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

Dear Mrs. Davison,

Earlier this year I read your first novel “Duking Days:Rebellion.” As I said, it took me back to my early days of reading historical fiction rather than true romance books. When I finished it, I already had plans to read the sequel, “Duking Days: Revolution.” This story does take up exactly where the first left off so I would not recommend readers start here. Even I had to stop a few times at the beginning and recall names and events from “Rebellion.”

“Revolution” is more saga-ish than a standard historical romance, following multiple people and story threads over a seven year time frame. It doesn’t really feel quite like either a romance novel or a historical novel - more bit of both with touch of something different. Kind of like the more old fashioned stories of the sixties and seventies but without the soap opera melodrama that so often dragged those stories far past my tolerance level.

Like “Rebellion,” it’s filled with great period detail but I got tired of Helena constantly being the ignorant one to whom things get explained in order …

Dear Ms Davison,

I had been eyeing your book “Duking Days Rebellion” at Fictionwise before you offered it to Dear Author for review. It was actually on my wish list there just waiting for my next paycheck when Jane forwarded me the review request. Talk about nice timing! It took me back to my early days of reading historical fiction before I got back into reading true romance books.

I was somewhat familiar with the facts concerning the 1685 uprising against King James II by his bastard nephew the Duke of Monmouth having read several books using it as a backdrop. This book placed me right there not only during parts of the short battle but also in the afterwards. Mentioning the persecution of the French Huguenots by Louis XIV was a nice touch to show what Protestant Englishmen would be afraid Catholic James would force on them and to suggest the reason so many were willing to risk everything to remove him from the throne.

When Helena initially began her search with Nathan Bayle for the fate of her three relatives after the fighting was over, I had an “oh …

Dear Ms. Dickson,

I should have loved this book. It’s about one of my favorite times in history. Seventeenth century England. Cavaliers. Derring do. A time when history turned on a dime. And maybe 10 or 20 years ago I probably would have enjoyed it. But instead I found it boring, filled with little history lectures, overdramatic and peopled by characters I felt no sympathy for.

The heroine is young and is forced into a marriage by her father with a man she’s never even seen before the ceremony. She’s upset that she can’t marry the man she feels she loves and takes it out on Marcus. I have no problem with that. I do have a problem with her continued stupid actions that last throughout the entire book. The twit doesn’t learn. She stamps her feet and acts with no thought at all beyond twitting Marcus. He actually treats her very well considering the fact that after the marriage she hauls ass to Holland with a man not her husband or a relative then gets mad with Marcus for coming after her! Even though she admits to her maid that he probably will …

Dear Ms. Sawyer,
After hearing great things about your work, you’ve been on my “I gotta try this lady someday” list for a couple of years. I had heard that your books were long historicals filled with facts and details, with great characters and realistic plots. Hey, what’s not to love? I’m in heaven when someone tells me about books like these. Set it during the little used 17th century and I’m practically orgasmic. So, why didn’t “The Winter Prince,” the telling of the secret love between Mary Villiers Duchess of Richmond and Lennox and Prince Rupert, work enough for me to even finish it?

Upon seeing a copy in Waldenbooks, I snatched it up. The matte cover is lovely and fondle-able. The flyleaf is filled with glowing quotes about how wonderful the book is, the type is easy to read and it’s not a weird trade size. I set down to start and realized by page 17 that this book was going to take a while to get through. I revised my goal of finishing it in one day to finishing 2/3 of it. Then that got revised downward as the pages just crawled by …

Dear Ms Thornton,

Though I’d never tried any of your books before, I took a chance on this one when I saw it was set in Restoration Era Venice and England. Alas, it turned out to be a style of novel I’ve lost all patience for. The hero and heroine are torn apart years before by the treacherous actions of a slavering villain overcome with lust for the heroine. For 8 years, the hero then believes the worst of the heroine. Then when they finally met again he accuses her, insults her, manipulates her into his power, treats her like dirt and ensures that anyone else who might have come to her rescue believes the worst of her. And has the nerve to still accuse her of lying to him and treating him badly once he knows the truth. Here’s the woman he claims to have loved yet he’ll more easily believe the lies told to him by someone he doesn’t even know rather than listen to her. Bastard. I read the first 100 pages then flipped to the last 50 to see if his …

Dear Mrs. Canham,

I hope that your muse can tempt you back into writing. I keep hearing rumors but what I want is to read another new Canham book! ;) Other reviews have decried the amount of violence and sex in “The Iron Rose.” Yes, it’s violent. Yes, it has sex. But it’s a pirate book! It’s supposed to be violent. It’s supposed to have sex. And it’s a wild, exhilarating ride. Like watching an old MGM movie. I kept expecting Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power to come swinging out of the shrouds, sword in hand, to battle the dastardly enemy in a duel of flashing rapier death. “Away, all hands up and over!”

Varian St. Clare, 12th Duke of Harrow has been sent to the Caribee by King James to persuade the English privateers to lay down their arms and sail tamely back to England in order to further a peace treaty with Phillip III of Spain. But when his ship is attacked without provocation by the Spanish and he’s rescued by Juliet Dante, the daughter of the famed Sea Wolf, Simon Dante, and captured documents are translated to reveal the …

Dear Ms. Mueller,

I read about your books on the Historical Delights yahoo group then followed the link to your website. There I would swear that I found a page of all your short stories then followed a link from them to where I bought this book. But upon going back to try and get a book cover image, I can’t find any of your books listed at Diskus Publishing. Have I lost my mind? Don’t answer that. ;)

Anyway, except for some editing problems, I had a good time reading your interesting short story about a 17th century French woman’s encounter with ruthless pirates, a pirate hunter sent to track them down and her revenge on her perfidious husband. And I also liked her revenge on the pirate who held her captive for two weeks. I must say that certainly put the fear of God into the pirate hunter’s crew!

You don’t shirk from placing your heroine into a difficult situation nor making the story as realistic as you can. Good for you. It’s also filled with an emotional depth that’s hard to achieve in a novella much less a short story. I’d like …

Dear Ms. Riley,

I spent my formative romance reading years devouring the “Angelique” series which begins in 17th century France at the court of the Sun King and have enjoyed movies using this time frame. So, when this book was mentioned at AAR after someone posted asking for books which are rich in period detail and historically accurate, I took notice.

The time and the background (during the reign of the Sun King and involving the Parisian underworld of poisoners and the occult) sounded intriguing. Genevieve Pasquier is an engaging lead character. The daughter of a loveless marriage in a time during which women have little if any power or control over their lives and smart women are a nuisance, she manages to gain wealth and independence. La Voisin, a real life person, grooms her to present herself as the 150 year old reader of an oracle glass, a sort of scrying bowl in which the future can be seen. Genevieve thinks it’s all a crock but goes along with it. Along the way, she will see the worst in humanity, manage to find her true love and barely escape with her …