Archive for October, 2006
Dear Ms. Nash,
 I keep trying your series set in Roman Britain because I love the time period. “Celtic Fire” had some problems for me and unfortunately so does “The Grail King.”
Owein (the brother of the Celtic heroine in “Celtic Fire”) lives alone in the ruins of his village. He had come to live here several years after the events of “CF” and had at one point been a slave for years. Two years ago the village was attacked by Roman legionaries, his wife was killed and most of the rest of the villagers were rounded up and herded to the fortress town of Isca.
Owein has always had the Sight but the price of his Druidic gift is high. After a vision he is crippled by headaches and lethargy. The Horned God always demands a price for the gift. It is after a vision that Owein comes across Clara Sempronia, alone and collapsed in the snow. He takes her back to his house where she eventually reveals her quest. Her father is dying and she needs find a stolen cup to help save him. It belonged to her mother and drinking from it …
Dear Ms. Holly:
 This is probably my favorite book you have written so far. It’s a fairly traditional romance set in the Far East featuring young friends who have a close friendship and then are torn apart by one child’s family. While it is marketed as a paranormal and your worldbuilding is based upon the creation of a different race, it reads like a fantasy historical. Yamas lived in isolation for centuries until they were discovered by human explorers. The setting is Victorian Earth but the yama are more technologically advanced. Their race values emotional control above all else. Those that show signs of unrestrained emotion are considered defective and not fit to rule. However, because emotions are forbidden, the yama are attracted to humans’ emotions. Further, yamas can become addicted to imbibing human energy as it produces a drug like euphoria. While it is a well known secret, like drug addiction, that yamas have affairs with humans and imbibe the human chi, to have the affair known to the public is a great disgrace.
The interesting part of the yama lore is not the technological advances or …
Dear Mrs. Kenner,
 I first read this book last year when it came out in trade paperback but when Jane got a MMP copy this month, she asked me to refresh my memory, do a letter and then we give it away to some lucky reader. I said sure, will do. Well, I ended up doing more than just skimming and instead read the whole darn thing again (I swear Jane, it’s the truth, that’s why this is so late) and didn’t I end up just as enthusiastically devouring it the second time as the first.
Kate Connor thought the hardest thing in her life was getting all her errands run while keeping her toddler and teenager from getting cranky and or bored. That was until a demon burst through her plate glass kitchen window and tried to kill her while she getting the appetisers warmed up for her husband Stuart’s election party. Now she’s got to hide the body as well as finish getting dressed and cleaning the house. A piece of cake for a Fourth Class Demon Hunter.
Later, a quick phone call to her old mentor in the Vatican confirms Kate’s got a …
 I have heard that sales of historicals are down; that the historical is dead or dying. I attribute the death of the historical to the fact that there has been a publishing concentration in one sub genre and one location (Regency England) that the nothing in the historical market is fresh. To some degree, it seems that the historicals being published, regardless of publisher, are interchangeable. That Tracy Warren’s book could have been penned by Jenna Peterson who’s book could have been penned by Candace Hern. These three authors have polished works but their voices are nearly indistinguishable for me. The failure of publishing to foster historicals during other time periods and other settings is what has led to the demise of the historical. Its dull, bland and overdone.
On a listserv, recently, I read one author suggest that it is the reader’s fault for the market saturation of the English, Scottish historicals (and ergo, the demise of the historical). On the one hand, there is the argument that several years ago we readers obviously wanted this type of book, asked for more of these books to be …
 There are two competing factions in the ebook reading industry. No, not authors v. readers or readers v. publishers (that story is for tomorrow ;) ), it’s IDPF v. OpenReader. The idea is to create an ebook standard that would enable customers to buy any book from any online source and view it on any electronic reader. This is something that could really revolutionize ebook reading. One of my biggest disappointments with Sony Reader is the inability to view my existing ebook purchases at all or in the manner formatted by the publisher. The reason I don’t buy PDF books these days is because of my negative experience of losing several hundred dollars worth of books bought in Adobe format but were unreadable after computer upgrades because of DRM issues.
