I must confess, I am a fan. You are one of those authors I count on to consistently deliver good stories. The presence of your name on the cover of a book will motivate me to buy what I would otherwise pass. I’m hooked on your Kate Daniels series of Urban Fantasy novels. I enjoy the way you twist tired genre tropes in your Kinsmen series of Sci-fi Romance ebook novellas. I adore the excitement, intricacy and interconnectedness of your Edge series of Fantasy Romance novels, the third and most recent installment of which, Fate’s Edge, is reviewed here today.

Unfortunately, intricacy and interconnectedness have their price in that they tend to make later books in a series less accessible to new readers. Though I enjoyed Fate’s Edge and look forward to the next book in the series, I was left wondering whether the plot threads and characters carried in from earlier books would intrigue new readers or alienate them.

Like other heroines in this series, Audrey Callahan lives in the Edge, a hardscrabble, half-magical borderland between the Broken—the modern North America we know and love—and the Weird, an alternate North America which, with all of its monsters, mayhem and magical devices, more than lives up to its name. Audrey comes from a family of grifters, but where most Edge families stick up for each other, Audrey’s family used and neglected her in favor of her drug addicted brother. She reluctantly agrees to one last heist for an unknown buyer in order to sever her ties with her family.

Kaldar Mar is exactly the sort of handsome, smooth-talking con man Audrey knows she should avoid, but he’s also the secret agent tasked with recovering the item she stole. And he’s not the only one after her. With evil agents of the Hand close on their trail, Kaldar and Audrey must combine their talents for conning and thievery in order to find and regain the dangerous device. Along for the adventure are stowaway brothers Jack and George whom fans of the series will recognize as Rose’s brothers from the first Edge book, On the Edge, and Kaldar’s ward, Gaston, whom we met in book two, Bayou Moon.

I enjoyed the way this book started with the events that bring this group of adventurers together. It filled me in on what life was like for Jack, George, and, to a lesser extent, Gaston, since I last saw them in earlier books. It also served to establish Kaldar’s and Audrey’s excellence in the arts of deception. Though it takes a while for them to meet, when they do, the scene is a very fun contest of cons with each trying to manipulate the other.

In addition to scenes shown from the hero’s and heroine’s points of view, Fate’s Edge gives the reader several scenes from Jack’s point of view and some scenes written from the villains’ points of view, too. I enjoyed your POV choices, and especially appreciated that though the villains were cruel and scary and evil, their motives made sense. Additionally, the increasingly complex plans Kaldar and Audrey devise in their quest for the MacGuffin require independent action from all of the main characters. We would have missed a lot of excitement without Jack’s point of view. And, we would have missed Jack. To be honest, I like Jack and George so much that I would have read and enjoyed this book even if it were only about them.

And therein lies the difficulty. While I adored the relationship between George and Jack—the dramatic posturing of adolescents, the alternating feelings of responsibility and resentment each boy feels for his brother—Audrey and Kaldar’s romance just was not as vivid a relationship. I think part of the problem is that much of Kaldar’s character development comes in the form of other characters telling Audrey—and by extension, the reader—about Kaldar rather than Kaldar showing who he really is:

Gaston bit his lower lip. “He’s not right… He still pretends that everything is cool. You can’t tell by looking at him because he acts normal, but the rudder on his boat stuck…He wants revenge on the Hand, and he doesn’t care what happens to him or how he gets it.”

Given that Kaldar is a con man, it makes sense that he would not readily reveal his deepest secrets, and I would have thought it odd if he had. But because he spends so much of his time with Audrey trying to be the type of man she would sleep with, I don’t feel like his character ever really solidified for me, even during the endearing scenes where he realized he loved her.

