We love contests, right? Just a reminder, you do need to check back to see if you win if you’d like to claim the prize. 
Sunny will be giving away a signed copy of her latest, Mona Lisa Craving, to one commenter…. so comment!
Every commenter will get their name entered into the drawing once and a winner will be drawn for the prize.
The blurb for Mona Lisa Craving…
From the time she was an orphan child, Mona Lisa knew she was different—but she never knew how different. As daughter of the Mixed-Blood of the Monère, she has arrived to rule a new domain in the Louisiana Bayou. Now, under the full moon, she’s feeling a new and uncontrollable surge—and an instinctive new craving…
Dante, the warrior son of a healer, was cursed by the high priestess to endure a never-ending cycle of life and death, born and reborn into an ever-diminishing bloodline. Someone shares one of his past lives. Her name was Mona Lyria. Back then, on the moon in another world, she was his victim. Today, she is Mona Lisa. This time, she is his savior. Dante’s wish is to die by her hands to end his cursed existence. But she feels fate has given them both a second chance. For even stronger than her craving for blood is her craving for what every Monère female desires, and needs…to bear life. Now she has found her mate. But with this blessing could come a new curse under the shadow of a new moon.
You can read more about Sunny’s books here…
And now onto Sunny!
~*~*~*~
ONE CRAZY READER
I’m giving away a free signed copy of MONA LISA CRAVING at the end of the day, and will choose a winner from those who post a response. I’d love to hear from other readers on how you got started reading romance.
Before becoming a writer and discovering Romance Writers of America, I was an oddity, a freak—the only one in my family and circle of friends who was a reader. And not just a reader, but a romance reader.
I got my library card in third grade, at the age of eight, when we moved from Brooklyn to Poughkeepsie, New York. Adriance Memorial library was about a mile away from my home, and I would walk there a couple of times a week, loaded down with a pile of books that stretched my arms longer each trip. When I hit my teens, I discovered the romance novel. My mother, a pastor’s daughter, used to rip those mild love stories (Silhouettes and Harlequins then) out of my hands and call them a sin—this was in the early eighties, during the era of bodice-ripping covers. But I was hooked on the rich love and emotion I found in those stories, and couldn’t give them up.
Even now, several decades later, I remain a voracious reader, averaging about five books a week. It’s my favorite way to unwind. Thankfully the covers have gotten more refined. Over the years, my reading tastes have broadened to include sci-fi and fantasy, women’s fiction, mystery, and general fiction, in addition to my mainstay—romance—and my taste in romance itself slowly grew darker, edgier, and much more hotter as I discovered authors like Linda Howard, Laura Kleypas, Emma Holly, and Laurell K. Hamilton.
Interestingly enough, I’ve found that reading has a real impact on my writing. A good story gets my creative juices going, not only with ideas but with words and actual phrasing. It helps in editing, too, I’ve found. The other day, I sat down to do the final editing revision on my husband’s new young adult fiction, The Sword, coming out this fall by HarperCollins/Laura Geringer Books. It went awfully. I had a hard time making the necessary changes in grammar and sentence structures, and finally stopped after a frustrating two hours. I hadn’t done any reading for a week, a rare event, and had been watching movies each night instead, after discovering Redbox, a $1 per night movie/dvd rental machine at my local supermarket. Part of the reason was that I’d read all of the January book titles I had wanted to read and was waiting for February’s offerings.
Nalini Singh’s new book, Mine to Possess, finally came out yesterday and I devoured it, staying up late into the night to finish it. Today, when I sat down to edit my husband’s manuscript, it was a piece of cake, different as night was from day. The changes and corrections came to me easily, effortlessly. It was really surprising to me, that reading the words of a well-written story makes working with words so much easier.
Sunny
http://www.sunnyauthor.com
MONA LISA CRAVING, National bestseller
LUCINDA, DARKLY, 2007 RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominee
OMG!!!!!!!!!
Sunny, i absolutely LOVE your books!
I read Mona Lisa Betwining and I became addicted to the series.
your books are completely amazing!!!!
just wanted to let you know that your writing is greatly appreciated and loved.
Chelsea, I love and greatly appreciate your comment!! There’s plenty of downs in this crazy business. Hearing back from readers, though, is one of the wonderful ups. Thanks, honey. A big hug and kiss.
