May 11 2012
The Wrong Box (1966) Genre: Historical black comedy Grade: B I’ve been meaning to watch and review this one for ages but got the boost I needed when I saw it’s being shown today on TCM. Used to be it was impossible to find this one on DVD but recently both a region 1 and [...]
Apr 10 2012
(This one is addressed to readers, not the author) Dear Readers: As we all know, it’s impossible to be objective about a review. And this is fine, as long as we can be honest about the sources of our lack of objectivity, if we know them. This book has flaws, even major flaws that have [...]
Apr 3 2012
Dear Ms. Ashley The McKenzie family epitomizes the Byronic creed of being mad, bad and dangerous to know. The MacKenzie head of the family was a horrible man who beat his kids, sent his youngest son into an insane asylum, and ultimately killed his wife. Hart MacKenzie, the eldest, did all he could to protect [...]
Mar 13 2012
Dear Ms. Dean— When you sent Dear Author a teaser for your novel Teach Me, you described it as an historical novel set in the early Victorian period. In describing the book, you wrote “romance will be the focus of the story with erotic elements. Sex and language will be hot, graphic and plentiful.” You weren’t [...]
Nov 18 2011
Dear Ms. Carr, I read your debut novel, India Black, earlier this year and enjoyed it a great deal. While I can see why some people would be put off by the voice, I adored the protagonist, a brothel-madam-turned-reluctant-spy, and her unrelenting cynicism and jaded pragmatism. It was refreshing. Combined with a caper sensibility, it [...]
Sep 29 2011
Note to readers: This review contains SPOILERS. If you would like to read this book and prefer to remain spoiler-free, it may be best not to read this review. Dear Ms. Heath, I got this book from the library after a good friend of mine mentioned that it was one of her favorite books of [...]
Sep 26 2011
Dear Ms. Milan: Toward the end of the review it is going to sound like I didn’t like this book but that would be the wrong impression. I did like this book. I liked it but in a lot of ways I found Mark, like his older brother Ash, to be almost saintly in his [...]
Aug 17 2011
HarperCollins total year-end results are unclear given that parent company news Corp. did not break out the division in the year-end report. However, the children’s division improved and e-book sales accounted for approximately 12% of all business in the US last year. Source: PW **** Author Dorothea Benton Frank gave an interview to the Columbus [...]
Aug 1 2011
Dear Ms. Ashley: In The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie, Mac says to Ian: Mac sighed, cutting through the memory. “We’re Mackenzies. We don’t get happy endings.” Ian wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and didn’t answer. Their father lived by the mantra that sparing the rod spoiled the child. He beat [...]
Jul 26 2011
Dear Ms. Raybourn, By now the Lady Julia Grey series is well known among fans of historical mysteries. And it’s also had time for flaws to emerge from it. I doubt any long running series is immune from this. The initial bloom is off the rose so to speak. You also have to balance a [...]
Jun 1 2011
Dear Ms. Gaines: I bemoaned on Twitter the other day that I was suffering a real slump in the erotic romance category and a reader suggested I give you a try. I bought Miss Foster’s Folly because the premise sounded fun and it was a full length novel versus the other offerings which appeared to [...]
Apr 25 2011
Romance author Beverly Barton passed away last week. Harlequin community is hosting a virtual memorial. ****** Nookcolor has undergone a pretty major update. Froyo is one of the newer Android operating systems and with the Froyo update, you get Adobe Flash (can I watch hulu on this sucker?) and access to a new Nook App [...]
Feb 2 2011
Dear Ms. Milan: I have heard such good things about your early Victorian-set novels that I kept meaning to read one. When the controversy over the Publisher's Weekly review erupted, I knew I would have to read Unveiled. While more confused than ever about that infamous review, I have been thinking a lot about the [...]
Feb 1 2011
Dear Ms. Clare, I had missed reading your debut novel The Surrender of a Lady, though I heard intriguing things about it. So when the opportunity came around to read this book, I snatched it up. I wish I could say that it was an unmitigated success, but that’s not quite the case. Richard Mansfield, [...]
Jan 3 2011
Dear Ms. Dee: One of the great things about NetGalley is that reviewers can browse, and while I was browsing through new Romance releases, I came across your novella, "Like Clockwork," which intrigued me because of the interesting cover, the steampunk aspect, and the female inventor heroine. Although some readers dislike novellas, I think they [...]
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