The difficult thing about confidence men as heroes is that the con is often bigger than the character. I found Audrey a fascinating heroine at the start of the book, but she faded in comparison to the scams she and Kaldar ran in order to retrieve the MacGuffin. By the end, I was happy when Audrey and Kaldar got their HEA, but content to let them ride off into the sunset. I am sure they will be useful in future installments of the Edge series, but Audrey and Kaldar didn’t hook me the way William and Cerise did in Bayou Moon or, to a lesser extent, Rose and Declan did in On the Edge.

Overall, I enjoyed Fate’s Edge and would recommend it to any fan of the series. I would not recommend it to new readers for fear that the tangle of preexisting characters, plots, and histories might prove daunting rather than intriguing, and I would really hate for any reader to miss out on a series as good as this one.

B

~Josephine

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | nook | Sony | Kobo

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: On the Edge by Ilona Andrews
2. REVIEW x2: Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews
3. REVIEW: Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews

• Runs on a modified Android platform
• Has limited memory (maybe only 6 GB). Amazon wants you to use the cloud.
• May come with a free Prime membership. (This makes a lot of sense as Prime members get access to a ton of free movies and television shows)
• $250
• Cover flow like navigation
• No camera
• External memory slot

HMBI started its Indian operations in February 2008, printing and marketing books locally. It is currently publishing 20 new romance titles every month, focusing on five series: modern, romance, desire, special moments, historical and the latest one being nocturne.

Still, it’s hard to think of very many writers – save possibly Stephen King – who have moved from genre to literary. The floor seems to slope the other way, and Patriarche concedes that sometimes the difference isn’t so much in what the author has written as in how the publisher opts to describe it. “I’ve seen literary books blurbed as something like ‘the thinking woman’s beach read,’” she says. “And that’s a sign that the publisher is trying to appeal to consumers who are more mainstream. In this aspect the change is more industry-driven than author-driven.”

And “belonging” to these fictional communities actually provided the same mood and life satisfaction people get from affiliations with real-life groups. “The current research suggests that books give readers more than an opportunity to tune out and submerge themselves in fantasy worlds. Books provide the opportunity for social connection and the blissful calm that comes from becoming a part of something larger than oneself for a precious, fleeting moment,” Gabriel and Young write.

Related posts:

1. Wednesday Midday Links: The Iron Duke Bookchat
2. Wednesday Midday Links: Amazon Ups the Ante
3. Wednesday Midday Links: Amazon partners with Overdrive to allow library lending for Kindles

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Jon L is the creator of a new blog which uses the Amazon API to try and create lists of new releases and pre-orders for various genres, one of which is romance.   New blog is called newebook releases.blogspot.com.   John is not a romance reader and has not done a lot of editing to his list, however,  it appears to be a good resource.

Some of the links that may be of interest are:

• Romance preorders, books available for preorder that will be released in June (as calculated at the end of May).
• Romance books released up to June 1

Jon  is fielding questions and comments about how to make this list more usable so please go over and give some input if you feel that this would be useful for you.

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BookCountry, the self publishing and genre book community arm of Penguin, hosted an interview with Adam Wilson, a Harlequin Books Associate Editor.

DP: What are the trends in romance for HQN right now? What specifically have you been looking for in an acquisition so far in 2011?

AW: I kind of hate discussing “trends” because potential authors pick them up and run with them a little too literally. As you know, forecasting is always difficult when the typical lead-time to market is one year. However, MIRA has been expanding its trade program, especially by bringing in more commercial literary projects, so we definitely see that as a trend. In the YA world, dystopian is still going strong, and we’re pretty excited about what we see as a contemporary romance strain coming in there, too. Personally, I love seeing the trials of ‘normal’ kids, instead of 100% vampire-populated schools.

….

I’ve personally come to think of projects less in terms of “romance” than in terms of “women readers.” So, when I mention what I’m looking for, I’m thinking along those lines. Will there be a love story involved? 99% of the time, yes. But for me, romance can be such a loaded term that it really doesn’t say much about the rich texture of the various storytellers we publish.

