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

Dear Ms. Hart,

Bess Walsh needs time away from her unhappy marriage. She finds it at the beach house she inherited from her parents. There, in the water, Bess fantasizes about Nick, the boy she loved and lost twenty years before. She touches herself and soon she feels Nick touching her. The lovemaking is intense, unforgettable.

But the next morning Bess is shocked to see that her fantasy lover hasn’t evaporated with the night. Nick is still there, and though physically he hasn’t aged a day since they parted company twenty years earlier, he feels solid and corporeal, and has an emotional maturity he did not have back in those days.

Bess has missed Nick so badly that she does not want to question his reappearance or interrogate his twenty year old disappearance. She knows it must involve something that she won’t like hearing. Instead, she drowns the questions in touch, in passionate sex that makes the rest of the world fade away.

Bess and Nick’s past is revealed in chapters that alternate with the present day storyline. Back then, Bess was a twenty year old college student who came to Bethany Beach …

Dear Ms. Dahl:

Now that I’ve read three of your novels, I see a pattern in your heroines: they are extremely jealous of their independence, convinced that no man can be depended on, and afraid of showing themselves completely to the world.  I appreciate these qualities in a genre that too often holds its heroines to unreasonable standards of nobility, gentility, and congeniality.  All of which is another way of saying that I enjoyed Lori Love, the heroine of Start Me Up, and her difficult path toward the kind of happiness she had more or less given up on the moment she had to leave college and move back home to take care of her father and his car repair business.  I did not find the book to be as strong as last year’s Talk Me Down, but it was still very readable.

In Talk Me Down, we meet Lori as Molly Jennings’s childhood friend, a woman whose tomboy wardrobe, no-nonsense mien, and skills as a mechanic earn her a reputation as the town lesbian.  Lori has no real interest in changing anyone’s opinion of her, as the label gives her a certain amount of freedom from …

Dear Ms. Chase:

After I read last year’s book, Your Scandalous Ways, I knew my expectations were going to be set incredibly high for anything that came after.  And thankfully, Don’t Tempt Me is not a book in the same vein, but instead hearkens back to the Carsington series, especially Miss Wonderful and Mr. Impossible.  A hero who has suffered a great loss and who copes by putting on a distracting outward display and a heroine who lives on the margins of polite society’s rules and whose innocence does not equate to naïveté. And while Don’t Tempt Me possessed a number of charms of its own, somewhere between my high expectations and the echoes of other books, I was not as tempted to love it as I hoped I would be.

From the beginning, little Zoe Octavia Lexham, aka “The Bolter,” was a pain in Lucien de Gray’s young neck.  Although when Lucien came under the guardianship of Lord Lexham, following a tragic series of illnesses and accidents claiming both his parents and older brother, Zoe was also a “bright, bright spot in his life.”  He was the only one she seemed to listen to, and she …

Dear Ms. Winfree:

I can’t recall why I purchased this book but I bought it a couple of months ago with two other books from Samhain. It could have been a “new” book or it could have been on the bestseller list. Those usually influence my purchases at Samhain.  I thought it had good suspense and a very nice romance that was often complicated by attention paid to other romances which had taken place prior to the setting of Facing It.

Ruthie Chason is in a terrible marriage.  When she finds information that Stephen, her husband, is engaged in criminal behavior, she gets up the courage to grab her children and leave.   Her brother, Tick Calvert, is Sheriff of Chandler County.  She runs to him.

Tick recognizes that Ruthie has to hide while he figures out the best way to apprehend Stephen and make sure the evidence is good enough that Stephen gets put away for a long time.  Both Ruthie and Tick know that if Stephen catches her, Ruthie is a dead woman.  Tick calls on his friend and deputy Chris Parker to take Ruthie and her three children with him to St. …

Ruthless Tycoon, Inexperienced Mistress by Cathy Williams

Cesar is tired of bailing his younger brother out of hot water so when Ferdinado asks for access to his trust fund, Cesar heads out to see who it is that has her gold digging claws in Ferndando. He finds not a statuesque model blonde, but a mannish, petite redhead. Not Ferdinado’s type and certainly not his. The two get stuck in a snowstorm. They have sex. Jude becomes pregnant and the real fireworks begin. Cesar is standard HP hero (alpha, hot, assholic). Jude isn’t a doormat but falls pretty easily for Cesar. B-
This book can be purchased at Amazon or in ebook format from Sony or other etailers.