With the “read any title on any device” promise, I could even support some type of DRM because it appears that my books wouldn’t be “lost” because of device going out of business or better technology appearing. My books purchased for the Sony Reader today could be read on a Apple device next year or a Toshiba …
It’s the end of Daylight Savings Time. Set your clocks back 1 hour tonight.
James Webb is the author of several “historical novels that describe wartime horrors in Vietnam and people dealing with the aftermath of combat.” (MSNBC). His opponent, Sen. George Allen, is now urging Virginia residents to vote against Webb on the basis of his books containing explicit sex scenes. I hope he breaks out with the egotistical slant that Webb’s name is on EVERY OTHER page!
Dear Readers,
 For those interested in trying Dinah Dean who don’t want to pay a fortune for her Russian set Regency books, this is one that was reissued in the US and which is easier (and cheaper) to find. It’s a sweet, more old fashioned type of book (it was written in 1982) and is set entirely outside of London with no Season what so ever in it.
Miss Dorcas Minster is traveling to her new position at a remote household in the English Lake District. Her father, a baronet, fell into drink and gambling and ended his life when his debts grew too large, leaving her to make her way in the world as a governess. There are several other interesting people with her on the Mail Coach to Cockermouth and they all get a chance to know each other better when the coach is waylaid by a snowy accident, leaving them all stranded at a small inn.
By far the most interesting traveler is Sir Richard Severall, a Colonel in the Dragoons who has been invalided out of the Peninsular Army. He’s immediately attracted to Dorcas but feels that he can’t approach her due …
Google is offering a number of public domain scary stories to get you in the right mood for Halloween. Via Teleblog.
Is Sarah. Thanks for participating.
Dear Ms. More,
 “Allegiance” caught my eye as I’m always looking for a good western and it’s harder and harder to find them in print anymore. Unfortunately, I don’t think you’ll like to read my opinion of it.
Amy Baker and her brother Jeb are headed downriver to New Orleans on a Mississippi River boat. They plan to sell the furs that Jeb and their now dead father trapped for trade goods to haul to Santa Fe. Along the way they met up with Major Tyler O’Donnell who tries to help Amy get Jeb out of prison after he’s arrested in New Orleans for attempting to prove a gambler was cheating him. Tyler doesn’t have time to help this young woman yet he can’t turn his back on her. When she discovers his plan to buy muskets and transport them to the newly independent Texas to help fight off the Mexicans who want to take parts of it back, she finagles her way in on the deal. After breaking her brother out of jail, they head back to St. Louis, get the of their cargo, hit the long trail across the wild west, fighting their passions …
Said tongue in cheek. Keishon reports his presence on Top Idol and Gizmodo features him helping out the Best Buy Geek Squad.
Dear Ms. Brockway:
 I have loved you in the past and while I have dreaded favorite historical authors move to contemporary, I figured if anyone could do it, it would be you. After all, people complain that your historical voice was too modern. A contemporary would fit you like a glove. Unfortunately, I think your move to women’s fiction is just not one I want to make with you. I won’t belabor the plot points as Jayne summarized it so well in her review.
Yes, this story has a romance but it is not a central focus of the book. The story focuses, in part, on Jenny Lind’s ability to come to grips with her past; and, in part, on the hunt for a butterhead sculpture. I’m pretty sure that if I hadn’t agreed with Jayne to write this duel review thing, I would have tossed the book aside after the fourth chapter or so and moved on. But here I am writing a review about a book I didn’t like by an author I used to love. It’s a sorry state of things.
You did a thoroughly good job …
Dear Ms. Brockway,
 I had no idea you were moving to contemporaries. Uneasy feeling number one: I usually don’t like it when traditionally historical authors move in that direction. Why? I dunno. I guess I just get used to them writing about the past, their historical “voice” and style. I suppose Jane would say I’m used to their historical brand. However, if an author already writes different genres when I discover her/him, then I’m alright with it. Yes, I can be contrary. Uneasy feeling number two: Jane emailed me that she didn’t really like the book much. But I’d agreed to do a dueling review so I got my game face on and started to read. What a relief when I started chuckling then laughing and then ended up enjoying “Hot Dish.”
