***

I started writing romance novels on account of White Zinfandel. Yes, it’s true. It was November of 1987 and I was out with a friend to celebrate her birthday. This particular friend is the one who’d introduced me to romance novels in our freshman year of high school, though she’d been swiping historical romances from under her older sister’s bed for years. We took to hiding them inside our Catholic school textbooks so we could devour Johanna Lindsay and Cynthia Wright and the like instead of actually, you know, learning algebra.

But in ’87, we were in graduate school and getting tipsy on cheap wine at our favorite Italian café when she suggested we write a romance novel together. I had just received a degree in creative writing and was working toward a Masters in education and so was she. So on the paper tablecloth next to our order of pasta fritti, we plotted out our first book.

Amazingly, when we sobered up the next day, we actually stuck with our plan. We joined RWA and the local chapter, wrote the book, went to conferences, met and pitched to editors and agents and caught a ton of flack for being young, pretty, college co-eds who thought they had the stuff to be published. After a few years of rejections and two and a half pre-Internet researched historical romances, my friend decided the writing business was not for her. I was on my own.

So just after my wedding in 1991, I switched from historical romances to my deepest love, paranormal romances. I’d been hooked on this new subgenre since reading Rita Clay Estrada’s IVORY KEY. I toyed with many ideas and completed two manuscripts while working full time as a teacher at my alma mater. I had this one manuscript about a hotel heiress who inherits a haunted island with a castle and who finds a sexy phantom trapped in a painting that I nearly sold to Silhouette Shadows, but after doing extensive revisions, I received a form rejection. The line announced it was closing two weeks later.

That was probably the closest I ever came to quitting.

But I soldiered on and a year later, met Brenda Chin (now a Harlequin Senior Editor, but then an editorial assistant) at a workshop sponsored by my local chapter. She described what she was looking for at Temptation Blaze (which had not yet launched) and I immediately recalled a story idea I’d tried to write as a novella for my good friend, Alexandra Kendall, who was just starting a company she would call Red Sage (and which later became a leader in erotic romance with the Secrets novellas.) Trouble was, I had too much story for a novella. But a short contemporary? Why not? I adored Temptations. So I dropped the idea of paranormals and after a two-minute plotting session in the bathroom with my critique partner, I approached Brenda with the idea. She loved it. Of course, I hadn’t written a word. I went home and started writing.

My day job was very demanding, so it took me a year to finish the manuscript. By the time Brenda had time to read my manuscript and request revisions, six months had passed. It took me another six months to actually do the revisions, which required a complete rewrite of the second half of the book. Then I waited while she read. Another couple of months. Then more revisions (to the pesky second half, which had become a bit too emotional for a fun, flirty Temptation Blaze) which I did, then she read it again and finally, felt she had a book she could sell to her senior editor. Nearly two and a half years, maybe closer to three, had gone by from start to finish.

In the meantime, I’d retired from teaching and was working as my father’s secretary, which I have to tell you, was the best damned job in the universe. My family owns a business (we celebrated 50 years last month!) and my mother and three brothers also work there. Needless to say, when Brenda called to tell me she was recommending the buy, I went around to all the other secretary’s desks and put a note on their phones that said, “If Brenda Chin calls Julie, GET HER.” Being the boss’s daughter does bring some clout, after all.

The day was March 14, 1997–nearly ten years after that fateful birthday dinner. It was just after 11am. One of the secretaries took the call and immediately paged me. My desk, which was in the center of the office without walls, was too noisy, so I dashed into the conference room. I picked up the phone and not fifteen seconds later, my entire family (father, mother and three brothers) ran in after me. They heard the whole conversation. Much screaming ensued. Brenda asked me if she should call back after the party for us to discuss the details of the sale, but I said no, shooed the family out and proceeded to negotiate my contract.

My first book, SEDUCING SULLIVAN, came out in June 1998 and was reprinted and re-released in January, 2006.

Oh, and that paranormal book with the sexy phantom and the hotel heiress? It came out this month under the title, Phantom Pleasures. Okay, so it’s not the same book. I completely rewrote it without ever looking at the original. I don’t think I even own the original anymore. But it was the same idea and many of the same characters–and I finally had the skill to pull it off. It was like making that first sale all over again.

I’ve since sold over thirty and I’ve been in the business for over twenty-years. Yet every single sale is as exciting as the first. Well, nearly. J

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Dirty Little Lies by Julie Leto
2. REVIEW: Phantom Pleasures by Julie Leto
3. REVIEW: Boys of Summer by Julie Leto, Kimberly Raye & Leslie Kelly

I’ve been anxiously awaiting this new paranormal series of yours from Signet since you announced it over a year ago. I’m intrigued by the premise and I liked parts of the story but overall, I felt like I was missing something when I closed the story.

