Dear Author » Victoria Dahl

What Jaclyn Is Reading, September 2011

Jaclyn — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:00:56 +0000

I read a lot in September, like holy-guacamole a lot. There is a letterpress broad side on the wall of my office with a quote from Erasmus that reads, “When I get a little money I buy BOOKS; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” I think Erasmus and I would have understood one another. I wonder if he would have enjoyed reading romances?

Curio by Cara McKenna. Over in Twitter-land Ms. McKenna’s story, Willing Victim, was much discussed earlier in the year. Since I read it last December I’ve gone on to read about two-thirds of Ms. McKenna’s backlist. There’s something that I find so compelling about her books, even when I don’t really like the stories themselves. When I read Skin Game, which I did not like—it read like a series of character sketches set amidst a weird Survivor-like game—I finally understood that Ms. McKenna writes her characters with so much compassion and clarity; she treats them with respect and they shine regardless of what’s going on in the story. Back to Curio. Didier is a former model turned prostitute who is patronized by Caroly, a 29-year-old virgin who wishes to finally have sex. The story is told over five encounters as they begin to form a friendship and become lovers. Ms. McKenna is masterful at using the sexual encounters of her characters to further the emotional drama she’s woven and I continue to be utterly compelled by her books. Curio has a hope filled HEA and I was charmed.

Summons: A Goblin King Prequel by Shona Husk. The pissy reviews on Amazon made me want to read this. A couple readers were bugged that this is essentially a short lead in—more like a prologue—to the book, Goblin King. I find these little shorts are a great way to sample if I like the characters and the author’s writing style. I’m glad I read this before reading Goblin King because the start of that book made more sense for having read this.

Goblin King by Shona Husk. A retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Goblin King features and heiress trying to escape her abusive, black-mailing, cheating boyfriend and some sort of Celtic warrior cursed by a Druid. I generally like these stories where the heroine grows a pair and tells her abusive boyfriend where to stick it before finding love with a decent guy. The story wanders in places which led me to skim read from time to time and the police were very sympathetic to the heroine despite the evidence that has been used to blackmail her for a couple of years. Basically some of the plot points are too convenient. But the love story is sweet and the angst lasts until the final five pages.

Taken by the Cowboy by Julianne MacLean. Oh time travel, you offer so many opportunities for wacky stories. Heroine is in car accident, flung back in time, mistaken for a gun-slinging badass, meets a fellow time-traveler, falls for the Sherriff (and vice versa), is accused of murder, and wants to find a way to get back home. Some of the events are too convenient; for instance, she meets a fellow time-traveler who just happens to be the attorney she demands after being jailed? Really? Uh-huh. At times I just wasn’t compelled to keep reading and I picked up a couple other books while meandering through this one, but I did finish it and found the ending bittersweet. I’d be curious if others who’ve read this also read Jude Deveraux’s Knight in Shining Armor and what you thought of the endings in comparison to one another. I hate with stabby-eye-rays-of-death the ending of KISA; Taken by the Cowboy doesn’t evoke that sort of strong hateration but like KISA, it’s tinged with sadness.

Bound to the Prince by Deborah Court. Ms. Court emailed Dear Author asking if anyone wanted to review her book. I like fae stories so I bought a copy and started reading. I’m about 2/3 of the way through this book and just not sure if I’m going to continue. The heroine is a doormat and the story is bloated. I kept thinking it needed a ruthless substantive edit to remove extraneous scenes that probably don’t feel extraneous to the author but bogged down the pace and caused my attention to wander. There’s something not bad buried in here, but I’m just not sure it’s worth the time of skimming through the bloat to find it. DNF for now.

Future Tense by Carolyn Jewel. I’m a glom reader for the My Immortals series. I like that demons are the “good” guys, it fits my philosophy that in life there’s often no clear demarcation between good and bad, we’re all constantly moving on the gray spectrum; sometimes we’re better or worse than others. One of the things about paranormals in general that I like (and in sf and fantasy, too) is the mythology that comes with the world-building. What these people believe in fascinates me. I hope Lys, the heroine, shows up in future books, I’d like to see what happens with her witchy power of connecting to the future—the ending of this short story left me with a lot of questions.

Good Girls Don’t by Victoria Dahl. Ms. Dahl shatters my heart with pretty much every book, and she does it while delivering humor, insight, drama, and love. Tessa and Luke both have Issues. Their lives collide when Tessa’s family business is vandalized and police detective Luke is sent to investigate. Tessa’s manic drive to keep her family together was emotionally wrenching. I felt her fear and despair when she thought it was all unraveling around her.

Bad Boys Do by Victoria Dahl. I often hear women say ‘it’s the quiet ones you need to watch out for’, but Jamie Donovan proves that the smooth, easy-going, laughing ones might have hidden depths, too, if you bother to look. Olivia is a woman finally breaking out of the mold created by her parents, and then her controlling husband. Watching a shy/repressed/timid lady evolve into a woman of confidence (whether it’s quiet or brash confidence) is something I like best about romance novels.

To Tempt a Scotsman by Victoria Dahl Yeah, so I maybe glommed on Ms. Dahl’s books in September. Lucky me. J I hated the hero for a good part of this book. What a dumbass. The heroine is a woman of intelligence and courage and she deserves better than she got from all the men in her life; it all worked out in the end and as long as the hero doesn’t revert to his dumbassery then I’m happy for the heroine to get her HEA with her hero. But by God he had better spend the rest of their lives proving he’s worthy of her. Humph.

I froth at the mouth waiting for the next time I can have my heart smashed to pieces and put back together by Victoria Dahl. I’m already getting a little manic for Real Men Will. Only a couple weeks to go. Alas.

Trouble in Paradise by Susan Connell. I came across this book while scrolling through page after page of books online. It’s a breezy, entertaining, sexy story set in a Central American rainforest. I enjoyed it but I never became wrapped up or emotionally invested in the characters.

Silver Shark (Kinsmen Series) by Ilona Andrews. I’m fascinated with this world Ms. Andrews has imagined. The characters are part of a rare group of humans known as psychers—they live as much in a mental world (accessed through technology, I imagine sort of like in the Matrix) as they do in the physical world. Claire, the heroine, is hiding her true identity and enormous power in the wake of a war that her side lost. When she’s transported to another planet she continues to hide for fear that she’d be deported or executed if discovered. She’s hired by Venturo as his secretary and events conspire to reveal Claire’s true identity leaving Venturo with a dilemma about what to do with Claire. I hope there are more Kinsmen books coming.

When in Rio by Delphine Dryden. Jack and Katie work together, in fact, he’s her boss. And on a business trip to Rio he becomes her Dom, though Jack is mostly into the D/s thing for the spanking. If we set aside the problem of doing the horizontal mambo with your boss, then this is a satisfying emotional story about two people who’ve grown to respect and admire one another over two years of close association and have decided to add sex and emotional intimacy to their relationship. At the end, when their fledgling couple hood is tested by Jack’s past I found myself irritated by the assumptions Katie made and the very easy resolution to the misunderstanding. But overall this was a good story about friends becoming (kinky) lovers. (Reviewed by Jane here)

Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh. Janine has already reviewed this for Dear Author. I bring it up only because the more time passes since I’ve read this book the more dissatisfied I become with the truth about Honor’s identity and Dmitri’s evolution through the story. The violence is staggering and I just don’t see how the woman Honor is today and the woman she once was meld into a unified whole. At the same time I don’t know if I believe that Dmitri loves Honor—that is, the woman she is today. I might need to read this again; certainly I can’t stop thinking about it.

Angels of Darkness by Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, and Sharon Shinn. I’m writing a review of this for Dear Author.