Sunny
Hi Sunny!!! I have never read any of your books, but MLC sounds interesting. I will definetly check it out a the store.
I have read romance since I could pick up a book. I remember Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast being my favorites as a little girl. Then I discovered my mom’s stack of HQ and devoured them. As a new writer, I never contemplated writing anything but romance. I love the feeling of completion at the end of a book with the HEA and I want to give someone else that feeling. I find that reading keeps me fresh when I’m writing.
I love the title of the book Mona Lisa Craving. Definatley a book I want to read. I loved the excerpt too.
Hi Sunny! Love your books. I started reading romances at 13. My aunt gave me my first romance book and I’ve been hooked ever since. My reading tastes have changed some over the years. I love reading eroitca, paranormals, contemps, historicals, sci/fi, and fantasies. I used to read just historicals. Now I read a lot of genres.
Hi Sunny…love that blurb on your book! That’s neat that you help your husband edit.
I started reading at a young age and use to have my mom drive me to the store so I could look for books. No one else in my family was a reader. I stopped in my early twenties and started back up again when a friend at work recommended I read during lunch to relieve the stress. It worked and I’ve been hooked on romance ever since.
I’ve heard wonderful things about Sunny’s books. I have to admit I do have one of her books here on my TBR pile. It traveled here from the States and I’m hoping to get to it.
I started reading romance after spending summer vacation with a friend. She was reading her mom’s Harlequin romances and we read and read. That was back in middle school.
I went back to reading romances when I was older and had kidlets. I realized I loved the ability of books to take me away.
I didn’t start reading romances until I was a junior in high school. An older friend of my cousin had cases of romance novels in her home and she told me to borrow some. She introduced me to Julie Garwood and Jude Deveraux. Julie remains one of my favorite authors.
Hi Sunny,
Good topic. I started reading romance ny chance. For my 21st birthday I got a borders GC and had picked up a couple books because teh covers caught my attention. I had teh books on my desk for a while I finally picked one up (Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon) I read that book in a 24 hour period, I was hooked. I read paranormals mostly for the first few years ,now I also read sci-fi, contemporary, erotics and a few YA’s.
Hugs, Danette
I used to HATE to read. I would do what ever I could to not read. One day my Aunt had a bunch of Harlequin books that she gave me and my sister. She had a couple duplicates so my sister would read out loud and I would follow along. After a bit I would read on my own until finally I became addicted and I’ve been reading ever since!
My grandmother got me to reading romances. For as far back as I can remember after my grandpa passed I would stay with her doing the summer and most weekends. And I can still to this day hear her fussing and/or laughing at the books she stayed up late into the night reading. I read one and I was hooked from then on and yes my first one was some form of harlequin or silouette book.
Hi, Sunny.
Your story sounds great!
I was always a reader and read a few romances as a teen, but most of the stories I read back then were sci-fi and mysteries.
It was after I’d written my young adult novel, an historical coming-of-age story, that a romance writer who critiqued suggested I play up the romance between my two main characters. This made for a much better story.
Afterward, I decided to reinvestigate the romance genre and found, to my surprise, that all my favorite genres were represented there.
I’ve been hooked ever since.
Good morning, Sunny
I absolutely love the worldbuilding you’ve done with your books, and your writing style just keeps the stories flowing. They are fabulous.
I’ve been reading for so long, it’s hard to think of a time I wasn’t reading. Started our really young, with the Nancy Drew books, then progressed onto my mother’s Harlequin’s (way back many moons ago), and have just never stopped. My love of reading spurred on my love of writing. Books and stories just let the imagination flow.
Good luck and good writing.
Sunny,
I gave up reading romance when I was in my teens, but you (and several other erotic paranormal writers) have lured me back into the fold with your sensual, evocative, sexy, and smart stories.
Regards,
Barbara
I started reading romances as a teen also.
A friend of my mom’s read Harlequins and I got started on those. Though I pretty much read anything anymore I still read romances from every genre. I love to read and am reading all the time. 
Sunny, Your new release looks wonderful. I know that your books are unique and special. I look forward to reading Craving.