Alexa Chandler is an heiress in control of a multi million dollar fortune and a four star hotel chain. She is used to being charge and making decisive decisions. Part of her inheritance is castle on a remote island off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida, that Alex wants to turn into a spectacular retreat for the most fabulously wealthy people ever. The island cannot be penetrated via air but in a flyover, Alexa spots an inland channel and rushes off to hire a charter. (Alex is very resourceful. Me heart Alex).

In her flyover, she also sees a ghostly arm waving from one of the windows of the abandoned castle. This is even more exciting for Alex because she loves ghosts and she thinks this adds some spectacular ambiance for her hotel/retreat. Alex takes a charter to the castle and somehow finds that her ghost has a corporeal form and that his magic or someone’s magic has locked her inside the castle.

Damon Forsyth is a man from th 1700s who was the son of a British baron and governor of a Gypsy colony. He had six brothers and a sister who was seduced or captured or somehow taken by Rogan, a man that Damon had once trusted. Rogan worked great magic and imprisoned Damon in a painting until Alexa comes along.

I felt like some of the story from the names–Damon and Alexa–to the descriptions–”flashing eyes”/”enchanting female”–to the internal monologue was old fashioned and a bit florid. Damon, especially, had a tendency toward melodrama in his internal monologues. I thought that it was done intentionally to show that Damon was from an earlier time but it didn’t read very smoothly for me.

Nothing would delay him.
Nothing and no one.
Not even the beautiful flame-haired woman who’d freed him from his prison.

The magic was unexplained and that is part of the charm and part of the frustration of the story. The magic is part of the whodunit or suspense of the story and thus it makes sense for the full construct of the magic to be doled out in bits and pieces. The frustration is that there are times when the story is unexplainable. I.e., when Alexa is at one point trapped in the castle and in another, suddenly freed. I backtracked a couple of times to see if I had missed something in the story to explain that but I hadn’t. You allow the reader to figure out the clues but I do find that frustrating at times. I liked, though, how this series is setting up to reprise past life roles and the mirroring of characters lends to the atmospheric qualities of the story.

Alexa was great. I loved her and her inhibited outlook on life. She did not sweat the small stuff. I guess my biggest problem was with Damon and his tendency toward the florid prose “The sound of a sensual, beautiful woman eschewing a fulfilled life so she could meet the expectations of society cracked his soul. Is this what the future held for him? A reversal of roles that would tear at his core.” I was also irritated by the comparisons to well known figures. The secondary characters were likened to “Indiana Jones” and “Jennifer Lopez”. Not that either Ford or Lopez aren’t smoking hot (well, Ford, back in the day and pre-Calista Flockhart), it’s just I like to envision the characters based on the descriptions rather than supplant the images with other well known figures. C+

Best regards,

Jane

This book can be purchased in mass market at Amazon or Powells or ebook format.

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Boys of Summer by Julie Leto, Kimberly Raye & Leslie Kelly
2. REVIEW: Dirty Little Lies by Julie Leto
3. REVIEW: Seducing Sullivan by Julie E Leto

***

At its most basic level, Boy's Life by Robert McCammon is the story of Cory Mackenson, a twelve-year old boy growing up in Zephyr, Alabama in the late fifties. But McCammon, a lyrical author with a flair for seeing the world through the eyes of a child, has skillfully framed the story by telling it in a balanced combination between Cory's perspective as a child and his adult point of view. There's no flashback&emdash;or, in a way, the entire story is a flashback, with only the first and last chapters happening to the adult Cory. But this is not a new literary device and it works especially well here. The reader is immediately drawn into Cory's coming-of-age story and we live his experiences with him, but the words belong to the adult Cory, so they are filled with metaphorical delights that will appeal to the reader who might want to skirt the edge between genre and literary fiction.

Now, let me say up front that I swore off literary fiction a few years ago when I retired from teaching high school English. I discovered this book when it was required reading for high school sophomores at a school I taught at in Georgia. I bought a copy soon after my first year at the school, in preparation for teaching it in the Spring and I was blown away. I'd never read anything that appealed to me on both a personal and professional level. Every page containing something exciting and something teachable. Now, re-reading it as only a writer, I was once again blown away by the amazing quality of the storytelling. I kept thinking this book should have won this author accolades on par with a major book award. Yes, it's that good.

