer's Choice. 

Publishers Weekly described her Berkley single-title novel, PROMISE ME A RAINBOW, as "...an example of delicately crafted, eminently satisfying romantic fiction."

CHERYL is giving away THE FIRST BOY I LOVE

 Note: COMMENTERS are encouraged to leave a contact email address to speed the prize notification process. Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only unless specifically mentioned in the post. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. Winners of drawings are responsible for checking this site in a timely manner. If prizes are not claimed in a timely manner, the author may not have a prize available. Get Lost In A Story cannot be responsible for an author's failure to mail the listed prize. GLIAS does not automatically pass email addresses to guest authors unless the commenter publicly posts their email address.

CHERYL WANTS TO KNOW: HOW MANY CHANCES WILL YOU GIVE A WRITER IF YOU HAPPEN NOT TO LIKE THE FIRST BOOK YOU'VE READ OF THEIRS ALL THAT MUCH?

RITA AWARD Winner Emily McKay

THE FARM

Berkley

Life was different in the Before: before vampires began devouring humans in a swarm across America; before the surviving young people were rounded up and quarantined. These days, we know what those quarantines are—holding pens where human blood is turned into more food for the undead monsters, known as Ticks. Surrounded by electrical fences, most kids try to survive the Farms by turning on each other…

And when trust is a thing of the past, escape is nearly impossible.

Lily and her twin sister Mel have a plan. Though Mel can barely communicate, her autism helps her notice things no one else notices—like the portion of electrical fence that gets turned off every night. Getting across won’t be easy, but as Lily gathers what they need to escape, a familiar face appears out of nowhere, offering to help…

Carter was a schoolmate of Lily’s in the Before. Managing to evade capture until now, he has valuable knowledge of the outside world. But like everyone on the Farm, Carter has his own agenda, and he knows that behind the Ticks is an even more dangerous threat to the human race...

READ SOME OF RWA YOUNG ADULT RITA WINNER,

THE FARM

THE STORY CONTINUES...

Coming in November 2013

THE LAIR

 Excerpt

By the time I reached the driver’s-side door, I was done keeping the anger in check. I wanted to rip the Hummer apart. I wanted to peel the damn thing like an orange and leave it in pieces. I might have actually done it, too, but we’d need it to drive away in.

Lily slid over as I climbed into the driver’s seat. “What’s going on? What happened?”

I immediately reached for the ignition, but realized she still held the keys. “Give me the keys. We’re getting out of here.”
She looked down like she was surprised to see them in her hand. She hesitated, and I could feel her looking from Merc—who had followed me up to the gate and was now opening it—to my hand gripping the steering wheel so tightly I was surprised it didn’t crack.


She was too damn smart not to figure out something was very wrong. “Can you first tell me what’s going on?”


I didn’t want to tell her, but figured she had the right to know how badly I’d screwed this up. “Right after I left for Texas to find you, a group went out on a food raid and got attacked by a Tick. There were four survivors. No one realized that one of them had been exposed to the virus. He disappeared into the catacombs deep inside the mountain. Thank God someone figured out what had happened before he killed anyone else. ...”

“Damn.” She muttered the word on a soft exhale.

“That’s why Base Camp is all shut down. They’re hiding in there. They’re too terrified to come out and risk infection again. Merc said he’ll let us in, but only if we spend time in quarantine.”

I looked over at Lily to see her staring straight out the front windshield. Her chin had that stubborn jut to it and I could tell her mind was racing through the events of the story she’d just heard. She twisted in her seat to look at me, but she kept the keys clutched in her hand. “Okay. So what’s the problem? Why are we leaving?”

“Lily, when I got you and Mel out of that Farm, I promised to keep you safe. But I didn’t. Our trip here was one screw-up after another. But I thought that at least once we got here, everything would work out. But now—” My throat closed over the word as I imagined Lily trapped there in that mountain with a killer. Panic hit me again and all I could do was curse.