Is Harlequin trying to move away from the romance label? I’ve wondered about that with the offerings from HQN and MIRA that seem less romance focused. I’m becoming a little leery of the books in those lines because I am unsure about what kind of resolutions will be included in the stories.  It’s an interesting interview.  Adam Wilson did a number of acquisitions for the Spice line which is definitely more erotica than erotic romance.  I’ve actually stopped buying and reading Spice Briefs because they are too focused on erotica.  What’s everyone else feeling on this?

***

The end of this month was to be the deadline by which apps which played or displayed content purchased outside of Apple’s ecosystem had to either start offering in app buying links or else.  This policy affected reading apps because there was no way, under Agency pricing, that Amazon et al could continue to offer its apps and still make any kind of profit.  Under Agency, these retailers only get 30% of the sale and for in app purchases, Apple would demand 30% of the sale.  Fortunately, Apple has “blinked” as one headline suggests. The new guidelines state the following:

Apps can read or play approved content (specifically magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video) that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, as long as there is no button or external link in the app to purchase the approved content. Apple will not receive any portion of the revenues for approved content that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app.

I think that this is vague enough to allow Amazon to have a link that launches safari and loads a web page that tells readers that they can download a web app (this would be outside the apple store) to make their Kindle purchases.

Read more at MacRumors.

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I have no idea whether this is a legitimate company but I figured I would post it with the caveat emptor proviso.

June 9, 2011—One lucky e-book writer can win free copyediting from the professional editors at www.eBookEditingPro.com! To enter, go to our website— http://www.eBookEditingPro.com —scroll to the bottom of the page and hit the “Like” button. We’ll pick a winner July 1.

We offer self-published authors copyediting services provided by experienced, professional copyeditors. Writers who are serious about their career and want to put out a professional product can have their books edited for as little as $125. We know indie writers aren’t rich, but we also know they want to put out the best product they can. That’s why we offer editing services that are so affordable.

…

Authors receive two copies of their books—one with edits clearly visible and one completely polished manuscript. This gives authors the ability to go through the edits carefully. eBookEditingPro edits for spelling, grammar, word use, consistency, and accuracy only. We won’t change the story or the writer’s unique voice.

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Digital Bookworld had a post about how publicists (and authors) can develop relationships (business ones) with bloggers.  I liked this part:

It’s good to know the traffic of blogs, but don’t dismiss bloggers with less traffic. It is important to look at the “full reach” of a blogger. Sometimes blog features from smaller blogs can generate more chatter on social networks. It’s a good idea to follow them on Twitter and “Like” them on Facebook to check out their social networks. Some bloggers post reviews on multiple sites so they can be more valuable for that reason alone. Remember also, that placements on niche sites (with less traffic) can sometimes be more effective than placements on a large general interest site.

Smaller bloggers definitely can make a big impact.  For authors, there are links to bloggers by genre but I would warn you that the list is not very accurate. Many blogs listed in the romance don’t review romance and the major romance blogs that I visit aren’t on there.  Smart Bitches,  Bookpushers, Booksmugglers, Smexy Books,  Bookbinge, Katidom, LiterarySluts, KristieJ, Wendy, etc.

I qualified relationships here because I think some readers and maybe some bloggers assume relationships lead to dishonesty in blogging.  Relationships just means that you trust the other person in a business sense.  For example, I have a business relationship with various publicists including the ones at Avon.  After I tweeted about the deals yesterday, I wrote up a post about the deals and let Avon know that I was doing the post.  At first we thought that there were only about a dozen books on sale but then we found out there were over 60.  Avon sent me a list of books that I could post.  I turned the list into buy links and posted them here.  But my relationship with Avon that facilitated the list of books being sent to me doesn’t mean I’m going to give all Avon books a positive grade and Avon knows that.  A relationship works both ways, with them understanding that we have an obligation and duty of being honest and forthright in our reviews and that if we violate that obligation, our recommendations become meaningless.

I think the booksmugglers have a great post about how bloggers are not subordinate to publishers and do not work for publishers.