Believe it or not, dear readers, there are more, but this is probably more than enough for this post, yes? Have you read any of these? Did you like/dislike them? I hope someone has read Curio and will tell me if they found Didier and Caroly as compelling as I did.

Happy reading,

Jaclyn

REVIEW: A Little Bit Wild by Victoria Dahl

Jane — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Dear Ms. Dahl:

I read this book at the Romantic Times convention because you had brought me an ARC or perhaps the ARC was there for someone else and I appropriated it. I can’t recall. I read this throughout the conference, taking it with me to dinner and not going down to drink in the bar because I wanted to finish the story. Since then I’ve read a few reviews excoriating the heroine for being a slut and having a bizarre predilection toward lustiness. As if that’s a bad thing!

The truth is that Marissa, the heroine, is a wild girl from a wild family. No doubt her brothers have been swiving their way through London and into the countryside so “[a]fter an endless summer of pretending to look for a husband in London, Marissa had thought to treat herself to a night of forbidden pleasure” during a house party at the start of hunting season. Unfortunately for Marissa, her deflowering is not very pleasurable. “She’d found clumsy fumbling, not to mention a bit of discomfort and lots of grunting. Perhaps this was why girls were ordered to keep themselves pure for marriage.”

But the worse part of Marissa’s deflowering is that she is caught by her brother, her cousin, some maids, and is going to be forced to marry a man who “failed to meet even the lowest expectations of performance.” She doesn’t want to marry him, but she has to marry someone because she is totally and irrevocably ruined.

Marissa has no good excuse for her behavior. She didn’t comport herself as a young lady should. She says she was bored, drunk, and curious. At first the stolen kisses and surreptitious caresses seemed exciting but now that she is ruined and has to marry someone, she feels none of the titillation and all of the panic and awfulness of her actions. But she also chafes at the unfairness of it. No one would force her brothers to marry.

Family friend, Jude Bertrand, offers himself as the groom. Jude is the recognized bastard of the Duke of Winthrop and as Marissa’s brother points out, has no need to elevate himself by marrying the ruined sister of a baron. Marissa finds Jude to be a brute. She likes pretty boys, their elegant legs, their delicious curls, their soft hands. Jude is big, hard, and looked rough; nothing like a gentleman should look.

Jude challenges Marissa at every juncture, using his superior experience to woo her in a different kind of way, appealing to her wild side.

“So,” Aidan continued in a doubtful tone, “you may have sat across from her at dinner on occasion. That still doesn’t answer my question. Why would you marry her?”

“I like her.”

“Marissa?” Jude laughed at the doubt in his friend’s voice.

“Yes, Marissa.” “She hardly seems your type.” Yes, he had a known weakness for rather naughty

women. Jude raised an eyebrow. “Apparently she is exactly my type.”

“Right,” Aidan huffed, then rocked back on his heels to stare at the floor.

Actually, Marissa had caught his attention the first time Jude had seen her. There was that brightness in her green eyes. Not merriment, but . . . transgression. It had always been disorienting, being surrounded by people who seemed to consider her the last bastion of calm and propriety in the York family. Yes, she was graceful and tall and lovely, but could no one else see the way her eyebrows twitched any time she overheard a double entendre? Did no one notice the way her eyes traveled over men’s bodies when she watched them dance?

The girl liked wine and dancing and pretty men. She rode her horse too hard and was constantly slipping free of her shoes to stroll barefoot on the grounds. Wildness lurked just beneath her skin, and Jude could feel it every time he passed too near.

But it’s not just a story of a girl gone bad falling in love with the beast or the beast taming the wild girl. There’s a deeper story here and one that is all about how goodness and decency is measured by society. Jude, for example, is good enough to be friends of Marissa’s brothers. And he’s good enough to be the stand in groom for their ruined sister, but the brothers act as if he can’t understand the concept of honor simply because of his birth.

And Marissa, in falling in love, learns there are depths to her that she had never bothered to perceive before. I remember reading a book once about a violinist. The violinist wanted to achieve first chair but her playing of music was mechanical, without heart. Then she had her heart broken and she understood the depth of the music and was able to translate that when she played. Her heartbreak transformed her. Marissa was a child at the beginning of the story, immaturely flitting about chasing after some elusive pleasure. As she begins to fall for Jude, a maelstrom of confusing emotions cause her to strike out and hurt those around her and she, in turn, comes away wounded. These wounds and her eventual realization of love for Jude helps her to mature, to become less selfish, more understanding.

What is problematic is how could a gently bred girl be allowed so much permissive behavior in this time period? Further, would her brothers really be so understanding about her unwillingness to marry the man who deflowered her? The brothers were understanding to an almost unbelievable degree. At times, I felt that Marissa’s shallowness was overplayed for effect as if she was asking the reader how bad could she be and still be liked? There is no doubt that Marissa is hard to like at times, but that is precisely why I appreciated this book. It wasn’t as if Marissa’s selfishness and immaturity were portrayed as a good thing but rather something from which she needed to grow.

And it’s not as if this book is perfect but it is challenging. It challenges the reader to see things from a slightly different perspective. Can a selfish, immature girl grow to be a woman? Does she deserve love? Is a bastard without honor because of the circumstances of his birth? And is Jude’s insecurities of his own making or because of the attitudes around him? I thought that Jude made the story. His appreciation for Marissa; his struggle to regain his own self confidence; and his just general decency made for an enjoyable read. B-

Best regards,

Jane

P.S. Is it just me or does the heroine on the cover look like Tessa Dare?

Dear Author Recommends for August

Jane — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:00:31 +0000

Can you believe that it is August already? I can’t. This year has just swept by. We’ve changed up the recommends rules a little bit to accommodate digital book and category book releases. We reviewers are having a hard time keeping up with the new release dates and so we are keeping our print recommendations to the month of their release, but being much more free about the category books (particularly the digital backlists) and digital first books. Hope that works for you readers. If you have any suggestions on how to make this better, let us know in the comments.

Burning Up by Angela Knight, Nalini Singh, Virginia Kantra, Meljean Brook. Recommended by Shuzluva, Jaclyn and Janine.
Still Life With Murder (Nell Sweeney Mysteries [formerly Gilded Age Mysteries])
by P.B. Ryan. Recommended by Jennie and Janine.
Fair Game by Josh Lanyon. Recommended by Sunita.
Ruthless (The House of Rohan) by Anne Stuart. Recommended by Angela.
The Heat Is On (Harlequin Blaze) by Jill Shalvis. Recommended by Jaclyn.
Hot Finish (Fast Track) by Erin McCarthy. Recommended by Jane.
Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong. Recommended by Jia.
Last Night’s Scandal by Loretta Chase. Recommended by Janine, Jayne, Jane
Life, Over Easy by K.A. Mitchell. Recommended by Sunita, Sarah F.
Libertine’s Kiss by Judith James. Recommended by Jayne.
Baby Bombshell by Lisa Ruff. Recommended by Jayne.
An Heir for the Millionaire: The Greek and the Single Mom\The Millionaire’s Contract Bride by Julia James and Carole Mortimer (for HP lovers). Recommended by Jane.
Unspeakable by Laura Griffin. Recommended by Jayne.
All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins. Recommended by Jane.
Once and for All by Jeannie Watts. Recommended by Jane.
A Little Bit Wild by Victoria Dahl. Recommended by Jane.
Awakened by a Kiss (Fiery Tales, Book 1) by Lila DiPasqua. Recommended by Jane.

REVIEW: Lead Me On by Victoria Dahl

Jane — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:00:01 +0000

Dear Ms. Dahl:

I’m probably not going to do this book justice in the review and I actually have some fear of turning people off the book based on what I am going to write. Robin and I talked about the book and she said it was brave and I agree. It’s brave because Jane, the heroine, is a complicated and messed up character that is both likeable and unlikeable afraid of her own sexuality and ashamed of her past. She is full of prejudice and bias and anger and shame and in order to achieve her happy ending, she has to overcome these things.