I looked over at Lily, expecting to see horror on her face. Or fear. Panic, like mine. But she was frowning, head tipped a little to the side.

“So you think we should go?”


“Yes. Hell, yes.”


“Just drive off and leave them? I don’t understand. Why would we—”
“Because I thought it was safe here and it’s not. If Base Camp isn’t safe, if we can’t even go out looking for food without getting attacked by Ticks, then we’re all screwed. We can’t survive like this. I can’t protect you—”

“Maybe it’s not your job to protect me. No, wait. Hear me out, okay?” She waited until I nodded before she continued. “When you rescued me, you thought I was an abductura, you thought I had this amazing power to lead the human resistance and sway people’s opinions. Whatever. If I had been an abductura, then, yes, keeping me alive would have been more important than anything else. But I’m not that person. Which means you don’t have to work so hard to protect me.”

“Lily, that’s not the only reason I want to keep you safe.” The thought of her hurt, in pain...it drove me crazy.

But she waved aside my comment. “Maybe I can’t lead the rebellion, but I still want to fight. We’ve made it this far. I’m not going to turn around now.”

“Don’t you get it? If you’re not the abductura, then there’s no one to lead the rebellion. We don’t have a leader. We don’t have security. We don’t have shit. There is no human rebellion. Which is why you need to hand over the keys so we can just get out of here.”

“No.” Lily clung tightly to those keys. “As far as you and I know, this is the last outpost of free humans on the planet. Maybe there are still pockets of humanity in Canada or Beijing or Brazil or wherever, but as far as we know, for certain, this is it. Maybe the rebellion doesn’t have an abductura who can magically brain- wash other humans into joining, but the rebellion still has a leader and that leader is you. It always has been. And you can’t just turn your back on these people. Not for me. Not for anyone. They need you.”

When Lily talked like that—like I was some kind of friggin’ hero—I couldn’t even look at her. The weight of her expectations was too damn heavy on my shoulders. All I wanted was to keep her safe. To just bury my face in her hair and hold her close and maybe forget for a few hours how completely screwed up everything was. But instead, I had to go save the world.

HAVE YOU MET EMILY McKAY?

Emily McKay loves to read, shop, and geek out about movies. When she’s not writing, she reads on-line gossip and bakes luscious deserts. She pretends that her weekly yoga practice balances out both of those things. She lives in central Texas with her family and her crazy pets. She also co-write young adult rom-coms as Ivy Adams. She recently won the Rita award for best Young Adult novel for The Farm.

ANGI: What’s your favorite “love” word?

EMILY: Hmm, I'm not sure I understand the question. Like, what's my favorite word for "love"? I really like "adore," but I think my favorite is "yearn." It's so angsty and delicious. I guess that's why I write YA in addition to series romance. Love all that angst!

ANGI: Can you tell us about a real-life hero you’ve met?

EMILY: Okay, warning: sappy, emotional stuff ahead.

When my parents met their senior year in high school, my mother was beautiful and vibrant, the belle of every ball (or sock hop as the case may be). She'd won several beauty pageants and was so sought after for dates, she once had dates with three different boys on the same day. My father, on the other hand, was shy, quiet and intensely smart. He spoke with a stutter so pronounced, sometimes he would call her on the phone and be unable to say anything at all. In fact, they'd been married for over a decade before he admitted that to her. Yet, somehow, they fell in love. 

In the nearly fifty years they've been married, they've had many ups and downs, most of them related to my mother's health. She's suffered with arthritis for most of her adult life, as well as Multiple Sclerosis and now kidney failure. She's also bi-polar. All of her amazing charisma and charm have a shadow side, one that I'm sure hasn't always been easy to deal with. But he asked her to marry him knowing she was bi-polar. He has loved her and stayed with her all these years. He loves her completely, the great and the challenging. He takes care of her no matter what. That's a true hero.

ANGI: What do you like about the hero of your book?