This makes us frustrated because we are not publisher subordinates. We aren’t their employees. As awesome as free books are, they aren’t really that huge of an incentive. If you, dear reader, are anything like us Smugglers, you probably buy a shameful amount of books on your own. Here at Smuggler Headquarters, we buy just as many books (who are we kidding – we probably buy more) as we get for “free.”

We bloggers do what we do because we love reading. Because of this shared love for reading, we occupy a unique position in the increasingly effective online world – people trust us and our opinions. Or, they hate us and our opinions. The point is, people hear us and engage, individually and collectively. This amounts to a helluva lot in a world where professional review outlets are shrinking and communities are becoming more socially driven by the powers of teh interwebs.

We celebrate and promote the deals, books, and concepts of our choosing and not that of any other publisher or author.  And any relationships we have with authors are premised on the very same idea.  The blogger relationship with the readership is inviolate and we can do nothing that would compromise that relationship.  The authors and publicists and editors that we know and have relationships with understand this or we don’t have relationships with them. Boy, I used relationships a lot but you get my drift right?

This is no different than what Rose Fox says at PW:

If you fear that a friend of yours is not sensible and will be offended by you not automatically declaring their work the best ever simply because you are friends, either stop being friends with them or cope with their irrationality, but don’t pass the buck. Your friends are your problem.

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Jeff Bezos gave an in-depth statements at the Amazon.com shareholder meeting. If you want to know more about Amazon’s philosophy (they aren’t afraid of failure) and where they are going (to continue to innovate), these statements are worth a read. One interesting point Jeff Bezos made was that the worst thing that comes out of a failing project is increased operating margin when the failed project finally gets the ax.

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I’ve been hearing some CRAZY “self” publishing deals agents are striking with their authors. These publishing agreements shouldn’t be passing the smell test and RWA shouldn’t be allowing these publishing houses disguised as agencies to come and accept pitches but so much secrecy is surrounding these deals, that I think it’s going to continue to get worse before it gets better.  Peter Cox at Redhammer goes in detail as to why agents publishing their authors books is asking for trouble.

Maybe those agents who have cut these sort of deals haven’t really considered all the implications – I don’t know.  I certainly hope they have great liability insurance.

I also hope they fully understand how to publish their clients effectively in the digital domain.  I hope they have all the necessary technical and marketing expertise and resources to do a great online publishing job.  I hope they won’t stint on the advertising and marketing budgets.  I hope they won’t favor one client ahead of another.  I hope the contract will have a review period which will allow the author to go elsewhere if the agent makes a hash of it.  Fingers crossed on all those points.

Related posts:

1. Thursday Midday Links: Random House hires Sue Grimshaw, former romance buyer for Borders
2. Thursday Midday Links: Beauty and romance
3. Friday Midday Links: MWA Breaks Up With Harlequin

Sony has always manufactured a beautiful feeling product and I don’t doubt that these feel great.   At $179, though, I think the Kindle is a much better deal particularly because the $139 one comes with the same screen (although no touch) and wifi connectivity.   Even the nook at $149 comes with wifi and a small touchscreen.

*****

Borders has cut the prices of the Kobo and Aluretek readers.   The Kobo is now $129 and the Aluretek is $99.   The Kobo at $129 is too high because it lacks any kind of connectivity, has content issues (not enough content compared to BN and Kindle), and has much lower refresh.

Borders is also going to sell Build a Bear accessories in its children’s section.   BN has a large assortment of toys and stuffed animals as well.

*****

After several quarters of struggle, Random House has seemingly turned its ship around with the help of sales by Stieg Larsson.   Digital is also growing.

"In the past half year we have really embraced digital transition throughout our companies, replacing anxieties about the format with forward thinking and with well-executed action," Dohle said with Random on track to generate e-book sales of over $100 million (which will roughly be about 5% of worldwide sales). The majority of sales have come in the U.S., but the U.K. and Germany have also seen good gains. E-book publishing operations will soon start in Latin America and Spain.