Up Close and Dangerously Sexy by Karen Anders

Given that the haikus have come to a close here at Dear Author, I submit my own:
Stranger danger here
As long as he gives good Os
No worries, she thinks

I stopped after the second scene. The heroine is in the sister’s apartment. Some stranger comes in and thinks she’s the heroine’s twin. He gets in bed with her and brings her to orgasm with his hand. “She …

Evangeline Anderson’s books are my dirty little secret, my secret shame, my love that dare not speak its name. I don’t know WHY her writing makes me feel oh so fulfilled but in such a wonderful dirty way, but it does. They’re so full of *angst* and *melodrama* and *gay for you* and all the things that usually just make me roll my eyes. But they’re quick reads, hott! as anything, rollicking good fun, and you totally don’t notice the huge gaping plot holes until after you’re done and REreading the damn thing when you go, Hur? (like I just did). Her books are the one reading habit I’m ashamed of, but it’s the squidgy, yummy shame that you just want to share with people. So let me share…

Str8te Boys is pretty much dorm porn with extra-angst. It’s a short little story–under 70 pages–but so much fun. It’s told completely from the third-person perspective of Maverick (ORLY? I mean, that name? Really?!), an arrow-straight (uh-huh) jock at the end of his senior year of college, who happens to play “gay chicken” with even straighter, party animal roommate and …

Dear Ms. Haymore,

When I first picked up A Hint of Wicked, I did not have much in the way of expectations. I assumed that this was your first book, since I hadn’t heard your name before. I hadn’t really heard any buzz about the book, and I had to remind myself of the plot before I started by rereading the blurb. I rarely go into reading a romance with less of an idea of what to expect. It was a refreshing change, and one of the strengths of the novel turned out to be how difficult it was to guess what direction the story was going to go in.

The book opens with our heroine, Sophie, the Duchess of Calton, discovering that her beloved husband Garrett has fallen at Waterloo. With Sophie when she gets the news is Tristan, Garrett’s cousin and a dear friend to both Garrett and Sophie.

The story then shifts to eight years later; Tristan has succeeded his cousin as the Duke of Calton, and has now been married to Sophie for a year. Together they are raising her daughter Miranda (Sophie was pregnant with Garrett’s child when he left to fight Napoleon) …

Dear Ms. Anderson:

Over time, the Australia/New Zealand Harlequin Presents (HPs) have become my favorites mostly because I feel that the women are slightly more emancipated in these stories (not always of course). Pleasured features the requisite millionaire but the heroine isn’t a virgin. Instead, she’s provocative and proactive.

Sienna, on vacation in Sydney, is drawn to a band practicing in a club. Inside she finds not only a band but “Mr. Utterly Attractive.”  She wants him and after seeing the mutual attraction in his eyes, she sets out to get him.  Sienna is determined to abide by her new motto of “living in the moment.”

The target is Rhys Maitland, millionaire in disguise.  He’s taking a much needed vacation from his medical career by hiding in this less ritzy, touristy part of Sidney.  Rhys is constantly pursued by women and the tabloids as he is an heir to a large Sydney fortune.  His attraction to Sienna is surprising, a little unwanted but still invigorating.

Sienna and Rhys have secrets that they keep from each other because neither of them want to divulge personal information but for differing motivations.  They both fear that the other …

Dear Ms. Hughes,

Last year I found “Lord Sin” to be a great and happy surprise. As you’d already written a follow up to it, I was poised for more happiness. Well, I was sorta happy but, alas, not quite as much.

