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

Dear Ms. Ford,

When you offered us a chance to read your novel, the title gave me pause. “Oh dear,” I thought. This is going to be about some spoiled heiress who has to act silly and ends up falling for a poor hero all told against a backdrop of weddings. Which goes to show how deceptive a title can be. Delaney isn’t rich, Mike isn’t poor, they’re both in line to inherit some pretty nice goodies if they, and several other people, meet the terms of a will but yes, there are lots of weddings in the story.

Oh, the will. This would send Jane into orbit no matter if the plot says the hero (a lawyer) and the heroine (who checked with a lawyer) know it’s insane. How could the will as they know it be ironclad? Okay, I just ended up accepting then forgetting this part of the plot to get to the better stuff. The ultimate revelation about the terms of the will also helped me to swallow this. However, why does the villain pay no price for what was done? What they did is literally laughed off despite the time, …

Dear Mrs. Riley,

As I look back on the books of yours that I’ve read, two central themes stand out. 1) How helpless women were during most of history and 2) how it’s better for the little people to get out of the way of the powerful ones when those people are throwing their weight around. “The Serpent Garden” is no exception.

Susanna Dallet thinks she’s a happily - well, sort of happily, and she does try with The Good Wyfe’s Book of Manners - married woman. Her childhood nurse Nan knows differently. In fact, almost everyone in London knows that Master Dallet is a swine who’s dallying with a married lady and who only married Susanna for the painting secrets her father taught her. It takes his dead body delivered by his mistress’s husband’s men along with all his creditors descending on Susanna for her to learn the truth. And then what is she going to do? Women aren’t allowed to be master painters and she’s got bills to pay.

And this is where she begins to break the law, get in trouble by becoming involved with the High and Mighty men of the day …

Dear Mrs. Quinn,

I didn’t start reading your books until the publication of the second Bridgerton novel. The hoopla surrounding it was impossible to miss. Once I’d finished it, I had to go back and read the first book and then each of the following books in the series. My favorite remains Colin and Penelope’s story. As I read each novel after book four, I noticed that my enjoyment dimmed slightly. Not by much but, yes, there was a downward trend. But at eight books it was a lengthy series and such is to be expected.

I wasn’t thrilled with the book that came next, Miranda Cheever, as shown by my C+ review grade. But I heard that this was an older manuscript you’d pulled out, dusted off and polished up for publication while you worked on two all new books. So, okay I was still willing to keep reading your novels. And with “The Lost Duke of Wyndham,” at first it looked like you and I were sympatico again.

But even though my final grade for “Duke” was better than “Cheever,” I couldn’t help but notice that certain aspects of the writing style …

Warning: series spoilers are sure to abound here.

Dear Ms. Kenner,
One reason I keep eagerly looking forward to new books in this series is that even though Kate has snarky humor and moments of hilarious screwball behavior, there are grounding moments such as when it begins to hit home for Allie that demon hunting and the fight against evil never ends. When Kate recalls the losses she and Eric suffered when they were young and the price that has to be paid to keep everyone they love safe. That in the end, Kate has to be a little Dirty Harry-ish to keep the forces of scum under control. Yeah, there’s deep stuff here and it ain’t just the buried dead.

Once again, this is a great title and not only because it fits with the ‘take off’ theme of existing titles but because it describes a bit of what goes on here. Sure, sure, in the end the basic plot of Kate vs the demon world hasn’t changed. We know that the hordes of hell will descend on San Diablo, California. We know Kate will have to discover what the …

Dear Ms Griffin,

You impressed me with your response to my review of your previous book, “One Wrong Step.” When I finished it, I wasn’t sure I would care to read another of your books. But your email offering me a copy of “Thread of Fear” sparked my interest because a) of your gracious offer and b) due to the heroine’s profession. I will admit to being a real life CSI junkie and faithfully watch A&E’s “American Justice” and several other cable programs dealing with real life detectives and those who help them solve crimes. I also have a cousin who works in law enforcement and her main duty is to follow up on crimes involving children. So I’d like to dedicate this review to her and all the officers working hard out there.

Fiona Glass is a talented artist who teaches at a community college. She spends far too little time working on her own art - she’s finally got a gallery show coming up - due to her third job. Fiona is one of the most talented artists working with law enforcement officers trying to get sketches of the scumbags of the …

Dear Ms. Hamilton,

The “noir” style seems to be hot right now. Or maybe I’ve just stumbled across a few lately. The title of your latest book, “The Last Embrace,” certainly fits the profile being both slightly sexual and slightly dangerous. Not having read many of the classic authors of the style, I had to do a little research to briefly familiarize myself with the subgenre.

