British critic and literary editor suggests that one of the reasons for the shrinking print media coverage of books in the US is the dull book reviewing.  William Skidelesky says “book reviewing in [Britain] is in fairly robust health . . .  A lively chatter surrounds the British book scene, of which newspaper review sections [...]

For Valentine’s Day, Sony is offering its eReading Device with a pink “Cross Your Heart” Skinit covering and 14 free Harlequin ebooks.
“Cross Your Heart” reminds me of Playtex bras and is probably one of the more unfortunate slogans Sony could come up with for its female crowd, along with the suggestion that librarians aren’t sexy.

Dear Ms. Brook:
Thank you for sharing your book with me. As you know, I’ve always thought you were a tremendous writer and I appreciate that you bring to the genre an unusual pairing of individuals. In Demon Angel, it was the halfling demon, Lilith, and the honorable knight, Hugh. In Demon Moon, it was the [...]

A Columbia University sociologist Duncan Watts a long-time opponent of Malcolm Gladwell’s “Tipping Point” theory, has published a piece showing with empirical and computer simulated tests that the Gladwell’s hypothesis is inaccurate.
The ‘Tipping Point’ phenomenon has been used by marketers and advertisers to target individual influencers of opinion.   Watts says that “Almost all of [...]

Janine: My friend Jennie F. and I had so much fun doing a conversational review of Jane Lockwood’s Forbidden Shores that we decided to do it again. Lo and behold, the subject of this discussion is also a novel about an erotic entanglement that involves two men and a woman! This time, it’s Megan [...]

In one of the most positive things to come out of Savage Gate, heavyweight authors Bertrice Small, Roberta Gellis and Jennifer Blake will be teaching a new seminar at the 2008 Romantic Times about writing a historical without plagiarism.
While the change has not yet appeared on the RT BookLovers Convention webpage, Bitchery reader Kay has [...]

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle is Oprah’s newest book club pick. Apparently, Oprah is not satisfied with foisting one schlocky self improvement book on us or the public hasn’t done a good enough job of remaking their lives to her satisfaction because she is going to “co-teach” a [...]

Dear Mrs. Justiss,
I think if readers are looking for a nice, safe Regency that doesn’t rock any boats then “Rogue’s Lady” is a good bet. There’s the rake hero who’s trying to reform in order to land an heiress with money to resurrect his crumbling estate, there’s the “daughter of a misalliance” heroine who’s fiercely [...]

Dear Ms. Mead,
I don’t share Jane’s reservations about the succubus story, even in novels billed as romances. These days I take the romance label on spines with a grain of salt since there are an increasing number of books shelved in the romance section that are anything but. So I had no problem with the [...]

Dear Ms. Aguirre:
I’m not sure why I respond so well to urban fantasy stories. I think it has to do, in part, with the escapism factor. These books are often gritty but because of the otherworldly nature, it is easy to take. Easy to lose oneself in an entire other world. [...]

Powell’s Books, home of the largest independent bookstore in the US, is launching a new book club by mail. For $39.95, you’ll receive one box every six weeks with a book and a gift. The book could be anything from a first edition hardcover with a special case or a signed high quality [...]

It’s books, not gadgets, that is the top selling product online across the world.  According to a new Nielsen report, 41% of internet users worldwide (48 countries) and 38% of US internet users (estimated 57.5 million) buy books online.
Nielsen expects this number to grow.   Foner Books sales statistics show that 2007 sales numbers for [...]

Yes, I know, way late with this post. In my defense, this list is so very much the same as last week’s that it holds so little interest.
***

Book Title
Author
Publisher
Price
Rank
Peak

Plum Lucky debuted at no. 1
Janet Evanovich
SMP
17.95
2
1

Plum Lovin’
Janet Evanovich
SMP
6.99
15
1

Morning Light
Catherine Anderson
Signet
7.99
49
32

The Manning Sisters reprint
Debbie Macomber
MIRA
7.99
52
25

Blood Brothers
Nora Roberts
Jove
7.99
54
1

Shadow Dance paperback release of hardcover
Julie Garwood
Ballantine
7.99
55
13

Iron Kissed
Patricia [...]

moar funny pictures
After weeks of thinking, whining, ranting, and being generally disoriented in the aftermath of Savage Gate (phrase courtesy of Seressia Glass), it finally dawned on me that all of the brouhaha, both with the plagiarism thing and the mean girl thing, is all about boundaries (yes, I know I’m slow). Where does [...]

The winner of the Wendy Nelson Tokunaga Midori by Moonlight festival is Andrea. I’ve emailed you so be sure to check your spam folder if you don’t see anything from Dear Author. The second winner of the “guess that book” contest is Shannon Stacey.
Thanks for commenting folks. We have [...]

Dear Ms Gaston,
A few years ago I read the first book you had published, “The Mysterious Miss M,” and was delighted that you turned a few Regency standards on their heads. I then tried another of your stories and have to be honest and say that it seemed more of what everyone else was churning [...]

