Jan 21 2010
Dear Ms. Reid: I’m a big, but recent, Harlequin Presents fan. When the blogger bundles came out and one of them was a collection of Harlequin Presents, I couldn’t resist the lure to buy them (plus, they are $9.99 at the Kindle store which comes to about $2.50 per book). Although I’ve only read two(…)
Dec 15 2009
I have no idea the contractual terms under which Stephen Covey made his publishing deal with Simon & Schuster but apparently it is allowing him to sell his digital rights to Rosetta Books in a deal that will make two of his bestselling books available ONLY on the Kindle platform for one year. My guess is(…)
Oct 16 2009
Dear Ms. Lee: The previous two books in the series have told us some awful things about James, the hero in Billionaire’s Bride of Innocence. James was desperate to have a family and when his super model girlfriend could not deliver the goods, so to speak, he divorced her, impregnated a nice young woman, and(…)
Oct 13 2009
Dear Ms. Hewitt: Thank you for sending me a copy of your book. The thing that stuck out most in my mind at the end of the story was how apt the title was. The story really was about the sheikh’s forbidden virgin. This is part of The Royal House of Karedes miniseries. These series(…)
Oct 2 2009
Dear Ms. Lee: Billionaire’s Bride of Innocence showed tantalizing glimpses of Hugh Parkinson, heir to the Parkinson media fortune and billionaire in his own right. He’s got a soft and romantic heart and for that reason will not marry any poor girl. He’s seen his father fall in and out of love what seems a(…)
Oct 2 2009
Dear Ms. Lee: This is the first book in your Three Rich Husbands series (no need for subtlety here). Honestly the last memory of a Lee book I had was of a weeping doormat heroine who shed more water than rain falls in Seattle. I had signed up for the HP subscription service and your book was(…)
Sep 15 2009
Dear Ms. Green: This worked for me on most levels although I know that a non fan of Harlequin Presents would probably be turned off by the manufacturered angst and the constant barrage of distrust and misplaced accusations from the hero. Kate Lancaster, a beautiful young woman, has been unable to get over a kiss(…)
Sep 15 2009
Dear Ms. McAllister, Click here to go to eHarlequin.com Recently a friend of mine recommended you as a “Presents” author whose heroes aren’t assholes. She said something like, “They don’t suck.” Telling me something is different from the normal is like baiting a juicy worm on a hook for a hungry fish. So yeah, I(…)
Sep 2 2009
Confirmation of the layoffs of three Simon & Schuster editors has been made. (We had some concerns about layoffs on Monday). News of the Star Trek editor had leaked out last week with a suggestion that there were others in the offing. Yesterday publisher Louise Burke sent an email notice that Maggie Crawford along with(…)
Aug 15 2009
Naughty Nights in the Millionaire’s Mansion by Robyn Grady. This book violated the number one HP principle. It was boring. By chapter five (which is about the half way point in an HP), I noted that there was amost no conflict and that the biggest issue thus far was the heroine being coy about whether(…)
Jul 14 2009
Dear Ms. Hardy, I have a complicated relationship to Harlequin Presents books. On the one hand I find the melodrama seemingly intrinsic to the line viscerally appealing, but on the other hand there has to be enough authenticity in the characters and the story to make me suspend my disbelief enough to let the melodrama(…)
Jun 24 2009
Ruthless Tycoon, Inexperienced Mistress by Cathy Williams Cesar is tired of bailing his younger brother out of hot water so when Ferdinado asks for access to his trust fund, Cesar heads out to see who it is that has her gold digging claws in Ferndando. He finds not a statuesque model blonde, but a mannish,(…)
Jun 11 2009
Dear Ms. Anderson: Over time, the Australia/New Zealand Harlequin Presents (HPs) have become my favorites mostly because I feel that the women are slightly more emancipated in these stories (not always of course). Pleasured features the requisite millionaire but the heroine isn’t a virgin. Instead, she’s provocative and proactive. Sienna, on vacation in Sydney, is(…)
Apr 21 2009
Dear Ms. McAlister: This was an unexpected surprise in the HP line although I should expect it from you by now. You do not write the traditional HP hero or heroine. Sebastian Savas is the oldest son of a wealthy man who married, divorced, and procreated at an alarming rate. One thing that the(…)
Sep 12 2008
One Night with His Virgin Mistress by Sara Craven. 19 year old heroine bedsits a flat while trying to write a historical adventure romance (reads like a classic bodice ripper btw). Hero is a quazillionaire who foregoes his fortune to work as a troubleshooting engineer. The two end up living together because she was conned(…)
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