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

Sayuri commented in my Harlequin (not so) Lightning Reviews last week that she enjoyed Sarah Mayberry. I bought three of her books at Fictionwise: Amorous Liaisons, Island Heat, and Anything For You.

The thing I like most about Mayberry’s characters is their self honesty and the sense that these individuals could be real people. They aren’t fantasy creatures but instead, like Borrill’s characters, there’s a sense of normalcy about them (even if they are artists, chefs, or business people). Their interactions rarely are over the top and it’s like Mayberry is simply serving as the narrator of a real life couple which is really one of the best fairy tales of all. I recommend starting with Anything For You, which was my favorite.

Amorous Liasons

Maddy Green is a dancer who has been told that she hasn’t been able to recover to the tear to her ACL and that she must “hang up her slippers.” Max Laurent left dancing to care for his father. His father has just passed away and Max is ready to start his life anew (not going to say what, it’s …

Janine: Since Pam Rosenthal’s previous book, The Slightest Provocation, provided us with some discussion fodder, we thought her newest, The Edge of Impropriety, might be fertile ground for a conversational review. Here is a description of the book, followed by Jennie’s thoughts and my own:

The Edge of Impropriety begins with a prologue set in Italy in 1818, in which the book’s hero, Jasper Hedges, is trying to negotiate the currents of a dangerous conversation with his sister-in-law. Jasper’s two-year-old niece, Sydney, is playing nearby while Jasper, a scholar of the classics, and Celia, a beautiful baroness, dance around the subject of their fifteen year old son, who is being brought up as the heir of Jasper’s brother John.

Neither John nor Anthony, the child Celia gave birth to fifteen years before, know that Jasper is Anthony’s biological father. Celia and Jasper have kept their betrayal of John a secret for a decade and a half, and Jasper is resolved that the secret will remain buried forever, even if the costs to himself are exile from England, and never meeting his own son. But that very night, Jasper’s plans change when Celia and John drown …

Dear Ms. Wilson:

I’ll admit to being a little foolish. Ok, maybe more than a little. After finishing Lady of Light and Shadows and closing the book with a contented sigh, I thought to myself: “What could she possibly do next? Where could she go from here? How could this get any better?” What I found out was that the series, with King of Sword and Sky, actually got a lot better. The book begins a little slowly, allowing the reader to ease back into the story. From there, it starts to build, and then it builds some more until your heart is racing, your pulse is pounding and you’re turning the pages as fast as you can. It was, in a word, fantastic.

The book opens with Rain and Ellie traveling to the Fading Lands. Ellie, still grief stricken over the events in the last book, is not ready to leave her remaining family members behind. I was a little concerned now that Ellie’s fey nature had awakened that she would become this entirely confident, self-assured and bold Tairen Soul. I was worried that we would see this complete transformation and the shy, sweet …

Dear Ms. Goodman:

Starting with the Compass Club series, your books have been getting increasingly darker, and The Price of Desire is the darkest by far, darker, I think, than any other book of yours that I have read.  It was also an emotionally cathartic read, a book that hearkens back to the Compass Club series, effects emotional and narrative closure to one of its loose ends, and showcases the interconnected themes of healing and interdependence consistent in your Regency-set historicals.

Olivia Cole lives a quiet and thrifty existence, but despite her circumspect modesty she is at the edge of despair.  Her brother, Alistair, has managed to gamble away enough of his allowance to place their small household in jeopardy, and now he has disappeared.  Olivia is too far out of favor with her and Alistair’s father to expect any other family assistance.  So when two strangers show up at the house to escort Olivia to some unknown location, she assumes that they are Bow Street runners delivering Alistair’s fate.  Instead, they have come to escort her to a gaming hell, where she will serve as a marker for her brother’s immense gambling debt, promised by …

Last month we received an unusual request at Dear Author. We were asked to review something other than a book — a DVD set called “The Romance Collection: Special Edition.” The 14 DVD set, which can be found here, retails currently on sale for $49.98 and contains nearly 30 hours of programming (not including the special features) from A&E’s romantic films and miniseries.

The eight titles included in “The Romance Collection: Special Edition” are as follows: “Pride and Prejudice” starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, “Victoria and Albert,” starring Victoria Hamilton, Nigel Hawthorne, Jonathan Pryce and Sir Peter Ustinov, “Emma,” starring Kate Beckinsale, “Jane Eyre,” starring Samantha Morton and Ciaran Hinds, “Lorna Doone,” starring Martin Clunes, Richard Coyle, Aidan Gillen and Amelia Warner, “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” starring Richard E. Grant and Elizabeth McGovern, “Tom Jones,” starring Max Beesley, Samantha Morton and Benjamin Whitrow, and “Ivanhoe,” starring Steven Waddington and Ciaran Hinds.

