Archive for 'Avon-Red'



REVIEW: Tempt Me Tonight by Toni Blake

Dear Ms. Blake:

Tempt Me TonightPerhaps it was a case of missed expectations but Tempt Me Tonight was like a rice cake: bland, airy, but not very sexy.

The story opens with 18 year old Trish not giving up her virginity to Joe. Joe then goes on to cheat on her and Trish vows never to love anyone again. Prologue over. Then comes the first chapter where Trish returns home to help her parents ready their small town business for sale. Trish is a big time defense lawyer in Indy (whose law practice is like none I’ve ever had the pleasure with which to be acquainted) and she's surprised to see how little her home town has changed. For some reason it is not explained why Trish never came home in the past fifteen years to see her parents. They were not estranged and it’s not like she lives sooo far away (like in another country) that visiting was prohibitive.

Trish and Joe see each other in a bar the night of Trish’s return and they still have …

Romance Publishers Promises to Romance Readers Part 1: False Promises

Stay tuned for some exciting features at Dear Author (exciting for us at least). The week of October 2nd through October 8th we will be featuring an interview and several reviews of an author that the Two Ja(y)nes and Janine love. Today marks the first of a three part series on Romance Publishers Promises to Romance Readers. Today’s articles addresses Advertising (the delivery of the promise), next week will feature an article on Branding (the promise), and finally we’ll end with What to Do When a Good Author Goes Bad (or when the promises are broken).

Return to SenderAdvertising is the one way that the promise of an author or publisher is delivered to readers. Of course, the writing is the ultimate delivery of the promise that authors and publishers are making but to get a reader to read the promise. In romance, the promise is that there is a committment, a love, between a core group of people. In mainstream romance, generally one woman and one man overcome obstacles to achieve a lifelong togetherness. Publishers deliver the promise a couple of ways:

spine labeling
bookstore placement
advertising online, in trade …

It’s All the Same to Me: Cover Art Recycling

I noticed on Sybil’s blog today a cover for an Avon Red book which looked strikingly similar to the cover for Sunny Chen’s Mona Lisa Awakening. Are these too similar? They are for my tastes. It’s a great cover, but I’ll always like the first one better. Is it that there are just so many books and not enough unique ideas? Is it better to have one hot cover idea recycled continuously than have a hideous cover?

I tend to think the similar cover may backfire. I may see it and think, I’ve already read, bought, borrowed that book.

recycled covers