Dear Author: Romance Novel Reviews, Industry News, and Commentary

Sometimes sequels are best left unwritten

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We did a site revision (in anticipation of the new theme) and it appears there might be some linkage problems. If you do have a linkage problem, I suggest that you do a hard refresh which is holding the shift key down while clicking the refresh button. Post a comment if you have other problems. Thanks!

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Dear Ms Cassidy,

And now for something completely different. The other two books of yours I’ve read have been heavy on the paranormal and had more of a humorous feel to them. Though “Sex with Your Ex” has humor and a paranormal element, it’s mainly a marriage in trouble book. It’s also got such an emotional depth to it. Just as your heroine, Melina, does, readers will have to decide whether or not they can forgive a hero who’s committed the ultimate betrayal.

I thought you handled the payoff scene brilliantly. I mean, how many times have I wanted a wounded heroine to really let the hero have it with both barrels only to have her forgive and forget too quickly? Too damn many. And I love how Melina’s actions and feelings are a product of how she was raised. I appreciate that Brady knows he f*cked up, knows how much he hurt the woman he loves so much and is willing to work to save his marriage. Melina’s honesty with herself was refreshing too.

I have one niggle that keeps this from being an A grade and since it’s kind …

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Dear Authors:

I’ll be straight up and cut to the chase. This is the first anthology I have liked in a . . . . well, I can’t remember the last time I really enjoyed an anthology. Even though there were some quibbles I had with each story, overall, I felt that they were hot, modern and romantic. I can see alot of my contemporaries enjoying this collection. Overall, I would grade the anthology a B-.

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Jim Baen passed away from a stroke last night. For those in the reader world who don’t know Jim Baen, he’s responsible for discovering authors like Lois McMasters Bujold. Would we be the beneficiaries of Miles Vorkosigan if not for Jim Baen? Who knows.

Baen Books was a visionary in the ebook market. Jim offered DRM free ebooks, Advanced Readers Copies of books for a premium price ($15.00 for Wen Spencer’s The Wolf Who Rules), and free books. He had ebook subscriptions whereby you paid $10 per month and could download all of the books released that month. It is said that the books offered free of charge saw an increase in book sales.

David Drake eulogizes Baen beautifully. It’s a huge loss to the publishing community and a huge loss to the ebook community.

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Dear Ms. Hallaway,

The cartoon cover, the back blurb and lots of the reviews/descriptions at Amazon would lead people to think this is a comedic Vamp Lit. Let me tell readers that it’s not. There are a few humorous jokes and situations but for the most part, you’ve made this book pretty serious.

Garnet Lacey is a witch on the run. The Vatican has a new witch hunting group and they murdered all the other members of Garnet’s Minneapolis coven. Now, she’s relocated to Madison, WI and is the manager of an occult store. When Sebastian Von Traum enters her store looking for mandrake (preferably harvested under a full moon by naked witches, oh and could you get some that was grown under a gallows?) she knows she’s in trouble because he’s gorgeous, he’s available and he’s dead. No aura, you see.

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Dear Ms. Janzen:

Work has been kicking my ass and your book was to be my reward. Some fucking reward. Your Steele Street/SDF series has been a fun and sexy ride up until now. In this latest entry, your fun and sex took a back seat to cheesecloth plots, inconsistent characters, and half finished ideas. To further sink the ship, you employed an irritating literary technique that took place in the first six chapters:

You.
Need.
New.
Critique.
Partners.
Or.
New.
Editor.

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Dear Ms. Kelly,

What a great title! I had gotten this book last year just because of it and my review of Changeling Press made me want to pull it out, or rather pull it up on the computer, and finally read it. I’m so glad I did.

Toni and her best friend Mercedes are having a girls’ night complete with pink coconut sponge cakes, mead, a Ouija board, a scrying bowl and an incantation. It’s when they’re trashed off their asses that Drago shows up, summoned across time and space. Toni thinks he’s a figment of her wishful imagination and she’s happy to find that her made up dream guy is one hell of a f*ck. Except at the end, when the orgasms are flying, the asshole bites her!