Dreamlike, strange, erotic, ambivalent, and cruel - yep got ‘em. Much of the action occurs at night, or in the shadows or surrounded by fog and the Santa Ana winds. The dream factory of Hollywood fame and fortune was an inspired choice that covers the beauty of the wannabe starlets, the strangeness of the world they willingly step into to follow their ambitions and the sexual favors sometimes traded to get a big break. Mysteries that remain unsolved for the reader until the end by necessity need red herrings to maintain the uncertainty of who did the crime. And the heartless people in charge of making the fantasies watched on movie screens was well established by then.

I like how you took an actual unsolved case and …

Dear Mr. Lanyon,

When we posted Sarah’s guest review of Anah Crow’s book , we got numerous posts lauding the fact that we had put up an m/m themed book and (seemingly) wanting more. I’m not a math wiz but I can put two and two together and began hunting through the m/m offerings of various epubs. Jane’s review of your Adrien English mystery series had brought your name to my attention earlier this year. So, being the m/m newbie that I am, I decided to try one of your books since Jane knows good writing when she reads it.

Another reason I picked your book to begin with is the fact that as a Gay man (Edited to add: At least I’ll continue to assume you’re a man until it’s proven otherwise), you certainly know of what you write. I wouldn’t have to worry about writing a review of how realistic the sexual attraction between Will and Taylor is only to have readers post that no Gay man would act/react that way, etc, etc. It would be kind of a safety net for my tottering steps out on the high wire. I also …

Dear Mrs. Beecroft,

I’m sorry it took me so long to finally read the book you offered to DA way back in….oh dear, was it really February? ::Winces:: Note to self: must forgo sleep in order to read more books. But better late than never.

The way you opened the book was very powerful. It gives us an immediate hit to the gut as well as a good view of one of our heroes, Midshipman Josh Andrews. He’s trapped and horrified and angry all at once as he is forced to face what might happen to him if he doesn’t watch his step. Buggery is specifically forbidden by the Articles of War to which all Navy men are subject as well as unlawful in civilian life. Poor Josh is damned no matter where he is. And if anyone ever catches him out or lures him, as was the case for the poor sod (literally) he watches hung from a yardarm, he’s on his way to a necktie party.

So he can’t move, can’t look away from poor Henderson’s final death kicks because Captain Walker is watching for any signs of sympathy, any indications …

Dear Ms. Dessen,

I don’t normally read YA books but for some reason I began perusing the new offerings in that category at Fictionwise a few weeks ago. And that’s when this book caught my eye. It looked like it was going to deal with some important issues. But still a bit hesitant, I waited until I had a coupon from my local brick and mortar store since they allow returns. Yeah, I was really covering my bets.
Macy’s summer stretches before her, carefully planned and outlined. She will spend her days sitting at the library information desk. She will spend her evenings studying for the SATs. Spare time will be used to help her obsessive mother prepare for the big opening of the townhouse section of her luxury development. But Macy’s plans don’t anticipate a surprising and chaotic job with Wish Catering, a motley crew of new friends, or … Wes. Tattooed, artistic, anything-but-expected Wes. He doesn’t fit Macy’s life at all–so why does she feel so comfortable with him? So … happy? What is it about him that makes her let down her guard and finally talk about how much she misses …

Dear Ms. Albright,

Readers usually have to wait for a rare non-Regency but this is a twofer bonus of western with an unusual setting even for that subgenre. “Remember the Alamo!” But what’s with the description at eharlequin? The heroine’s name is given as Victoria Ruiz yet in the book (and in the excerpt) it’s Torrez. Oh well….

From the very start of the story, I wondered if I wasn’t going to be in trouble. Enter our feisty heroine with flashing eyes, tilting chin and raised nose. Her childhood friend, now an officer in the Mexican army, clues us in even more to her personality when he chides her for being outspoken and unwilling to obey her father’s wishes that she leave their ranch as the army of Santa Anna swarms over it. But at least she sees the sense in leaving for safer ground and it’s off to her uncle who just happens to live outside San Antonio.

Victoria initially sees everything in black and white but does mature over the course of the novel to see the shades of gray in life. Still, she’s awfully perfect, selfless, devoted to the care of others, …