May 10 2012
On Sunday, April 22, I attended the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Part 1 of my report on the festival Part 2 of my festival recap And now for Part 3: Fiction: Love, Actually My friend Bettie and I left the Anne Rice panel while Anne Rice was taking questions from the audience and [...]
Apr 28 2012
The following is an excerpt from Dragon Bound posted with the approval of Thea Harrison When he discovered the theft, Dragos Cuelebre exploded into the sky with long thrusts from a wingspan approaching that of an eight-seater Cessna jet. Modern life had gotten complicated. His usual habit was to focus Power on averting aircraft when [...]
Apr 14 2012
From Nicci: I am recommending this book because From the very first chapter, I was hooked. The storyline is compelling and kept me enthralled, but it’s the characters that commanded my attention. Silhara is one of the most interesting heroes I’ve ever read, and Martise’s quiet strength and determination is the perfect complement to such [...]
Mar 31 2012
Recommendation Memory of Morning by Susan Sizemore is recommended by Shana who is a librarian and avid reader. Shana says: I am recommending this book because Because I really like this book. It’s an alternate world without magic, but the flavor she was trying for, and I think got, was Jane Austen crossed with Patrick [...]
Mar 24 2012
Recommendation Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews is recommended by Angela James, Executive Editor of Carina Press, and general lover of books. Angela: I am recommending this book because Magic Bites and the rest of the books that follow are one of my favorite urban fantasy series. As a fantasy reader, i find myself interested in and compelled to read [...]
Feb 9 2012
In the UK, romance checkouts at the library are being overtaken by crime fiction titles. Does that mean that the interest in romance books is declining? Melville House wonders if, instead, readers are going digital. But while this story is being billed as romance vs. crime fiction, it seems like there could be a digital [...]
Dec 6 2011
A couple of weeks ago the Brookings Register ran an article titled “Not your mother’s romance novel.” The article spoke to two women who have recently become interested in romances. Two women who had not read older romances, but had formed negative opinions regarding those older romances: Gill said she believes the romance genre of [...]
Nov 23 2011
Dear Ms. Warren: Robin used the word affability to describe Jill Shalvis’ writing and for me, I would apply the same descriptor to your books. They are generally affable with likeable characters and likeable settings, however, they’ve often felt truncated to me and this one more so than previous ones that I have read. I [...]
Nov 18 2011
Emma (2009) Genre: Novel adaptation/Romance/Regency Period Grade: B This is the latest entry into the “Emma” canon, released in 2009 by the BBC. I guess it would be more accurate to call it a miniseries rather than a movie as it’s told in four roughly one hour parts. And while I didn’t think it would [...]
Nov 11 2011
Dear Ms. Featherstone: I confess that I read this book because I just loved the cover. The positioning of the characters, the color of the dress, the frills at the cuff of the man’s outfit. It was very evocative. The soft against the hard. It’s a clinch but an evocative, sophisticated clinch. This is [...]
Oct 19 2011
Dear Ms. Thomas: I’m always on the lookout for a good fantasy story. They are rare in romance, perhaps because those writers that are devoted to this sub genre are more interested in exploring heroic tropes that are common in fantasy rather than romantic tropes. The setting is in some fantasy old world country and [...]
Oct 18 2011
Dear Mss. Andrews, Brook, Shinn, and Singh, Are angels the new vampires in romance novels? It seems like the number of books starring angels continues to expand exponentially. When choosing to write about angels (or winged beings, in the case of the Guardians), authors invite introspection from readers about the nature of good and evil [...]
Oct 12 2011
Dear Ms. Andrews: Thank you for sending me a complimentary copy of this short story. Because it is short, I admit I don’t have much to say about it. When I was told that this book was connected to another short, “Silent Blade”, it made sense to read it and review it together. I had [...]
Oct 5 2011
Dear Ms. Lin: I’m thrilled that you are writing this series and thrilled that Harlequin is publishing it and giving us such in-your-face Asian covers instead headless bodies that hint at its Eastern origins. I am not super familiar with this area of history and I read this story more as if it were a [...]
Sep 7 2011
Dear Ms. Singh, Archangel’s Blade opens with a flashback in the vampire Dmitri’s POV, one that takes us back to Dmitri’s human life. In the flashback, dark, ruthless Dmitri is revealed to have once, a thousand years ago, been a loving and tender hearted man devoted to his two children and to his wife. Smiling [...]
Recent Comments