RELENTLESSLY BIG CONTEST Day Nineteen!
May
3
2009

Here it is, the very last daily contest! Tomorrow I’ll announce the winner of this one and then the Grand Prize and two First Prize winners!

So today’s book is: Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Ain’t She Sweet. I have a great deal of respect and admiration for SEP. I love her books. She has that special something that really appeals to me. Her characters are never perfect but you love them anyway and in Ain’t She Sweet, SEP gives us that girl in high school you loved to hate. The perfect, snotty girl who was pretty and popular and made people’s lives miserable. Only she’s an adult and things are never what they seem. Sugar Beth was my first SEP heroine and when she pulled it off so well, I knew I’d be a fan forever.

Blurb: Fifteen years ago, Sugar Beth Carey reigned supreme over the small Mississippi town of Parrish, but now she’s returning home a little bit shabby around the edges to claim a valuable painting left to her by her disapproving aunt. Fifteen years ago, Colin Byrne arrived in Parrish from England as a new teacher only to have his career destroyed by a spiteful young Sugar Beth. Fifteen years ago, Sugar Beth had everything Winnie Davis ever wanted, but because Winnie had the one thing Sugar Beth could never have, she turned Winnie’s life into a perpetual hell. So now Colin, a best-selling author, and Winnie, Parrish’s richest citizen, are determined to exact revenge for Sugar Beth’s past sins, but much to their surprise, neither one finds revenge to taste quite as sweet as they expected once they get to know the new Sugar Beth. A hero who wouldn’t be out of place in the pages of a Regency romance, a heroine who is equal parts grit and class, and a basset hound with a personality disorder are just a few of the memorable characters in Phillips’ sassy, sexy contemporary romance.

This one will ship directly from Amazon so the winner needs to live within the amazon delivery area (I can do Canada, UK and United States).

Today’s question: We’ve all got that book – the one that made us a fan of a certain author. What was yours? I know we’ve all got many of them so you need only list one (or you can put multiple ones down too, it’s all good with me!) Ain’t She Sweet was my Susan Elizabeth Phillips book – I’ve devoured everything she’s written ever since.

I’ll draw the winner at noon pacific tomorrow (May 4) Winners have seven days to claim their prize, after that time, I’ll redraw for a new winner. Good luck!!

38 comments to “RELENTLESSLY BIG CONTEST Day Nineteen!”

  1. Stacy K.
    May 3rd, 2009 at 9:19 am · Link

    Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion have been read so many times by me that I can quote whole chapters, verbatum. I see Jane Austen-esque themes in all books that I read. It is kinda funny, I don’t even realize I am doing it, and all of a sudden a thought would pop up, “that was a very Bingley thing to do”, “ahhh, a Wickhead character”. LOL

    Then there is my other author obsession, AKA Lauren Dane 😉 . I first came upon one of your stories at EC, and it was Thrice United (it had just been released). When I found out it was part of a series, I bought’em up and devoured them. Next I worked my way through all your stories and I have yet to read one that I could not read over and over again.



  2. Roberta Harwell
    May 3rd, 2009 at 10:37 am · Link

    I’d have to day Blood Magic by Jennifer Lyon. This was one of my first experiences the paranormal genre. She rocked my world with this book. Have a great day.



  3. Pamela Peddy
    May 3rd, 2009 at 11:01 am · Link

    I started reading when I was in 5th grade and devoured anything and everything I could. I stopped reading for probably close to 7 yrs and when I started back I was reading mainly historicals.
    After reading reviews I got back into contemporary and romantic suspense and “discovered” Linda Howard. Open Season is one that sticks in my mind the most.



  4. Christine
    May 3rd, 2009 at 11:28 am · Link

    The Bride by Julie Garwood was the first and it started my love affair w/ all of her books



  5. Cathy M
    May 3rd, 2009 at 11:30 am · Link

    Reading Elizabeth’s Wolf by Lora Leigh turned me into a huge fan of her breed stories.



  6. Jane
    May 3rd, 2009 at 11:35 am · Link

    Like Christine, mine was “The Bride” by Julie Garwood. All of Julie’s historicals are favorites of mine.



  7. chey
    May 3rd, 2009 at 11:37 am · Link

    Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon. Then I had to read all the other ones in the Outlander series, and eagerly await the new ones!



