Feb 1 2010
Dear Mrs. Connolly, At last, at last. The continuation of the series faithful fans have been waiting for. It all started years ago with “Yorkshire,” “Devonshire,” “Venice” and “Harley Street” as we watched the aristocratic Richard Kerre, heir to the Earldom of Southland, and Rose Golightly, daughter of the gentry, fall in love at first [...]
Jan 20 2010
Dear Ms. Flint. One day I’ll read something that’s not a novella, right? One day I’ll have the mental energy for it. Until I do, I’m glutting on novellas and (mostly) really enjoying them. Quick enough for a satisfying read, not too long that I stress about not having time to read. Dylan’s sister calls [...]
Dec 27 2009
Dear Ms. Maxfield. I listed this book as one or my Top Books of 2009, so I should do a review of it. I had such fun rereading it. I love meta books: books that are enacting the very thing they’re about as they’re relating it. Books about romance authors are a favorite of mine [...]
Dec 12 2009
Dear Ms. Leeland, Yes, OMG, this is a femdom book — a book with a female dominant and a male submissive. I read it solely for that, because despite being told time and time again, as I’m sure you are, that femdom just doesn’t sell, and is therefore rarely offered, I’m still and always on [...]
Dec 3 2009
We begin with the monthly Orbit/Grand Central specials: Orcs by Stan Nicholls $1.00 Pitch Black by Susan Crandall $1.99 (I recommend getting these. Crandall is a good RS author and at $1.99 these two books are a total bargain). Seeing Red by Susan Crandall $1.99 Bad News by Donald E. Westlake $1.99 Dark Harbor by [...]
Dec 1 2009
Dear. Ms. Mitchell. I’ll pretty much read anything you’ve written, so I was thrilled when you posted that you’d written a historical short. An Improper Holiday was a lot of angsty fun, and I really enjoyed it, especially with the delicious little flip at the end of figuring out how two men in the early [...]
Nov 11 2009
Dear Ms. Teglia: Thank you for sending this novella to me for review. I know, having read erotic romance* for several years, that here is a real skill in delivering believable and sexy consummation scenes. You have that skill and I appreciated the delivery of that content. The overall construct, perhaps because of the length, [...]
Oct 30 2009
As there are many ways to get romance wrong, there are exponentially more ways to get BDSM romance wrong. BDSM is tricky. If you’re writing it because it’s hot, but you’ve got no experience with it, you’re almost bound to get it wrong. Almost, but not always, I hasten to add. Examples of successful BDSM [...]
Oct 11 2009
Dear Ms. Somers: Thank you for sending me your book for review. It was recommended as an erotic shapeshifting romance. I’ll confess that when I started it, I thought it was a werewolf book, but it is not. The Pendragon Gargoyles myth is based on cursed (or blessed) creatures that turn to stone during the [...]
Sep 17 2009
Dear Ms. Roberts: I am trying to climb onto the futuristic bandwagon so I was excited when I saw this book released from Samhain this week. While the story had potential and I found it readable, I ultimately came away disappointed. Blademir, the Crown Heir to the throne of Barian, was sent on a diplomatic [...]
Sep 5 2009
Dear. Mr. Carpenter, Okay, short and sweet review for a short novella. People said you can’t write about rock stars. Well, I guess they’re wrong because here’s a book about one – and a woman rocker at that. Ami isn’t happy with the way she feels right now. The latest concert is over, the booze [...]
Sep 2 2009
Dear Ms. Benjamin, I’ve been in several weddings myself, including one that was almost to the “can one more thing go wrong” stage before we finally pulled it off. So I enjoy reading about bad bridesmaid dresses, snooty in-laws and other near misses and disasters on the way to the alter. Sometimes I feel like [...]
Aug 27 2009
Popular Culture Association is putting out their annual call for papers: We are considering proposals for individual papers, sessions organized around a theme, and special panels. Sessions are scheduled in one-hour slots, ideally with four papers or speakers per standard session. If you are involved in the creative industry of popular romance (romance author/editor, film [...]
Aug 17 2009
First up is the news that Angela James, former executive editor of Samhain, is joining the Quartet Press folks. I think QP means business, no? In other QP news, Anne Frasier aka Teresa Weir is going to be releasing Bad Karma in ebook form through Quartet. Under the penname of Teresa Weir, Frasier wrote some [...]
Jul 16 2009
Dear Ms. Burkhart: As a college professor, I had to overcome very many squicks and ethics twitches when reading about a professor who not only starts a sexual relationship with a current student but ends up spanking her over his desk as a “Final Exam.” I also don’t do well with male dominant/female submissive stories, [...]
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