Gabriel Angelstone can’t believe his luck when he discovers that the subject of the infamous divorce portrait is also a guest at the country houseparty of his newly married female BFF George. Gabriel happily anticipates some sexual fun until Imogen sets him straight. “No huggie or kissie” from this woman attempting to edge her way back into polite society.

After her boorish first husband believed the rumors which circulated through London society, he went to the extraordinary length to get a divorce. Can’t have rumors about one’s wife ruining one’s political future. Tossed out on her ass by her husband, banished by her family, Imogen has eked out an existence until George takes her under her wing and decides to resuscitate her life. Imogen’s hopes for this endeavor are simple and she’s aware that she needs to be Caesar’s wife. If only she didn’t find Gabriel so damned attractive …

Dear Ms. Mitchell.

This book reads like what I imagine being inside a guy’s head must be like. Lots of stonewalling, lots of mixed motivations, lots of confused emotions. This ability you have to get emotions perfectly right and to show how they are so very wrong-headed is both the beauty and the problem with this book.

Daniel Gardner is back at his childhood home in Easton, PA for Christmas and then to supervise the final packing for his mother’s move to Harrisburg. The story opens with a break-in at his mother’s house on Christmas Eve. In the aftermath, he meets Detective Trey Erikkson, his teenage crush and first-fumblings compatriot. They haven’t met in 15 years since Trey ran away to bootcamp and there’s hard feelings between them, as well as the mystery that encompasses the break-in, Trey’s mother’s murder and father’s imprisonment for it, and later criminal shenanigans.

It’s the suspense plot that made the book less than brilliant. While I could get behind the conspiracy theory of the final revelation and I enjoyed the slow reveal of Daniel and Trey figuring out the mystery, the plot itself was Swiss cheese. Why would Daniel’s …

Here is our recommended read list for June. It’s light so feel free to make a recommendation in the comments:

• How to Score by Robin Wells.  This contemporary romance book is recommended by Jane. It’s a fun, sexy read with mistaken identities, a bit of deceit, and a crazy dog.  (Warner Forever)
• The Wild West by Victoria Dahl  This hot historical novella is recommended by Joan F, Janet (aka Robin), and Jane.  It’s a very hot read that is just the right touch for those who wonder what BDSM is all about. Cowboys and sheriffs have never been so hot. (Harlequin Spice Bites, ebook only)
• My Forbidden Desire by Carolyn Jewel.  This paranormal is recommended by Janine whose recommendations are few and far between. (Warner)
• Crescent City Courtship by Elizabeth White.  This sweet historical is recommended by Jayne who reads across the breadth and scope of the Harlequin categories.  Review of this book to come. (Harlequin Love Inspired)
• Chasing Smoke by KA Mitchell.  This m/m romantic suspense novel is a recommendation for Joan F.  (review of this ebook from Samhain publishing to come).
• Sweet Persuasion by Maya Banks. This erotic romance novel from Berkley Heat makes you think about people’s desires.  Come with

…

Dear Ms. Banks:

This is one of those books that are well written and evocative but made me feel personally uncomfortable. Despite my issues, though, I recognize that it is a good story.

Serena is in the business of fulfilling fantasies for other people, whether it is preparing an elaborate princess party for a young girl or satisfying a grown man’s desire to be a chef at a noted restaurant for the evening. But she’s got a fantasy of her own that she wants to explore. Serena longs for a submissive relationship. Oh, she’s not so much into the pain aspect (although there is some of that in the story), but she wants to be possessed or owned by a man.

Fortunately for Serena her friend Faith knows of a man, Damon Roche, who could help her fulfill those fantasies. Damon Roche owns, among other things, a house of pleasure and has members who could very well meet Serena’s demands. Once Damon reads her request and sees her, he decides that he wants to be the one to make her fantasy a reality. He lays out …

Dear Ms. Brady,

After I bought your book, I pulled it up on my Sony and began to read the opening scene. Which is where I stopped, more than a little afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to read a book which seemed to be headed towards over sensationalism. A screeching vehicle bringing in a badly wounded person who a young doctor is determined won’t die on her watch? Hmmmm, let’s read a different book first.

