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

Dear Ms. Cantrell,

Back in October 2007, in one of our Publishing News posts, Jane detailed a little bit of information about your debut novel with a header, “Jayne, are you reading this?” Yep, I read it and was delighted when you followed up this year with an offer for us to review the book. It’s dark, it’s dangerous, it’s bittersweet and while I was reading it, I couldn’t put it down.

Echoes of my footfalls faded into the damp air of the Hall of the Unnamed Dead as I paused to stare at the framed photograph of a man. He was laid out against a riverbank, dark slime wrapped around his sculpted arms and legs. Even through the paleness and rigidity of death, his face was beautiful. A small, dark mole graced the left side of his cleft chin. His dark eyebrows arched across his forehead like bird wings, and his long hair, dark now with water, streamed out behind him. Watery morning light from high windows illuminated the neat grid of black-and-white photographs lining the walls of the Alexanderplatz police station. One hundred frames displayed the faces and postures of Berlin’s most recent unclaimed dead.

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Dear Ms. Hutchinson,

Firefighters are hot sexy thangs, so it’s easy to see why you picked that profession for this installment of the Courage Bay (Code Red) series. Wow, lots of stuff appears to be happening in this small, picturesque SoCal location including two people falling in love while they fight fires, rescue cats and solve an undercover investigation.

Shannon O’Shea is one of only two women in the fire department in Courage Bay, CA. She’s earned her spot though hard work, dedication and being in such top condition that she’s called “Biceps” by her fellow firemen. That and the fact that she arm wrestled, and beat, a fellow probie when his repeated attempts to ask her out annoyed her.

But John Forrester, newly arrived firefighter from NYC, lights her fires and quickly becomes very important to Shannon. She knows there’s something he’s not telling her. Is it related to the two mysterious warehouse fires that occurred? And is what he’s not telling her bad or good?

I love the calls out the squad gets. Some pathos mixed with humans at their hysterical, whacked out best. What people won’t do… The details about the station …

The response for this contest was so overwhelming that I decided to chip in and buy a second giveway book. Yep, that’s right – we’re going to have two lucky winners and both books will be autographed by Jennifer! And the winners are…drumroll….

Ladies please contact Jennifer (cjmueller @ windomnet.com) so she can get your addresses to mail out the books.

Dear Ms. White,

Last November, I recommended your book “Redeeming Gabriel.”Since then, I’ve made it a point each month to check the historical offerings from the Steeple Hill line. When I saw this new book, I jumped on it and was happy to discover that it’s a (slight) sequel to the first one. I enjoyed “Crescent City Courtship” very much and it confirms that you are an author whose books I will look for.

When Abigail Neal hammers on the doors of Charity Hospital for a doctor to attend her laboring room mate, she wants a real doctor, not some “still wet behind the ears” student wannabe. Unfortunately, she gets John Braddock who stiffly informs her that he’s quite capable of handling the situation.

Only the labor has gone on too long and the baby can’t be saved. John is devastated by what he sees as his failure as a doctor and horrified by the conditions in which these two poor women live. The mother is far too weak to remain there so, along with Abigail and the poor wrapped baby, he takes her to the clinic located at Dr. Laniere’s residence.

And it’s here that a world …

Note: It will be hard to totally avoid spoilers in this review.

Dear Laura Baumbach and Josh Lanyon,

Dr. Sarah read and recommended “Mexican Heat” back in February but it’s taken me this long for a spare moment to check it out. Hot action, hot love and hot loving all rolled up in one book. I can see why Dr. Sarah likes it.

I’ll use the Samhain blurb because 1) I’m lazy and 2) it’ll sorta, kinda avoid spoilers. At least at this point.

SFPD detective Gabriel Sandalini might as well have put a gun to his own head. One red-hot sexual encounter in a bar’s back room has put two years of deep undercover work in jeopardy—two years of danger and deception as he worked his way into crime boss Ricco Botelli’s inner circle. Gabriel can’t afford emotional entanglements. Hell, he can’t afford emotions. But that was before he had a name to pin on that anonymous one-off—Miguel Ortega.