*****

Michelle sent me this link to an Amazon discussion regarding the bleeding of paranormal romance into urban fantasy.   What I think is interesting is how proprietary readers are of their favorite genres and how much they dislike any “mislabeling.”   I am the same way for romance.   Some of these readers really dislike romance (which is perfectly fine) but I thought reading the thought processes of other readers was interesting.

*****

Sarah Rees Brennan, author of the highly recommended Demon Lexicon books, talks about why she doesn’t write negative reviews.   For various reasons from not wanting to unintentionally hurt someone’s feelings to understanding that her viewpoint might not be totally objective, Brennan talks about the books she loves but understands and appreciates those that write the negative reviews. Reviews, she concludes are primarily for readers.   (I agree!).

Related posts:

1. Tuesday Midday Links: Harlequin Horizon’s, A self publishing venture
2. Tuesday Midday Links: Publishers still thinking not thinking about readers
3. Monday Midday Links: Sony Drops eBook Reader Prices

But are they too limiting? Who sets them? Market and if so, how? If it is publisher, then what guidelines do you think that they use or what guidelines should they use.

Related posts:

1. Genre Fatigue Poll
2. Genre Loyalty Does Not Equal Genre Contentment
3. Filtered Urine v Cum Crepes Poll

As was reported last week, urban fantasy is on the rise. More and more UF books are being published and these books are increasingly being marketed toward the romance reader. These books are commonly referred to as part of the cross over genre. There is a boon and a curse for romance readers with the rise of urban fantasy. The boon is that we are getting rich, fully developed other world stories. The curse is that fantasy/magic/ghost romance books that would have been acceptable in the past no longer are palatable. I find myself searching out more and more urban fantasy / fantasy stories from non traditional romance publishers like EOS, Tor, Roc/Ace (the latter being my favorite). I admit it, I am cheating on the romance genre.

My early straying
Perhaps one of the earliest cross over books was Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series which melded time travel, romance, and historical fiction and gained readers who appreciated each aspect. One of the mothers of the cross over genre would have to be Laurell K Hamilton. She spawned a whole sub genre of books that were narrated in the first person by an action heroine and seeded the urban fantasy roots in the romance genre.

I found Laurell K Hamilton via a review at All About Romance of Blue Moon in 2002. I glommed the backlist of LKH which had the lurid dark carnival covers as I referred to them. (Hamilton’s new books have a weird thriller like look to them. I laugh at the response that some of the fans of thrillers are going to give upon reading the gang banging that is inside the new tepid covers).

Jan fed my newfound addiction.

Laurell K Hamilton led me to ask Jan for more recommendations. She gave me Robin McKinley’s Sunshine and Emma Bull’s War for the Oaks. Jan, my fantasy guide, finally led me to Patricia Briggs’ Hurog series (Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood). She also encouraged me to read George RR Martin which I did and I loved but he’s not really cross over material. I found Kelley Armstrong, Charlaine Harris, Ilona Andrews, Laura Resnick and I couldn’t go back.

It was clear to me that I had only two choices and that was to follow Jan into a complete abandonment of romance or to continue to keep romance as my main gal but see urban fantasy/fantasy as my furtive secret date. I choose the latter. But like any affair, the struggle to keep my loves separate was as futile as refraining from dipping my oreos in milk.

My season of discontent
Since I have become more fully immersed in the urban fantasy and cross over books, I find myself becoming increasingly impatient with books directed toward the romance reader that are really fantasy-lite. My least favorite stories are those with witches, ghosts, and psychics. These are traditional romance staples but I find them to be unsatisfying because their worlds are not fully realized. Too often, I see an author giving her character a psychic power that no one else has but providing no explanation for that power. Or perhaps the character is a witch and can do special things, like twitch her nose and transform her loved one into a newt. But when other authors are creating full worlds bound by myths and belief systems and power structures, the mere magic maker falls flat for me.