To say that McCammon's talent with words is magical is an understatement and a pun. Not only is he weaving a complicated tale about growing up in the South, racism, cruelty, traditions, childhood, innocence, superstition, realism, fantasy and countless other themes that he manages to sew into a cohesive tapestry, but it has a plot, too. A really good one. Near the beginning of the book, Cory goes with his father on his milk delivery route. As they are driving past Saxon's Lake, a water-filled former quarry, a car rushes past them and goes into the water. Cory's father, Tom, dives in to save the driver, but the tattooed driver has been choked to death by a piano wire and is handcuffed to the steering wheel as the car begins to submerge. Tom is nearly dragged down as well, all while Cory watches, and the event is the impetuous for not only the action of the book, but for the emotional journeys as well.

What I think is missing from many thrillers (not that I'd necessarily characterize this book as a thriller, but it comes close) is emotion. In fact, in most genre fiction outside of romance, I find that emotions are given short shrift. Not so in BOY'S LIFE. McCammon milks the emotion out of every scene and I found myself laughing heartily in some places, reading wide-eyed in others and then mopping up tears from those very same eyes just a few pages later. Every scene contains a wealth of emotion to share with Cory and his compatriots. Cory's first crush. His love for his dog. His respect for his parents. His ambivalence toward his grandparents. His conflicts with his friends and their conflicts with their families.

I think what I love most about this book is the strength of the themes. It's the kind of book you want to read at the same time as someone else you know, because trust me, you'll want to talk about it. As I mentioned, this book was taught to high school sophomores and a day didn't go when the students didn't engage in spirited discussions about the assigned reading the night before. I should mention that the sophomore class that I taught were twenty kids whose teacher the previous year had spend most of the time letting them do their lessons out on the lawn or while watching cartoons on television. These were kids who were not used to having expectations thrust upon them, so when they got copies from me of a book that topped 500 pages, they looked at me like I was nuts. And yet, I'd say that 18 out of 20 of them read the book cover to cover when all was said and done. They enjoyed the class discussions and felt a sure sense of accomplishment when they reached the end. I wondered if I'd still experience that same awe of this book reading it as a "lay person" and not as a teacher and I'm glad to say, I did.

I was very pleased to learn that Simon & Schuster re-issued the book, so buying a new copy from Amazon was a snap. I haven't read any of McCammon's other work, but this one is a classic and is usually the book I mention when I'm asked in interviews, "What is your favorite book of all time?" The book has been described as McCammon's ŝtour de force" and I agree wholeheartedly.

On final note, while doing a bit of research before writing my review, I learned that this book was challenged by a school board not two counties away from me. Had I known, I would have shown up at the school board meeting ready to defend this book to the death. Luckily, the author himself showed up. I respected McCammon as a writer immeasurably just because of the book, but for his reasoned fight against mindless censorship, he's won my lifelong devotion.

~Julie Leto
Vampires are so five minutes ago…
PHANTOM PLEASURES, April 2008
http://www.plotmonkeys.com

This book can be purchased in mass market. No ebook format I could find.

***

Have an absolutely favorite book that you want to share with us? Write a review. There’s a real luxury in re-reading a book that we love. It represents a certain nostalgia and comfort. I think giving ourselves permission to re-read from time to time is a reading treat that we all need. Consider submitting a review of your favorite book for review. It could be a childhood book, a collection of stories, a biography, or even a romance. There is no limit in terms of genre. The only qualification is that it is a book that the reader loved. Email jane at jane at dearauthor dot com

Related posts:

1. GUEST REVIEW: Bad for Each Other by Kate Hathaway
2. GUEST REVIEW: The Little Country by Charles de Lint
3. A Bookshelf for Boys

It was been debated whether you write to the market or write what is in your heart. I have always voted that I want writers to write what is in their hearts because it makes for a better read. Your heart, shows through in this story and the first one in the series: Dirty Little Secrets. You make the Latino life so colorful, so passionate that I want to be part of it (you do say in your story that Latino is a culture not a race).

The members of Titan Int’l, a security corporation, are hired to oversee security at a fundraising event. During the event, Congressman Bennett is shot and would have been killed had Marisela Morales not distracted the assassin. The assassin is carrying out a revenge hit for a murder that Bennett seems to have committed but gotten away with. After the shooting, Titan is hired by the Senator’s wife to stop the assassin.