It’s often acceptable to read about the damaged hero finding redemption but I appreciate Jane’s road to acceptance just as much as an infamous rake redeemed story.

There is a memorable scene in the Princess Bride wherein Valerie, cries “Liar, Liar” and shakes her finger at Miracle Max for denying that Westley said “True Love” after Max extracts breath from Westley’s mostly dead body. Valerie says that ever since Miracle Max was fired by Prince Humperdink his confidence was shattered and he was afraid to perform any magic.

Jane is like Miracle Max only she never had any confidence. Jane’s mother was a prison groupie who moved from prison town to prison town latching on to various lifers. Jane’s biological father was a lifer who wrote to her from prison regularly until she was twelve. She had no male role model in her life and she thirsted for affection and approval from someone. After Jane suffered one rejection too many at a young age, with her newly blossoming body, Jane went out looking much older than she was to find the only kind of affection that she could from boys and men who never should have touched her.

She ran with a hard crowd and after allowing herself to be used one too many times, Jane had a wake up call and she changed her entire life. She dyed her hair, changed her name, moved away from her family, and suppressed every instinct that she had ever had and became, to the best of her ability, plain Jane. She works as the office manager in Quinn Jenning’s architectural firm. She is efficient, responsible, and very good at her job. She dates upwardly mobile professional men like lawyers, vetinarians, dentists. She is certainly not attracted to a man like William Chase with his beat up pickup, his tattoos, his big rough body, and his job as a excavation specialist, even if he does own his own company.

The truth is that a woman with confidence and self respect (as Jane would like to see herself) would not care whom she was seen with as long as she loved that man. But Jane lives under specter of hurt and shame. She has rebuilt but to a large extent it’s all a facade. Jane refers to herself as faking her way through each day. With Chase, she can let go and be herself but Jane isn’t even sure who she is anymore, only who she wants to be. What she doesn’t understand and has to come to grips with is that she needs to love and accept herself, all her flaws, her past mistakes, her weaknesses and her strengths because who she is is worth loving. And she’s strong. When you read about her past and how she recreated herself, you realize how strong of a person Jane really is.

As for Chase, he understands the embarassing past. He has one. He’s accepted his mistakes. He loves his alcoholic father while being saddened and angered by his father’s addiction. He’s in a good place in his life. The question, of course, is what attracts Chase to Jane who plays hot and cold, who tries to use Chase as a sexual object, who really is embarassed to be seen with Chase.

At first, Jane appeared to be an uptight secretary who might be interested in being messed up by a bad boy and then Chase realizes Jane is far more complicated. Something about her draws Chase and while he knows he’s being dicked around, he sees something worthwhile in Jane. Even more importantly, Chase knows that he can’t fix Jane, that she has to fix herself. And Jane, well, she can’t control everything:

Ending the kiss with a faint taste of her bottom lip, Chase framed her face in his hands so she’d have to meet his gaze. "I’m falling for you," he repeated.

"No."

He let her go. "You have no say in it. Sorry." Reaching past her, he opened the truck door. "Where to?"

"Chase, we can’t… There’s no future for us. None!"

"You want to go to your grandma’s house?"

She put her hand flat to his chest and pushed him. He took a step back so she’d feel some satisfaction. "Listen to me!"

"I’ll do whatever I want, Jane. I just thought you deserved fair warning."

What makes this such an easy read is though the subject matter might be weighty, the overall tone of the book is fairly light. Chase and Jane have great dialogue. There are very humorous moments interspersed throughout the book. One of my favorite is when Chase and Jane are at a biker bar and a bosomy redhead comes on to Chase while Jane is off talking to someone else, trying to get some information on her parole skipping brother.

Chase’s head jerked up so fast the room spun. Smack in the middle of that spinning was a tight bundle of angry Jane.

Her lips flattened into a thin line as she narrowed her eyes at the woman. "Would you please remove your hands from him?"

"I don’t think so, darlin’," the woman drawled, tightening her hold on Chase. He raised up his free arm to show his helplessness.

…
Jane drew in a deep breath, her nostrils flared, and he saw the flash of rage in her eyes as she went to the dark side. "Get your tits off him, you heifer!"

"Jane!" Chase coughed, a shocked laugh choking off his voice. But the woman finally let him go.
…
Arms crossed, Jane watched until she was at least ten feet away before turning her glare on Chase. "You want me to leave so you can get a closer look at those?"

"No!" He held his hands up in complete surrender. "I couldn’t get away from her."

"Funny, because you look awfully big and strong. Almost like a full-grown man."

Chase gave her his best puppy dog eyes, silently begging for forgiveness.

Further, the story is very sexy and the sex scenes, while hot and explicit, actually mean something. They advance the story, the character arc, the romance. It’s not like you can skip these scenes because they aren’t just descriptions of sex but exhibits of the state of mind of the characters and where they are in the relationship. For Chase, he tries to show her she’s worth more than a quick lay and for Jane, it’s a release, but as Jane and Chase’s relationship matures, so does their interaction during sex.

It’s really beautiful to see Jane gain her courage and embrace her confidence at the end of the story.

So why the B+ grade? Jane and Chase were so carefully drawn and so were Jane’s family, her mother, her irresponsible brother, her stepdad, and even her grandmother. Yet, conflict was inserted toward the end with Jane’s ex boyfriend Greg in a hamfisted way. Greg’s actions lack organic motivation and his portrayal seemed obviously manipulative of the events at the end of the story. Fortunately, the story does not end on this note.

This story has a lot of depth and I think it takes quite a bit of skill to write such a deep story with such a light hand. B+

Best regards,

Jane

P.S. I still think we readers deserved one last sex scene with Chase and his shaved head.

This mass market can be purchased at Amazonor eHarlequin.com in ebook format from eHarlequin.com or other etailers.

This book was provided to the reviewer by either the author or publisher. The reviewer did not pay for this book but received it free. The Harlequin Affiliate link earns us an affiliate fee if you purchase a book through the link.

Top Romance Books of 2009 by Sarah Frantz

SarahF — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:04:46 +0000

We will be posting our Top 10 of 2009 this entire week. Today’s list is from Dr. Sarah Frantz aka Joan. The list is unranked. You can find more of her reviews here.

Alex Beecroft, False Colors
Alex Beecroft, “Hidden Isle” in Hidden Conflict anthology
James Buchanan, Hard Fall
Victoria Dahl, The Wicked West
Jane Davitt and Alexa Snow, Bound and Determined
Matthew Haldeman-Time, An Affair in Paradise
Rowan Larke, A Love Neverending*
Z.A. Maxfield, ePistols at Dawn
Ann Somerville, Remastering Jerna
Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan, Beyond Heaving Bosoms: Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance

In the interests of full disclosure, Rowan Larke is a close friend. That said, however, A Love Neverending takes risks, plays with romance conventions, is generally beautifully written, and haunts me, so it belongs on my list of the Best of 2009, even if I can’t in all good conscience review it.

Dear Author Recommends for August

Jane — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:00:26 +0000

Starting this month, all of the Dear Author recommended reads will be given a discount at digital bookseller, Books on Board. The discount page is here. (In the future, we’ll always try to post this on Tuesday so you can get the discount the day of the release).

