In the early 1980′s – I was SO moved by Roberta Gellis’ Roslynde Chronicles that I wrote her an fan letter filled with my enjoyment of her historical details and realistic descriptions of feudal Europe. Ms. Gellis wrote me back. She thanked me for her letter and told me that the only feedback she had was the sales numbers, unless a reader wrote to her and that she really appreciated the specifics of my letter. Needless to say, I felt and still feel a connection to Ms. Gellis.

Now – 20 years later I am still reading historical and romantic ficiton.

So, I am not bothered by the connection between the reviewer and the author – but I do appreciate the disclosure.

I am always interested in good fiction, but hadn’t read Ms. Brockman’s work. So – off to the library I went. I am 3/4 of the way of Gone to Far (the first one my library had on the shelf).

The book is well written, but I certianly feel that I have missed a LOT (okay, 5 whole books).

But low and behold – Ms. Brockman has a 56 page Reader’s Guide to the books with terms, characters, plot summaries and useful tidbits to keep me from being confused (well, help me at least).

There are a lot of characters – who are already well established with lots of history and previous interactions. I get the definite feeling that this book is continuing plot and story arcs from previous books, but but the book IS well written and while it does not quite stand on its own, the Reader’s Guide helps a lot ! So, I’ll keep reading for awhile yet.

I gotta say, tho ..that thinking about all the comments about the “connections” – I wondered if I wanted to get into a long term relationship with these books. *chuckle* — Cause that is what it feels like.

And I am already in a relationship with Christine Feehan and Laurell K. Hamilton and Mary Blalogh, and Charlaine Harris… and so many others.

I have not been disapointed. Reading other boards ~ you gotta just go with the author.

@KarLynP: Yes, yes, yes! That’s the thing above all that I loved about this book. Decker has to learn to accept that side of himself as “normal” for him in order to make sense to himself, in order to be whole and healthy.

I LOVED this book for all the reasons Joan/Sarah F did. I too felt Decker’s storyline was especially satisfying. DoN is easily one of my favorites in the series.

Warning – Spoiler alert:

One particular strong point of this book is that Brockmann writes yet another amazing storyline regarding sexual preference — including one’s inner struggles and confusion with trying to be normal. This time she touches on BDSM, last time it was homosexuality (Jules/Robin/Adam). I am not into BDSM books at all, but OMG it was HOT. Bravo Brockmann!

@GrowlyCub: *I* would be very interested in knowing your opinion of the book, TBH. I don't think I've actually read a sustained review from a Decker/Sophia fan yet, and I have been looking. If you can point me to them, I'd be interested; otherwise, I await your review. I'm really interested to see what you think of the book!

There are several reviews of the actual book in the book thread at AAR
http://aarboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=4536

Yes, you have to wade through some conversation, but there are posters there from all sides of the fence: Dave/Sophia fans, Deck/Sophia fans, Decker fans who dislike Sophia and are quite happy he ended up with X, people who didn’t care, etc. The more detailed ones are on pages 10, 14, 15, 20, and probably beyond as more people finish the book.
Contrary to what some people might think, we've been having quite an interesting and entertaining discussion. It's not all crying in our pretzels simply because some of us didn't get the couple we wanted.

There's also the LONG earlier thread from when the spoilers first came out through the release of the book in which we discussed many of the books and other couples in the series. http://aarboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=4228 Granted, there are some angry and sad posts within, as well as some cheeky ones (SarahF's not the only one who can do “snark” – LOL). And for a few (okay probably dozens) pages there are more upset Decker & Sophia fans, but all sides are represented.

Did I think Sophia and Decker were going to get together? Yes. Was I surprised to learn they didn’t? Yes. Was I upset? No, because I figured Suz had thought about it. If I read it and thought it was a half-assed rewriting, I would be upset, but I don’t think it was. I felt that Decker’s reaction to Sophia was very well explained. Do I believe that he would fall for Tracy? Sort of. But I could see why he wouldn’t pursue Sophia.

Thank you, Growly, I will be posting shortly. I never said I wasn’t interested in the opinions of those who are unhappy with the pairings, I’m just interested in hearing what the other side has to say as well.

It would have been nice to have seen a discussion of the book that was not monopolized by unhappy Decker/Sophia fans.

You’ve said that twice now, but I’m still waiting to see your take on the book. If you want to discuss it nobody is keeping you from doing so!

If find it kind of ironic that you want discussion but obviously only the opinion of people who like this book will be acceptable.

I think it’s too early for lots of discussion because many won’t have read it yet. I’m still waiting to get this from the library, but then my opinion won’t interest you because I’m one of those unhappy people.

I’ll post my take here as soon as I’ve finished reading the book.

That’s totally appropriate and I completely respect, support, encourage your right to disregard a review because you think that the reviewer’s opinion might be too greatly influenced by anything.

For me it all comes down to this: take what’s valuable to you, leave what’s not, because we all have the freedom to do that and enough diversity of viewpoints here to provide for lots of debate.

you reviewed Megan Hart’s Dirty

And you later said this when Lauren Dane commented:

Ms. Dane – I do know you are being honest in your opinion on amazon and everywhere. It's just, well, because you are such good friends, it's hard to take the recommendation seriously. I think if my BFF wrote a book, I would think it was the best thing ever too.

and this:

Ms. Dane – I really am not trying to be offensive. I think its great you disclosed your relationship. As a reader, though, I tend to view those type of reviews something akin to cover quotes. I mean if Jayne ever wrote a book (not that she has any plans to do you Jayne?), I don't think anyone would take my recommendation seriously.

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2007/01/11/dirty-by-megan-hart/

So, I will take SarahF’s review seriously. But not that much since I know she IS a fangirl and has said so.

I think the disclaimer is a good idea and all that’s required. I am capable of reading a decent (not-Harriet K-style) review and saying “hmm… that part isn’t going to work for me so this book isn’t one I will bother with.” It’s not an investment in the Decker-Sophia relationship that put me off this one, but rather my complete lack of interest in reading about Dave. I tried to read the prologue / first chapter when they were posted and couldn’t get past the first few paragraphs, that’s how much I can’t see Dave as a romance hero. I did have hopes for Decker’s relationship when I read the early spoilers, but the spoiler that Dr. S reveals here is something that I know won’t work for me. This review has done exactly what a good review should and given me enough information to make my own decision. (And I NEVER bought Mary Lou’s supposed redemption!)

I don’t look at it in terms of “I don’t recognize these characters any more.” (Though I will confess that SuperDave was a bit much. But by that point I wasn’t reading for them.) I look at it in terms of we see these characters mostly through the eyes of other characters. We don’t know as much as we think, and the purpose of the books is to learn more about them. Sam? Was on the surface a racist asshole who thinks with his dick. But I have no problem with unpeeling the layers and finding out more about him. It’s the process of falling in love with someone, really. Who out there is really WYSIWYG?