But something made me give it one more try. One chapter, I promised myself, and I’ll know whether it’ll work or not. Good thing for me I tried again because from that point on, I was hooked.

I have endless admiration for those who are in the front lines of emergency medicine. They get it all – from people in the wrong place at the wrong time to those with a long history of destructive behavior which they then expect doctors to fix with a cure all pill. And then there’s the daily grind of sore throats, chronic diseases and assorted ills which bring patients in to see the doctor.

Working in a …

Dear Mrs. Hartman,

After the A grade I gave the last book of yours I read, I had high hopes for this one. Perfect heroine and slacker hero find love fifteen years later despite having to overcome the mistaken images they’ve maintained of each other over the years? Okay, I can go with that. Heroine who lies to the people for fifteen years, including her own daughter? That, I had trouble with. Lots of trouble with.

Hailey Maddox was always seen as perfect. A popular cheerleader who had all the boys in knots over her, no one was more surprised than JT McNulty when Hailey agrees to go out with him. But Hailey is keeping secrets including the fact that she’s sleeping with someone else.

After she gets pregnant and the father renounces their clandestine relationship, she turns to JT who lies to both sets of their parents about being the father. But when Hailey rejects his offer of marriage and his parents throw him out, JT leaves town.

It takes the death of his mother to bring him back. Then dealing with his father’s injuries to induce him to stay for a few days …

Dear Ms. Blackwell,

I didn’t realize this book is part of the “Everlasting Love” line until I began to read it. Which shows how much I pay attention to the “icon” on the front cover. Anywho, since my house has been a renovation project in the works for years now, that aspect of the book description caught my eye.

Alyssa Franklin just knows that the run down old Queen Anne house is meant for her, even if it will take her life savings to buy it, months to restore it and probably cost her a long term romance that, actually, is on its last legs. At first, she’s entranced with the idea of the love affair between the original owners of the house – the scion of what used to be the most prominent family in the area and the daughter of a seamstress. I mean, they must have been deeply in love to thwart social conventions. But as she tackles the issues of the house with the help of a hunky handyman, the truth of that marriage as well as Alyssa’s hopes for a new romance, begin to be uncovered.

Managing to …

Dear Ms. Thomas:
Thank you for sending me a copy of your third book. Not Quite a Husband treats the reader to the same rich and evocative prose that filled the pages of your previous two works. In mentioning new historical authors to be excited about, your name should always mentioned.
Bryony Asquith, the granddaughter of an Earl, was an extraordinary woman who fell in love with an extraordinary man, Quentin Leonidas Marsden, the youngest son of the Earl of Wyden. He was a brilliant mathematical mind who was published and presented at the mathematical society; and she was a surgeon, one of few women practicing medicine, particular one of the few women born of her lineage who actually worked.
While the lede of this review might be their accomplishments, the existence of the accomplisments tell more about the characters than the accomplishments themselves. Bryony chose to be a surgeon not so much because she loved saving people but because it was nearly a necessity for her. Bryony had grown up alone without companionship and in order to survive she withdrew well within herself, drawing a cloak of self sufficiency so …

Dear Ms. Teglia

Thank you for sending me a copy of your latest release, Animal Attraction. This is a stand alone full length story featuring Chandra Walker, an ordinary shop girl who finds out that her rare werewolf genes makes her a target for an all male pack looking for an alpha female, a queen.

Chandra has no idea that she’s anything but fully human. Sure, she’s been sick and has had very strange cravings for raw meat of late, but the next logical jump from enjoying more protein is not “I’m a werewolf.” When a gorgeous but unknown man starts coming on to her in a strange way at Chandra’s store, she’s frightened rather than turned on and begins to believe that she is going to be the victim of some crime. The site of his gold card stamped with Zachary Neuri does little to allay her concerns.