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Dear Ms. Viehl:

I have pondered this book for a week now uncertain of what to write. Over the course of the past week, I’ve tossed around arguments in my head about what didn’t work for me in the story and why I am still excited about the series. It comes down to this. I fell in love with Alexandra and Cyprien in If Angels Burn and the promise of seeing them together has me slavering after you like a devoted puppy. If you should ever decide that they are no longer integral to your storylines, I won’t be interested because the world you created, while interesting, is overpopulated with unnecessary characters and dangling plot lines.

Dark Need starts out with a bang. Samantha, an overworked and underappreciated homicide cop, is investigating a death that is associated with a local nightclub owner who goes by the name Lucan. Those who follow your series know that Lucan is the bad boy of the Kin. He is the boogieman whispered to bad Kinlings at night. He is ostracized amongst his people and has always had to play …

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Dear Ms. Cassidy,

I needed to pick a Changeling Press book for my epublisher review and yours caught my eye. I’m still not quite sure about the cover art (what happened to the heroine’s head?) but the book is great fun. Kind of “The Incredibles” crossed with a romance book.

Kennedy Smith isn’t quite sure what to make of this guy who’s telling her she’s some long distant relative of an Egyptian goddess and that she’s been picked to join OOMPH. The Organization of Magnificent Paranormal Heroes needs her as a positive spin-meister type, kinda person.

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Dear Mrs. Poff,

I tried. I really tried to finish Chase for an Angel. But I just couldn’t. The book starts too slowly with a whole chapter of flashback. Then your style, more telling than showing, distanced me from the characters and the story. Then you separate the hero and heroine for years. The way I had the book paginated in my IPAQ, at one point you spend 25 pages telling those years from the heroine’s POV then about 40 pages with the hero. You’ve obviously done your research into the American Civil War but by putting so much of that in such a dry form into the story, it turns it into some kind of CW battle travelogue.

And then once the story picks up, it gets incredibly hard to read because of the villains and what they do to the heroine. I must warn readers of this. The heroine is raped, abused, raped some more then kidnapped by the villains and taken with them on their terror spree from New Orleans through Texas. You do not spare readers from the extreme viscousness, brutality and horror of her weeks in the hands of these monsters.

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Amber Quill Winners are announced. When we did our ebook weekly review of Amber Quill’s post, Amber Quill offered up two free books to dearauthor readers. Those readers have been picked by AmberQuill and the readers will receive their free books today.

• #34 — Keishon: Smuggler’s Bride by Darlene Marshall
• #177 — Phyllis P: A Most Unsuitable Bride by Jane Toombs

Thanks to Amber Quill for their contrbution and thanks to the readers to participate.

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On Friday, I posted a video of David Hasselhoff in a terribly cheesy music video. The video is quite entertaining from an “I can’t believe this is real” sort of way. Perhaps this video is so over the top that it is actually good. Perhaps this is the Shatner effect, where something uncool hits the lowest level of uncoolness and starts to circle around. It’s like the opposite of jumping the shark. Or perhaps it is where you can go after you’ve jumped the shark.

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DISCOUNT! Changeling Press is offering DearAuthor readers a discount. The promo code is DearAuthor06 and is for 5% off a total purchase, good only once. Check out their offerings and save some moolah while doing it!
Changeling Press, LLC opened its edoors in 2004. It publishes erotic short stories and novellas. It also has an Ezine (A Cheeky Changeling) with information, contests and giveaways, and two yahoo groups (one for a newsletter and one for a reader’s loop).
There is a link to an author information page which has bios and further links to individual author pages.
Goodies-There is a ‘first time visitor’ link which shows available discounts. CP has an affiliate program.
Books in print- CP sells some of its books through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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This week we are featuring a new ebook reader. Keishon of AvidBookReader is a very new ebook reader and I was curious to see why she took the plunge.

How did you become interested in reading ebooks? 

I’d had a interest in reading ebooks when I started to think about the advantages of having them. You have 1) instant gratification 2) no worries over bookcovers and thank goodness for that since some of the covers for most ebooks still suck and 3) storing them on a memory card and you don’t have to worry about yellowed pages or where to put it on the bookshelf. And last and not least is the ability to carry your library with you anywhere you go. Kudos for that. You know how most people have to pack up books to take with them on vacation? All I need to do is bring my charger with me – my books are on the device.

