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

Dear Ms. Pierce:

You are a new to me author and I have to say that this book has me conflicted. On the one hand it contains a lot of trite writing and plot elements: the merry band of friends, their loving wives who appeared in previous stories and are now great friends, and a revenge plot. On the other, some of the scenes really contained raw emotionalism that moved me.

Lord Townsend Elliot Lidsaw, Viscount Everod, has been estranged from his family for twelve years. His father banished him after Everod and his father’s young wife, Georgette, were caught dallying in the gardens. After almost being garroted by his father, Everod left but vowed revenge. When Maura, the niece of Georgette who was responsible for tattling on Everod and Georgette, arrives in London to have a Season before marrying Everod’s brother, Everod sees his opportunity. He’ll seduce Maura, strike a blow against his family, and ruin the plans of Georgette all in one fell swoop.

Everod is presented as an angry man, ruled by his emotions which makes a revenge plot difficult to carry …

I’ve been a crappy blogger. I blame it on the hectic schedule yesterday. I volunteered at both the am and pm sessions of the literacy signing. In the pm, I served as a low tech Vanna White without the sequins as I recorded the winning raffle numbers on a white board.

There were thirty eight baskets with an average of $200 or more per basket. It was pretty impressive. All the money raised through raffles or book sales go toward literacy. It is a pretty awesome thing.

There were no thigh highs or swan hats this year. The ballroom was big, very noisy and hot. I didn’t get to see much but from what I did see, the event was a success.

There were a couple of video crews. The Today Show was there and someone with AVON on their t shirts. Am not sure what that was about. I’ll try to hunt down Julia Quinn and see if she knows.

I’m moving fairly slowly this am as a result of imbibing too much wine. I’m meeting Heather Osborn for breakfast to pitch my idea of a paranormal blog. Just kidding. About the pitch. Not the other stuff. …

…

Dear Ms. Fisher,

You are one of the greatest food writers of the 20th century. But I didn’t know it when I first came across you work 2003, completely by chance, in a vacation condo in Corpus Christi. The bookshelf in the condo had a few magazines on coastal living and three books by you. That night, after I’d put my baby to sleep, I sat in the bathroom—all the other rooms were filled with snoozing relatives—and read your tightly wound account of a once-superb waiter become alcoholic and dismal, a punch-to-the-stomach tragedy in a dozen pages.

At the end of my three-day stay, I was seriously tempted to take your books home with me. I didn’t. But I never forgot the strange, stark powers of your narrative. So when I saw The Art of Eating, an omnibus collection of five of your best-known books, in early 2007, again accidentally, while looking for a copy of Larousse Gastronomique to help with my research into 19th century French cuisine, I began reading immediately.

Or rather, I began reading The Gastronomical Me, the fourth volume in The Art of Eating and your memoir, immediately, because as much …

Sarah from SB, Kassia K from Booksquare, Marcella White Campbell, aspiring romance author, and I were interviewed by The Today Show. The show will air on Friday 8:00 EST. Also interviewed were Nora Roberts and Beverly Jenkins.

That’s all my fingers can type right now.

Dear Mrs Ruff,
Having read the glowing review of your first book at The Romance Reader, I decided to take a chance. After all, who doesn’t want to read about buff men paid lots of money to stay in buff condition while they live the American dream - getting paid to play a sport? But though I like lots of things about it, it’s not going to get as high a grade from me.

Samantha James’ introduction to her advertising company’s newest client’s employees is one lots of women might enjoy. The locker room of the Seattle Rainiers is packed with handsome men in various states of undress when Samantha is lead through on her way to meet their manager. Afterwards, he takes the time to introduce her to all the players including pitcher Jarrett Corliss. I was impressed with the fact that you don’t have any of these men act in stereotypical “get this broad out of here - women have no place in sports!” ways. They accept her as professional paid to revamp the Rainiers poor public image, to get fans interested in the team again and …

Got up early this am for real work stuff and then left to have some breakfast. Saw early birds Alyssa Day and Caridad Ferret who graciously invited me to joins them. We had buffet if you wanted to know. I had fruit and three pieces of bacon. I figure it all balances out.

Day and I exchanged some lawyer war stories and Ferrer suffered our chatter.

I’m now standing in line for Registration which has an inordinately long line for the H-Mcs. Should have chosen a different last name.

Cotillion: a dance with elaborate steps and figures

My romance reading group is composed of eight women whose ages span a healthy quarter-century. As a group, although the membership has ebbed and flowed, we’ve met for nine years. We each have our likes, dislikes, and areas of expertise. Several members judge national romance contests from the reader’s point of view. As an author myself, I judge unpublished contests and then take tremendous delight when we come across a newly published book that I read in its first-50-page infancy.

We pick a book to read per month and over the course of these years, we’ve tried all the categories. Very few selections have been universally beloved. We also like first printings, not trusting reprints to hold to the mores of when the original was published. We’ve been to RWA National Conference booksignings, the local ones held by the closest RWA-chapter, done a stint at an Romantic Times convention, and have co-hosted, along with the local library, as many as eight area romance authors for a meet, greet, and sell.

As readers, we are jaded.

I give all this background to introduce our latest reading jump, Georgette Heyer. I …