EMILY: I love that Carter is completely devoted to Lily. He has dubious external motives and very questionable ways of achieving his goals, but in the end, for Carter, it's all about Lily.

ANGI: Is there a playlist you’d recommend for reading your latest release?

EMILY: One of the characters in The Farm, Mel, is kind of a musical savant. So Mel definitely has a song. It's Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on the Theme of Paganini." It's such a lush and romantic song, so full of yearning. Then, the hero and heroine have a song of their own. It's The Naked and Famous's "Young Blood," which I think perfectly captures the intensity of first love. They are two very different songs, but they both capture intense yearning. Yeah, yeah. I know. Again with the yearning, right?

ANGI: I heard you're a fan of TMNT? Who's your favorite Mutant Turtle?

EMILY: Oooh, great question! I'm curious how you know that about me. Was it the TMNT reference in The Tycoon's Temporary Baby? But, yes, I *loved* TMNT when I was in college and watched it obsessively. As for my favorite "hero on a half shell", it's Rafael, of course! The smart ass, bad boy? I'm all over that.

ANGI: I could have guessed that one! Love my TMNT. *I* used to watch it with my son, while you were in college. LOL

ANGI: Where do you read and how often?

EMILY: I am so sad to have to say this, but I don't read nearly as often as I wish I did. I have a real problem reading when I'm writing first drafts. I can only have so many books in my head at a time and mine has to come first. So basically, I have to squeeze books in between books. I just read two books over vacation and it was absolute bliss. When I am reading something I love, I read it intensely. Non-stop. In bed; at the table; at the stoplight; while cooking. I'm completely indiscriminate (and probably slightly unsafe), when it comes to that reading time.

ANGI: What sound or noise do you love?

EMILY: You know when a baby or a kid is sleeping deeply and they make that sort of snuffling sigh sound? That. That's the best noise in the world.

ANGI: Fairy Tale or Action Adventure?

EMILY: Both? I *love* action adventure (books, movies, anything!), but I need at least a hint of romance in there, otherwise, what's the point?

ANGI: What’s your favorite movie of all time?

EMILY: Pride and Prejudice. I love the chemistry between Darcy and Lizzie, and Jane Austen basically set up the structure of all romances (ie. meet cute, internal and external conflict, love through emotional growth). But … I can't pick one. I love all versions of the story: The BBC Colin Firth version, the Keira Knightly version, the BBC mini series Lost in Austen, the on-line serial The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Bridget Jones' Diary. I love them all! (A bit obsessively, truth be told.)

ANGI: So… 'He who shall not be named' was your answer in 2011 about your favorite villain? Has that changed?

EMILY: It's hard to top the dark lord, isn't it? And I think he is still in the running, but I was talking recently with my friend Tracy Wolff about Dolores Umbridge and how terrifying she is. It's her absolute conviction that she's not just in the right, but that she is working for the greater good. She's positively chilling. And those frolicking cats on the plates? <shudder>

"He who shall not be named" is evil in a black and white kind of way. In some ways, Dolores Umbridge is more terrifying because you can imagine an average person sliding down that path.

ANGI: What is your biggest vice?

EMILY: Wine. Or chocolate. Or procrastination.

No … wait. Indecision. Definitely indecision. Well, probably.

Come on, after the favorite movie answer, you had to see this coming, right?

ANGI: Is there a “Blooper” in your story (it may have been changed before printing)?

EMILY: When I was working on The International Kissing Club with Tracy Wolfe and Shellee Roberts (which we published under the name Ivy Adams), I described my character Izzy's younger brother as a "piano protege." I used the term like three times in the book. And we all the way to page proofs (which is the last time the author looks at a book before it goes to print), before I realized what I meant to say was that he was a "piano prodigy." 

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK: What's the favorite thing you've discovered about writing Teen Fiction?