  8. bridget3420
    May 3rd, 2009 at 11:40 am · Link

    Jemima J by Jane Green



  9. Raonaid Luckwell
    May 3rd, 2009 at 11:48 am · Link

    I have to say Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon, the first book in the Dark-Hunter series. Before, I tended to give paranormal especially with vampires and were-wolves a wide berth, scoffing how cliche and overdone it was. Wellllll, after Sherri’s book, i reevaulated my opinion and now can’t seem to get enough of it.



  10. Michelle
    May 3rd, 2009 at 12:15 pm · Link

    I could probably name a few books that got me to read new authors, but one that stands out is “Small Town Girl” by Lavyrle Spencer. I’d seen her books at the store many times, but they didn’t seem to be my type of story. Then, I saw this “small town girl makes it big” story and decided to buy the hardcover. I love love love the book, and read it at least once a year. Such a great story and I read a number of Spencer’s books as a result!

    Please don’t enter me in the contest, I already have this SEP title…

    Michelle (Antinmitchfield)



  11. Tab
    May 3rd, 2009 at 12:20 pm · Link

    The Duke and I by Julia Quinn got me started on The Bridgerton series and from there on I bought out her backlist!



  12. Amy M
    May 3rd, 2009 at 12:47 pm · Link

    A hunger like no other by Kresley Cole got me started on her books and then led to the current paranormal craze I am in now…



  13. Shell the HOckeyvampiress
    May 3rd, 2009 at 1:03 pm · Link

    The Witching Hour by Anne Rice was my first paranormal. Christine Feehan’s Dark Prince and Lora Leigh’s Dawn’s Awakening….



  14. limecello
    May 3rd, 2009 at 1:13 pm · Link

    SEP is/was one of my favorite authors. (I readily admit I do not like the move towards womens fiction. Blech.) I also really like this book – and it has one of my favorite lines ever – about how Sugar Beth deceives everyone as to who she truly is… <3

    Oh right – please don’t enter me in this draw; I’ve already got my own copy 😀



  15. Jeanette Juan
    May 3rd, 2009 at 1:25 pm · Link

    Sherrilyn Kenyon’s novel Dance With The Devil hooked me on her Dark hunter series and I have been reading them ever since.



  16. Michelle
    May 3rd, 2009 at 1:29 pm · Link

    I was away from reading books for years and years. Time just didnt allow. Now that the kids were older I was craving snuggling up with a good book. My friend suggested Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series and I immediately got addicted right back into books.
    The book was “One for the Money.”
    As for the romance erotica version, I won a book at an all girls weekend called “Surrender” by Kimbery Zant and that is when I ended up buying out Amazon with all the amazing authors you have listed at the side, including yourself!



  17. MJ
    May 3rd, 2009 at 2:38 pm · Link

    Shem Creek got me hooked on Dorthea Benton Frank.

    mj.coward[at]gmail.com



  18. Tracy
    May 3rd, 2009 at 3:19 pm · Link

    The one author that immediately stands out for me is Beth Kery. Once I read Subtle Magic, I was hooked, and have read all her books since.



  19. Booklover1335
    May 3rd, 2009 at 3:58 pm · Link

    This is a HARD one to choose. Since Lora Leigh, Jane Austen, Julia Quinn, Julie Garwood, and Diana Gabaldon have already been mentioned (though they are all must haves for me) I will have to say “Too Much Temptation” by Lori Foster.

    I think this is the first book of hers that I ever read, and immediately tried to track down all of her back list after reading it.

    I am never disappointed in her work.

    cldivineATyahooDOTcom



  20. Collette
    May 3rd, 2009 at 4:07 pm · Link

    This is my very favorite SEP book–possibly because it was my first. I remember sitting outside at the Point by my house (kind of a beach–sort of), tons of people around, and I was crying. Crying in public = great writing.

    This book might be “that book” for me. (Please don’t put me in the drawing because of course, I already own it!)



  21. Crystal B.
    May 3rd, 2009 at 4:07 pm · Link

    The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt. I loved this book and she has been an autobuy for me ever since.



  22. Melissa
    May 3rd, 2009 at 4:13 pm · Link

    Oh, I love SEP. And for exactly the reson you listened….her heroines and heros are far from perfect, but they’re still able to make me love them. It Had To Be You is one of the greatest books EVAH~~love Phoebe, she’s so not your typical heroine, and I just loved her!!

    I already have all SEP’s books, so don’t put me in the drawing, but you picked another winner to blog about, Lauren!!



  23. Gabby
    May 3rd, 2009 at 4:46 pm · Link

    Oy, so many books – really.