Written on Your Skin by Meredith Duran (recommended by Jennie, Janet/Robin and Jan)
Hot Under Pressure by Kathleen O’Reilly (recommended by Smart Bitches, Jayne and Jane)
Mistletoe Mommy by Tanya Michaels (recommended by Jayne who also recommends forgetting what the title is because it has nothing to do with Mommy or Christmas)
One Week As Lovers by Victoria Dahl (recommended by Janet/Robin and no, I don’t know what it will take for Victoria Dahl to get an A here at Dear Author)
Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare (recommended by Jane because I loved the immature, big hearted Lucy who had to have that fearless belief in life in order to bring about the brooding Jeremy).
Beloved Vampire by Joey Hill (recommended by Jane. The review will come at noon. Needless to say its a star crossed lover + vampire + love saves people story with a dark edge).
Since the Surrender by Julie Anne Long (recommended by Jane because even with the plot flaws and the WTFery sex scene, I still loved the characterizations).
Beyond the Rain by Jess Granger (this is a qualified rec by Jane. It was a very good SFR that was accessible but slow in some places. It’s a trade but if it were in mass market, it would be an unqualified rec. This one is not in ebook form and therefore not available under the discount).
Spider Touched by Jory Strong (I’m giving this the same qualified rec. The detail that Jory Strong has brought to her new alternative urban fantasy romance is amazing and I love that she uses the world to provide the basis of the conflict but it’s a trade).

REVIEW: Start Me Up by Victoria Dahl

Janet — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:00:59 +0000

Dear Ms. Dahl:

Now that I’ve read three of your novels, I see a pattern in your heroines: they are extremely jealous of their independence, convinced that no man can be depended on, and afraid of showing themselves completely to the world. I appreciate these qualities in a genre that too often holds its heroines to unreasonable standards of nobility, gentility, and congeniality. All of which is another way of saying that I enjoyed Lori Love, the heroine of Start Me Up, and her difficult path toward the kind of happiness she had more or less given up on the moment she had to leave college and move back home to take care of her father and his car repair business. I did not find the book to be as strong as last year’s Talk Me Down, but it was still very readable.

In Talk Me Down, we meet Lori as Molly Jennings’s childhood friend, a woman whose tomboy wardrobe, no-nonsense mien, and skills as a mechanic earn her a reputation as the town lesbian. Lori has no real interest in changing anyone’s opinion of her, as the label gives her a certain amount of freedom from the expectations of others. And Lori likes it that way, because she is having enough trouble not living up to her own expectations of what her life should be to comfortably accommodate anyone else’s. However, Lori does have two strong desires that remain unfulfilled: one is to travel the world, and the other is to have a no holds barred, hot and dirty affair. The first was sacrificed the day Lori left college and returned home to Tumble Creek and an incapacitated father (her mother having long abandoned the family). And the second becomes immediately imperative from the moment in Start Me Up when Molly’s brainy, sexy architect brother realizes Lori is a girl.

Of course Quinn knows Lori possesses two X chromosomes, but it’s not until he sees her in a shapely blue dress with deep red high heels that he realizes she’s a woman. And since Quinn spends most of his time in a sort of intellectual haze, the shock of being pulled out of his self-absorption catalyzes a powerful but somewhat uncomfortable (for Lori, at least) mutual attraction:

. . . "You were just asking me about dirty things, Lori Love.   Remember?   And then Quinn walks over here and stares at you like a raspberry truffle dipped in honey cream."

"He. . . A what?"

"I’m sorry.   That was too much, huh? Too erotica-y?   Too much creamy goodness?"

Lori wrapped her fingers around the stem of her martini glass.   "God, you are strange."

"Don’t change the subject.   Do you want to do dirty things with my brother or not?"

"No!" Her brain seemed to vibrate at the word, like an internal lie-detector test.   "Of course not.   I just fixed his backhoe.   That’s it."

"Got his engine running?"

"Stop it."

"Hey!"   Molly protested.   "I could have said something about being a hoe, but I didn’t."

Anyone who has read Talk Me Down knows that Molly is an erotica writer whose occupation has only recently become public knowledge. Lori, who likes to read erotica, can’t help but be attracted to the hunky, Barbie doll dating Quinn, but she certainly doesn’t want to share that with Molly. Which, of course, only adds to the forbidden nature of the attraction for Lori. And Quinn, who has a terrible track record with remaining focused on a woman long enough to establish an actual relationship, is more than interested in volunteering for duty as Lori’s experimental stud, a position he learns about only when Lori turns Quinn down, wrongly assuming that Molly has told him of her interest.

Thus begins the unexpected dalliance, which Quinn juggles with his busy architectural firm and Lori tries to manage in the midst of offers to buy her late father’s riverfront property and mysterious incidents of vandalism to the garage.

In a traditional Romance, Lori’s vulnerability would bring out Quinn’s protective instincts, building the emotional bond between the lovers as Quinn keeps rushing to Lori’s rescue. In Start Me Up, however, Lori doesn’t want to be dependent on Quinn, and so he never hears about the danger until later, building tension between them through Quinn’s frustration over Lori’s distancing and Lori’s fear that if she started to depend on Quinn she would most certainly end up hurt.

In many Romance novels, I would find Lori’s attitude an annoying and artificial means to delay the inevitable emotional bonding of the couple, but in Start Me Up, I understand Lori’s hesitancy. After all, she has cultivated an image in town that has not exactly played on her female charms; her mother left when Lori was a teen; her own dreams have been deferred for less glamorous responsibilities; and Quinn has a history of dating extraordinarily beautiful, extraordinarily tall, extraordinarily shiny women, and he hasn’t exactly been focused on Lori in that way. It doesn’t matter that Lori is pretty and sexy and appealing – she has set things up so that most people don’t see past the coveralls and the greasy fingernails and the tough exterior.

So in that sense it was quite a pleasure watching Quinn begin to chip away at Lori’s self-image, and I found it believable and frustrating in a good way that she resisted falling too hard for Quinn. What worked less for me, ironically, is born of this same dynamic – namely that I didn’t get enough of Quinn to understand why Lori, of all women, was the one who managed to hold his sexual and romantic attention. NOT because Lori’s physical charms were perhaps a bit more petite than Quinn’s other women, but because slack jawed surprise merely opens the door to sex, and what makes Quinn want more is not justified merely because the reader may understand Lori’s appeal. In other words, even though I may be able to construe any number of reasons they work as a couple doesn’t mean the book has, in my opinion, done its job in effectively building the relationship beyond the bedroom.

Consequently, while I understood why Lori was both attracted to and a bit intimidated by Quinn, I did not have that same clarity from his side of things. Take the moment he proposes that she come and live with him after things really begin falling apart around her:

"I want   you to come live with me."

"What?"   She’d worried he was about to make a grand declaration of love that she’d have to wiggle away fro.   But this?   This was crazy.   "I can’t come live with you!"

"Sure you can."

"I live in Tumble Creek" [note: Quinn lives in Aspen, across a pass that closes in winter]
"Come on, Lori.   There’s nothing left for you in Tumble Creek. You don’t belong there."

Lori’s jaw fell open.   He’d said it so casually, as if it weren’t her whole life he’d just tossed aside.   "It’s my home," she forced past her tight throat.

"It’s where you live, sure."

"It’s my life."

When he sighed, he sounded exactly as if he were dealing with a recalcitrant child.   "You don’t have a life."

. . . "You thought I could just move in with you, no problem."

He paused for just a moment.   "Yeah."

In one sense Quinn is correct; Lori has put all of her plans on the back burner, not even picking them back up after her father died. But on another, deeper level, this is a guy who we are supposed to trust in his deeper than sex attraction to Lori who is seeing her here on a rather superficial level. It is a conflict in the book that was never satisfactorily resolved for me. And it reflects for me a larger tension between the upending of some genre stereotypes that occur throughout the book and a conformation to other genre stereotypes. For example, I loved the way Lori is acutely aware of her class difference from Quinn and his circle, and the way she can articulate that so clearly – "an exotic taste of the underclass," as she puts it at one point. And I appreciated the lack of judgment Dahl places on her characters’ sexual desires; as Quinn and Lori discover that they both enjoy power games, they are free to explore that without it having it reflect some deep psychological issues in either of them.

