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

Drop Dead Gorgeous by Kimberly Raye. The premise was that geek girl saw her geek boy bestfriend get super hot, super confident, and super sexy and she wanted that too. Except the reason that the geek boy bestfriend got super everything was because he got bit by a vampire and now he too was a vampire. As a vampire, he could make a woman want him. His nerd body transformed into a hard body that everyone in town wanted. I was disappointed that there was no emotional makeover other than that incited by his paranormal makeover. In other words, this guy would have never broken out of his shell if not for his supernatural power.

Geek girl, Meg Sweeney, has been making herself over since high school to turn from jock into girly girl, but she hasn’t been successful enough to make it onto the hot bachelorette list, “Tilly Townsend’s infamous Hot Chicks.” This bothers Sweeney so much that she attends humiliating classes with other members of her small town to discuss her orgasms and lack thereof. This book is over the top in …

Poll is closed. Results are as follows. See the updated standings at the Official DA BWAHA site.

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Special thanks to our sponsors:

Paperspine
Harlequin
Turn the Page Bookstore who is donating our prize to the second place bracket.

In what I like to think of as the “cock block” Amazon has said to self published authors that only those POD books that use Amazon’s POD service will be for sale through Amazon. Before, if you were a POD, you could have your books fulfilled by Lulu.com or any other POD service. Not any more.

I wonder what effect, if any, that has on epublishers who use a POD service.

Wall Street Journal via Shelf Awareness.

I had lunch with Nicole yesterday and like good bibliophiles, we stopped at Barnes and Noble. Nicole bought a book, Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews and I bought one, Compromised by Kate Noble.

Both our packages were put in clear plastic bags. Is this the future of Barnes and Noble packaging because that might affect how many people continue to buy books at the bookstore?

Meredith Duran’s first sale might be known already. She won the first Gathers.com/Borders/Simon & Schuster romance writing contest. 500 manuscripts were submitted and Duran’s was the cream that rose to the top. Her winning novel, Duke of Shadows, is in stores now.

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Back in third grade, Mr. Butzen wrote a mysterious word on the chalkboard—QWERTY—and then asked each of us students to write a one-page story about this word. I decided Qwerty was the name of a donkey who very much wanted to become a horse. Mr. Butzen liked my work; when he handed it back, there was an “E” for “Excellent” written at the top.

After a suspenseful twenty-four hours, Mr. Butzen finally spilled the secret behind QWERTY. I was disgruntled to learn that it referred to something as pedestrian as keyboards; my donkey was far more interesting. I decided to prove this. And so began my extended harassment of poor Mr. Butzen.

Every morning, for several weeks, I would march into the classroom with a new installment in …

On Thursday 27 March: Novel with Romantic Elements & Historical go head to head again in the Elite Eight.

Then on Friday 28 March: GLBT and Erotic Romance/Erotica.

There are some big match ups here at Smart Bitches and at here. So vote and reload a few thousand times. I’m right there with you.

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Dear Mrs. Thomas,

By now I’m sure you’ve heard the accolades from other review sites of how this title might herald The Return to Great Historicals of yesteryear. How it takes a Victorian setting plus two well thought out lead characters and mixes them to yield a scrumptious book for those of us tired of yet one more Regency set historical much less those who’ve given up on historicals at all. True, it’s flush with Dukes or near Dukes but I’ll forgive you those since you don’t inflict a nobleman spy on me. I’ll allow much authors who resist that worn out and threadbare plot.

Gigi and Camden are not perfect people. Far from them. Gigi is almost breathtaking in her pursuit of a man she, in her budding youth, feels is the perfect man for her. One Duke has slipped through her fingers at the last minute by slipping off a four story building after a night of drinking. She’s not about to let his cousin do the same. Much less when he’s so wonderful a man. His long-standing bespoken arrangement with a spineless young European aristocrat is too tepid to be allowed and an …

Galleycat apparently has confirmed that some aspiring authors are getting rejection letters signed by fake editors, a hoax at Del Rey that included listing the fake editor’s name as an acquiring editor. You’ll have to go to Galley Cat to read the story about Urban Del Rey.

Mostly, these rejection letters are purportedly sent to unagented submissions.

Poll is closed. Results are as follows. See the updated standings at the Official DA BWAHA site.

 Loading ...

Special thanks to our sponsors:

Paperspine
Harlequin
Turn the Page Bookstore who is donating our prize to the second place bracket.

Yesterday, the 2008 RITA Finalists were announced. We posted the results and encouraged others to provide congratulations. This post and the comments that follow will likely be critical of the process, the finalists, the judging. Please be aware of this. I do not mean to diminish anyone’s accomplishments, but I am going to be giving an unvarnished opinion about what I think and some may be offended. You’ve been warned. Don’t click on the more link if you want to simply celebrate the RITA finalists.

Anonymous comments are okay.