I can’t tell you how much I appreciated that Chandra was scared instead of turned on. His flirting, his wealth, and all of his external trappings warned her that he was more dangerous than someone who was less suave.

Zach is the alpha …

Film review: Down With Love (2001) & Strictly Ballroom (1992)
Grade: B- & B+
Genre: Romantic comedy

Dear Readers,

It hasn’t been a good week.

A DVD I bought from an online shop for this week’s review – a Cary Grant/Doris Day film – has a scratch, which rendered it unplayable. I went to a local DVD rental shop next day and rented a Marlene Dietrich/Gary Cooper film. I got home and found there was, unbelievably, a scratch on DVD. I took it back and the rental shop was closed. My mood simply nose-dived. This happened after work on Wednesday.

I was thinking of reviewing one of old favourites (Strictly Ballroom, 10 Things I Hate About You, Down With Love, David & Layla, and The Fifth Element) when Nikki lent me her DVD, Across the Universe (2007), which I hadn’t seen. She urged me to watch it because it’s one of most romantic films she had seen.

After the film ended, I tried to write a review but was having a serious mental block. This happened Thursday evening.

No problem, I thought while keeping growing panic at bay, because I can watch anything and whip up a review easily enough. I pulled out Down With …

Dear Ms. Hudson,

Keeping track of everything in previous books of a series must be hard enough when you’re the only author, but to manage it with two different people writing in the series is something I admire. The lower grade is because this isn’t really a stand alone book. I think readers could start with either this or “Once an Outlaw,” keeping in mind that they will finish both books with unanswered questions which I hope will be resolved in the next book, “Once a Rebel.” And can I say how hard I’m finding it to keep these titles straight?

A riverboat card man, Jake Gannon is about as no-good as they come—despite that good-looking hotness that can make a gal’s skirts twirl in most unladylike ways. Suspected to be traveling under an assumed name, Jake has a mighty troublesome past, and was last seen in the company of one fiery filly who goes by the name of Ellie Winslow….

But Ellie ain’t no ordinary looker. No sir, she landed here in 1876 by accident and is looking for her sister…and some answers. But first she needs to find a way

…

Janine: When Jaili (Maili) and I recently found out we were reading the same little-known book from 2008, Dru Pagliassotti’s Clockwork Heart, we thought it would be fun to discuss it here at Dear Author. But first, a plot synopsis:

Clockwork Heart takes place in a fictional Industrial Age city-state called Ondinium. One of Ondinium’s industries is the mining of ondium, a precious metal lighter than air. Ondium is used to make wings for Ondinium’s icarii, flying messengers allowed to travel freely between Ondinium’s three sectors.

Ondinium is a divided city. Its citizens worship a goddess known as the Lady of the Forge and believe in reincarnation. Most of Ondinium’s citizens are divided into three castes, and the members of each caste live in separate sectors, and have their caste marks tattooed on their cheeks. Upper caste citizens are believed to be more enlightened than others, and are referred to as exalted. In theory the icarii, who do not belong to any caste, don’t have to defer to them, but the reality is different.

The story begins when its heroine, an icarus named …

Dear Ms. Stuart,

Newlywed Rachel Chapman Middleton has been living in her husband’s hometown, the sleepy college hamlet of Silver Falls, Washington, for only a few months when the body of a young woman is discovered. It’s an especially unwelcome shock for Rachel because she married David Middleton, a respected college professor, in large part to put another murder behind her and her daughter.

Rachel has been a single mom ever since she gave birth to Sophie at the age of seventeen. After her fundamentalist parents disowned her for giving birth out of wedlock, Rachel and Sophie traversed the world like nomads, finding a new place whenever the old one bored them. Rachel worked as a photographer, but the life on the go which she and thirteen-year-old Sophie so enjoyed came to an abrupt standstill when Tessa, a friend of Sophie’s, was brutally murdered.

