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

Dear Ms. Meyer,

While I didn’t think it was perfect, I did enjoy your first young adult novel, Twilight. So when my fellow blogger Jia was unable to get too far into The Host, a genre-bending speculative romantic thriller and your first book for adults, I agreed to give it a try. The premise of The Host, that of an “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” type story but told from the viewpoint of a body snatching alien, sounded interesting and different to me.

I must admit at the outset of this review that I almost never read books this long (600+ pages), because they can seem more like monumental tasks than like invitations for enjoyment. It took me around 120 pages to get caught up in The Host, and for those 120 I feared that a monumental task was what the book would turn out to be. Happily, The Host eventually revved up, and I enjoyed it more than I expected I would in the beginning.

The Host opens with a scene in which an alien known as Wanderer is inserted into the body of her host, a human woman named Melanie. …

Dear Ms. Sinclair,

Janine loved a book of yours she read a few months ago and that plus the posts asking us to try and review more RSF books is what got me to try “Down Home Zombie Blues.” Like Jane, I’m still not too sure of the title but as a relative newcomer to the genre, the book itself worked well for me.

Yes, you use lots of Star Trek references but it does give a good, quick visual reference for readers and with a book of this length, there’s not much extra room for long drawn out descriptions. Even though it does come off at times as cheating.

You tell us that Jorrie is a 8 year veteran Guardian who’s also got real life experience as an Interplanetary Marine fighting the major enemies of the state. I love that throughout the story, she remains a focused, battle tested warrior though I did get tired of Theo referring to her as his one woman army. She’s faced the worst that her world can throw at her and remains dedicated to her job. Though she’s willing to jettison some of the gen pro regulations …

Dear Ms. Grant,

I started reading your books with the first in “The Star King” series. I fell in love. They were fresh and different. The “Banzai Maguire” book didn’t work as well for me though I applauded the risks you took. I had really hoped to enjoy “Your Planet or Mine?” but despite the great idea it was not to be.

Years ago, young Cavin Far Star accompanied his scientist father on fact finding missions to planets which the Coalition might be interested in taking over. On one of them, he met a young girl who believed in magic, who danced in the moonlight and who captured his heart. Jana Jasper, one of the “First Family of California” Jaspers has all but forgotten the magical boy she met twice when she was nine. All grown up now and carrying on her family’s legacy of public service as the youngest state senator in California, she is determined to get to the bottom of the recent spate …

Dear Ms. Gregory,

What can I say but, my goodness, that was different from what I normally read. Honestly I’m not even sure what caught my attention in the book blurb. I guess I thought this might be some kind of alien mild meld, meeting of two different cultures kind of thing. Well, it’s that and a whole lot of sex more. And since everybody needs to read a two-cocked alien story once in her life and I figured I’d better get cracking.

Dr. Rayne Warren is among the scientists who’ve been chosen to meet with the aliens who have finally openly contacted Earth. They’ve been abducting Earthlings to study for years, Rayne among them, but now are ready for full contact. As it were. Rayne’s field of study is the clinical analysis of human sexuality. And since the aliens seem to have a more openly sexual culture, Rayne is thrilled at the chance to study them. She’s never found fulfillment in any human sexual relationships and as she watches informational DVDs of the aliens’ mating practices, she can’t help but wonder if she could find it with one of them. Imagine, making love with a male …

Dear Ms. Hart,

Hallelujah you’ve published something again. After reading, and enjoying, “The Forest Whispers” and “The Assassin’s Blade” two years ago, I’d almost given up on seeing anything anything else from you. I was a very happy person when I saw this newest story out.

Mali lives in a primitive world where mere survival is a challenge. Over the years, something has affected the fertility of not only the land but the people as well. Any woman who can possibly conceive is obligated to attempt it with any man available to act as a breeder. Mali’s problem is that there are no more men in her village capable of it. When a stranger is captured and dragged there, she’s insulted when he acts insulted to be offered the chance. Instead of jumping at the honor, he has to be chained down for her to attempt to take his seed. Not that she’s much good at it since she’s never had any experience.

Things go from bad to worse when the village elders discover who he is and decide to kill him. Thinking it’s a worse crime to execute this man than face any possible retaliation from …

Dear Ms Harte,

I was checking out New Concepts ebook site, looking at some of the offerings and decided to take a chance with Forest Whispers. I’m glad that I did. It’s got a strong heroine who’s always had to fight to earn her place but one who can change her stance on men when she meets one who deserves it. The hero never comes over all alpha and dominant but he’s quite a warrior and ready to defend what he cares for.

There isn’t an apostrophe or hyphen to be found in any of the names and the story makes sense. It’s short (eight chapters and an epilogue - but no babies) so there are some things that you hint at but don’t really have time to explain that I would have enjoyed reading about in more detail. The world building is sketchy but adequate for the length of the story. The violence against women is hinted at except in one spot and even then we only get a brief description of the aftermath but the “take down the villain” scene is told as it happens. The sex is hot and graphic but …