Directors: Metin Hüseyin
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 2
Rating: Brief nudity, sexual situations, bawdy humor
Studio: A&E Home Video
DVD Release Date: March 26, 2002
Run Time: 300 minutes

People expecting a gentle …

We have the good fortune to give away 4 ARCs (one copy gently read) and 5 finished copies. The four ARCs will be mailed on Saturday with the five finished copies to be sent out when I receive them (probably at the end of next week). Goodman is one of my favorite authors and I am thrilled to do a giveaway of her books. Not because I like Goodman (I don’t know her from Adam) but because I think readers who love a) historical romances and b) wonderful love stories with damaged characters are missing out if they haven’t read her.

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Dear Ms. Goodman:

There are some books that you gulp down and there are some that you savor. Your works are those that I like to savor, like an expensive bit of chocolate that I open carefully, making sure that I do not mar even the wrapper before tasting the delicacy the wrapper holds. These books are languorous and half the pleasure is seeing the story unfold like an early morning flower. This book does not have alot of snappy exchanges but what it …

Dear Ms. Higgins:

Congratulations on winning the RITA for best contemporary. I’ll confess that I’ve been a skeptic of RITA winners in the past, but as I was lost in the world of Eaton Falls, I thought yours was well deserved. Just One of the Guys (link to excerpt) is a book that sells itself. The voice of the narrator is so captivating that no summary could adequately convey the charm of Chastity, tall, broad-shouldered, Amazon of a woman. For example, the story opens with Chastity getting dumped by her latest companion. She asks him for the reason he is breaking up with her.

“Fine,” he acquiesces, leaving whatever morsel lurks at the back of his mouth for later enjoyment. “You want to hear the reason? I just don’t find you attractive enough. Sorry.”

My mouth drops open yet again. “Not attractive! Not attract—I’m very attractive!”

Jason rolls his eyes. “Sure. A handsome woman. Whatever. And with shoulders like those, you could find work down on the docks.”

“I row!” I protest. “I’m strong! That’s supposed to be sexy.”

“Yes, well, proving that you could pick me up didn’t exactly set my …

Dear Ms Johnson,

Since I love historical fiction, I checked out “The Tenth Gift” when I saw it listed at Fictionwise. The blurb intrigued me but not enough to immediately buy it. But I kept going back and looking at it. Something about it wouldn’t let me go and when Fictionwise offered a sale, I took the plunge. It was a little slow going at first. Then suddenly it took off and I couldn’t stop reading it. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And when I had finished it, I was so glad I’d taken the chance.

I used to do some simple embroidery myself though nothing on the scale of Catherine Anne Tregenna’s work. Cat sounds like a true artist; someone with a rare gift and talent few are blessed with. I had no idea that in the seventeenth century, women - who would have actually done the work - were not considered able to join an embroidery guild nor would they have drawn most of the patterns they used. Typical men - foist the work on the women then take the credit.

I can well understand her frustration with that …

Dear Readers,

Since this review covers my responses to nine short stories and two novellas, I’ve decided that for the sake of clarity, it would be simper to address this letter to you rather than to eleven authors.

Tangle is an anthology featuring a variety of same-sex love stories. All the romances here have two heroes, most contain fantastical elements, and happily, I enjoyed the majority of them. Here are my impressions of each one:

“Moons of Blood and Amber” by Gene Mederos

This high fantasy novelette, the first story in the anthology, centers on Prince Ballantyr’s attempt to ascend to the throne and acquire the title of Pentarch, or high king of five realms. Ballantyr’s lover and high councilor, Dallan Haleson, is actually the POV character of the novelette, which alternates between the storyline of Ballantyr’s attempt to gain the pentarchy, and that of how Ballantyr and Dallan first met.

In the former storyline, Ballantyr’s ascension is contested by his older half-brother Taranthel, against whom Ballantyr has to prove himself in contests of fighting prowess and knowledge of the law. He and Dallan must also solve the problem …

Dear Ms. Enoch:

Like commenter Corrine, I had admittedly had some issues with the past few historicals. I had enjoyed England’s Perfect Hero so much (as Corrine says “hands-down favorite SE title”) that it may have affected my opinion of the books that followed.

Needless to say, I adored After the Kiss. First, I loved the title. It had real meaning for the story. Sullivan James Waring joined the Royal Dragoons and while he was gone his mother, Francesca Perris, died. She was a tenant of Sullivan’s father, the Marquis of Dunston. Dunston has never recognized Sullivan although it is well known that he is Dunston’s bastard son. Sullivan is sneaking into houses at night to recover his mother’s legacy - 13 paintings that Dunston commandeered and sold or gave away.

One of the paintings was given to the Marquis of Darshear’s family. Sullivan sneaks in, grabs a number of things including the paintings and is about to scamper off when Isabel comes down for a late night snack. They engage in a short conversation and Sullivan grabs and kisses her to keep …