Jenn Lind hates Minnesota and especially the town of Fawn Creek. After her parents lost almost all their money by some bad business decisions and took a disastrous poker playing trip to Las Vegas to try and win it all back, the family is forced to sell everything they own and head to the only property they have left which is a …
We’re having dueling reviews and giving away a copy of the book to a random commenter of any post here at DearAuthor so long as it is made on Thursday
Dear Ms. Martell,
 I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book as I know next to nothing about the dominatrix lifestyle or activities. Sure I have an image of a woman clad in skintight black vinyl or leather wearing wearing killer shoes/boots and wielding a whip but what else would you do with the stereotype and what would I learn? Answer: you don’t go much beyond what I see posted at the few professional dominatrix websites I pulled up via google and yahoo or the descriptions at wikipedia so I’m not really sure if you show us what the vast majority of dominatrices are like or if you just read the same information I did.
Kirsten Caine describes herself as a lifestyle dominant meaning someone who is in control both inside and outside the bedroom. She doesn’t charge any money for her services but will happily accept some luscious La Perla knickers for her time. When she randomly meets Simon Charlesworth in a bar near a Tube Station, he has no idea that his life is about to take a dramatic turn. Simon is just who …
Dear Ms. Madden:
 I confess that my only experience with Black Lace has been Emma Holly and at the time, she took me places I had never been. It was a bit of an eye opener for this girl. Since then, I’ve read, it seems, reams of erotic fiction and erotic romance but I admit to having never read what you wrote about. Laura Kinsale is tired of political correctness. She should read this book because politically correct it is not. This book is provocative, challenging and not a little disturbing.
Mary is a grad student, a seemingly perpetual grad student. In the library stacks she finds the man of her dreams. He is a beautiful, built young man who happens to be in a wheelchair. Mary is a devo, a person who is turned on by people with functional disabilities. A man’s disability that renders him physically helpless is a complete turn on to Mary.
Before his accident two years ago, David was a hot young stud who had his pick of college coeds. He enjoyed cherry picking amongst the freshman. His …
From Deep Genre comes the news of Audrey Niffenegger’s serialized ghost story in the Chicago Trib. Use Bug Me Not to register.
Keishon posted new pub date of May 2007.
Dear Mr. Greenberg,
 I haven’t laughed out loud this much while reading a book in months. My cat was eyeing me. Even my dog, who is usually the world’s most placid (and enormous) sofa throw (unless he’s in the back yard and sees a rabbit at which point he becomes jet propelled), raised his head and looked at me as I clutched my stomach and laughed until it hurt. But I had a pretty good idea I’d enjoy this when I bought it and mentioned it to my blogging partner. “I listen to him every day, ” she said, “I love his show.” Well, I loved your book. Read it Jane. Read it everyone. It’s not just about sports, though a lot of it is, but about life and men vs women and how to get your children’s diapers changed. A-
~Jayne
Dear Ms. Bast:
 If pressed, I would probably say that you are my favorite EC novelist. I am eagerly awaiting your Berkley releases. I bought Water Crystal during my Bast glom and thought, despite the title, that it was a contemporary given the cover. It is not a contemporary, but rather a futuristic. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is a sore lack of futuristics in the romance genre and so when I come across a decent one, I am probably more forgiving.
This is a slightly futuristic tale which involves some heavy duty worldbuilding. I am sure that someone more sophisticated than I will find flaws but for me, the world you created seemed full to me. An alien lifeform, known as Kiran, came to Earth when their own world began to die. In order to inhabit Earth, these aliens cultivated freysis bacteria which is toxic to humans. Freysis was loosed into the water system and ecology took over forming a continuous supply of freysis. To humans, enough exposure to water, even in rain form, will be deadly. When a strange …
Dear Mrs. Connolly,
 Even if I have to wait for the next two new books about Richard and Rose, I’m so glad that Mundania will be releasing the entire series to some new fans. “Harley Street” takes up where the third novel in the Richard and Rose series, “Venice,” left off. The series follows the courtship, marriage, honeymoon and now first months of married life back in London of Richard Kerre, Lord Strang, heir to the Earldom of Southwood and Rose Golightly, a young woman of no great distinction from Devonshire, England.
