Feb 14 2009
Dear Ms. Dain: Jane has been trying to get me to read the Courtesan Chronicles for the longest time, but for whatever reason, I just didn’t get around to it. Until now, that is, with The Courtesan’s Wager, the third book in the series. Even though I skipped to this book and knew there were(…)
Jan 20 2009
Dear Ms. Cole: One of my favorite things about the Immortals After Dark series is that all the books are different. Sure, there are some unifying themes – justice v. retribution, finding one’s place in the world and in love, independence v. autonomy, just to name a few – but the stories and the couples(…)
Jan 14 2009
Dear Ms. St. Claire: I am a wary reader of Romantic Suspense, disappointed in either the romantic or suspense aspect of the story of too many books in the subgenre or frustrated by the amped up violence and gore that sometimes substitutes for suspense. But when Jane gave the first book of your latest Bullet(…)
Dec 30 2008
Dear Ms. Donovan: Your new book, The Girl Most Likely To reminded me very much of your first two books (Knock Me Off My Feet and Take a Chance on Me), which are my clear favorites of the Donovan oeuvre. The likeable hero, the quirky heroine, the family secret, and the goofy dog are all(…)
Dec 8 2008
Dear Ms. Moran: While I was reading your new novel, The Heretic Queen, I kept thinking about Shelley’s poem about Ramesses II, “Ozymandias,” especially these lines: `My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’ The theme of Shelley’s poem is the impermanence of human power, which is echoed(…)
Dec 2 2008
more animals A continuation of our Romance Apologia posts*. . . Part One, in which the author argues for the rights of women to read whatever the hell we want One of the things that gets my back up is patent dismissals of whole genres of writing: literary fiction is pretentious and boring; Romance is(…)
Nov 18 2008
Dear Ms. Steel: It was with avid curiosity that I read your February release, Honor Thyself, feeling quite out of the loop for not having read any of your previous work. After finishing the book, I was less curious but a bit confused, and so I went to Amazon to see what other readers thought(…)
Nov 16 2008
more animals [poll id="121"] It seems only yesterday we were reading about various “traditionalist” attacks on Erotic Romance. Remember the graphical standards debacle? Or how about the accusations that GBLT and polyamorous Romance weren’t real Romance? But the intervening years have shown that Erotic Romance is not only a viable subgenre, but is, in fact,(…)
Nov 13 2008
Dear Ms. MacNish: Veiled Passions is the first book of yours I’ve read, and perhaps because of that, this is a very difficult review for me to write. I wanted so much to like this book, because it has a number of elements I look for in Romance: settings other than Regency England (this book(…)
Oct 29 2008
Dear Ms. James: Kristie J. emailed me not too long ago and asked me if I had read your debut release, Broken Wing. She was so enthusiastic about the book that even though I hadn’t yet read it, I made sure I did ASAP. And it is a very promising first novel, reminiscent of many(…)
Oct 2 2008
Dear Ms. Guhrke: I enjoyed your last book, Wicked Ways of A Duke and was looking forward to Maria Martingale’s story. It is hard to resist these girl-bachelors; after all, who wouldn’t want to root for these young women who seek real independence and also find the gift of love along the way. However, despite(…)
Sep 17 2008
Dear Ms. Goodman: Starting with the Compass Club series, your books have been getting increasingly darker, and The Price of Desire is the darkest by far, darker, I think, than any other book of yours that I have read. It was also an emotionally cathartic read, a book that hearkens back to the Compass Club(…)
Aug 27 2008
Dear Ms. Thomas: Your books remind me acutely how much of the relationship between reader and book depends on some chemical, perhaps even alchemical, reaction, indescribable yet potent in its effect. They also remind me of how possible it is, even now, for a compelling storyteller to make stock characters and situations come to life.(…)
Aug 26 2008
more animals Do you remember the movie "Election," with Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick? In the first scene Mr. McAllister asks his high school class about the difference between ethics and morals. Ironically, of course, the one student who eagerly attempts to answer the question is also the one who proceeds to make mincemeat of(…)
Aug 18 2008
Dear Ms. James: It is tempting to compare Duchess By Night with those Shakespearean cross-dressing comedies, and indeed, there are some superficial similarities among the novel, Twelfth Night, and As You Like It. But it is not fair to push the comparison too far, because Duchess By Night is a different type of romantic tale.(…)
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