All of these things were refreshing and interesting, especially combined with the chuckle out loud moments in the text like the initial exchange I quoted between Lori and Molly, where Molly worries aloud that her description is "too erotica-y." Those moments of amusing and self-conscious referentiality become more significant the larger Dahl’s body of work gets, and they are a very nice touch. If only Quinn had been constructed with that same level of textual depth, I think Start Me Up would have been an unqualified winner. As it is, I found it an entertaining but not fully satisfying B-.

~ Janet

This book can be purchased at Amazon or in ebook format from Sony or other etailers.

Dear Author Recommends for June

Jane — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:38:18 +0000

Here is our recommended read list for June. It’s light so feel free to make a recommendation in the comments:

How to Score by Robin Wells. This contemporary romance book is recommended by Jane. It’s a fun, sexy read with mistaken identities, a bit of deceit, and a crazy dog. (Warner Forever)
The Wild West by Victoria Dahl This hot historical novella is recommended by Joan F, Janet (aka Robin), and Jane. It’s a very hot read that is just the right touch for those who wonder what BDSM is all about. Cowboys and sheriffs have never been so hot. (Harlequin Spice Bites, ebook only)
My Forbidden Desire by Carolyn Jewel. This paranormal is recommended by Janine whose recommendations are few and far between. (Warner)
Crescent City Courtship by Elizabeth White. This sweet historical is recommended by Jayne who reads across the breadth and scope of the Harlequin categories. Review of this book to come. (Harlequin Love Inspired)
Chasing Smoke by KA Mitchell. This m/m romantic suspense novel is a recommendation for Joan F. (review of this ebook from Samhain publishing to come).
Sweet Persuasion by Maya Banks. This erotic romance novel from Berkley Heat makes you think about people’s desires. Come with an open heart and mind. Recommended by Jane, but read the review to make sure this book is fo you. (Berkley Heat, trade paperback)
The Surgeon’s Lady by Carla Kelly. This Harlequin Historical book is the second in her trilogy. Those who like her military men will want to check it out. Review to come. Recommended by Jayne. (Harlequin Historical)
Fair Game by Jasmine Haynes. This erotic romance from Berkley Heat shows off a strong business woman against an equally strong businessman as the two vie for sexual control. It’s hot. Recommended by Jane. (Berkley Heat, trade paperback)

REVIEW: The Wicked West by Victoria Dahl

SarahF — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:00:15 +0000

Dear Ms. Dahl:

Anyone who has read your contemporary Romance, Talk Me Down, knows that its heroine, Molly, writes erotic fiction under the name Holly Summers, including a little work called The Wicked West, an homage to her very own hero, Ben. So what a clever promotion to actually publish this story under the pen name Holly Summers, because for those who have read Talk Me Down the tie ins are fun and illuminating, and for those who have not, they will simply be getting a fun and hot piece of erotic fiction (more on that in the second half of this review, penned by Joan/SarahF) in The Wicked West.

Lily Anders has come to Wyoming from England after inheriting a house from her brother, a young widow looking for a new start in what we now call the Old West. Her next store neighbor, Tom Hale, is the upright, slightly uptight sheriff of their little town, and he’s not at all sure about the tempting Mrs. Anders. Neither is Lily, for that matter, as she is only beginning to learn about herself beyond her unusual desires in the bedroom – her desire, specifically, to be dominated. And in Sheriff Hale, she recognizes a man who would be the perfect rule-enforcer.

But Hale is hardly out of that particular closet; in fact, the very presence of Lily Anders stirs a discontent Hale has worked hard to sublimate, turning his dominant nature to enforcing the law, a safe, socially acceptable alternative. So when Lily begins to show Hale what he could have, illustrating graphically her various charms through her uncurtained window late at night (her bedroom is right across from his), Hale is simultaneously aroused and ashamed:

This was a law-abiding town, and he was the sheriff, for God’s sake. If Mrs. Anders was a whore of some kind, she belonged on the other side of Center Street, where decent folk could ignore the goings on if they chose. She didn’t belong here, two doors down from the schoolmarm’s house and half a block away from the church. She either had to cut out her little show or she had to go. . .

"Fuck," Hale spat impatiently. He was hard as a rock now. He’d end this today, but he couldn’t stomp over there in this state, or he’d likely have her against the wall before he could deliver his lecture on propriety. Always pragmatic, he simply took himself in hand and pictured Mrs. Anders. It took only a few minutes of stroking before he was done. Problem solved.

Problem not solved, of course, not nearly. But the pleasure of The Wicked West is watching these two stubborn people work out a way to express their true selves while in the same room. And even though the story is primarily a sexual exploration of their relationship, it is also a story of self-awareness and self-acceptance. And it mirrors the central conflict between Ben and Molly in Talk Me Down, namely the way in which Police Chief Ben is upright and confident in his work enforcing the law, while Molly represents some unknown wickedness (she refuses to reveal her true occupation), a temptation that Ben cannot resist but one he can’t completely trust, either. And in the same way Molly is working through issues of trust and self-acceptance, Lily moves into her own place of physical, financial, and emotional independence. Like Molly, Lily has anxiety about disappointing and disrupting her family, and it is debatable which gets the true clean slate in that area.

The best thing for me about The Wicked West was its mixture of heat and fun. It’s not rigorous in detail or history (as a small example, at one point Hale calls Lily "baby" during sex, and despite the lack of a specific date, it seemed like late 19th century), and the romance-ey ending was curt, but it’s sensuous without being crass, and nicely consistent in both the internal themes and in its link to it’s alter-existence in Talk Me Down. Like that longer work, the relationship between independence and interdependence takes center stage, and in some ways, both works are reflected in Hale’s entreaty to Lily to make their relationship more formal:

"I’m not looking for a pledge, Mrs. Anders. Just a chance. A chance to be myself with you, and to offer the same to you, independent as you may be."

I don’t know how I would have evaluated this story if I hadn’t read Talk Me Down, but having enjoyed both, I would give The Wicked West a solid B.
~Janet

Dear Ms. Dahl:

I have only skimmed Talk Me Down, although I enjoyed what I did read, so I’m coming at The Wicked West from a very different direction from Janet. I read The Wicked West because you were interested in seeing what I thought about the BDSM specifically. And from that perspective-’and from most others, I’ll admit-’I loved it.

The romance is inextricably tied up (harhar) with what we would recognize today as Lily’s and Sheriff Hale’s sexual identities. Lily happily identifies as a sexual submissive and a masochist, without using those anachronistic words. Hale is a much more unhappy sexual dominant and sadist. Unlike Lily, he is disgusted with and ashamed of his desires. He is convinced that his first marriage broke down because his wife was scared of his sexual drive, even though he never actually acted on it with her or with anyone else. Hale gradually comes to accept himself through his interactions with Lily. Although they both still — very realistically, historically — label what they do “wrong,” they both are content with their innate sexuality by the end.

I love how you overturn so many stereotypes in this story. Lily’s first husband was old enough to be her father and a sadist-and Lily loved what he did to her. Lily, the sexual submissive and 19th century lady, knows what she wants and goes after it without shame or question, whether that’s Sheriff Hale or her own independence. I love how you show the power inherent in her position as a submissive -’ in fact, it’s one of the first things we are shown about her:

When her green eyes rose, they didn’t look the least bit timid despite her soft voice. In fact, they flashed with strength before she lowered them again.