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Dear. Ms Ingram,

How I wish you’d written more books. I’d read posts touting Red Adam’s Lady and due to the generosity of another Avid Reader (thanks Keishon!), I got my hands on a copy of it. Depending on how readers like their realism, this one might be worth it though. It really gives a *you are there in the cesspool of a medieval hold* feeling. But it has humor and a great hero to balance that out.

Julitta de Montrigord is the daughter of a younger son and was raised on the tourney circuit in Europe until her father’s death when she was placed in a nunnery and then cast on the charity of her stingy uncle. She’s been ill treated by men her whole life and frankly doesn’t see much good in any of them. But she’s a realist and knows that her future will either be with a man her uncle picks for her or back in the convent. However, when faced with a forced marriage to Adam de Lorismond, she actually thinks life as a poor dependent in a convent might not be a bad idea.

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When I first saw this video, I was sure it was a spoof. I have since come to learn it is not only NOT a spoof but the Hass is hot in Germany. So hot that Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks hums Hasseloff’s music whilst at the foul line or in tense situations during games. It calms him down. But perhaps Hasselhoff is retro cool. Is he undergoing a Shatnerization because the video, his music, his body of work (minus Nightrider but possibly including Baywatch) is so bad, its good?

Which brings me to romance books and Monday’s Op Ed column. What books are so bad that they are good? I have a few that spring to mind. I hope you can think of some to share on Monday too. Have a great weekend!

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Dear Ms. Bast:

Add me to your list of fangirls. Not the kind that pretends to be more than one person but the kind that haunts your blogs and marks down release dates for your books. The kind that gushes on the internet and in person at the bookstore about how hot, sexy and emotionally fulfilling your book is. That kind of fangirl. Let me say that you can send me an ARC anytime.

A Change of Seasons is a fantasy romance set in some medieval time period (horses, castles, keeps, etc. – think Lord of the Rings without the dwarves but with the hot guys like Legolas and Aragorn, if they were taller, better built, with wings, and looked alike. So maybe think TWO Sean Beans, with wings). Excuse me for a moment whilst I fan myself.

Moira, in A Change of Seasons, is endowed with magick as a result of being a direct descendant of the first born ones of New Ecasia. Moira is empathetic and as her magick grows stronger, she is forced to move to the forest away from the villagers. She begins to have powerful visions of two men: Lord Cyric and Lord Dain d’Ange. Lord Cyric’s visage is cold and cruel but Lord Dain’s is even more frightening. He is known as winged devourer of women (and not in a good way, IYKWM, and I think you all do).

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Bianca Claremont, daughter of the Earl of Covey, and widow of Oscar Clairemont, skirts the edge of propriety every day. She openly takes lovers and lives a life of abandonment. Hawkins (aka Hawk) was a friend to her former husband and now a friend to Bianca. While they engage in many a teasing conversations rife with sexual innuendo, Bianca and Hawk have engaged in a sexual relationship. Hawkins has wanted Bianca, wanted her from the first but she was married to Oscar.

What Hawkins doesn't know is that the marriage damaged Bianca. She went into the marriage as a sweet young miss and emerged from it a woman who knows power only through control of the physical relationship. She is hardened by the marriage experience and while she lives life full of sensuality, it is because she was made that way.

Hawkins decides to act on his need for Bianca and engage in her in an affair, but he soon realizes that physical satiation will not be enough. Because of Bianca's marriage and the emotional trauma she suffered during the marriage, Hawkins is not able to make the emotional bond with Bianca that he desires. He is forced to respond to her in a language and in a manner which she understands: sexual dominance.

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Dear Ms. Novik,

Brava again for creating this imaginative world and for giving us the relationship of Laurence and Temeraire. I’m glad to see that their bond only strengthens during this book. We also get to see Temeraire growing up more and maturing into an even more thoughtful dragon. When they see slave traders off the coast of Africa, it is he who applies that situation to his own and that of the other dragons in service to England. And once he sees how dragons are treated in China, Laurence begins to have his doubts as to the outcome of their relationship. As Temeraire learns to read and write, how could he ever be satisfied to return to the life he knew in England? Plus he gets a girlfriend!

Once again, you give us believable opposition forces instead of creating some cardboard chewing villain for the sake of having one. Laurence, Temeraire and the aviator crew are ranged not only against the Chinese but there is also tension between the Navy and the Flying Corps. Your world building continues and adds a new form of creature to the dragons you’ve already created. Though the lesson that creature is supposed to teach might be shown a little heavy handedly. And even though we are entering a world filled with dragons, you keep to the known conventions of the time and thoroughly ground the story and characters.