Fortunately or unfortunately, David Middleton swept into Rachel’s life following Tessa’s death and offered Rachel the stability and security she felt her daughter desperately needed. David was Rachel’s rock in those days, a kind, caring man and a bulwark of safety. Rachel and Sophie relocated …

Dear Ms. Whitman,

I love a good retelling. It doesn’t matter if it’s a popular fairy tale, common folk tale, or classic myth. If it sounds interesting or puts a new spin on the story, I’m always willing to give it a try. This goes double if the retelling brings volition and agency to the women portrayed in these tales because let’s face it: they often get the short end of the stick.

Most people know the story of Persephone. She was the daughter of Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest. One day the earth split open and Hades, ruler of the Underworld, ventured forth and kidnapped Persephone, taking her to his domain to be his queen. Demeter grieved over her daughter’s abduction and the world suffered for it — crops died and the land grew barren.

Finally, Zeus intervened and forced Hades to return Persephone to her mother. But before she returned, she was tricked into eating pomegranate seeds and as a rule, anyone who’d consumed food in the underworld would have remain there for eternity. So for a compromise, Persephone spends half the year with …

Dear Ms. Kennedy:

Your book came to my attention due to mentions by author Courtney Milan on Twitter. As Ms. Milan had recommended a previous book to me that I enjoyed quite a bit, I thought I would give your story a try. It helped, too, that SuperLibrarian blogged favorably about the book as well. And finally, even though you sent me an arc, I actually bought the book for $2.38 at BooksonBoard (PDF ARCs don’t always translate well to the reader thus my eventual purchase of “keeper” books) and it was $2.38. I felt like it was a crime not to purchase the story.

The Conqueror is a medieval set in England in 1152.  Guinevere de l’Ami is the Countess of Everoot, a wealthy manse in the North.  Her father passed away two weeks prior and Gwyn is attempting to avoid being married off to her neighbor, Marcus fitzMiles.  She seeks the protection of King Stephen but Stephen is distracted by the rumors of war led by Henry II.  Gwyn finds herself alone on a highway having tried to escape Marcus and a dark knight rides to her rescue.  Griffyn …

Dear Ms. Ward,

I was a relative latecomer to your Black Dagger Brotherhood Series, joining it in progress at, I believe, book three (or was it four?). Anyway, I remember reading online discussions about the series well before starting the first book, mostly related to the unusual names of the heroes (debate, IIRC, raged about whether the names were so silly as to be distracting, or not).

A friend finally convinced me that the books were addictive enough to overcome both my paranormal prejudice and the conviction that the heroes’ names were in fact just too silly to bear. I did become a devoted follower after reading the first book in the series, Wrath’s story, Dark Lover. A devoted follower, but an ambivalent one. There is a lot that I don’t like about the BDB books. Chiefly the slang, which seems increasingly ubiquitous – almost every character thinks and talks in a highly stylized and artificial way. But also the nature of the hero/heroine attachments, which are very animalistic and seem almost biologically-driven. I think the latter is probably a positive for some romance readers, those who prefer their heroes ultra-alpha. Now, it’s …

Dear Ms. Pon,
I fall into that category of people who wish more fantasy novels set in non-Western settings were available to the general readership at large.  And while I’m it, I want more than just those non-Western settings; I also want the stories of the non-white characters that live in those worlds.   Diversity, multiculturalism — these are things that we’ve encouraged and discussed in the past here at DA.  It doesn’t matter what the genre is — romance, fantasy, young adult — I personally want to see more of it.
I was predisposed to like your debut because not only was it set in a fantasy world inspired by ancient China, it featured an Asian heroine.  Like Jane, I have a bias towards Asian heroines.  And an Asian heroine in a fantasy that’s not exoticized, fetishized, or made into a prize for the strapping hero?  Definitely a plus for me.
Ai Ling is the daughter of a disgraced scholar who was exiled from the Imperial court before she was born.  But then one day her father is called back for reasons she doesn’t know or understand, leaving Ai Ling and her mother to …