In book one, “Yorkshire,” the two met and fell instantly in love much to the distress of their families. Richard was a well known rake and philanderer while Rose was a provincial nobody. Add to that fact that Richard was betrothed and Rose had a young curate who fancied her as a step up in their society and you can see why neither family was pleased. But the couple persevered and we watched the lead up to their marriage in “Devonshire” and their honeymoon in “Venice.”
All along, they’ve had to deal with a society who thinks Richard will soon begin to cheat on Rose, …
Dear Authors:
This past week readers have been talking websites and how we really like them. Author websites provide us with information on what is next, what you’ve written in the past and whether we will like your books if you are new to us. Essentially, they are an online sales brochure which help convince eager readers to buy, buy, buy.
During the Nalini Singh viral blogging experiment, I visited alot of blogs. I visited the blogs that linked here and then I would visit sites that were linked to the blog I visited. I’ve visited websites of virtually every author I’ve read and every author that I am somewhat interested in. Let me say that like the writing, the quality of the website/blog varies a great deal from very amateurish to very professional. I’ve seen very good websites for bad authors and very bad websites for good authors.
Some authors, like Sylvia Day, are dismissive of the need for an online presence.
Right now, yes, because so few romance readers are online. The majority of them don’t participate in the online romance community.
It is true that the number of readers who post, blog, …
 This post isn’t really about ebooks but it is about technology and something that we all use on a regular basis so what the heck. I guess this falls under “I’m running out of ebook content.” I don’t want to recycle stuff until I am desperate (which may be next week) so I thought I would turn Sundays into Tech day. We will still focus primarily on ebooks but we (or I) will post about tech related things too. Like how to make your blog better and stuff like that. Is that cool?
Come November, Internet Explorer 7.0 Will be an Automatic Update to Windows XP. This means if you have AU turned “On”, one day in November, you may wake up and find a whole new browser on your desktop. If you don’t have AU turned on, you won’t get a notification that there is a new browser. I am a Firefox fan and wouldn’t recommend anyone change if you are already using Firefox, but for the 80%+ who do use Internet Explorer, this will be a neat upgrade for you.
I downloaded IE 7.0 this past week because I …
Dear Ms. Cole,
 A variety of supernatural beings walk the earth in the world you have created in this book. The heroine, Emmaline Troy, is half-vampire, half-Valkyrie. Her Valkyrie mother died in childbirth and Emma has been raised by the Valkyries, warrior maidens who don’t know anything about her vampire father.
Vampires are capable of great evil and are enemies of the Valkyries, and therefore it’s surprising that a Valkyrie and a vampire would ever create a child together. So Emma feels like neither fish nor fowl. Unlike her aunts, she is not much of a warrior. She is gentle and terrified of vampires, even though she is half vampire herself.
Lachlain MacRieve is a a Lykae (werewolf) and the leader of his clan. But everyone thinks he is dead because for a hundred and fifty years he has been chained by the vampires’ leader in an eternal fire beneath Paris. Each Lykae has a predestined mate and once each one finds his or her mate, they remain with them for life. Lykae have always mated with other Lykae, but now Lachlain has become an exception to this rule. His predestined mate is Emma, …
Dear Ms. Darcy
 I don’t know how you got your book included as the free book in the Sony Reader but you did. And now I have to tell everyone at MobileRead that Italian’s Stolen Bride is not indicative of the romance genre. Your book includes all the hallmarks of a series romance and also a good example of why I no longer read series romances. On the good side, I didn’t have to pay for this book. On the bad side, I spent time reading it. The book contains all the stock characters. Poor girl. Rich guy. Family deems her unsuitable. Secret baby who brings everyone together again.
