Dear Author: Romance Novel Reviews, Industry News, and Commentary

Notice: The whole review is really a summary of what the fuckedness so if you plan to read the book and don’t want to be spoiled, click away.
Dear Readers:
I can’t remember who chose this book for me to read during #RRTheatre (wherein I roast bad porn) but the premise was “have sex or die.” We thought that the plot promised some hijinks at least. Grammatically this Ravenous book wasn’t as poor as previous titles, but the editing was still abysmal. I had a feeling that this was supposed to be some kind of campy send up of futuristics but because it lacked any coherency, it was just a mess inducing unintentionally hilarious moments.
The basics of the worldbuilding that I could glean from the story is this.  There was a Great Fall and society split into Blacks and Blues.  Blacks were more technoliterate and Blues had more money.  There was a renewable energy source namd pilox that was the subject of much dissension between the Blues and Blacks.  There is a revolutionary group that no one knows about and there is the ability to infect someone with vampirism as well …

Dear Ms. Robb:

I have had an up and down relationship with the In Death books since the series went hardcover.  Happily for me, Promises in Death marks an upswing, an effective blending of the police procedural and personal aspects of Eve Dallas’s life and a particularly moving storyline featuring everyone’s favorite ME, Morris.

When Eve is called to a homicide scene in an apartment basement, she is shocked to find fellow cop and current Morris squeeze Amaryllis Coltraine the victim.  Stunned to death with her own weapon, stripped and divested of her ID and weaponry, and left on the cement basement floor of her own building, Coltraine offers very few clues about what happened and why.  Was it a rat?  Was it someone she helped put away?  Was it another cop?  No matter who ended Coltraine’s life, her death is particularly difficult for Eve.  Not only does she have to tell Morris what happened and pry into their relationship for clues, but she also has to look at other cops as possible suspects and deal with the resentment of Coltraine’s own squad, who are shut out of the investigation, except as subjects for questioning.  …

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I have a not very well thought out irk that I wanted to throw out there. One issue I have with futuristics, particularly ones that depict the end of our current civilization due to various reasons whether it be war, natural resource depletion (which would likely lead to war), population overcrowding (probably linked to natural resource depletion), disease, etc., is the governmental formation of these future worlds.

If they are post Earth, what is the likelihood that these governments would be democractic in any way? Wouldn’t it be more likely that future worlds formed after the demise of “earth” would actually reject the way in which the First World countries ran things (i.e., some form of democracy) due to the belief, rightly or wrongly, that the “old” form of running things led to natural resource waste, failure of population control, and so forth?

I guess this should be some form of poll question, but it seems to me that the way in which the government/ruling class of futuristic, or even paranormal or high fantasy, should be addressed in regards to why/how it is different. Lois McMaster Bujold once called the SFF genre as being a political fantasy.  Is …

Dear Ms. Castle:

>I haven’t read all your Harmony stories but I admit to enjoying them quite a bit even though, at times, I have felt like they were futuristic lite. Maybe I was just in a good mood when I read this one, but the story worked for me this time.

Sierra McIntyre, daughter of the wealthy McIntyre family, moved from Cadence to Crystal City in order to leave behind a somewhat checkered past and lay low. Sierra got a job as a tabloid journalist and becomes intent on exposing the Guild secrets. The Guild is an order somewhat akin to a feudal type system. The Guild has financial power and military might via the ghost hunters that are part of the Guild. At the head of a Guild is a Guild Boss who has climbed to the top via physical might or political prowess or a combination of both. The newest Crystal City Guild Boss is John Fontana. Sierra is granted an interview of Fontana to investigate the Guild and the suspicious death of the Guild’s previous boss.

Fontana has investigated Sierra because her tabloid exposes about …

Dear Jane,
Thank you for inviting me to write this review of Ann Aguirre’s Grimspace. After reading your review last month I was eager to read this and even more delighted to win one of the 20 ARCs you gave away. I am happy to report that I enjoyed the book as much as you did.
As you know, this book is written in the first person, from heroine Sirantha Jax’s POV. Generally speaking, I prefer a book written from multiple POVs. Maybe it is just what I am used to. But I have to say that this book works very well coming from Jax’s POV. Despite that “limitation” there is a very real sense that all of the characters grow and change as a result of what they go through together. And this ultimately is what makes Grimspace succeed for me. Ms. Aguirre is able to give us a strong sense of the other characters, especially March, even though we are not inside their heads. In your review you pointed out that Jax is not “loveable … [or] particularly honorable.” But, she is honest. During periods of …

Dear Ms. Hodge,

I greatly enjoyed the first batch of books Shomi published last year, so I’ve been looking forward to the imprint’s second offering. Yours is the first of those I’ve read, and for the most part, I am not disappointed.