I think my love for the drama and the otherworld is the reason that historicals are my favorite romances. For me, the Ton, the Scottish Highlands, and all that went with those books are otherworlds. When people talk about the wallpaper historical, I think that they mean that the book doesn’t present a fully realized world. The ghost, magician, psychic stories all too often read like wallpaper fantasy stories where the outward trappings might be there for one character but there is little use of the fantastic to move the story.

I know that if I hadn’t read these cross over books, if I hadn’t been exposed to those who can seamlessly blend romance tropes with fantastic otherworld visions, I wouldn’t be so uber critical of these old style romance fantasy stories. But I can’t turn back the page. I’ve been exposed and I’ve caught the cross over genre fever. I’ve drunk the kool aid and now regular romance fantasy themes do not move me. The best recipe for success for me is a) a fully realized world and b) an emotional conflict that arises out of that world.

I’m not ready to leave romance behind but in this one area, I’m not sure if the traditional romance genre is keeping pace with me. C.L. Wilson is definitely a step in the right direction. I thought JR Ward was until she totally blew up her myth building with the last book (how can Jane be a ghost and no one else aka Wellsie? Why does John get reborn and no one else ala Jane or Wellsie? Why does the Scribe Virgin have to solve every frickin’ problem? Where’s the mystery there? //rant off). Lara Adrian has a fully realized story. I love her use of the dermaglyphs (tattoos) to show the moods of the vampires (their skin, it’s a mood ring). Ursula Bauer, an author for Samhain, is noted by Keishon to have great world building.

Who else in the romance genre has the world building skillz? Do you find yourself more picky about the fantasy romances than you have in the past? Why or why not? Is romance keeping pace with your tastes? Or are you satisfying your reading desires elsewhere? Are you cheating like me?

Related posts:

1. Romance Isn’t for Everyone and It Doesn’t Have to Be
2. Does the romance genre need to be more expansive?
3. Romance Needs a Makeover

This is not to say that I think CL Wilson is George RR Martin, but I do think her Tairen series could give Haydon’s books a run for their money.

The first story in Wilson’s Tairen series, Lord of the Fading Lands, tells the story of Rain, the last of the Tairen Soul, a Fey who can shapeshift into a winged beast called the Tairen. The Tairen and the Fey are inexplicably intertwined and the Tairen are dying because of something that is attacking the eggs which means that the Fey will die as well.

Rain does the forbidden and touches the great Eye of Tairen, desperate for a solution. At great cost, Rain is give a glimpse of salvation in Celeria. Celeria is a city of non magical people and it represents the greatest loss Rain ever experienced. He was bonded to a woman thousands of years ago and lost her on the battlefield when the Celerian humans and the Fey were fighting the Elden Mages. He went mad and scorched the land.

The Fey retreated to the Fading Lands, nursing each other and bring Rain back to sanity. His absence, though, from the human world has allowed the Elden Mages to grow in power and they are once again poised to wreak havoc.

When Rain travels to Celeria, he finds salvation the form of a truemate. Ellysetta Baristani is the adopted daughter of a woodcarver, a commoner. She apparently has magic, great magic within her, that has been hidden all her life. In fact, she fears what is inside of her that has manifested itself through nightmares and terrors.

She is terrified of Rain but also in awe. She’s read Fay tale after Fay tale and Rain is the embodiment of those Fay tales. In order to accept him, though, she must learn to trust him, her magic, and maybe even forsake all she knows to be with him while fighting the evil Mages who are trying to take over the world. There are political battles being fought and the insidious evil of the Mages can be found in every corner.