The story actually starts out fine by having Luciano Peretti learn of the duplicity that drove him away from Skye Summer in the first place. Luc’s brother, Roberto, confesses on his death bed that six years ago, he faked photographs of himself with Luc’s fiance so that Luc would break up with Skye Summer. Seeing photographic evidence of Roberto and Skye together, enrages Luciano and he breaks it off with Syke. Skye, of course, was pregnant …
Dear Mrs. Wynn,
 If I had to describe your writing I’d say it’s a nice, quiet style that reminds me of Laura Matthews and some of the “older” style authors. You gets your facts straight without making a big deal of it or info dumping the reader. And in “The Parson’s Pleasure” we read a boy meets girl story from a slightly different perspective, that of a man forced into the clergy who really wants more in life.
Miss Claire Oliver is the daughter of a Baron who lives a quiet country life with her loving parents. She is a young lady of good looks but not exceptional beauty, intelligent, practical and the possessor of a handsome portion. A portion which she gratefully knows will allow her independence after her parents pass on and she is left as a spinster, there being no one in their small community she desires to marry and not having found anyone during her one Season in London. It is not until the new parson arrives that she discovers just how much she would miss a lifetime spent with a man of her heart.
Mr. Christopher Bennett is the son of …
Dear Ms. Waddell:
 I was talking to a sci fi aficionado the other day and bemoaning the fact that there are so few true sci fi / futuristic romances these days. When Tara Marie mentioned that she liked it, I paid attention and picked it up.
Cullon Gavriel and Danna MacFadyen are part of an intergalactic investigation team set to ascertain the cause of an explosion onboard the craft, Llyndar, that resulted in the death of 46 people. Danna is part of the diplomatic corp but is chosen in great part because of her psychometric ability. Danna can read the emotions of a person by touching an object that was imprinted with that emotion. I guess if Danna could read my old laptop that I ruined by spilling chicken noodle soup on it, she would find frustration, disgust, and then a little joy at having to buy a new one.
Cullon Gavriel is a commander in the Korcian Empire. He is part of the investigation team because one of the members on the crew was an heir to the Korcian Empire and a True Blood. …
Dear Ms. Reid,
 This time the dark, oh so handsome hero of your book is, no surprises here, a Spaniard. But the heroine is the same pale, blonde, slim though curvaceous, Englishwoman I’ve seen in the two other books of yours I’ve read. Again, the hero is a wildly successful businessman, rich beyond belief. The heroine is kind of just there, really. Though she has impeccable lineage and breeding. Your characters live in wealthy, fast paced, jet set places and this time it’s Marbella and the castelo that our hero has just inherited along with the title of Conde.
Seven years ago, Caroline and Luiz had fallen in love and lust but her father’s compulsive gambling and lies had torn them apart. Now, Luiz is out for his revenge and determined to make Caroline his. Using her father’s new debts, his old debts and their mortgaged estate, he blackmails Caroline into a marriage agreement. But what he hides from her is the dark secrets of his family’s past and the role she has to play to resolve them.
Your characters love deeply but can hurt each other with the same degree of passion. Reading these books is like …
I have been challenged by a male online reader who has been questioning of the romance genre to find the following:
Does there exist such a thing as a mystery or suspense romance that doesn’t have a lot of sensual sexual physical or erotic stuff going on?
Help me make a convert here. First, give me your favorite mystery/romantic suspense and then give me your best recommendation of one that doesn’t have alot of sex. Make sure that it is a romance, not a cross over (like Iris Johansen).
Dear Ms. Halladay:
 I know this letter isn’t fair because I picked up your book thinking you were another author, Gemma Bruce. In my defense, you were in the romance section, but I think your book is better classified as a chick lit whodunit with all the accoutrements of the chick lit book. All the brand names are present: Jimmy Choos, Dolce and Gabana, Prada, Gucci.
Appearances are very important to Maddie:
My ash blond hair was still tucked into a flattering half twist—a few flyaways but the messy look was in, right? I pulled out a tube of Raspberry Perfection lip gloss and applied a thin swipe across my lips, ignoring the obscene gestures from the guy behind me.
Unfortunately, Maddie Springer’s dilemma is one that makes her look like a fool. Before I get to the plot, let me just summarize the book in one sentence. Maddie isn’t sure whether she wants to sleep with the hot cop because she isn’t sure whether she is pregnant by her married boyfriend who she may still have feelings for. Um, can we say TSTL? How is it even a contest? …
Dear Ms. Rusch,
I wasn’t aware when I bought this that it is a short story. But I was an ebook novice then and thought I had just gotten a good deal on the price. I know authors have no control over price and compared to Quinn’s famous Second Epilogues this one is cheap but I thought people should know how many words they’re getting (7074).