Abbey Shore works her way through architectural school by flipping houses. Her latest project is the neighborhood haunted house, which has a ghostly reputation that far exceeds the reality. In fact, the only thing dangerous about it is the fact that several dead bodies are turning up in its general vicinity. Then one night, Abbey knocks down a wall while renovating and discovers a giant, spinning hourglass submerged in a tank of hydrogen peroxide. And that’s where her troubles begin.

I’ve never been a fan of time travel stories, so I was initially put off by that aspect. Thankfully the novel also promised a post-apocalyptic future, which is something I am fond of, and that was enough to overrule my misgivings. I’m glad that was the case because otherwise I would have missed out on an entertaining read. The first three Shomi books taught me to …

Dear Ms. Aguirre:

I’m not sure why I respond so well to urban fantasy stories. I think it has to do, in part, with the escapism factor. These books are often gritty but because of the otherworldly nature, it is easy to take. Easy to lose oneself in an entire other world. While Grimspace is not an urban fantasy story (i.e., no retelling of myths and legends) but rather a space odyssey, it still works for all the same reasons.

Sirantha Jax has the J-gene, a sensory gene that allows her to be a jumper. Jumper’s are vital for interstellar travel and therefore minor gods. Only Jax made a mistake or someone made a mistake and her last jump ended with the death of her pilot and lover. Pilot and jumpers are often lovers. Its nearly impossible not to be because the pilot and the jumper become one for that infitesmal moment that the ship and its occupants are “about to slingshot through our target beacon and back out to straight space.” Some pilots can’t even get it up without being “jumped in”.

The world opens up

…

Dear Ms. Kenin:

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I received a copy of Driven. While it is the third in Dorchester’s new “Shomi” line, it was the first of the new imprint that I read. It is quite safe to say that I was favorably impressed.

Driven is a story set in the Frozen North, in a post apocalyptic world (kind of Mad Max meets Red Dawn). Raina Bowen is a driver who is trying to win a high dollar prize for getting her grain haul to a destination before everyone else. Problem is that the highway that was built by Janson Transportation who is controlled by a very evil man, Duncan Bane. She stops at a truck stop to wait for a person called the "Wizard� who is supposed to provide her a license to jump the line on the highway, thus giving her an advantage to winning the race.

Wizard is a genetically enhanced human who has issues with Duncan Bane. He has very little emotion, …

Dear Ms. Howson:

When you sent me your book to read, you said that it was a Young Adult Futuristic Romance. I didn’t need a blurb or anything else since I don’t know if I had ever read a YA Futuristic Romance and was quite intrigued. I really liked your voice, the story, the world, but was disappointed at the development of the romance.

Linnet is a privileged girl who lives in some type of futuristic earth setting. There are two distinct classes of people – those who live above the pollution in the sky and those who live below the pollution on the ground. I really liked the play on the “upper” class and “lower” class concepts giving them both literal and figurative meanings. The wealthy have moved themselves away from the smog because the pollution was killing vegetation, causing impurities in the water, and generating deformities in people.

Linnet’s family has enough money so that they live entirely above. Everything from their schools to the nurseries that grow their food are in the upper areas of the atmosphere. But all of living creates waste …

Dear Ms. Krentz:

As stated by you, White Lies represents a move toward the consolidation of your books under one name. Previously your futuristic novels were published under the nom de plume, Jayne Castle. The Arcane Society, an alternate reality world inhabited by people with psychic abilities, was originally introduced in historicals written by you as Amanda Quick. While the Arcane Society world was readable, it certainly wasn’t my favorite Quick books for the basic reason that I was reading your stories for your deft characterizations and quick wit and not for the otherworldly aspects. Unfortunately, White Lies has the feel of a stale story with retread plot and characters and only a bit of your trademark wit making the otherworldly aspects seem on the wrong side of the ridiculous.