EMILY'S GOTTA ANSWER: I love how involved the fans are! Don't get me wrong, category romance fans are great, but they're quietly great. They buy books in droves, but they rarely send fan mail or write reviews. But YA fans send fan mail and art work and do video reviews. It's so much fun to get to interact with readers that way. The fans are so much fun!   

FIND EMILY:

Contact          Website       The Farm     Facebook    Twitter @Emily_Mc_Kay 

Goodreads    Blog    Previous GLIAS interviews

UP NEXT for EMILY:

THE LAIR

Nov 2013

Berkley Trade

Check out all the PREVIOUS RELEASES by EMILY on her website.

EMILY is giving away a signed copy of The Farm and a super-cool Farm backpack. (International giveaway.)

Note: COMMENTERS are encouraged to leave a contact email address to speed the prize notification process. Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to International addresses. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. Winners of drawings are responsible for checking this site in a timely manner. If prizes are not claimed in a timely manner, the author may not have a prize available. Get Lost In A Story cannot be responsible for an author's failure to mail the listed prize. GLIAS does not automatically pass email addresses to guest authors unless the commenter publicly posts their email address.

DON’T FORGET to FOLLOW us on Twitter #GetLostStories or LIKE us on Facebook to keep up with all our guest authors and their prizes. Join Liz tomorrow when RONI LOREN returns with her latest release. And come back Monday when I host RITA award winner, BARBARA FREETHY. ~Angi

EMILY WANTS TO KNOW: Which version of Pride and Prejudice is your favorite? (Or, if you're not an Austen fan, then … um, what's wrong with you? Just kidding! But, seriously, not even Bridget Jones?)

OUR READER WINNERS

CONGRATULATIONS
please note: if an international name is drawn for a U.S. or North America only giveaway, we will draw again.

BEST FIRST BOOK

an autographed copy of 

Anna Lee Huber's 

THE ANATOMIST'S WIFE

WINNER: MAY P.

(posted twice--1 winner)

autographed copies of 
Tracy Brogan's 
CRAZY LITTLE THING, HIGHLAND SURRENDER, & HOLD ON MY HEART
WINNER: RENEE SMITH

CONTEMPORARY SINGLE TITLE

a digital copy of 

Ruthie Knox's 

ABOUT LAST NIGHT 

WINNER: DEB F.

autographed copies of 
Roxanne St. Claire's
BAREFOOT IN THE SAND& BAREFOOT IN THE RAIN
WINNER: ANGELA M.O.

an autographed copy of 

Roni Loren's 

MELT INTO YOU 

WINNER: SUE G.

an autographed or digital copy of 
Barbara Freethy's 
ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS 
WINNER: VIRGINIA H.

a digital copy of

Barbara Hannay's 

ZOE'S MUSTER 

WINNER: DEANNA S.

International Giveaway 
an autographed advance reader's copy (ARC) of 
Kim Law's September release 
SWEET NOTHINGS
WINNER: LISA J.W.

HISTORICAL ROMANCE

an autographed copy of 
Lori Austin's 
BEAUTY AND THE BOUNTY HUNTER 
WINNER: CINDY C.

an autographed copy of 

Sabrina Jeffries's 

A LADY NEVER SURRENDERS 

WINNER: RHIANNON R.

an autographed copy of
Cara Elliott's 
TOO DANGEROUS TO DESIRE 
WINNER: CAROLYN R.

International Giveaways 

an autographed copy of

Pamela Clare's 

DEFIANT 

WINNER: ALINE T.

a digital copy from 
Jade Lee's 
backlist 
WINNER: LINDA T.




INSPIRATIONAL ROMANCE

an autographed copy of 

Missy Tippens' 

A HOUSE FULL OF HOPE 

WINNER: BRENDA R.

International Giveaway 

an autographed copy of 

Jennifer Delamere's 

AN HEIRESS AT HEART 

WINNER: DONNA H.D.

