Mar 9 2009

GIVEAWAY: What’s Next for Berkley

By Jane • Features • • Tags: ,

NOTE: This post will close it’s comments tonight at 8 PM CST and the winners will be posted in the A.M. Jane

I have SEVENTEEN Berkley ARCs of titles scheduled to be published in March, April and May including NYT bestselling authors like Christine Feehan and Lora Leigh. Cindy Hwang, executive editor of Berkley, has donated these books to giveaway to highlight some of their spring titles.   Play the slideshow (there is a 4 sec delay) or click through the covers and then take a look at the highlights below. Drop a note in the comments with the title of three books you would like and anything else you think Berkley should know.   Winners will be picked at random. I will note that Hard and Fast by Erin McCarthy has been read once (by me). It’s hysterical and contains the following line “You are the hottest biscuit this side of the gravy boat.”

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This spring, Berkley has some really fabulous romances coming up, and it was especially hard to narrow down the list to just two highlights per month. So I cheated a bit and included three books in May. But there are many other exciting Berkley romances not mentioned here, so to find out about all the other current and upcoming books, check out www.berkleyjoveauthors.com.

MARCH

  • Known for her bestselling Psy-Changeling series, Nalini Singh has written a new paranormal series, this time featuring vampires and angels. It’s darker and even edgier than her Psy-Changeling series, and I think of it as a bit of a hybrid between paranormal romance and urban fantasy, so the category on the spine is Urban Fantasy Romance–a first for Berkley. You may think that you’ve already read every possible version possible of vampires–with ANGELS’ BLOOD, I guarantee that Nalini brings a real freshness to her world, a new twist that readers wouldn’t have read before. Plus, it has all the sexual tension and passionate romance that readers have come to expect from Nalini. All that and one of the sexiest heroes ever (Raphael is definitely on my personal top 5 list)!
  • Robin Schone is no stranger to romance readers–she’s been one of the most innovative and popular names in erotic romance for years–a true groundbreaker. Now, she makes her Berkley debut with CRY FOR PASSION. Set in Victorian London, CRY FOR PASSION is sexy, intense, complex, and emotional–vintage Schone. Berkley also has a special bonus for e-book readers–a free e-book of her previous historical romance, SCANDALOUS LOVERS, is bundled with the e-book of CRY FOR PASSION, so e-book readers will get a great two-fer!

APRIL

  • Jory Strong made her name writing erotic romance e-books for Ellora’s Cave, and she makes her Berkley debut with GHOSTLAND, a fascinating blend of urban fantasy and sexy paranormal romance–the second Berkley title that is categorized Urban Fantasy Romance. GHOSTLAND is set in a post-apocalyptic world devastated by plague and war, and where paranormals have come out of hiding, and where society is sharply divided along paranormal lines. A struggle for power among the ruling classes may allow the Djinns to emerge from their self-imposed exile to reclaim their rightful place in the world. Jory has created a fascinating, complex world rich with mythology, and grounded it with a fabulous romance as well.
  • Known for her popular military-set category romances, DEFENDER is the first in Catherine Mann’s fabulous "Dark Ops Defenders" series-’sexy romances featuring an elite squadron of fighter pilots who will do anything for their country-or their women! When a USO boat goes down in flames, test pilot Jimmy Gage pulls a scantily clad Chloe Nelson out of the shark-filled Mediterranean. Although she is grateful and he’s hot as the fire that took the boat down, the last thing Chloe needs is a jet-jock to be her bodyguard-’until she inadvertently finds herself closer to Gage than she ever expected, and side by side in a dangerous mission. DEFENDER will be followed by HOTSHOT in May 2009, and RENEGADE in Jan 2010.

MAY

  • Erin McCarthy returns to the stock car racing world with HARD AND FAST, the follow-up to FLAT-OUT SEXY. And if it’s possible, HARD AND FAST is even funnier than FLAT-OUT SEXY. Erin is fabulous combining smart and sexy with laugh-out-loud funny, and there were moments in HARD AND FAST I literally could not stop laughing. The heroine, Imogen, is a character very close to my heart (I want to be Imogen when I grow up!), and her romance with race car driver Ty is bone-meltingly sensual. One of my favorite moments in the book is the camping scene–I’ll just say I have a similar wardrobe to Imogen, and also learned the hard way that it’s not the most appropriate wardrobe for hiking.
  • SEA LORD by Virginia Kantra is the third book in the Children of the Sea series, which is her selkie paranormal romance series. In case you don’t know, selkies are half-human, half-seal–on land, they’re human but transform to seals in the water–as long as they still have their pelt. Take away their pelt, and you take away their ability to transform. SEA LORD is the story of Lucy Hunter and Conn ap Llyr, the selkie prince, and Virginia doesn’t disappoint. Virginia’s selkies are some of the most fascinating paranormal creatures around, and I love how she develops the selkies through their relationships (romantic and otherwise) with humans in her books. Lucy and Conn’s romance is both epic and wonderfully intimate, and SEA LORD really delivers–both on the emotional front, and on the action front. The stakes are high in SEA LORD, and readers will feel every moment.
  • From bestselling Deirdre Martin, best known for her hockey romances, comes WITH A TWIST. It’s the first in Martin’s fabulous new series about a large, loving Irish American family named the O’Briens who own the Wild Hart, a pub in the heart of New York City. Readers will love the Irish flair and charming cast of characters as they watch newspaper reporter Quinn O’Brien fall in love with Natalie Bocuse, the sister of the heroine in JUST A TASTE. They will also be pleased with surprise appearances from some of the heroes of Martin’s hockey books.

Cindy Hwang is the executive editor of Berkley who is actively seeking fresh voices in romance. In her spare time, she enjoys Bravo Reality TV and cinema remakes of comic books.

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