I read Silver Master by Jayne Ann Krentz last night, a “first time in print” Harmony book. It was as good as her others in the series but something left me a little dissatisfied. I realized that my expectations of a good fantasy novel has changed. I’ve been exposed to tales with more ambitious and creative world building where the setting doesn’t rely in the change of a few words and the insertion of a few alien artifacts. The world building of today’s sub genre authors seems more sophisticated, rich in detail and characterizations which fit the fantasy setting. Today’s fantasy books, from high fantasy to urban fantasy, are offering readers something we didn’t have 20 years ago. Romance is growing and evolving and that’s a good thing.

I asked CL Wilson about fantasy and romance and why that was a good fit. Wilson said “Fantasy – in particular epic fantasy – brings high stakes and a sense of drama that can be hard to recreate in a contemporary novel. And it also brings the wonder and excitement of pure, limitless imagination to life. And romance drives those stakes even higher on a very intimate and emotionally intense level, all while making the story very personal and accessible to the readers.”

I asked her whether there are things that an author can do with characters within the fantasy construct that she can’t do in the romance construct? Or asked differently, if one genre was more limiting? Wilson replied “That’s the beauty of paranormal romance – imagination is king. There truly are no limits. What the fantasy (in particular the epic fantasy) gives me, as a writer, is greater scope. Because the books are longer – you have more time to develop main and secondary characters, deal with subplots that keep the story exciting, and generally enjoy submersing yourself in your fantasy world. . . . It’s unlikely your hero and heroine can raise and army and go to war to fight the minions of Darkness without rousing suspicion from local law enforcement, for instance. . . . For a good fantasy romance novel (or paranormal romance novel of any type), however, the one thing you cannot do is just take a romance story, sprinkle some magic on it, and call it done. The fantasy element has to be so integral to the plot and to the romance, that the story can’t possibly work without it. And the more tightly you can weave the fantasy world, the quest, and the romance together, the stronger and richer your story will be.”

I handed Lord of the Fading Lands over to a trusted friend of mine (Jan) and my husband and asked for feedback because Lord of the Fading Lands kept me up at 2 in the morning. Was my positive response a fluke? The result of too many late night readings? I admit to having struggled to get into the book in the first place, but in the end I was captivated and slavering for more. Friend Jan was enthusiastic about the world building and less enthusiastic in the portrayal of the romance – too romancey I think.

Ned, on the other hand, is just as engaged as I was. I asked him last night if I was turning him into a romance reader. He replied that all of his books had romance in them. It was just sometimes the romance didn’t end up happily. “Don’t tell me what happens in this book, though,” he warned me. I guess he hasn’t ever heard of the guaranteed HEA. But I asked him, if this is what romance was, would he continue to read them. His reply? “Sure.” With these covers? “You can buy them for me.”

I am interested in what the readers think of any book and in this book in particular because I wonder if readers are feeling that same growth of expectations. Is this book truly different or am I just not widely read enough in the genre?

Erin Galloway and Dorchester are putting their book to the test and have offered up 15 arcs to the first readers to send an email to this address egalloway@dorchesterpub.com with this subject “C. L. Wilson ARC Contest” and their snail mail address. Sadly, all the ARCs are gone, but we’ll have more ARC contests in the future (Sherry Thomas’ Arrangement being one of them). The catch is, if you enter the contest, you must post your thoughts on the book – good or bad – somewhere. It can be here, at a message board, on your own blog but somewhere. (This contest is valid after 7 am EST – had to put this proviso in since I accidentally hit publish last night and it was floating out in the blogosphere before the official post time).

I’d be interested in the commenters’ thoughts on whether you feel there has been a shift, a growth in the fantasy/paranormal/futuristic novels since when you first started reading? Is it a good/bad shift? What do you want to see from your speculative romance fiction?

Update: I’ve added the entirety of the Wilson interview on a “next page” feature because I thought you all might enjoy reading them.

Related posts:

1. What World Cup Soccer Broadcast and Paranormal Romance Authors Have in Common
2. Romance Publishers Promises to Romance Readers Part 3: Good Authors Gone Bad
3. Romance Publishers Promises to Romance Readers Part 2: Branding