    I think I’d have to pick a couple authors and their books.

    In no particular order:

    Saving Grace – Julie Garwood, mainly due to the characterization and storytelling.

    The Healer – Sharon Sala. I’ve read other books by her previously, a few of which are on my keeper shelves, but that one is tops for me because it talks about the choices people make.

    The Woodsman – Don K. Wright due to the characters and their vividness, along with the historical basis for them.

    The Walking Drum – Louis L’Amour, one of the non-Western themed of his books and, as far as I know, the only one with a medieval setting. For me, this book is sort of like seeing a very bright sunset after a dark and overcast day because of the storyline, storytelling and the rather believable characters.



  24. E. Marie Hill
    May 3rd, 2009 at 4:51 pm · Link

    Dinah McCall’s “Jackson Rule” a dark tormented hero, who was a Hero through the whole book, and a Heroine, who never gave up on him (doubts, yes, a little) but it was so great, I know I’ve read it ten times



  25. Larena Wirum
    May 3rd, 2009 at 5:16 pm · Link

    Hannah Howell’s Compromised Hearts & Beauty & The Beast are the two books that made sure I always buy her books.

    Colters’ Woman by Maya Banks got me hooked on her books.

    Though there are several others also. :mrgreen:



  26. Diane M.
    May 3rd, 2009 at 6:16 pm · Link

    Anything by Lois McMaster Bujold. I read my first book by her and then bought everything available.



  27. Teresa W.
    May 3rd, 2009 at 6:21 pm · Link

    Reading Janet Evanovich’s One For the Money got me hooked on the Stephanie Plum series!



  28. Virginia Hendricks
    May 3rd, 2009 at 7:40 pm · Link

    LKH-Narcissus in Chains. Loved the book!



  29. Donna S
    May 3rd, 2009 at 8:25 pm · Link

    Naked in Death immediately hooked my on the JD Robb series and I had to catch up as fast as possible with the series.



  30. Quilt Lady
    May 3rd, 2009 at 8:40 pm · Link

    Rebel Temptress is the books that got me hooked on Constance O’banyons books years ago. Right now I will buy every book she writes. The Leopard Prince got me hooked on Elizabeth Holt’s books. That’s a few.



  31. Caffey
    May 3rd, 2009 at 8:43 pm · Link

    I loved this book, it was my first book by SEP! I then started going backwards and more to read of hers! (don’t put me in the contest for this one) I love to play anyways!

    Christina Dodd- I remember when I discovered her first book in the Governess series when they were already out. I ended up buying all six books and it was during a blizzard here and I just read one after another! This was a series that had such different themes (fairy tale related to the regency) for each heroine. So it was not a way to get burned out in reading one author six books in a row! I haven’t been missing anything since of hers.

    Recently I went to a chat and met a new to me author Jillian Hunter and readers were asking me ‘you haven’t read her Bocastle series yet?’ so I did go get book one and I read five of the series so far and so can’t wait for the rest!

    Then there was Jaci Burton…It doesn’t end. I so love getting pull it on an author’s writing and just excited about the next and next!



  32. Eva S
    May 4th, 2009 at 1:29 am · Link

    Mercury’s War by Lora Leigh. It’s one of her latest Breed books, since then I’ve read them all…



  33. Sue A.
    May 4th, 2009 at 4:16 am · Link

    I was hooked on Emma Holly after reading Ménage. I love it when you find an author early in their career and they make it big.



  34. Armenia
    May 4th, 2009 at 5:54 am · Link

    The Ladys Tutor by Robin Schone and Kiss of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning. I just loved those books and got hooked.



  35. Nancy
    May 4th, 2009 at 7:23 am · Link

    LOVE SEP! Haven’t read this one yet.

    The first book that turned me on to one of my favorite authors Paullina Simons was The Bronze Horseman which is a gorgeous WW2 love story set in Russia.

    I’d read that woman’s shopping list! Her writing is so incredibly rich and moving. So pwerful.



  36. tinab
    May 4th, 2009 at 8:29 am · Link

    Megan harts playing the game got me hooked on her now i look for her books everywhere



  37. Carrie
    May 4th, 2009 at 9:43 am · Link

    I read The Sparkling One by Susan Mallery and have been hooked on her books ever since!



  38. Susan
    May 4th, 2009 at 1:29 pm · Link

    “Fast Women” was the first book I read by Jennifer Crusie. “Envy” by Sandra Brown.