I have been reading romance since I was 10 years old. I used to walk back and forth to the library and take out a bag of books. Then I rode my bike several times a week and had a basket for my wonderful selection. Reading was my passion in life and still is. I am a devoted and passionate lover of books.
Hi Sunny. Mona Lisa Craving sounds good. I started reading romance when I was 12. My mom and my sister-in-laws read a lot and I got to read romances they thought would be age appropriate. I have been an avid reader ever since.
Sunny!
Wow your writing takes my breathe away! And All I have read are excerpts!! LOl I know I am behind everyone who has read your works but Everytime I go to check your books out at the library they are gone and I am on the waiting list!! Anyway I can’t wait to sink into your world I have heard nothing but good!!
I have only read one romance and it was soo cheesy I haven’t ventured back. I mainly read paras and urban fantasy.
Thanks
Culleen
Hi Sunny, I haven’t had a chance to read any of your stories yet, but you have definitely picqued my curiousity. As for romance books, I am the only one in my family that read romance stories. I started out with Georgette Heyer and Barbara Cartland historicals, and then moved on to the Candlelight Romance and Silhoutte contemporaries. Now it’s whatever catches my interest, the sexier the better.
Hi Sunny!
I love your books. Your stories are so different and entertaining, they grab me from page one.
Congrats on this latest release!
Hi Sunny! Your books look so amazing & I feel bad that I haven’t been able to read any yet. I recently discovered your website while surfing the net & your books looked good so I added all of them to my TBB list. Hopefully, someday soon I will actually have a job again & be able to afford them
) Hope everyone here has a wonderful Valentine’s Day!!! ~Stacia
Patty, congrats on the new shift into writing. Fun, huh? And stressful!
Kimmy, thanks for dropping a note and reading the excerpt.
Amy, I started around that age, too. You sound just like me, willing to cross over to any genre for a good story. I never used to read historicals until I discovered Lisa Kleypas. Now I find myself dipping into that genre more and more, trying to find other writers like her.
Kim, I think helping my husband edit also helped myself. Working with words through editing, really honed my instincts and allowed me to see that building a story organically the way he does (what I saw as writing by the seat of your pants) was a valid way of writing, and what I ended up doing for myself. Also, his action scenes, written detail by detail, pretty much taught me how to write both my action and love scenes…they really are very similar
Sunny
I read the first two Mona Lisa books and enjoyed them very much.
I also just devoured Mine to Possess as well. I just love shapeshifters!
Hope you continue to write!
Ann, I love when a reader says she’s heard wonderful things about me! Tickles me absolutely pink. And you are a reader living abroad, someone truly dedicated. I didn’t realize how expensive books/romances in English are in other countries. I just visited Vienna with my family, quickly read through the 2 books I’d brought along, and had to, just to buy another one to read to tide me over until home. There was no romances in the store I found with books in English! I ended up buying an Iris Johansen paperback, which was almost twice the price of what I pay for paperbacks back home in New York. Heard it’s the same in Australia.
Hi Jane. Jude Deveraux is a classic, just like Nora Roberts and Jayne Ann Krentz!
Hi Dannette. 21! A late bloomer who stayed true, or rather addicted, once you got a taste of it. The world of books is simply wonderful, isn’t it? Feeds my soul.
Jambrea, you sound like my 13 year old daughter who, like any teenager, didn’t want to conform. Since we wanted her to read–and both my husband and I are heavy readers–she went the other way and said she hated reading. Until her reading and vocabulary scores started dropping on national tests, even though she gets straight A’s at school. Properly motivated now, she’s dived into reading. I buy books–new paperbacks and hardcovers–for her without the blink of an eye, even though I still frugally rummage through used book stores and the library as my first primary source for my reads, only buying them new when the first two sources fail for me.
PamK, God bless your grandma. I do that too. Snort, laugh and chuckle over my books while I’m reading. My kids at first thought I was demented, but have gotten used to it now
Susan, another reader turned writer! Doesn’t always segue that way, but it’s a wonderful cycle when it does. I went the other way in reading tastes, starting heavily with romance and only now, dipping heavily into sci-fi and mystery. Don’t you just love the new urban fantasy genre that had become so popular. It blends everything, alot of elements from other genres, into one delicious read.
