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

Dear Ms. Hill:

This is one of those books in which there were moments where I thought to myself, if anyone but Joey Hill were writing this, it would be flung against the wall. However, the deliciously subversive retelling of the Little Mermaid made famous by Disney was quite fun and I ended up appreciating the chances that you took in the telling of the story.

This is a fairy tale with erotic overtones and thus there are unusual sexual situations which might not sit right with every reader, but because of the power of the narration, I allowed myself to be immersed in the author’s environment.  It is a fairy tale about fantastic creatures and to force the characters into human form to make the sexual scenes more palatable would be to do a disservice to the spirit of the story.  If the sexual scenes are there truly to advance the plot, then changing the characters into human form would be an unnatural construct.  While I read some of the scenes with a vague sense of discomfort, I recognzied that there was beauty in which the scenes were told as well.  In …

Dear Mses Weiss:

When I first saw the promo that Margaret Weiss of the fantasy Weiss fame was going to be authoring a paranormal romance, I was quite excited. Sometimes paranormal romances are heavy on the romance but weak on the worldbuilding. Thus would not be the case with an author whose entire career has been made in the fantasy genre. Alas, either someone told you that romance readers are dumber than dirt or that is the understanding that you came to after gazing at too many covers filled with heaving bosoms and bare chests. I want you to know that you shouldn’t judge readers by the covers of the books that we read.

Derek de Molay is a Templar Knight who was tortured mercilessly in the Inquisition. When he passed over, he was given the opportunity to enter Paradise but had to repent of the sin of pride. Angered over this, Derek turns away and becomes a warrior angel, fighting demons in Purgatory. Derek doesn’t believe he’s a sanctimonious prick, but with passages like this, there can be only one conclusion:
Derek saw some of his comrades …

Dear Ms Brook,

Jane’s been raving about this book for weeks now. I can almost see her bouncing up and down in her chair when she posts about it. Jane’s a hard sell so when we worked out that this would be our next dueling review, I was psyched. A little daunted by the length of the book (of course I left it to the last minute to read then write the review) but ready to go. I can honestly say I haven’t read many books lately that have kept me guessing and wondering “what’s next” but this is one of them.

You’ve created a unique and different world. One in which two different groups battle each other for human souls. The Guardians are former humans who, at the moment of their death, are transformed via a ritual into beings with eternal life. They try to circumvent the efforts of the second group thereby allowing humans to resist temptation and evil which saves their souls. Demons and minions of Lucifer are the second group. Though bound to respect human free will, they will tempt, sway and lure humans into death which then chucks their souls straight to hell. …

Welcome to our inaugural book club selection. I have been reading Meljean Brook’s blog for a while now and when I realized she had a single title release, I emailed her and begged for a copy of her book. She graciously acquiesced and fortunately for both of us, I really enjoyed this book. I’ve been talking it up because the world building in this fantasy romance was remarkable. It really made me think and pay attention which, because I am a lazy reader, I am not always compelled to do. Later today will be Jayne’s review and I hope readers spend the upcoming weeks reading this book and telling us all that you loved and hated. We would ask that any comments on the content of the book be saved for Jayne’s review. That way all the comments are in one place. Come back later and we’ll start up the conversation/debate/snarkfest/heated discussion/lovefest or whatever it turns out to be.