Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

This week is headlined by Harlequin superstar Gena Showalter, and nine million vampire books.

I’m intrigued (mostly by the pricetag and the fact that this is the headline for the new line) This is big money, but they don’t specify how many more books are contracted. Still, Harlequin loves Showalter. Perhaps Gena should write some vampire fiction…hmm…
NYT bestselling author Gena Showalter’s INTERTWINED, to Tracy Farrell at Harlequin, to launch their upcoming young adult line, as well as more HQN romances, in a seven-figure deal, by Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency (world).

I find the title kind of…offsetting/creepy/yuck. But I remember McLeod’s name from American Title, and I thought she had one of the better entries, so I’d be interested in at least reading the blurb.
Anitra Lynn McLeod’s VIRGIN HARVEST, about a world of ritualized sex where a forbidden relationship changes the barbaric system forever, to John Scognamiglio at Kensington, in a three-book deal, by Roberta Brown of the Brown Literary Agency.

Cougars are snapping up all the hotties.
Author of Mary Modern Camille DeAngelis’s PETTY MAGIC, about a retired spy and elderly witch who uses her magic to retrieve her youth and seduce young men, until her sister is accused of murder and she must juggle the onerous task of clearing her sister’s name and a new romance with a handsome young man who bears an uncanny resemblance to the love she lost in Nazi Germany nearly seventy years ago, to Shaye Areheart at Shaye Areheart Books, in a very nice deal, by Kate Garrick at DeFiore and Company (World).

Who said vampires were dead again?
Sarah Jane Stratford’s INFINITE CARE, which follows a team of ancient vampires known as millennials as they attempt to infiltrate and destroy the Nazi Party, and one vampire’s attempt to escape the war-torn continent and return to her long-time lover in England, to Hilary Rubin Teeman at St. Martin’s, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, by Margaret O’Connor at The Firm (World).

For a dead genre, it sure has legs… No vamps, I’ve been told.
Zoe Archer’s paranormal Victorian-era adventure romance series, in which rival groups secretly battle for possession of supernatural objects, known as Sources that are scattered throughout the world — and one group, known as the Blades of the Rose, who are sworn to protect these Sources from those that would use them for evil purposes, to Megan Records at Kensington, for publication in 2010, by Kevan Lyon at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency (world).

Still dead. Right? Right?
Jeannie Holmes’s CRIMSON SWAN, about vampires living side-by-side humans in small-town Mississippi; a woman vampire who works as an “enforcer” with the police department investigates a series of suspicious murders of vampires, to Danielle Perez at Bantam Dell, in a two-book deal, by Marian Young at The Young Agency (World).

One book deal.
USA Today bestselling author Julie Kenner’s final book in the demon-hunting soccer mom series, to Ginjer Buchanan at Berkley, by Kimberly Whalen at Trident Media Group (NA).

I’m sure that title wasn’t intentional at all. Despite the whole ‘Gossip Girl’ thing, this sounds…boring.
Author of the NYT bestselling YA series Gossip Girl, Cecily Von Ziegesar’s first novel for adults, CUM LAUDE, set on a small college campus, following a cast of characters who meet at freshman year orientation and cause big drama for one sheltered town in Maine, as shifting alliances, unrequited crushes, and a tragic murder add up to a year that will change their lives forever, to Ellen Archer at Hyperion, with Leslie Wells editing, for publication in 2009, in a two-book deal, by Suzanne Gluck at William Morris Agency (NA).