Anyway, given the info blurb I wondered how well you’d be able to tell the story of a murder, investigation and ultimate revelation about the hero’s wife in that short a story. The answer: pretty darn well but then the main focus of the book isn’t really the investigation but what the hero learns about his wife and what he, the mayor of the wild west mining town, intends to do about truth and justice.
I enjoyed your writing style and liked that you didn’t get bogged down trying to include too much information yet managed to add enough little details to fully realize the place and characters for me. The ultimate revelation was totally unexpected and the outcome wouldn’t have worked in any other setting than a historical. Readers might …
Dear Ms. McCarthy:
 Jay, the poor misguided fool who thought she wanted to be a lawyer and now who cannot read for pleasure because all she does is read opinions, really enjoys your books and has been trying to get me to read them for months now. You Don’t Know Jack was an ebook and I jumped at the chance to try you out. Soooo glad I did.
If you allow me to pigeonhole you a bit, I would characterize your voice as Meg Cabot all grown up. Your characters are all very nice. Usually that is something that drives me nuts but in your book, as with Cabot’s, I end up liking the characters in spite of myself. Case in point is your heroine. Jamie Peters is a social worker bent on saving the world. She specializes in rehabilitating convicts and still believes that she can effectuate change. Her need to fix things bleeds into her personal life and she is always taking on lost causes, making them into perfect boyfriends for the next girl. (this reminds me of a Jayne Ann …
Dear Ms. Dallas,
 I remember reading about this book a few years ago when it was first published. For some reason, I never bought it then but I thought about it from time to time. When I saw it was available in ebook form, I took the plunge. So much of it reminded me of the song “Gold Rush Brides” by 10,000 Maniacs.
…There’s no way to divide the beauty of the sky from the wild western plains.
Where a man could drift, in legendary myth, by roaming over spaces.
The land was free and the price was right.
Dakota on the wall is a white-robed woman, broad yet maidenly.
Such power in her hand as she hails the wagon man’s family.
I see Indians that crawl through this mural that recalls our history.
Who were the homestead wives?
Who were the gold rush brides?
Does anybody know?
Do their works survive their yellow fever lives in the pages they wrote?
The land was free, yet it cost their lives.
In miner’s lust for gold, a family’s house was bought and sold, piece by piece.
A widow staked her claim on a
…
Part One was the delivery of promises and Part Two was about the promise itself. Part Three is about the breaking of promises or what I like to think of as When Good Authors Go Bad. There are spoilers in the post below, so reader beware.
There was a lively discussion back in September about what constituted a promise from an author. I argued that authors, by their books, make implicit promises to readers. Readers buy into those promises and look for a similar evocative feel each time they pick up an author’s book. I believe this is why series are so successful. Authors did not like this pigeonholing of their writing skills and there are certainly authors whose brand or promise is to write different stories each time. Inevitably, though, the need for a brand remains. Angie W reported from the NJRW agent panel that agents are looking for authors who are actively seeking to create a brand for themselves.
Jill Monroe had a hilarious take on this. Apparently she refers to her book, Share the Darkness, as STD. It finally took one of her friends …
Dear Mrs. Hake,
 I wasn’t quite sure what I’d get when I impulsively picked this book at the bookstore. I had vaguely heard of Bethany House and thought it publishes inspirational literature. I am religious and a Christian but don’t care to be preached at, if you know what I mean. Happily, I found that there is a well written story here though it might not appeal to everyone. Religion is a large part of the story and I found it easier to read about since this is a time in American history when expression of deep faith didn’t bring the divisiveness that it seems to do today.
