REVIEW: No Greater Pleasure by Megan Hart

REVIEW: No Greater Pleasure by Megan Hart

Dear Ms. Hart, I’ve enjoyed several of your books, and three of them, the novels Dirty and Broken, and the novella collection Pleasure and Purpose, are among the best books I’ve read in recent years. I was thrilled by Pleasure and Purpose and greatly looking forward to No Greater Pleasure, its sequel, so I’m genuinely [...]

Wednesday Midday Links RoundUp: Big Changes at Simon & Schuster

I woke up and Twitter was alive with the news that Simon & Schuster was making a huge change to its organizational structure. Simon Spotlight Entertainment and Pocket Books will be reconfigured. All the hardcovers and trade books that were once Pocket Books or SSE will now be Gallery Books. Pocket Books will focus solely [...]

REVIEW: Samantha’s Cowboy by Marin Thomas

REVIEW: Samantha’s Cowboy by Marin Thomas

Dear Ms. Thomas, This is the last book in a trilogy that doesn’t read that way. Which is a relief to me as I hate jumping into a series and feeling over my head with past characters and situations. After reading the middle book, The Cowboy’s Promise, I knew the book on the hero’s brain [...]

REVIEW: Can’t Stand the Heat by Louisa Edwards

REVIEW: Can’t Stand the Heat by Louisa Edwards

Dear Ms. Edwards: Thank you for sending me this book. I confess I tried to read this book many times, never making it out of the first few chapters. The heroine, Miranda Wake, a food critic, gets drunk at a restauraent premiere and makes some very loud and rude remarks. She then insults the chef, [...]

REVIEW: Make Her Pay by Roxanne St. Claire

REVIEW: Make Her Pay by Roxanne St. Claire

Dear Ms. St. Claire: I read your new book, Make Her Pay, with a bittersweet sensibility, because while the end is still open for the series, it appears that this will be the last Bullet Catcher book for a while. Which made me want to love this book, even though we only met Constantine Xenakis [...]

Tuesday Midday Links

Maili is guesting over at Victoria Janssen’s blog home about her favorite category books. Sadly so many of them are out of print. I’ve read all but one of the stories recommended by Maili and they are worth hunting down and not just because Jane is the heroine in one of the books. Really. You [...]

Who is afraid of Big Bad Wolf?

Who is afraid of Big Bad Wolf?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures Last week, I posted an “If You Like” query looking for good werewolf romances. I commented that the Urban Fantasy genre is replete with werewolves but that the werewolf is much rarer in mass market romances. Indeed, in the comments, many a reader referenced popular urban fantasy series like [...]

REVIEW: Simply Wicked by Kate Pearce

REVIEW: Simply Wicked by Kate Pearce

Dear Ms. Pearce, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began your latest book, Simply Wicked, not having read you before and having only the vague idea that you write erotic romance, a term that has come to be applied a bit too broadly to provide much useful information for me as a reader. [...]

Monday Midday Links: Kensington Loses a Family Member in Kate Duffy

Kate Duffy was the backbone of romance at Kensington. As editorial director, she created the Brava line and discovered a multitude of authors. A no nonsense, tell it like it is, sort of person, Kate was so devoted to her job that illness took no place. Unfortunately, Kate succumbed to a difficult battle she had [...]

My First Sale by Kylie Brant

My First Sale by Kylie Brant

Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Monday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Kylie Brant has a trilogy of Romantic Suspense books out from Berkley. The first release, Waking Nightmare, was out in September. Waking Evil, the next in the series, will be [...]

REVIEW: The Same Last Name by Kathleen Gilles Seidel

REVIEW: The Same Last Name by Kathleen Gilles Seidel

Dear Ms. Seidel, Your 1983 category, The Same Last Name, begins when three cars arrive at New York State’s Frank Lake State Park. One of the park’s forest rangers, twenty-five year old April Ramsey, greets the man who registers this group of six visitors. April directs the tourist to the best campsites for a group [...]

REVIEW: Unrequited by Abigail Roux

REVIEW: Unrequited by Abigail Roux

Dear Ms. Roux. I opened this file when I got it because it wasn’t paranormal (no world building…I’m so sick of world building) and because you wrote it and I adore your Caught Running with Madeleine Urban. That said…meh. So many holes, such annoying characters, unbelievable timeline, so much potential angst wasted, wasted I tell [...]

Digital Consumers Like Pictures Too

Digital Consumers Like Pictures Too

These images are the covers to ebooks from Random House, Pocket, and Berkley. I’m a big champion of ebooks, obviously, but there are all kinds of problems with ebooks from the expensive hardware to the ridiculous number of formats and DRM encryption schemes.   Those are issues that publishers may not be willing to address right [...]

Readers Opinions Wanted: Unfamiliar Terms

In today’s First Page, Laura Kinsale brought up a question in the comments regarding unfamiliar terms in a story. I have a question, as a writer, about one of the comments. This isn’t a loaded question, or any sort of commentary on this excerpt itself, it’s input for me. DS said I had to look [...]

First Page: m/m historical romance:

Welcome to First Page Saturday. Individual authors anonymously send a first page read and critiqued by the Dear Author community of authors, readers and industry others. Anyone is welcome to comment. You may comment anonymously. *** Jonah was late. Three minutes late, by the somber reckoning of the Trinity Church clock. Two, by his reliable [...]