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Dear Ms. Keaton:

I bought this book on the day that Cobblestone Press opened. I bought it because of the cover and because firefighters are hot, hot, hot. What could be better than a hot story about a hot fireman? Other than the obvious of the two hot fireman in a hot story or perhaps two hot aliens with four dicks. (God, Bam, that is the funniest review ever).

Five Alarm Fire features Gracie, a schoolteacher, and Steve, a fireman, who share a duplex. Gracie has had the hots for Steve forever. Unfortunately Steve was engaged to be married. This doesn’t prevent Gracie from having hot fantasies starring Steve in various stages of undress and in various positions of sex. Fortunately for Gracie, Steve’s fiance decides she can’t marry a fireman. Steve looks to Gracie for some physical comfort, recalling an event which took place a year earlier in which he caught Gracie watching him and his fiance have sex.

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Dear Ms. Sheridan and Ms. Cain:

Jayne and I decided to both read your book and then get together and chat about it. The end of the chat is spoiler heavy so we’ve encased the end part in spoiler quotes. For those who read the news feed, please beware that this is a spoiler filled post. On to the discussion:

[14:04] Jayne: wow, that was so totally different from what I was expecting
[14:04] Jane: You must not have read the blurb
[14:04] Jayne: no, I didn’t
[14:05] Jayne: I wanted to be fresh and spontaneous
[14:05] Jayne: not tied down by preconceptions
[14:05] Jane: It did say that there was a dangerous stranger that would come between the two young men.
[14:05] Jane: I was a bit surprised at the stranger’s identity.
[14:05] Jayne: how so?
[14:06] Jane: Because I thought it was a dangerous man in that it merely threatened the relationship not in way that would threaten their entire existence and way of life.

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Dear Ms. Kenner,

I love Carpe Demon, last year’s prequel to California Demon, so I was ready when this one went on sale. Though it took the Waldenbooks clerk a couple of minutes to find where her co-workers had shelved it, I was able to go home happy. My credit card balance will haunt me in a few weeks with all the purchases I’ve made this month but I’ll worry about that tomorrow. ;)

In last years Carpe Demon, Kate Connor is a retired 4th level Demon Hunter when a sudden demon infestation and attempt to take over the world (or just SoCal) takes place. Reluctantly Kate heads back into the fray and saves the world. Now she’s been doing demon hunting duty for a few months. One of the places she routinely checks is a local retirement community since demons love to take over human bodies at the moment of death (you know all those miraculous medical miracles in the media? Most are actually demon infestations) and where’s a better place to find dying humans than there?

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Dear Ms. McKenna:

It’s a bit ironic that I would write the following because yours is a story where I would recommend to readers to skip the story and just read the sex scenes. Because your sex scenes are pretty good. It’s when the three of the characters step outside the bedroom, or dressing room, or car, or . . . well, you get the picture, that the book falls apart. Let’s start with the beginning.

What is most important to Brianna Wyatt is threatened by her father if she does not agree to have sex with Cole Masters and beget a male heir. How would Andrew Wyatt get Cole Masters to agree to this? I have no idea. After all, according to you, “He was rich beyond measure, many times over her father's own wealth, had a powerful corporate drive, and was way younger than most of his competitors.” and “As for the man himself, she had seen him many times in the media. He was a handsome, much coveted bachelor who regularly dated beautiful, sexy women. Women who fawned over him, batting their eyelashes and cooing like imbeciles. Women who had far more experience than Brianna could ever hope to have.” Ultimately, I think that Cole doesn’t agree to it but is struck with instant hard on and must fuck Brianna or die.

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Dear Mrs. Marshall,
See I’m finally getting around to writing you a letter about the first book of yours I actually read. So, I’m a little backwards! My enjoyment of Smuggler’s Bride did lead me to read your other two books. ;)
Lady Julia Delarue has arrived in Florida to visit her Aunts and Uncles (so her parents think) and to have some adventures as her American mother did after she married Julia’s English father (so Julia thinks). But what she doesn’t count on, as she tries to help solve the mystery of who is using her family’s shipping business to smuggle goods into Florida past the noses of the understaffed and unappreciated fledgling US Revenue Marine (later changed to US Coast Guard), is that she’s going to end up in the Florida piney woods in a cabin with a man she thinks is a smuggler and with whom she knows she’s falling in love.

