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

Dear Mr. Bonnamy,

My fellow reviewers know I’m always on the lookout for historical romances that utilize the rare and unusual setting. “Hero, the Amazon” certainly does that as well as give us an Amazon for a lead character. It’s filled with adventures centered not only in and around the Mediterranean but also ranging as far as prehistoric Britain. But I have to be honest and say that it’s not what the typical female romance reader is probably looking for.

Did Amazons really exist? Lots of characters in the novel are surprised to meet one and more than one states s/he thought Amazons were only a legend. I think you do a great job of portraying how one might have acted and what her background could have been. Hero is proud of her heritage, her training and her abilities yet she also accepts the reality that she was captured in battle and has now been a slave for a decade. Life as a slave isn’t great but she’s adapted, works hard, follows the rules and has hopes for the future.

She knows she was lucky to escape death after raising …

Dear Readers,

Some of you will wonder why on earth I’m reviewing a book that’s over 80 years old and was written by John Erskine a Columbia University professor of English who went on to also be the first president of the Juilliard School of Music. Well, the answer is kind of rambling. I first read the Iliad and the Odyssey years ago. I was fascinated by them. Then over thirty years ago I saw this book in a UBS and loved the cover painting (which I can’t find an image of anywhere on the internet) of beautiful Helen in a chiton, raising her arms to fiddle with her hair. Yes, I’m shallow. Then I read the book and loved it.

Over the years and several family moves, my copy got lost. Occasionally (Before Internet) I’d think about it and wander through a UBS to see if I could find a copy but I was hampered by not remembering the author or the exact title though the cover image stuck in my mind (see shallow comment above). But for some reason once I could easily find it (After Internet) it …

Leonidas:”Why do we remain in this place? A man would have to be cracked not to ask that question. Is it for glory? If it were for that alone, believe me, brothers, I’d be the first to wheel my ass to the foe and trot like hell over that hill.”

Dear Mrs. Mueller,
Once again you deliver the goods. A hot story, well told in under 40 pages (on my IPAQ). I’m still trying to find out information about this battle which Kybele took part in which resulted in her capture and eventual sale to our hero, Orestes, in Greece. So far Thessius is only coming up as a person’s name and in information about the latest Star Wars movies. Somehow, that’s not what you seem to be writing about. And was Rome already fighting outside Italy in 483 BC? Oh well, if I had a dude like Orestes save me from slavery, I think I’d be jumping his ass and sticking around the family homestead for years too, waiting to make him mine. B for this one.
~Jayne

300 is being hailed at the first blockbuster of 2007. The movie, based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel, is being gobbled up by young fans.

Many of the fans were young fans attracted to the gorefest that it was. But underneath the blood was the retelling of an ancient Grecian battle (480 BC) which pit 300 Spartans against the invading Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae. While the Spartans eventually lost the battle and the 300 soldiers fought full of the knowledge and their fight was full of sacrifice, the courage and tenacity of the Spartan warriors helped secure an ultimate victory for the Greeks over the Persians.

Recently, there was an article in the Seattle Intelligencer that teens were buying books at a greater rate than anytime in decades. Booklist critic, Michael Cart, has said that this is a golden period of young adult literature.

While book purchasing is down and publishers, authors, and industry execs bemoan the decreasing readership, it’s important to note that all is not lost. The Young Adult market is one ripe for burdgeoning growth because it is read by both teens and adults. When I told my nephew of the …