Marisela Morales is a former street gang member. This is no Stephanie Plum who leaves her gun in the cookie jar. No, Marisela Morales fought her way out of the gang and pulled herself into a better life. Part of this is owed to Titan who employs Marisela. Titan is run by twins Brynn and Ian and employs various individuals including enigmatic Max who seems to get sexier with each word he does not say. Brynn, by virtue of being born first, is really the leader of Titan. But before Brynn came stateside to throw her weight around, Ian was in charge. Ian and Marisela have been dancing a tentative and flirtatious tango that hasn’t really gotten past the intro steps.

Ian isn’t the only man in Marisela’s life. Frankie, with whom Marisela ran with on the streets and to whom she lost her virginity, is her current partner at Titan. Marisela isn’t sure that Frankie is her future. She also isn’t sure that he is her Right Now but it’s hard to resist the moves that Frankie puts on her.

The plot moves quickly and the action scenes are well executed. I appreciated that you dealt with some deeper issues such as the rightness of revenge killings and Marisela’s own questionable morality. The assassin is a fully fleshed out character and I couldn’t help but sympathize with her, just as you wanted me to. I also liked how the women play such strong roles in this story from Marisela to Brynn to the assassin. I loved the Spanish phrases used as endearments and come ons and in sexual play. It really made for a fully developed experience.

While this story is focused on Marisela, we do get glimpses from Frankie and, on rare occasions, Ian. Max is a true mystery man which makes him all the more tantalizing to the reader. I am not a big fan of the multiple partner offerings, but it works for me because neither man to whom Marisela is attracted is perfect for her. That makes it believable for me that she would be uncertain of her own feelings.

In all, this is a great action read with steaming hot scenes and wonderful promise for the future. The characters are smoking hot (think Ranger but speaking Spanish). Your voice is fresh and modern in this book. I heard that if this doesn’t sell well that you may not be able to provide us readers with more episodes in the Marisela series. That would be a crying shame. B for you.

Best regards,

Jane

Note to Jolie and Bookseller Chick: I need you to start handselling these books so the series goes on. For those readers who want an immediate fix, Simonsays sells Dirty Little Lies as an ebook for under $3.89!!!

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Boys of Summer by Julie Leto, Kimberly Raye & Leslie Kelly
2. REVIEW: Seducing Sullivan by Julie E Leto
3. REVIEW: The Givenchy Code and The Manolo Matrix by Julie Kenner

These stories all suffer from the same problems

1) lack of showing
2) minimal dialogue
3) attempt to fit an entire romance into a compressed space
4) a blushing herione

Dear Ms. Leto:

Your story set the stage for the entire collection and involved baseball errors so large that I could not get past it to enjoy the story. I kept saying “this would never happen” and thus was unable to become immersed in the characters. Donovan Ross is the owner of the Louisville Sluggers. A secret deal has recently come to light that the team will be sold to a Las Vegas money man. Do you see the problem here? A) there can be no secret deal because all team sales must be approved by 3/4 of the owners and MLB and B) you aren’t moving a team to Las Vegas. There are no professional sports teams in LV because of the legalized gambling. The entire set up of the story is predicated on a false construct. This is fine if you are writing fantasy but you aren’t writing fantasy. You set your story in the contemporary world and used MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL as your forum.

What is possibly worse than the false premise of your story is the characterizations. The heroine, Callie Andrews, is a restaunteur whose business arose from money she got through her divorce 6 years earlier from Donovan. Callie blames Donovan for the potential loss of her business given that it is based around the Louisville Sluggers. If her restaurant is any good, she should be able to rename it and keep going but instead she would rather harp on Donovan for intentionally trying to ruin her and the entire city of Louisville. Worse yet, Callie takes no responsiblity for the divorce at all. It is all Donovan’s fault for traveling and not being supportive of her desire to make a living on her own. Not that she ever talked about that with him. She just assumed. The false plot and the bad characters lead me to give a C- for Fever Pitch.

Dear Ms. Raye:

I haven’t ever read you before. Your story featured the childhood friendship of Brody Jessup, Slugger pitching coach, and Babe Bannister that grows into an adult love. Babe is convinced she wants to seduce Cody Cameron, the Sluggers shortstop, before the Sluggers leave Louisville. (what’s with the cutesy names?) Babe owns The Sweet Spot, a ice cream parlor featuring baseball themed desserts. Brodie knows that Cody is a player and wouldn’t want Babe to get hurt. Brodie offers to teach Babe a few things about Cody hoping to turn her away from seducing him and Babe accepts believing that Brodie’s inside information will be invaluable.

