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

Dear Ms. Holquist:

I almost didn’t write this review because it was such a struggle for me to pinpoint why I didn’t respond well to it given that I liked The Sexiest Man Alive so much. Ultimately, I think I failed to connect to the hero and heroine in a “it’s not you, it’s me” manner.

Amy Burns is a psychic who went on to Oprah to reveal Oprah’s one true love. Unfortunately, Amy and her psychic voice Maddie have had some communication problems of late and just when Amy needs her (in front a live Oprah audience), Maddie decides to stop talking to Amy altogether. Amy’s goal, notwithstanding her humiliation in front of Oprah, is to find Maddie.

Amy tracks Maddie to a gypsy named Roni to a restaurant in Philly called Les Fleurs. There she finds the hot chef/owner James LaChance but no Roni. Amy expends a huge amount of effort to find Roni which is extraordinary in that Amy’s only other huge expenditure of effort in the past is related to doing nothing, being a ne’er do well.

James LaChance’s claim to fame, other than his …

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We know that there is alot of stock photography used in cover art today leading to very similar cover images:

Is it less damaging if the recycling is in the titles?

Two books. One Title. Both Contemporaries. Released one week apart. Oops. Possibly worse?

Diana Holquist’s RITA Nominee published last year featuring movie star hero v. Julie James’ October debut featuring movie star hero.

Dear Ms. Holquist:

I was skeptical that I was going to like this book given the back cover copy, the title and the concept. It just sounded too hokey, too precious. If it wasn’t sent to me for free, I don’t think I would have read it because I wouldn’t have bought it. However, what is inside the cover is a funny, sweet and tender contemporary romance that reveals our insecurities are sometimes what makes us so attractive if we don’t let them stop us from moving forward. It’s a romance in the truest sense of the genre definition and it does not rely on secondary romances, sappy epilogues, or contrived suspense to make it work.

Jasmine Burns has a sister who’s psychic talent is to be able to touch someone and hear the name of their one true love. She gets only the name though so it’s up to the person to figure out which John Smith is their One True Love. Jasmine is told that her One True Love is Josh Toby. There is one Josh Toby she knows and he is the Sexiest Man Alive.

Jasmine Burns suffers …

We have a review of Without a Sound coming up next week.
Carla Bracale writing as Carla Cassidy’s BROKEN PIECES, about a victim of a brutal attack in her youth who returns home, hoping the depths of her memory might hold a clue to a murderer’s identity, to Laura Cifelli at Signet, in a three-book deal, by Laura Blake Peterson at Curtis Brown (NA).

Not an inspy reader but I know that there are many who love this line. Like my mother, who didn’t allow me to read regular romances but I was allowed to read inspy romances as a kid.
Irene Brand’s A MAN TO LEAN ON, to Harlequin Love Inspired, in a nice deal, by Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency.

Read about this over at mediacat today. Sarva promises to not stop picking on his now fellow authors.
Blogger Mark Sarvas’s HARRY, REVISED, about a guilt-ridden, down-on-his-luck widower, who tries to reinvent himself following his wife’s untimely death, to Colin Dickerman at Bloomsbury, for publication in winter 2008, by Simon Lipskar at Writers House (world English and German).

Don’t know what house Barbour is but this sounds like a WESTERN!!!
Paige Winship Dooly’s TREASURE IN THE HILLS, a story about …