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For those who loved the WOW Internet Is For Porn Non Sequitur, try out these videos

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Mark Grace is attributed with coining the phrase “slumpbuster.” He was on the radio show, Jim Rome, when he described it as finding

fattest gnarliest chick you can uncover, and you lay the wood to her

Grace also refers to this as “jumping on a grenade for the boys”.

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The original Liquid Silver post was eaten up by something. I’ll blame it on computer gremlins.

CONTEST:

Join the newsletter and you’ll get entered into the drawing. If you are already a memeber they are still eligible for the drawing. Just send me an email at jane @ dearauthor.com saying you will join or are already a member.

1) Is there any place for a reader to “redownload” a previously purchased book?

Not at the moment. We are in the process of upgrading our shopping cart, which will let readers do this. Readers who want to download another copy of their purchase, or need a different format, can email us at support@liquidsilverbooks.com

2) Are there any plans in the future to maintain a “library” of purchases?

Yes! This is one of the many improvements we’re working on for our new shopping cart. The new cart will let readers keep a backlist of their purchases on the site, and provide a more flexible shopping system.

3) What do you think of buying plans (i.e., reader bookclubs)?

We love this idea! Once we have the new cart in place, we’re going to be looking at implementing some kind of plan. We strive to be reader-friendly, …

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Last week, I addressed what formats were commonly sold by epublishers. One of the commenters noted last week that she tried html format but it didn’t have any of the advantages of the other software such as bookmarking, annotations, library, etc. It is a true that reading an html file with a browser program like AOL, Netscape or Internet Explorer, will not be an enjoyable experience.

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Dear Ms. Laurentson:

I am not sure whether this is a comic send up of paranormal romances but that is how it read to me. In that light, this book is hilarious. It’s when the book veers toward the serious that it starts to read like an ordinary romance tale with ordinary romance problems.

Talaith, Daughter of Heldane, is a Nolwenn witch who is under a curse by a god. Nolwenn witches are supposed to be unhappy, unattached women who use men for breeding and pleasure purposes, but not for love. Talaith fell in love with a soldier when she was sixteen. He was killed, however, and her mother and the other Nolwenn witches cast Talaith out to teach her a lesson. While she was cast out, Talaith came under control of a god.

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In lieu of Elizabeth Beverly’s Harlequin Blaze release and her aversion to writing porn (but making money from if she does):

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Dear Mrs. Norman,

Some reviews might lead readers to think this book is dry,
historical fiction. But I feel those reviewers would be doing readers a disservice. These characters came alive for me. The times and places seemed real. Your descriptions are so deft that for a day I was back in the 18th century of Boston, London, Hertfordshire and Northumberland. Your writing is fantastic and one gets a lesson in history without being aware of it.

But…this book won’t be for everyone. It’s not a true romance and though it has a happy ending, there is heartbreak and tragedy on the way.

Characters one has come to love will die. Others aren’t always good, or perceptive and some make mistakes. The smart ones learn from them even if one wants to still shake them at times. They are real people. One sees what 18th century business women were up against, what the poor and dispossessed had to fight, that right doesn’t always lead to justice.

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Dear Ms. Baggot and Mr. Almond:

Yours is a collaborative effort. Maybe my letter should be to Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer. Want to know what a good collaboration is? See this book.

Jane and John meet at a wedding and begin to have a frisky encounter in the coat closet. John pulls back and puts the stops on the sex. Whether he does this out of fear, conscience or truly a belief that something could come of a relationship with this woman, is still not clear at the outset. Whatever the motivation, John suggest that they write letters to each, get-to-know-you letters in the extreme where in they each confess their biggest failures.

Each letter is a mini story and letter by letter you learn more about Jane and John and the people who have shaped them. This story reminds me a bit of a good friend of mine who stopped drinking and stopped dating men who drank. She said she never realized what an honest relationship was without the artifices that alcohol tends to create. …

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Some enterprising ebayer is trying to get around the “not for resale” limitation on ARCs by offering up the ARC as a free gift with purchase. Obviously he is really selling the ARC but since he is “giving” the ARC away with a book for sale, he looks to be within the guidelines of ARC distribution. What now for authors? Get on your publishers, ladies. Get a tighter hold on the distribution of ARCs. These ebayers. So clever.