Clare Lancaster is an off the charts member of the Arcane Society who’s psychic ability is to read lies. She’s been summoned by her father, Archer Glazebrook, for a meeting at the family manse. Clare is not a regular member of the family, rather she is the product of an affair Archer had with Clare’s mother during a turbulent time in Archer’s marriage. Once …

Dear Ms. Robb:

I left off the last book feeling vaguely unhappy with how little Eve seems to give in the relationship with Roarke. This book is my comeuppance. Every book in the In Death series has had a good mystery and police procedure is one of my favorite genres. Not every one, however, leaves me with a big impression or makes me want to re-read it when I close the book. This one, made me stay up until 2 am, wondering if I needed to join some Reader’s Anonymous club for people who are worthless at work because of reading books.

Eve Dallas has two problems. The first is that her murder victim is like Mr. Rogers, only way younger. He’s a school teacher at a private school. Everyone likes him. He had a great marriage. The only complaint was that he and his lovely wife had very noisy sex and alot of it. There is simply very little reason to kill young Mr. Rogers (also known as Craig Foster).

The second is that a real threat to Eve and Roarke’s marriage …

Dear Ms. Anderson:

This is the third and last book that I have of yours that I read. I bought it back in November when it came out, still thinking about the Dangerous Cravings book. I figured that any excessive porniness that existed in Dirty Girl would surely be stamped out by the editing at Aphrodisia. I also thought that a sci fi erotic romance would be a fun read. I can safely say that every thought I had was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Sadie, the girl with no last name, is a reporter from the planet IO. She wants to make it big as a journalist, but her chauvinistic boss won’t let her investigate any good stories. She uses her vacation days to infiltrate the prostie-borg plant in hopes of writing a career making expose. This is awkward for her because she is raised in the morally upright colony of Goshen by a mean and uncaring Aunt, but her unnatural sexual desires led to her fiance leaving her.

Her plan falls apart when her “Overlook Me” chip starts breaking down (isn’t it convenient that they make a chip …

Dear Ms. Everaux:

Over at Bam’s blog, a couple three people suggested Bam read this book. I’m not Bam but I am always up for a recommendation. I had to fly for business last Thursday and downloaded this book at the airport. God, I love ebooks. . Onto my handheld the book went and I proceeded to walk around the entire airport, down the jet bridge, onto the tiny commuter jet and so on without looking up. So maybe I bumped into a few people, trampled over a kid or two without noticing what I was doing, but I was reading!!

Moira Shine lives in an alternative earth that has been decimated by disease. In the first chapter, we learn everything we need to know about Moira. She has suffered terrible loss, but hasn’t allowed it to make her bitter. She has a big heart and a pragmatic nature. She understands when it is time to run and hide and when it is time to fight. My kind of heroine. More than anything, though, she loves that she had a child even …

Dear Ms. Bast:

If pressed, I would probably say that you are my favorite EC novelist. I am eagerly awaiting your Berkley releases. I bought Water Crystal during my Bast glom and thought, despite the title, that it was a contemporary given the cover. It is not a contemporary, but rather a futuristic. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is a sore lack of futuristics in the romance genre and so when I come across a decent one, I am probably more forgiving.

This is a slightly futuristic tale which involves some heavy duty worldbuilding. I am sure that someone more sophisticated than I will find flaws but for me, the world you created seemed full to me. An alien lifeform, known as Kiran, came to Earth when their own world began to die. In order to inhabit Earth, these aliens cultivated freysis bacteria which is toxic to humans. Freysis was loosed into the water system and ecology took over forming a continuous supply of freysis. To humans, enough exposure to water, even in rain form, will be deadly. When a strange …

Dear Ms. Waddell:

I was talking to a sci fi aficionado the other day and bemoaning the fact that there are so few true sci fi / futuristic romances these days. When Tara Marie mentioned that she liked it, I paid attention and picked it up.

Cullon Gavriel and Danna MacFadyen are part of an intergalactic investigation team set to ascertain the cause of an explosion onboard the craft, Llyndar, that resulted in the death of 46 people. Danna is part of the diplomatic corp but is chosen in great part because of her psychometric ability. Danna can read the emotions of a person by touching an object that was imprinted with that emotion. I guess if Danna could read my old laptop that I ruined by spilling chicken noodle soup on it, she would find frustration, disgust, and then a little joy at having to buy a new one.

Cullon Gavriel is a commander in the Korcian Empire. He is part of the investigation team because one of the members on the crew was an heir to the Korcian Empire and a True Blood. …

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 …