Ruth Caldwell is a young woman whose impulsive and open nature has always lead to trouble in all the fancy Schools for Young Ladies to which her mother has sent her. When Ruth arrives home after her latest debacle, she finds her mother in far worse health than she thought. It isn’t long before Ruth’s mother has passed on and Ruth is on her way out west to California. Expecting to finally meet her long estranged father, Ruth is devestated to learn of his death over …
Summary: Kaderin the Coldhearted lives to kill vampires. Sebastian Wroth was turned against his will and longs to die. They meet and discover that Kaderin is his blood bride. Kaderin resists. The annual Hie is starting (the paranormal answer to the Amazing Race). She’s got a prize to win and isn’t interested. Okay, she’s a little interested. The pace is fast and enjoyable until the end when the sugary ending almost ruins it. If you didn’t like the first one, you aren’t going to like this one. If you liked the first one, you’ll like this one. Since Cole made it onto the USA Today Bestseller list for the first one, I am guessing this will be just as successful.
Dear Ms. Abé:
The Dream Thief is a sequel to The Smoke Thief. Lia Langford, the youngest daughter of the Earl of Chasen/Marquess of Langford (one of the two), is a dreamer. She dreams of future events and many of those events involve her lover being pitted against her family, against her friends.
Zane, former apprentice of the Smoke Thief and current thief extraordinaire, is commissioned by the Earl/Marquess and the Countess/Marchionness to obtain the Dreamer’s Stone. Whispers of the stone is reaching the ears of the drákon and the drákon must have it all costs. They are willing to pay Zane a king’s ransom if he obtains it and returns it to them.
This book moves quickly and contains some great story telling. The parts where Lia dreams of Zane forcing her to do terrible things is chilling, suspenseful and frightening. Zane is an appealing hero: roguish, living on his wits. Lia is also appealing. She’s smart, crafty and driven. If I could take out certain parts of the story, this would have been an A.
The story was narrated by some unknown person telling …
Dear Ms. Rowe,
 While reading “Must Love Dragons” I kept getting feelings of deja vu. I think other readers will as well since there are a lot of similarities with “Date Me, Baby, One More Time.” I feel that a reader’s response to that book will determine their grade for this one.
You left us with a lot of unresolved issues from “Date Me” and pick right back up where that book ended. Theresa Nichols is a dragon in despair. Her human roomie has gotten married, gone on her honeymoon and left T to starve while acting as temporary guardian of the Goblet of Eternal Youth (currently in the form of an espresso machine). Everyone wants the Goblet, including Satan who’s always got an eye open for expansion opportunities, and if T doesn’t keep it safe, not only will she get tossed into the chamber of unspeakable horrors for all eternity but her former roomie, Justine the chief Guardian and Satan’s love child, will as well.
To add to T’s problems, Zeke, the man with whom she’s been having cyber sex for six months, suddenly demands to see her in person or he’ll break off …
Dear Ms. Spencer:
 Haven is your debut work and I have been excited to read it since I first heard of it back when we ran our first ebook contest. I didn’t know what to expect and did not read the excerpts purposely. I like to be surprised when I read a book. While I thought that parts of the book lagged (which I think is a common debut author issue), overall Haven is a cozy romance that harkens back to a time when romance writers wrote romances, not paranormals, suspense, erotica.
Hildy McAllister has just blown up her career by accusing the department chair of sexual harassment and plagarism. She seeks refuge in a cabin which was bequeathed to her and her sister by their deceased father. When she arrives at the cabin, she wants nothing more than to go inside and sleep for days. Instead she finds a nearly naked man in there.
Jim Curry is a local schoolteacher whose mother’s cabin is a short distance away. He’s fallen for the area and is hoping to convince Hildy to sell it to him. Disrupting her refuge …
Dear Ms. Havlir,
 Several of your books were nominated during our monthly ebook contests but it’s taken me until now to try one. Unfortunately, it didn’t work too well for me.