PS Would like a New Moon arc. I think Little Brown would like to give me one. Alas, *sniffle*, no copies are around to be given. In lieu of a New Moon ARC, I would definitely be pacified with an ARC of Lover Awakened by JR Ward or No Rest for the Wicked by Kresley Cole. Just saying.

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Dear Ms. Inman,

For me, time travel books have to strike a delicate balance. I’ve read enough of them that I get bored with warrior heroes who travel to their future and feel the need to protect the heroine from her microwave or characters who travel to their past and think nothing of using modern slang or babbling about said microwaves. I think you’ve done an excellent job fitting Kyle into the past. His speech patterns are just enough off without seeming awkward while his behavior hints at who he really is without making him stand out like a sore thumb. He’s very careful to try and fit in with his current surroundings and hyper aware that he can’t do or say anything to risk the future.

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I think we all know by now that I am not the biggest rah rah, go author blogger in romancelandia. But today, I felt like I had to make a pro author statement over at All About Romance. In the review for A Taste of Divinity, reviewer Kate C says

Another mark against this anthology is its bad editing. The plethora of spelling errors, misused words, and bad punctuation were unnecessary and unprofessional. Regardless of the good press they've been getting lately, e-books have to lift their game if they want to gain the respect of their printed cousins.

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Dear Ms. TorinoTenorio:

Jorrie Spencer mentioned on her blog (in the comments no less) that your book was inching its way up the bestseller list at Samhain. I went to your blog and saw that the book was a friends to lovers theme. I love those. Plus it also had a Pygmalion thread. To quote Sybil. Squee.

Cassandra Bishop (or CB to nearly everyone) and Burke Halifax have been friends since they were kids. Over the years, Burke has had his girlfriends and CB fell for Luke Hanson and stuck by him despite frequent breakups. A couple of weeks before their wedding, Luke skips town, leaving a note for CB that he is gay and cannot live the lie anymore. CB takes time to recover from being jilted and humiliated. A year later and Luke shows back up in town with a fiance -a blonde bombshell. CB is crushed, not because she still loves Luke but because she begins to have doubts as to whether anyone views her as a woman. Luke claims that being with CB was being gay because she is not feminine in anyway.

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Dear Ms. Teglia,

Wow you sure got a mantitty cover, didn’t you? But why isn’t the hero pictured with a beard? I was thrilled when you made sure the Norsemen in your story had beards but bummed that we don’t get to see it on the cover. Oh well. And about the title, The Gripping Beast, well, to be honest I have to say it makes me think of a really awful stomach bug. The kind that you need a bottle of Imodium AD and a day off from work to get over.

I can tell you now that you’re not going to be thrilled with me about this review. Lorelei is unfortunately the type of heroine who annoys me. Overly feisty, she draws verbal lines in the sand with the hero then leaps over them 5 minutes later after he’s felt her up a bit. No, no, she’s never going to give in to him, ooooh my that feels good. No, wait I’m not going to let you make love to me, oh God that orgasm was great!

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Dear Readers:

The nice folks at Amber Quill Press offered two of our readers a free book. To enter the contest, do the following:

1. Send an email to jane@dearauthor.com
2. Subject line: AmberQuill Contest ((use the link and the subject line will be filled in for you)
3. Contents of the email: name of the ebook and a number from 1 to 1000

So, go to AmberQuill Press and find a book you would like to read. Send us one email and we will enter you into the contest. The two emails that match the number picked by the AmberQuill press people will win the free ebook. This contest will run until June 21. Thanks AmberQuill and thanks to our readers.

Jane and Jayne

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When I first heard of Julia Quinn’s 2nd epilogues, my first thought was “oh no, what are publishers going to do next.”

But publishers, who apparently are feeling the bite of falling profits from just publishing books, are constantly looking for new ways to make money because the “uh oh, what’s next” is already here. Cover Girl and Perseus Books Group have partnered to create a cross media ad campaign. Cathy’s Book written by collaborating authors, Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman, feature a young girl trying to discern why her boyfriend broke up with her. In the galley, the story features the heroine using a “Clinique” lipstick. In the final printed version, the product placement is now a Cover Girl “Lipslick.”