You also do a wonderful job of showing clear consent, while keeping the story historical enough to be believable. There are no long negotiations and agreement on safe words and hard limits, as there should be in modern BDSM relationships, but you show how each partner consents to and enjoys, even needs, what they do together.

And when it comes to the actual BDSM sex -’ this is, after all, an erotic short -’ you get it so right:

I shouldn’t be doing this, he thought calmly, as he lifted his hand and arced it hard toward her bottom. The first hard snap of sound cracked a dam inside him. Lily’s loud gasp pushed the floodwaters free. Pleasure roared through his veins, unlike anything he’d ever felt. Not just physical pleasure, but hot, red joy as well.

That "hot, red joy" is such a perfect description of BDSM sex. It’s a joy, even as it’s scary.

You show how these characters need each other, need the other half of themselves, not just in romantic, emotional entanglements, but in sexual compatability. At one point Hale says to Lily:

"I can’t believe this," he murmured. "I can’t believe there’s someone like you."

And therein lies the romance. A hot, sweet, perfect little read. Thank you for respecting your characters so much. Grade: B+

Regards,
-Joan/Sarah F.

This book can be purchased ONLY in ebook format from the Sony Store and other etailers.

Thursday Afternoon Haiku Moment: Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl

Jaiku — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:00:32 +0000

Oh boy, where to start?
Statement: Not a contemp fan-
But Dahl has won me.

It wasn’t the plot
It wasn’t Ben or Molly
Or the hot sexxors

The story? Saucy.
The voice? Fun, frisky & light.
I am your fangirl.

Blushing Sheriff Ben
Naughty kittenish Molly
Turns life upside down

Molly’s secret? Porn.
Just kidding. She writes for an
Ellora’s Cave Clone.

How to describe Ben?
"Metrosexual’ does it.
Want to pinch his cheeks.

There is a stalker
Molly needs a slap to head
(Bit too dismissive)

No worries out there
Romanceland! TSTL
Radar never beeps.

Was giving a B
But write up gives warm fuzzies
So-you get an A.

Dear Author Recommends January 2009

Jane — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:00:21 +0000

The list is sparse guys. It’s hard to say whether we are behind in our reading or whether January was just a bad month for us. I have four recommendations for February so I am going with the latter.

From Jayne

Whistling in the Dark by Tamara Allen
It’s post war New York City and everything is changing. Old conventions are being abandoned for the bright new possibilities as flappers bob their hair and raise their hemlines. People can actually buy a newfangled contraption called a radio and listen to music in their homes. Sleek cars cruise the streets and wild parties take place on rooftops. Jazz fills nightclubs and people are hurrying to buy up booze before Prohibition finally goes into effect. The city that never sleeps has something for everyone. You just have to know where to look.

But for Sutton Albright, New York is a last resort. He could go home to the family empire in Topeka but after what he was expelled from college for doing, the shame would embarrass his family. So he pawns most of what he owns and gratefully takes a job in a diner. It’s here, while delivering meals across the street to an eclectic mix of people, that he finally finds a home. Review by Jayne to posted soon (this book was one of the first page features!!).

This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or ebook format from etailers.

Marrying the Captain by Carla Kelly

Eleanor “Nana” Massie is a hardworking young woman. She really has no choice since the small inn in Plymouth owned by her Gran is her only home in the world. But it’s tucked back from the waterfront, far from foot traffic and the ships of the Royal Navy and times are hard. There’s little leisure traveling by civilians and the blockade being kept up by the warships means they’re not in port except for dire emergencies.

And it’s only such an emergency – actually an idiot fellow captain who accidentally ran his ship into the stern of HMS Tireless – that brings Captain Oliver Worthy back to port. While in London at the Admiralty House, he is asked something strange. Viscount Ratliffe, to whom Oliver reports, asks if Oliver will stay at certain inn and check on Ratliffe’s wayward, natural daughter then send him a report. Oliver’s never liked the man – there’s just something about him – but he agrees and heads towards Plymouth.

When he arrives, two things are apparent to him. One, he’s desperately ill with the throat and ear infections common to deep water sailors and two Nana Massie is the loveliest young woman he’s seen in ages. If he has to stay in port while his ship is being repaired, he couldn’t have landed at a better place. Pete, an old sailor who works there, can mix up a foul concoction that seems to be helping Oliver’s infection, Nana is a delight to be around but Gran takes the time, more than once, to warn him that she’s told Nana all about men of the Royal Navy. Read more of the review from Jayne here.

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

Hot Mail by Janice Maynard
Jane Norman has decided that it’s time to pursue her long term attraction to a man who’s been her friend since high school. Back then, Ethan Oldham was one of the few boys who was actually taller than Jane. Now he’s also a down home guy who’s a buddy. Jane feels not only comfortable with Ethan but finds him hawt. However she’s getting tired of waiting to see if he’ll ever take their friendship any further. So on New Year’s Eve, she’s sitting down writing poetry to mail to him. Naughty poetry. Hot mail.

Ethan got burned once in love. His former fiancee turned out to be someone he couldn’t wait to get away from. Though he’s dated since then, he hasn’t put a whole lot of thought or energy into finding The One. When his older sister challenges him to socialize and mentions how well he and Jane go together, Ethan’s first thoughts are that Jane’s a friend, a pal, but not a date. When Sherry won’t relent, Ethan vows that if he’s going to enter dating hell, he’s dragging her with him. Review by Jayne to posted soon.

This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or ebook format from the Sony Store and other etailers.

From Jane

Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl.
I liked it tremendously because of the heroine and her unabashed sexuality and the hero Police Chief who likes wine, art, and tends to blush with the heroine. Molly Jennings has decided to return to her small Colorado town, Tumble Creek, after some unpleasantness with an ex boyfriend/stalker in Denver. Her job as an erotic romance writer (epubbed if you are wondering) and the inheritance from her Aunt Gertie makes it easy for her to relocate. Molly also decides that since she is moving back home, she might as well see if Ben Lawson, star of many a late night fantasy for Molly, is available for making those fantasies a reality.

When Molly returns, Ben is the Chief of Police of Tumble Creek. He had lived down a terrible scandal involving his father as a teen and has grown up to be a man of good standing in Tumble Creek. While he seems helpless within Molly’s gravitational pull, he knows she’s hiding something and secrets are something he doesn’t do. Still, Molly’s frank appraisal and obvious invitation for fun is something he can’t turn down. Read more of Jane’s review here.

This book can be purchased at Borders.com with $1.00 coupon (enter HAR1222D at the checkout) available now. The coupon is good from through January 15, 2008, and to avoid shipping costs, you can have it delivered to your local Borders for free.

From Jia

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn takes place in a fantasy setting loosely based on historical China with some influences from Japan and features a magic system inspired by feng shui and Chinese astrology. Eon is a twelve-year-old boy who’s been training for years in the study of dragon magic. Dragon magic consists of two components: martial arts and actual magic. The hope is that Eon will be chosen as the next Dragoneye apprentice. A Dragoneye is a person who controls one of the twelve dragons that bring good fortune to the world by controlling the forces of nature. There’s only one flaw in their plan.

Eon is actually a sixteen-year-old girl named Eona. Girls are forbidden the use of dragon magic so it’s a masquerade that could lead to her death if she’s ever found out. Read more of the review by Jia here.

This book can be purchased in hardcover from Amazon. No ebook format because kids don’t like technology.