Sunny
I habe been reading since grade school and love books more than people . They take you away and your books realy do it
Kathy, thank you for the sweet compliments on my wordbuilding and writing style! It’s like being told you’re thin and beautiful…LOL, I imagine you can never hear that too much.
Barb, you are too, too sweet and I absolutely adore you for your comment! You’ve thrilled this writer’s heart.
Larena, I love to read and read all the time, too. And life has gotten so busy that I had to choose between spending my free time reading or watching tv. Yup, I choose books. Hands down.
Hi Anne. Oh, another library junkie like me! Instead of a bike, I splurged on the occasional bus ride to and back from the library at the age of 10 and 11.
Crystal, God bless your mom and sister-in-law for being so wonderful and open-minded!
Hi Culleen. Oh, don’t give up on romance because of that one sample. Reading tastes, I find, change and grow as the years pass. I love paranormals and urban fantasies also. Lots of fabulous stories and new authors emerging in that field!
Sunny
Hi Cathy. Georgette Heyer is one author I’ve heard others mention but haven’t had the opportunity to read yet. Will have to get one of her books. I am always, always hungry for quality writers that grab my heart. As far as I’m concerned, my favorite authors can’t write fast enough. My husband says I read too fast.
Angelique, thank you for the lovely compliment!
Hi Stacia. Oh, someone whose come across my website! That was the one thing my Berkley editor asked me to do. Not attending RWA or RT conferences or spending money on promotion. Just to set up a website, which I would not have done had she not requested it of me. A lot of trouble. But I just love the one my webmistress designed for me! Most of all, I love that it’s WordPress. Now I can do most of the updates myself.
Hi Stacie Mc. Someone who has read my first two Mona Lisa books! I’m thrilled and delighted! Nalini Singh is just fabulous, isn’t she?
Patricia, I love books for the same reason. They just take you away. And that you say that about my stories…what a tremendous compliment. Thank you!
Sunny
Hi sunny,
I started to say, when I hit the wrong key, I have not read one of your books. The blurb sounds great.
I learned to read at 5 and haven’t looked back. I read my first romance when I was about 10 and haven’t stopped reading them. I read an average of a book a day.
Enjoyed the excerpt and the read sounds great. A friend of mine got me started on Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series and I’ve been hooked on the paranormal genre every since then.
I’ve just discovered your books, Sunny, and love them! I’ve been reading romance for at least 35 years now. I still remember Victoria Holt being one of the first authors I read, along with Kathleen Woodiwiss, and I was hooked. I’m still going strong all these years later!
I started reading my mother’s Harlequin Romance books when I was younger and I branched out from there to other romance genres like paranormal romance after I got married
Hi Estella. Another book a day gal. I thought that was extreme until I met some 2 or 3 book a day women at RT and RWA conferences. Wish I’d known about these reading and writing groups when I was younger.
Hi Teresa. I agree. Paranormal is fabulous. I couldn’t have imagined myself writing it; didn’t think I had the imagination for it. But glad to find I was wrong.
Sasndy. Oh my God…Kathleen Woodiwiss. Her books, The Flame and the Flower, and Shanna, are still 2 of my all-time favorites. Her writing just blew me away.
Hey Jeanette. Harlequin seems to have introduced so many people to romance, including me. They’ve also launched so many wonderful writing careers including some of my favorites: Nora Roberts, Jayne Ann Krentz, Linda Howard, and Iris Johansen, to name a few.
Sunny
I can read a book in a day or two but I have to say anymore I don’t have the time to read 2-3 a day. Used to read 2-1/2 books a day as a teen.
Hi Larena. I know what you mean. Had much more free time as a teenager, with with schoolwork and all. Being all grown up with a family to care for cuts down on the reading time
AND THE CONTEST WINNER IS CULLEEN. Please email me through my website at http://www.sunnyauthor.com with your address.
Thanks everyone! You’ve all been wonderful.
True Sunny, it is wonderful. Reading soothes a frustrating day too.
Sunny I remember meeting you at RT 2006 in Daytona and have to admit that I found you inspiring and couldn’t wait to read this series. I’m loving it!!!
Eliza, what a nice thing to say! Pleased as punch you’re enjoying the books! Hugs.
OH I hope I am not to late to claim the prize!! Thanks so much I just emailed you through you web!!
Culleen