Although no money is being exchanged, the barter system is working for both companies. At its Beinggirl.com, Cover Girl will run a banner ad for the book. The book was been further modified to include more product placement for Cover Girl items.

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Dear Ms. Rice:

Yours is a name that is oft mentioned in the same breath as ebook authors. Tara Marie, with whom I seem to correlate closely, calls you the Linda Howard of hot romances. I was thrilled to get a nomination for one of your books. Perhaps I went into the story with too high of expectations or perhaps I wasn’t in the mood. There were several things that I enjoyed in the story. I love Italy and I appreciate the great details that you brought to your setting. Your hero seemed very European to me instead of an American dressed up as an Italian.

If I could place my dissatisfaction on any one thing, I would have to point the finger toward the heroine. Hope Winston is in Italy teaching English and running a school to educate young Italian professionals to help out a friend of hers. Some of the students in her class are policemen. Others are businessmen or aspiring businessmen. The comedic aspect in this book stems from the attempts of the students to engage Hope in a romantic way.

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Dear Ms. Hanlon-Tarasov:

Next time, I would just cut off his penis. It is much more acceptable and less felonious than chucking a phone book at the dear hubby’s head (no entendre intended).

Emily Hanlon-Tarasov, author of the British best-seller “Petersburg,” knocked her husband unconscious in their Yorktown home during an argument this week. more

Best regards,

Jane

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Dear Mrs Stuart,

I’m glad to see you get back to your nihilistic, “don’t give a shit” heroes but somehow being reminded over and over that Bastien is such a man took some of it away. All right, I wanted to say, I got the picture the first time and you don’t need to tell me again 15 more times. Nor give me any sob story background about his poor childhood with a mommy who doesn’t love him.

And the heroine. What is there to love about this clinging vine? At first I kind of saw her in a Mary Stewart heroine sort of way but MS heroines usually manage to grow and gain strength over the course of the book while Chloe just stays an albatross around Bastien’s neck. You’ve given us plenty of initially cowed heroines who’ve grown

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Previously I blogged about the reader/author divide. Since that time I have noticed an increasing mark between ONLINE readers and authors. Take blogger Indida.

When one of the first internet review sites started, The Romance Reader, it was a revelation to me. I never before had a central source that I could go to, for free, to get buy suggestions. The Romance Reader was followed by All About Romance. I think that AAR changed part of the romance landscape by allowing reader interaction. Reader interaction was closely followed by author interaction.

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Amber Quill Press started in 2002. They publish a diverse number of genres, both erotica and non-erotica, by a large number of authors. They sell both ebooks and trade sized paperbacks. AQP even has an ebook soap opera called Amber Circle. They sell to individuals, bookstores and libraries. There are currently 5 AQ newsletter/yahoo groups which readers can join. They do not sell books from other publishers.

Amber Quill Press accepts submissions by invitation only. They state they do not accept any kind of open submissions from authors or agents nor will they respond to query letters. They do have an annual Amber Heat Wave contest during which they will accept erotic romance manuscript submissions.

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The question I often see around message boards is which format should I buy. Most publishers/ebook stores will offer at least 2, if not 6 or 7 different formats. For a novice ereader or even one who has been reading ebooks for a few years, this is problematic.

There are lots of different formats. You will have to download the reader (appropriate software program) to your pc and/or handheld device in order to “read” your books. Think Itunes as the “reader” of music and the “Ipod” as the device to carry with you to “read” the music. Similarly, Adobe Reader, MS Reader, MobiPocket Reader, and Ereader are the “Itunes” in the ebook scenario. The IPOD is a handheld reading device.

You need to be careful to buy the correct format as most stores will not let you exchange one downloaded book for another if you screw up. Most reader software will not read a book in another format. You always make backup files of their ebooks in case of the dreaded Blue Screen of Death or in case your computer/handheld device becomes obsolete in a year. Oh and with some formats, if …

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Dear Ms. Nichols:

What can I say? You did warn me in your title that your heroine is a drama queen. Perhaps I should give you an A+ on fulfilling your promise. Because the book about Elle Medina and her life, loves, and pursuit of happiness was marred constantly by your grating heroine. I am sure you know the sobriquet “drama queen” is not a compliment. It is the defintion of a myopic heroine who cannot see beyond the tips of her tits to see the world beyond.