From Janet

Stranger by Megan Hart
Megan Hart’s Stranger is one of those books I just couldn’t put it down. Fans of Dirty may appreciate that Sam, the male protagonist of Stranger, is Dan’s brother, and there are a couple of scenes featuring Dan and Elle. Although I was a bit surprised at how suburbanized Elle has become, it was still fun to see her and Dan. But Grace and Sam are the stars here, two people struggling under the weight of parental expectations and life choices. Grace, who runs her family funeral home, has found an unusual way to fulfill her need for emotion-free sex, while Sam works doggedly to push past Grace’s defenses, a now-familiar pattern in Hart’s books but still satisfying, especially since Sam is not the untroubled cipher that some of Hart’s male protagonists seem. Many readers will not find this book romantic, but I am more convinced than ever that Hart is writing a specific kind of erotic Romance in which the contemporary commitment phobic woman finds a path to love and commitment through sexual self-realization. A more in depth review by Janet will be posted soon.

This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or ebook format from the Sony Store and other etailers.

Manga recs by Jan

Oishimbo by Tetsu Kariya from Viz.

This is a manga for foodies. It’s 100+ volumes in Japan, started in the 80s, and was responsible for making many Japanese aware of and proud of their native gourmet cuisine. Viz will be selling a few of the standalone volumes on things like sake, rice, etc. This first volume is introductory, and concerns Japanese cuisine basics like how to properly prepare powder green tea (matcha), or daishi, which is a basic broth used in many Japanese soups. I’m totally excited about this series and will definitely review it as soon as I can get my hands on it.

Check it out here.

Sand Chronicles vol 4 is coming out as well. I’ve reviewed and recommended the series before and each volume has been better than the last.

WINNER: Victoria Dahl’s Viraly Goodness Contest

Jane — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:39:57 +0000

Congratulations to Carin from heabookclub.blogspot.com! You spread the good word about Victoria Dahl’s awesome release that will be in stores soon (if it isn’t already) and you won an iPod Shuffle, a $75 Gift Certificate to the iTunes store, a copy of Dahl’s super fabulous book about the dirty girl and the police chief she takes home to her lair.

If you didn’t win, you can buy the book at Borders.com and get $1.00 by entering (HAR1222D at checkout.

Winners of Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl

Jane — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:03:20 +0000

The winners of the 5 paper copies and the 2 ebook copies of the Victoria Dahl book are as follows. The ebook winners will be emailed a coupon code and you can download the format of your choice. The download code is good starting January 1, 2009, at 12:00 am EST.

Alys
Babs
Jude
wonderings
RachaelfromNJ
Rachel
sjay

Thanks for participating. The iPOD shuffle and iTunes CG winner will be announced next week because you can still enter to win that by spreading the widget around the ‘net.

SBJ’s Save The Contemporary Giveaway: Victoria Dahl’s Talk Me Down

Jane — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:00:55 +0000

And Now: Buy a Contemporary, Save the World

Here’s the deal: SB & J dig this book. We dig this book like damn and whoa, and we think you will too. And yet, so many people say the contemporary romance is a dying breed. So, in order to spread the word and the opportunity to read it we’re doing a multi-level giveaway in tandem with our reviews of Talk Me Down.

In conjunction with the great giveaway below, Borders is offering a $1.00 coupon on any order of Talk Me Down to help “save the contemporary” but mostly to help debut contemporary writer Victoria Dahl and her book Talk Me Down. Visit Borders.com between December 15, 2008, and January 15, 2009, and you can save $1 on Talk Me Down. Simply enter promotion code HAR1222D during checkout.

Now, onto the giveaway:

Part the First: free books! Leave a comment with the preferred format (i.e., paper/ebook), and you’re automatically entered to win a copy. We each have 5 paper copies of the book plus 2 ebooks to give away, so drop a word here and at Dear Author and double your chances. Comments will be open for 48 hours starting now.

Second: Spread the Word! Below is a Sprout widget about our campaign, and a simpler animated graphic. Right-click-and-save the graphic, or grab the Sprout for yourself, and put it on your site. Let us know that you’ve done so via email, and you’ll be entered to win a copy of the book, plus a 1GB iPod shuffle, and a $75 gift certificate to iTunes.

Spread the word, let us know, and you’re entered to win. That’s it.

or download this gif:

The Spread the Word winner will be announced in 1 week, so tune in on Monday 22 December to see who wins a book, an iPod, and some righteous tunage in our quest to Save the Contemporary.

Why? Because if there’s one thing that makes us sad, it’s the idea of contemporary romance dying out. So spread the word, buy a contemporary (with the coupon code at Borders for a $1.00 (HAR1222D), and save the world.

REVIEW: Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl

Jane — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 09:00:51 +0000

Dear Ms. Dahl:

I kept meaning to read your historical books. Janet aka Robin wrote a wonderful reivew of A Rake’s Guide to Pleasure but I always feel compelled to read the new books with my free time. When your contemporary landed on my doorstep, I thought that I would break my Victoria Dahl cherry with this one and what a great experience for my first time.

Molly Jennings has decided to return to her small Colorado town, Tumble Creek, after some unpleasantness with an ex boyfriend/stalker in Denver. Her job as an erotic romance writer (epubbed if you are wondering) and the inheritance from her Aunt Gertie makes it easy for her to relocate. Molly also decides that since she is moving back home, she might as well see if Ben Lawson, star of many a late night fantasy for Molly, is available for making those fantasies a reality.

Ben Lawson and Molly haven’t seen each other for ten years, not since Molly caught Ben in a very compromising position. This scene created an indelible mark in Molly’s memory and actually became the source material for her very first novel. Ben, of course, does not know this. Molly was his best friend’s sister and she was always off limits.

Molly realizes she should have told Ben that he was the inspiration for her career, but as all secrets go, the longer that she doesn’t tell him, the more difficult coming clean will be.

Ben is one of the most fun, most adorable, but very sexy heroes I’ve read in a long time. He blushes! More than once! But it doesn’t detract from his manliness in anyway. Ben actually is a bit of a metrosexual in his habits: he drinks wine, tries to dress nice, and has a photography hobby. I think the fact that he is a big, god of man with a gun strapped at his side tends to diminish any effete thoughts. I loved Ben, his self deprecation, his healthy appreciation for women, and I hope to see more like his kind lurking behind those man titty covers.

There’s plenty of humor derived from small town situations and trying to have sex in inconvenient places (such as Ben’s patrol car). Every chapter that starts from Ben’s POV contains guesses as to what Molly’s profession is. This serves two goals: it’s hilarious and it shows that Ben actually thinks like a police person – gathering clues and ruling out possibilities.

This book is steamy. I guess the RT reviewer thought it was too, well, dirty, calling your heroine “a dog in heat.” I’m not going to even try to rebut it because that’s one of the things I liked best about this story. Molly is frank in her appreciation for sex and for her enjoyment of it. She’s not shy about telling Ben what she likes in bed which happens to turn Ben on. Molly is kind of a dirty talker (she is an erotic romance writer, after all) and after a bout of sex with dirty talking, Ben finds that he wants her to talk all the time.

Where I thought that the story faltered is in the light suspense sub plot involving a stalker terrorizing Molly. I also thought that given the gossip of a small town that these “stalker” incidents were underplayed by the town message machine. There were a few other plot holes, particularly in the end of the story, but it was so minor that it didn’t detract from my appreciation of the story.

The emotional conflict was so well done. When Molly’s secret comes out, Ben is understandably upset and Molly is understandably apologetic but the conflict and the resolution was realistic, humorous and endearing. The small town setting was well woven into the conflict. Mostly, though, I felt that the story served up heaps of freshness. Molly and Ben were different protagonists with Molly being the sexual aggressor from time to time. Molly actually makes friends with another woman. Ben isn’t a he-man but is instead dominant without being domineering. Altogether, it worked on nearly every level for me. B+

Best regards,

Jane

This book can be purchased at Borders.com with $1.00 coupon (enter HAR1222D at the checkout) available now in pre-order, shipping January 1, 2009. The coupon is good from December 15, 2008, through January 15, 2008. January 1!!! I can hear you say. Well, wait for later today and maybe you can win a copy for yourself.