This story is probably the best of the bunch but features a blushing Babe who has had a run of boring boyfriends. Backstory is given on Brodie about his poor childhood that seems to have no relevance to the relationship conflict between he and Babe. Maybe it is because of this that the conflict which keeps Brodie and Babe apart toward the end seems manufactured. There was no real information given as to why both individuals believed that their night together was meant to happen only once, but they are set in their ways and allow a Big Mis (albeit abbreviated given the constraints of an anthology), to separate them. C+

Dear Ms. Kelly:

Your story pairs the owner of the Slugger souviner shop, Janie Nolan, and the star pitcher, Riley Kelleher. Janie lacks any self esteem and can’t believe that Riley would be interested even though he makes a pretty serious pass at her.

No. The nonglamorous Janies of the world only met horny college students who’d be loyal to even plain girls if they sucked them off on occasion. Or beefy jocks who didn’t notice them. Or nice teachers. Or store clerks whose clothes never fit right because they waited to purchase them at the deepest discountà¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦like one man she’d dated. Guys who had never once been overpowered by uncontrollable lust, and certainly not by anything resembling love. Not where Janie was concerned.

She simply wasn’t capable of inspiring that kind of emotion in a man. She doubted she ever would be.

The sexual quips that the two exchange seem odd in juxtaposition with the constant blushing of Janie and the portrayal of her as a nice young innocent. Yet for all her supposed innocence, she gives a blow job better than any high priced escort. There is rarely any motif that I dislike more than the virgin whore complex which seems to be the fulfillment of a male fantasy rather than a female one. What I want to know is where are all the women who blush these days because I haven’t seen a blushing innocent in years. C

Best regards,

Jane

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Seducing Sullivan by Julie E Leto
2. REVIEW: CB-Learning Charity by Summer Devon
3. REVIEW: The Seventh Unicorn by Kelly Jones

In my mind, writing reviews like this one (not a bad review–a TRASH review) is the same as going to Walmart and standing in front of the romance section and telling people to put that book down. If you didn't like a book, say so–but you don't have to insult everyone while saying it.

Um, I have done this before. I have struck up conversations with readers browsing the romance aisles. I have offered up opinions to other readers at the bookstore to say, “I didn’t like this book but I really liked this one.” I didn’t realize that was insulting to the author. I mean, I guess it means one less sale, but I didn’t know it is a reader’s duty to not offer an opinion. Is it different if the person asks for your opinion? I’ve had that happen before. Reader stands in the aisle, contemplates a book, looks over at you and says “what do you think.” But now, I can’t respond lest I break some bookstore etiquette?

I know that I am rather new to blogging and there are certain etiquette rules that I am learning about. I have been buying romances for going on 18 years, and I didn’t realize that I wasn’t supposed to engage in conversation with other readers at a bookstore. I guess that is one more thing my momma never taught me (along with the whole “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” mantra). That momma of mine, she’s got a lot of ‘xplaining to do.

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I really liked your book Dirty Little Secrets so I thought I would pick this one up. I thought it was a waste of my $3.00, frankly. And I think a book really has to be a stinker to not be worth $3.00 (although I was disappointed that I wasted the time and money spent on Don’t Look Down which cost about $3.00 after I sold it at half.com)

I haven’t been able to get past the second chapter. High school sweethearts, Angela and Jack, broke up on prom night. Angela was ready to give up her virginity to him but didn’t follow through because of their fight. Jack apparently had sex with Angela’s best friend, Chryssie, and impregnated her. It doesn’t come out and say this but the intimations are so strong that you might as well have. My head hurts from you hitting me on it with the plot. Chryssie died 5 years ago and Angela adopted Chrissie’s kid, Dani.

Of course, Angela knows that Jack is the father (I am assuming this by the intimations) and she doesn’t want to let him find out. It would mean that Dani would be taken from her. No thoughts, of course, that you have kept a child from her rightful father for 5 years or anything. But in order for Angela to move on with her life and get find someone and get married, she has to have sex with Jack just once. On their 10 year reunion, Angela puts the moves on, they have sex, but it was soooo good how can Angela just have one experience? But oh no, to do so means that she puts Dani in jeopardy! Tragedy schmagedy. I left off at this point.

Let’s hope that your sequel to Dirty Little Secrets is better than this offering. I am going to chalk this up to you being forced by Sil/HQ to write some secret baby story. There really need to be warning labels on books: Danger: Secret Baby Story. Step Away From the Book.

Best regards,

Jane

No related posts.