Is it the anniversary of Mills&Boon, the publishing juggernaught that is Mills&Boon or the impending holiday that is all above “love” (gag gag)? Whatever the reason, Guardian can’t stop writing about Mills &Boons books. Another article about the publishing house that sells a book every 6.6 seconds in the UK addresses, a bit, [...]

Sadly what could have provided salacious gossip in the publishing world for months is put to bed. Judith Regan and HarperCollins have put away their litigation swords for an undisclosed sum of money and a sort of apology.
“After carefully considering the matter, we accept Ms. Regan’s position that she did not say [...]

Today’s review is by NatCh who helps run MobileRead. MobileRead is one of the best sources about ebooks, ebook hardware and software on the internet. The site has over 3,000 public domain books in ebook format hand coded by its members and freely available.
***
Ender’s Game
By: Orson Scott Card
A review by MobileRead’s NatCh
Note: [...]

Harlequin launches its Paranormal Romance blog. The blog has been lurking about but its official launch is Monday, January 27, 2008. The blog will feature posts from editors and authors with insights about the genre, favorite titles, series and personal experiences. So go on over and give your feedback about what you [...]

Yes, I know, way late with this post. In my defense, this list is so very much the same as last week’s that it holds so little interest.
***

Book Title
Author
Publisher
Price
Rank
Peak

Plum Lucky debuted at no. 1
Janet Evanovich
SMP
17.95
2
1

Plum Lovin’
Janet Evanovich
SMP
6.99
15
1

Morning Light
Catherine Anderson
Signet
7.99
49
32

The Manning Sisters reprint
Debbie Macomber
MIRA
7.99
52
25

Blood Brothers
Nora Roberts
Jove
7.99
54
1

Shadow Dance paperback release of hardcover
Julie Garwood
Ballantine
7.99
55
13

Iron Kissed
Patricia [...]

Last week, we posted a super positive guest review for Bettie Sharpe’s Like a Thief in the Night, a novella from Samhain. Sharpe had the benefit of a solid audience from the serial that ran on Dionne Galace’s blog. I watched the My Bookstore and More top ten ratings and never once saw [...]

In the grand tradition of the Smart Bitches Trashy Books’ Guess That Lonely Heart, Dear Author presents its first (and probably last) book quiz.
What famous romance author’s book features a lesbian love scene and concludes with the heroine having her cake and eating it too. (pun kind of intended).
Excerpt:

“Are you going to marry him?”
“I [...]

Dear Ms. Christopher:
Thank you for sending us this book for review. I have to admit that when I first read that the heroine was a spoiled rich girl, I groaned. Paris Hilton, unfortunately, is like the poster child for spoiled rich girls and I couldn’t imagine enjoying a romance showcasing someone like her. [...]

Patricia Briggs has signed with Dabel Brothers Publishing to produce a four episode? comic mini-series featuring Mercy Thompson to be released in the fall of 2008 with a hardcover collection from Del Rey in 2009.
Via ICv2 News.

Dear Ms. Donnelly,
When I opened the package containing the arc of your latest book “The Winter Rose” I gulped. Reason one: it’s got a very nice cover. Reason two: it’s a hella lot of book. 700+ pages of trade paperback sized book to be exact. It’s the type of book that requires a big time [...]

New York Press debuted a new sex column yesterday authored by Claudia Lonow who, rather than thinking up her own weird sex question or asking her friends to make one up, copied the questions from a 2006 Dan Savage column.  Savage Love is published online in The Onion’s A.V. Club and, according to Wikipedia is [...]

The Atlantic Monthly is following a trend of print media giving away their online content for free.  Earlier this week, the archives and web site dropped the subscriber only features and is now freely available.  The Wall Street Journal can’t be far behind.
Via Teleread.

I admit that I never read Shana Abé before the drákon series. Once I had read the Smoke Thief (which is book 1 of the series, the most recent being Abe’s hardcover debut, Queen of Dragons), I had become a hopeless addict. Abe’s blend of history, romance and fantasy was triumphant and exciting. [...]

Dear Ms. Tokunaga,
You had me fooled. I thought you were Japanese. From the minute I started reading this, I felt like a Japanese woman was writing it, and it had been published in Japan. And since this is written from your heroine’s close point of view and she’s a Japanese woman, that’s a [...]

Dear Ms. Tokunaga,
I was really looking forward to Midori by Moonlight. It sounded so interesting: a Japanese woman coming to San Francisco to marry an American man, only to get dumped for his ex-fiancée and then left to fend for herself. I don’t think I’ve read many womens fiction/chick lit novels with that premise, and [...]

Dear Ms. Tokunaga,
By now most of our regular readers know that I like books which promise to be something different, something unique and your book certainly delivers on both. But while I enjoyed the book, cheered on Midori and was happy that she at last finds her true love, I couldn’t help feeling that [...]