REVIEW: A Rake’s Guide to Pleasure by Victoria Dahl

Janet — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:00:00 +0000

Dear Ms. Dahl:

Had you not sent Dear Author the ARC of this book for review, the cheesy cover, hackneyed title, and curious cover quote from Eloisa James – “So hot the pages smoke . . . ” – would have thoroughly deterred me from picking it up on my own. Which would have been a shame, as A Rake’s Guide to Pleasure is a much better book than all of those superficial markers suggest.

Both Emma Jensen and the Duke of Somerhart are in disguise, she as a widow of body, and he as a widower of heart, two incredibly lonely people who are grieving for more losses than they can even let on to themselves. The duke, Hart (or Winterhart, as he is now casually known), has never fully recovered from an early emotional loss, a true fall into love that ended disastrously and with incredible public humiliation. Emma has lost the entirety of her family, including a thoroughly reprobate father and an uncle whom she loved and who provided what little security and happiness she had after her mother’s early death. Left with a very small inheritance, Emma remains for a time with a local family, but ultimately plots to make her fortune in London as the fictitious dowager Lady Denmore (the title that still belongs to a distant relative), free to gamble and play at various games of chance without seeming too scandalous.

Except that Somerhart cannot keep his interested eyes from her, tempting her with a dangerous attraction and attracting the attention of the ton, who take Somerhart’s interest as confirmation that Emma is his latest mistress. Emma is both deeply afraid of and deeply attracted to Hart, afraid that he will remember her from the brief time they met at her father’s home (during one of his famous bacchanaliae) and downright terrified because he calls to her innate sensuality, a characteristic she ruthlessly suppresses because she does not want to be like her father. Hart is equally off balance around Emma, who calls to the innate romantic in him, a part of his personality he has cruelly attempted to dismiss from his character, and which has successfully obeyed his discipline until now. He finds Emma’s spoken resistance to his intention to make her his mistress an irresistible challenge, especially given her apparent disregard of society’s views of women who gamble for high stakes. He does not know that desperation drives Emma far more powerfully than true bravado, and his pursuit of her sexual attention brings them into a tense and tentative friendship – the kind of mutual sparring that draws them inevitably closer even as it is meant to sustain emotional barriers.

All of this may sound quite ordinary for the genre, clichéd, even. And it is to some degree. Through the first few chapters of A Rake’s Guide to Pleasure, I fought the sense that I had already read this book so many times before (and I am sure I was still under the negative thrall of that title, cover, and author quote), persisting more from obligation than enjoyment.

But as Hart and Emma grow closer, and as Emma struggles against several real dangers imposing from her past, my engagement in the book and its characters deepened. I recognized an emotional current under all the formula that buoyed the characters and the conflict, and I resonated with pockets of prose that lifted above the norm. I knew I was reading a different book than I thought I was when I reached this passage:

Emma sighed and let her hand fall away from her body. She was alone as she’d always been, and it would not do to forget it.

Snow blew against her window, a speckling of icy drops, and Emma was drawn toward it. Lights from the rooms below shone across frosted grass. A tree branch sparkled with a thick layer of clear ice. Nothing moved but what the wind blew. Another empty night, and she was tempted again.

She wanted to run down the stairs in her bare feet and sneak out a side door. She wanted that blast of impossible cold, the stinging of her skin. She could walk for miles, she thought, before her body froze into crystals and was picked apart by a gust of wind, scattered into the world like magic. The little pieces of her would float forever, the whole sky would be her home. Everywhere. Nowhere.

All of a sudden I could feel Emma’s loneliness and despair, the sense of emotional isolation that made her more than a stereotypical Romance heroine fighting unmasking, impoverishment, and eventual degradation. Instead she was a woman who was feeling so alone that she was imagining her own annihilation into everything and nothing. At that point in the novel I became focused on Emma in a new way, rooting for her to find the kind of happiness she never contemplated for herself, urging Hart to be the man that she needed. Because as emotionally in control as he always kept himself, and as much as Emma threatened that control, he is downright well-adjusted compared to Emma, and for me, the book’s success depended on him recognizing and understanding that.

Without revealing the turn of events in Hart and Emma’s relationship, I will say that I was pleased with how these two characters moved through the stirrings of their growing relationship. Hart can be a jerk, but he is also smart and – shockingly – he thinks things through, recognizing, if a bit late, that things are not what he initially thought they were. Emma, who feels the need to be punished more acutely than her desire to be loved, is drawn more to Hart when he is cruel to her than when he is kind, as his kindness represents a temptation to that dark sexuality in herself of which Emma is so terrified. And while his cruelty inflames her lust, as well, it allows her to maintain some semblance of emotional independence and determination to hold to her original purpose. And while that purpose may frustrate any chance of romantic happiness for Emma and Hart, it deepens the sense of authenticity in her character, a consistency that allows me to believe that Emma really is determined to tend to her own security and safety, unwilling to fully depend on or trust anyone else. Though I realized the depth of Emma’s unhappiness, I admired the consistency of characterization and the dignity in that for a female character who claims to be determined. How refreshing that she did not magically trust in the power of the romantical penis to make her all better. And while Hart had quite a few stereotypical rakish characteristics, he rises above his type through the exercise of real intelligence – the ability to distinguish between truth and a lie, even if it takes him a little while (again, more realism!). This quality proves crucial, because short of a lot of sappy plot crises or a variety of emotional deus ex machinae, actual intelligence displayed by at least one character is necessary to overcome the emotional stubbornness of two bruised (even broken) hearts.

I want to return for a minute to that cover quote by Eloisa James. While the quote itself makes me sigh in frustration, it is not entirely inaccurate. Or rather, it is true that the more sensual aspects of the book are energized by both emotional and physical intensity. In a genre so familiar with sex and sexuality, I am often bored by the sex scenes in Romance. But here there are some of those pockets of surprising prose to give the same old new emphasis. At one point, for example, Emma’s “sex beat like a sharp, beautiful pulse.” Although I don’t think that phrase makes perfect sense logically, it worked for me emotionally and narratively, especially in conjunction with the next sentence: “Her limbs felt numb and insubstantial, as if she’d burned into nothingness.” That echoing of annihilation, this time in a very different way, still lonely but not alone, and its contrast with that very alive sexual heartbeat, captured all the yearning and frustration of this scene in which Emma watches Hart pleasure himself at her urging. The contest for sexual power between Emma and Hart drives much of their early love play, and it works well to mirror and magnify their various emotional battles (both within themselves and with each other). It is, indeed, hot, but since prurience and its potentially devastating consequences is such a strong theme in the book, that heat takes on an added dimension (ironizing the cover quote even more), both for the characters and the reader.

Although I have focused primarily on Hart and Emma, there is a rather extensive list of secondary characters, some of whom are very intriguing – like the Duke of Lancaster, who offers Emma an authentic friendship, and whose own story will be told next – and some of whom are frankly irritating (Marsh, for example, whose lechery was so one dimensional as to be uninteresting). A young man from Emma’s past, a would-be suitor whose religious zealotry is indistinguishable from madness, has a substantial part to play, although I wished his character had been drawn with more nuance, especially given his importance to the novel’s resolution. Yet there was also a particularly touching scene in which a young man stands up for Emma when she could have simply been left to the wolves. It was those more thoughtful scenes, along with the stronger aspects of the central relationship, that I enjoyed in A Rake’s Guide to Pleasure, and there were enough of them that I came away feeling that this novel is a solid B. Now I am looking forward to the adventures of the deceptively mysterious Lancaster – and to knowing how he got that impressive scar across his neck.

~Janet

This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or Powells. No ebook format.