You describe your heroine as super intelligent, a woman who graduated from college at age 16 and who at age 26 is a trauma surgeon. It’s too bad that you didn’t have her act that way. She is the only witness to a cold-blooded murder, the killer got a clear glimpse of her, several police officers tell her that she’s in danger and needs the 24 hour bodyguard her father wants her to have and all she can do is whine that it’s cramping her style and will keep her from getting the sexual encounters she wants to broaden her limited sexual knowledge. What an idiot. I think I might have liked the down to earth hero a lot but I couldn’t make myself read past the point where Paige gives him the slip so that she can go out on a date and hopefully get laid. He calls her words to the effect of spoiled princess senseless moron and I totally agree with him. …
Dear Ms. Rosenthal,
 What a wonderful, challenging, envelope-pushing, smart and astonishing book you’ve written. Reading it wasn’t always easy or comfortable, but in the end, it was more than worth every penny of the $14 I spent on it and the effort it demanded of me as a reader.
At first glance, the relationship between Kit Stansell and his estranged wife Mary seems beyond salvaging. After nine years apart, Kit and Mary have a brief encounter at an inn in Calais, France. They manage not only to have sex, but to get into a raging argument about their political difference of opinion and the considerable pain they caused each other in the days when they lived together as husband and wife.
Kit and Mary both grew up together in Derbyshire near the village of Grefford. Kit was one of the Marchioness of Rowen’s illegitimate children, passed off as her husband’s third son. Mary was the daughter of a wealthy brewer. To make matters worse, their fathers hated each other because of a land dispute. Despite that, Kit and Mary befriended each other as children, fell in love as teenagers and later ran …
Dear Ms. Page:
 Let me start out by giving you the good news. My neighbor bought and read this book and liked it and so did Tara Marie. Yours was the only Aphrodisia that Bookseller Jolie has been able to finish to date.
While this is not the worst erotic romance, it is by no means the best. Jolie calls these types of books filler books. While you are waiting for the autobuy books to come out, you have to spend your time reading something and why not this. It’s got hot sex scenes (a ton of them in about every position, style and coupling a body could envision) and an appealing hero. The drawbacks are the sex scenes (a ton of them) and the immature and often senseless heroine who is a mass of contradictions and a couple of plot themes that are bound to drive some readers crazy.
Venetia Hamilton is a twenty four year old woman who is the illegitimate daughter of a famous erotic painter, Rodesson. Rodesson has lost his ability to paint because of a physical infirmity. In order to ensure further income, …
Dear Ms Gibson,
 I’d have to say that most of your books have worked for me on some level and a few are favorites. But unfortunately while I enjoyed parts of this book, it doesn’t equal your past efforts.
On the day of her best friend’s wedding, Clare Wingate is shocked to find her metrosexual fiance playing cowboy with the Sears repairman. After drinking all day to drown her sorrows, she wakes up the next morning almost naked, in a hotel bed and discovers she spent the night with an old childhood acquaintance. Sebastian Vaughn just happened to be in town that night and was amused to find Clare slamming back drinks in a hotel bar. After she poured out her problems, he poured her into her hotel bed then realized he was too tipsy to drive home. Some demon makes him tease Clare about what they might have done and they part in anger. But since Sebastian’s father works for Clare’s mother, they don’t stay apart for long.
Neither is looking for a romantic relationship though each is attracted to the other. But while Clare’s romance book writing career keeps her in Boise, Sebastian’s investigative …
Dear Ms. Shinn:
 Before I start fawning all over this book, can I say something about the cover? What is with this guy’s lips? They’re huge! They look like they are stolen from Angelina Jolie. The more I look at this guy, the less attractive he is to me. All right, enough about the book cover.
This is the third in your Gillengaria series. I loved Mystic and Rider which introduced us to 6 disparate characters brought together for a journey into southern Gillengaria. The story focused primarily on Senneth, the most powerful mystic in the land, and Tayse, a leader of the King’s Riders. The second story, Thirteenth House, told the tragic love story between Kirra Danalustrous, a noblewoman, and married man of the Thirteenth House. I was a bit distraught at the end of Thirteenth House. I suffered through so much emotional turmoil for that book only to arrive at an unsatisfactory conclusion. I still feel that Kirra’s life is unfinished, that she is not yet complete. But DMD is such an utterly romantic book that it makes up for …
Shaorn Shinn has graciously agreed to stop by this evening and answer your questions. Take a gander at our interview with Ms. Shinn first, and make sure your question hasn’t been asked already. If it hasn’t, please post it in the comment section here. Thanks! :)
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