Dear Ms. Giles,
While I’ve read many young adult novels since I rediscovered the genre a few years ago, I will be honest and say that I haven’t read many contemporaries told from the perspective of a teenage boy. I’m not sure why that is. It’s not like I purposely ignore young adult novels [...]

This will make some authors deliriously happy, but RWA is no longer providing press passes to internet media at the annual convention.
Over the past several years, RWA has had a lenient Conference press-pass policy; however, due to the increased number of on-line outlets, RWA is no longer able to waive registration fees for [...]

Called a dream machine by Polymer’s CEO, Karl McGoldrick, the Readius is getting ready for the public. Taking advantage of flexible eink technology, the Readius will be a cell phone/ereading device that contains a 5″ display that folds up when not in use.
The device is due out Summer 2008 with a high [...]

Dear Ms. Monroe:
Basically, every month I go over to the eHarlequin site and I randomly pick books based on title and cover. That’s it. I think of it kind of as a book Russian roulette or something like that. Yours was a November read that I picked because I had never [...]

As if the Cassie Edwards’ copying scandal hasn’t demoralized your faith in the publishing industry enough, Ishmael Beah’s bestselling memoir, A Long Way Gone, is the subject of two investigative pieces by The Australian. The first article was published on January 19, 2008, and tells the story about a couple who were keenly [...]

The Crimson Spell by Ayano Yamane. Published by Kitty Media. Retail: $11.99. 1/2+ volumes. Rated: Mature (this title is adult-only, sexually graphic yaoi (MxM).)

Dear Readers,
This is my favorite manga release of 2007. There are some with loftier ambitions that I might admire more, like Town of Evening Calm, but [...]

Dear Ms Brockway,
In 2006 you gave us “Hot Dish” set in upper Minnesota. This year you return us to Fawn Creek, MN. Well specifically to a 4th rate lake not too far from Fawn Creek where the Olson clan has had a beach compound, if we want to get grandiose with our terms, for [...]

Orson Scott Card was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award by the Young Adult Library Services Association. The Association’s decision to honor Card for “helping adolescents become aware of themselves and addressing questions about their role and importance in relationships, society, and in the world” is controversial given the anti-gay tone of some of [...]

It’s clear from emails, message boards, forums, and blogs that there is no common language that we speak, either readers or authors or both, as to what plagiarism is and is not within the fiction writing community.
There is a fear amongst authors that some readers are trying to set the bar too high. [...]

Mills & Boons sweeps the Romantic Novelists’ Association Awards shortlist for category romance. The nominated titles include:

The Secret Life of Lady Gabriella - Liz Fielding
Driving him Wild - Julie Cohen
Her Parenthood Assignment - Fiona Harper
English Lord, Ordinary Lady - Fiona Harper
The Mediterranean Rebel’s Bride - Lucy Gordon
Breakfast at Giovanni’s - Kate Hardy

The [...]

Dear Ms Glass:
One of my main disappointments with contemporary Romance is that the heroine often seems emotionally isolated. If she has a career, it gets shorted for the sake of the romance. If she has friends, they are there more in spirit than actual character presence. If she has family, they may [...]

According to an India Times article, men are big consumers of the Mills & Boons books. The article states that a Mills & Boons book is sold around the world every four seconds. There doesn’t seem to be any one reason for the increasing male readership. Andrew J. Go, director of the [...]

Random House Children’s Book is releasing the third Christopher Paolini book, Brisingr on 12:01 am, Saturday, September 20. The first printing will be 2.5 million copies. The change was brought about due to booksellers desiring to have a Harry Potter-esque release party.
Via Publisher’s Weekly.

This review comes to us from guest blogger, Yapaway Jay who has given up her fiction books for law books. Go Jay, only one semester left?
* * *
Dear Ms. Day,
I fell in love with the first book I read by you, The Stranger I Married, and ever since then you’ve been on my auto-buy [...]

There’s been a backlash of sorts on some authors’ blogs around the internet due to the exposing of Cassie Edwards’ borrowing. I’ll be posting on Tuesday about some thoughts about the definition of plagiarism as it could be defined in the romance writing and read community, but today, in lieu of a ebook post, [...]

Dear Ms. McCarthy:
I’ve really enjoyed this series and with the release of the series in mass market from the original trade publications, I think you might start finding the audience you deserve. The vampire genre is full but I do believe there is always room for well done fun fiction and this series surely [...]

This special guest review is from author Sherry Thomas. You’ll want to read the entire thing down to the end because Sherry and I are sponsoring a pay it forward Bettie Sharpe giveaway. You see, Bettie Sharpe gave away a fantastic retelling of the Cinderella story. Only we got it in drips [...]

How many authors have a book with the gorgeous Cate Blanchett looking queenly with the words “Woman Warrior Queen?” None other than the equally gorgeous Tasha Alexander whose first love was Little House on the Prairie books. Alexander says in her bio that she became “an English major in order to have a [...]