LONG CONTEMPORARY SERIES ROMANCE

an autographed copy of 
Karen Templeton's 
A GIFT FOR ALL SEASONS 
WINNER: MARCY S.

an autographed copy of 

Michelle Celmer's 

NO ORDINARY JOE 

WINNER: LAURIE G.

International Giveaways 

a digital copy from 

Jean Brashear's 

TEXAS HEROES series 

WINNER: BN100

an autographed copy of 
Pamela Hearon's 
OUT OF THE DEPTHS 
WINNER: MARY P.





NOVEL with STRONG ROMANTIC ELEMENTS

an autographed copy of 
Anna Lee Huber's
THE ANATOMIST'S WIFE 
WINNER: MAY P.
drawn & posted with the Best First Books category

an autographed copy of 

Kristina McMorris's 

BRIDGE OF SCARLET LEAVES 

WINNER: IVY D.T.

an autographed copy of  
Maria Geraci's 
A GIRL LIKE YOU 
WINNER: DONNA H.D.

International Giveaways 

an autographed copy of  

Pamela Hartshorne's 

TIME'S ECHO 

WINNER: LISA J.W.

PARANORMAL ROMANCE

an autographed copy of 

Angie Fox's 

IMMORTALLY YOURS

WINNER: BARBARA E.

International Giveaway 

an autographed or digital copy of 

Cynthia Eden's

ANGEL IN CHAINS

WINNER: SHERYL S.N.

ROMANCE NOVELLA

an autographed copy of 
Sophie Jordan's 
FIRELIGHT 
WINNER: ANITA H.

an autographed copy of 

Sally MacKenzie's 

BEDDING LORD NED

in the DUCHESS OF LOVE 

WINNER: SANDY X.

a digital copy of 
Ruthie Knox's 
NAUGHTY & NICE  
WINNER: ADA H.

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

 an autographed set of 

Sharon Sala's 

NEXT OF KIN, 

DON'T CRY FOR ME & 

TIL DEATH 

WINNER: CAROL F.

an autographed copy of 
Laura Griffin's 
SCORCHED or TWISTED  
WINNER: MAUREN C.

SHORT CONTEMPORARY SERIES ROMANCE

an autographed copy from 
Robin Perini's 
backlist
WINNER: ALISHA W.

an autographed copy of

Christine Rimmer's

The LAST SINGLE MAVERICK 

WINNER: MAY P.

an autographed copy from 
Susan Meier's 
backlist
WINNER: TAMMY Y.
WINNER: LISA J.W.
WINNER: BN100

International Giveaways

autographed copies of 

Loreth Anne White's

SAHARA KINGS 4 book set: 

SHEIK'S COMMAND, SHEIK'S REVENGE, 

SURGEON SHEIK'S RESCUE 

& GUARDING THE PRINCESS 

WINNER: DONNA H.D.

a digital copy of 

Day Leclaire's

BECOMING DANTE or another of her 

WACKY WOMEN BOOKS 

(winner's choice) 

WINNER: LISA J.W.

a digital copy of 

Lilian Darcy's

SAVING GERDA, 

ALL DRESSED UP or 

CAFE DU JOUR 

(winner's choice) 

WINNER: MAY P.

WINNER: LISA J.W.

WINNER: KAREN J.

an autographed copy of 

Jessica Hart's 
WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS 

WINNER: LINDA T.

YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE

an autographed copy of 
Emily McKay's 
THE FARM & a FARM backpack 
WINNER: KAREN J.

Congratulations to all the 2013 RITA® NOMINEES!

AND A HUGE THANKS to the authors who donated books

to help us CELEBRATE their success.

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JOIN US tomorrow as GLIAS author interviews return with  Donnell hosting Anne Marie Becker. Don’t forget to FOLLOW us on Twitter #GetLostStories or LIKE us on Facebook.
~ ~ ~
THANKS TO EVERYONE
for making our CELEBRATION
a huge success.

All winners have been notified.