Elle Medina is a fake psychic who struggles to make ends meet. She has a great boyfriend, Merrick, who she refuses to call by his first name (Louis) because that is the name of her former fiance who dumped her for an Iowan. Merrick wants her to move in and grow up. He encourages her to attend college to get her masters degree so that she can be a real counselor instead of giving advice over her 900 Pyschic Connexion hotline. Elle’s life is further complicated by the fact that she was surreptiously videotaped while prancing around a local dressing room and this tape is put on the internet.

Perhaps I am too much of an adult for this story. Elle is so irresponsible that she views an $18,000 school loan as a way to fund her clothing purchases, who continues to spend money that she does not have, and accepts a suit (and a bustier) in exchange for being publicly violated and humiliated.

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Dear Ms. Winston:

This book features Rennie Piccabea, a 19 year old woman, who dreams of a better life than being a beautician (the career her mother wants her to pursue). Juan Allistair is a half French, half Argentian (sp?) polo player who plays for a Palm Springs backer. One day when Rennie is walking home from getting groceries, she is overwhelmed by the seeming futility of life and her inability to obtain “fame and fortune” “a house with a real garden” and a “job she’d like.” She stops at a church to rest and poor her heart out to St. Francis because she likes the way the statue looks.

Juan comes along to the same church to light candles for his dead mother and brother. He sees Rennie there and chases after her when she forgets her groceries. Juan mentions that his polo team is in need of a groom and Rennie begs for the opportunity. Juan’s inability to wash his clothes, cook for himself, or do anything of a household nature leads him to Rennie and into her arms despite Juan’s engagement to a childhood sweetheart in Argentina.

The polo parts of the book were very good. You gave a lot of detail that made this book read like a real sports novel. You had either researched polo yourself or you have a love for it. Those parts of the story seemed authentic and genuine.

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Dear Ms. Calonita:

When I first read the blurb for this book, I was a bit skeptical. How was I going to cheer for the heroine who already had everything going for her? The narrator is Kaitlyn Burke, one of the hottest teen celebs in town who stars in an OC type prime time soap. You sold me on the idea that her life, while more glamorous, had some of the same problems any teen has. She is the subject of unsavory rumors spread by a jealous co star. She is tired from all the expectations of her parents and her attempts to please them. She’s really not sure what she wants to do with her life.

She is mentally exhausted from being an actress and would love it if she could take a hiatus. A hiatus, however, could spell career suicide. She manages to convince everyone in her family and her publicist that this break would be good for and her career. With the help of her stylists, assistant, and best friend, Liz, she dons a disguise for two months to become Rachel, the British high school student and enrolls in Liz’s prep school for two months. Of course, the disguise is hard to keep up and there is a constant juggling that Kaitlyn must do in order to pacify her publicist and parents and her own need from some of the regular life.

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Dear Ms. Dove,

What a delightful traditional Regency romance you’ve written. You have a good feel for the period and seem to have done your research. I enjoy friends turned lovers stories and hope that we hear from you for a long time.

I like how you’ve made Mr. Richard Harding adhere to the standards of regency conduct without turning him into either a rake or a stuffed shirt. And he’s not a Duke! Yippee! He’s
not even an aristocrat. He’s just a landed gentleman. He’s also not the most handsome, the tallest, the one with the widest shoulders, etc. Ah, bliss.

Georgiana is a breath of fresh air as well. Not a hoyden, not the most beautiful nor a wall flower either. She’s smart and outgoing but she’s also smart enough to respect and obey the conventions of her day. She also doesn’t go against her mother’s wishes in regards to furthering a friendship with the now widowed Lady Shipton just to kick over the maternal traces. Georgie thinks about what she’s doing and realizes that only a few high sticklers, such as her mother, don’t receive the former actress, while the rest of society is pleased to entertain her.

I enjoyed your secondary characters and the way they added to the main love story without diverting too much attention by trying to set up any future books in a series. Even the secondary romance adds to the progression of Richard and Georgie’s. I want to note the servants you have in your story. They’re not pals or buddies of the gentry but working people with dignity who take pride in their jobs yet have a strong feeling of loyalty for their employers.

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