Miguel Ortega doesn’t trust anyone, but tough, street-smart Gabriel brings out the conquistador in his Spanish blood. But distractions are nothing short of deadly right now, not with his boss’s impending marriage to Botelli’s sister, which will ensure peace—and

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And we all love that, right? This is for one copy of Jennifer Mueller’s latest book, “A Ruined Season,” a charming Regency with a non nobleman hero. Yes, Virginia, such books do exist! Just leave a comment here by the end of Saturday, June 27th at midnight EST to be eligible.

Edited to add: Sorry but due to shipping costs, this is limited to residents of the US or Canada.

Captain Blood (1935)
Captain Blood (DVD 2005 Turner Entertainment Co and Warner Bros Entertainment)
Grade A-
Genre: Romance/Swashbuckling/Pirate

I had so much fun doing my last Friday Film review that I decided to comb through my DVD collection and see what else might be suitable. Captain Blood is one of the epic pirate movies which set the standard for Hollywood historical action films for years to come. I first saw this as a teenager. I loved it! And then I discovered it was an adaptation from a book so I hunted that down and, wait a minute!, the author, Rafael Sabatini, wrote lots of similarly styled books. I was in heaven then. So not only did I fall in love with the movie but I ended up getting years of reading enjoyment out of it. Not a bad bargain.

Peter Blood, bachelor of medicine, is caught up against his will in the attempt to overthrow King James II (boo hiss). Called out to tend to a wounded rebel, Blood cares little for the man’s politics until he too is swept up by the King’s soldiers and sent to jail to await trial with the rest of the rebels. There he’s condemned and faces death …

Dear Mrs. Mueller,

To begin, congratulations on your first print book. I liked the different “Impressionistic” cover. Your publisher did very well by you but I must say that I hope a less expensive, paperback edition will eventually be available for readers in the US.

Two years ago, The Honorable Miss Sophie Greenwood had just arrived in London for her first Season when it was over before it had barely begun. Her father’s attempt to increase the family fortune ended up costing them almost everything they had. But what was worse, at least in the eyes of the ton, was her mother’s desperate attempts to marry her off before the news became widely known.

She was unsuccessful, Sophie was humiliated and the family retreated to their modest country estate. Her brother bought a commission in the Army with what little funds they could scrape together and since then, Sophie has endured her mother’s tantrums and veiled comments making Sophie out to be the villain of the story.

She looks at her bleak future with dread until the day Mariah, a cousin, arrives with Lady Sandbourne who is to present Mariah for her first Season. Mariah has inveigled an …

Dear Ms. Leto,

My main problems with romantic suspense books are that sooner or later, someone’s got to act like an idiot or lose all common sense in order to have a reason to save or be saved. No way around this, it seems. I just prefer to not see characters I’m supposed to like acting like morons. So, why do I keep reading this type book? Because there are some rom susp books which have worked wonderfully for me and I’m always looking for the next one. The critical factor appears to be: can the author persuade me to go along with the characters and their actions or does my kitty get an ear load as I complain?

Attorney Faith Lawton steps outside the courthouse. Shots ring out from a nearby rooftop. The concrete around Faith explodes with expended bullets as a pair of strong arms pulls her back into the building….

Faith Lawton welcomes the strong embrace of chief of detectives Adam Guthrie—for the moment. His fast actions save her life. But it’s nothing personal. They’re adversaries in the courtroom and out—in spite of their often sexually charged exchanges. Now Adam’s convinced she was the

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Dear Mrs. Bylin,

Until recently, Readers looking for a western set, historical romance have had to hunt. Now there seems to be a growing number to feed our need for American historicals on the western frontier. But while some still feature the standard gunslinger, yours offers something different. A Bible slinging hero who’s already fallen to his lowest and a heroine who mistrusts religion.

Adie Clark runs a boarding house in Denver, Colorado and, up til now, has stuck to her policy of only renting to women. Adie’s known what it is to be a woman alone, with little money and few prospects. So when a gaunt man collapses on her front porch in the middle of the night, her first thought is to get rid of him quickly. But he’s not a drunk and offers her twice the normal rent to be allowed to stay. Needing the money for the mortgage payment, Adie reluctantly agrees to a week stay.

Events take a turn when one of Adie’s mistrustful boarders shoots the man in the shoulder when she feels threatened by him. Now Adie’s stuck with him and terrified that the longer he stays, the more …