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

An absolute glut of historical fiction. Kind of surprising.

I can’t tell if this is historical fiction or just literary with a historical-fiction-sounding title. Is it safe to say that Avon A is the most confusing imprint ever and that possibly even those in charge of Avon A don’t really know what the brand stands for?
Minrose Gwin’s THE QUEEN OF PALMYRA, reminiscent of The Secret Life of Bees, to Carrie Feron of Avon A, in a nice deal, for publication in Winter 2010, by Leigh Feldman at Darhansoff, Verrill, Feldman (world English).

I had to ask someone what ‘Shane’ was. It’s a western. So western + Mad Max + Urban Fantasy = A female version of King’s Gunslinger series?
Vampire Babylon series author Chris Marie Green’s BLOOD LANDS series, coined as a Shane meets Mad Max Urban Fantasy, to Ginjer Buchanan at Berkley Ace, in a very nice deal, by Pamela Harty of The Knight Agency (NA).

I’m guessing standard urban fantasy. It’s a fairly safe bet lately.
Stephen Deas’s THE ADAMANTINE PALACE, to Ginjer Buchanan of Berkley Ace, in a very nice deal, in a three-book deal, by Susan Howe at Orion UK.

Now I have Blondie’s ‘Heart of Glass’ going through my head.
Ali …

Dear Ms. Archer,

The other Next book of yours I read, “Off Her Rocker,” also featured an older heroine stranded in the snow who ends up in a small town where she finds people to help and who help her. Only this time you also throw in a cute former police officer turned PI and send them both on the run from drug dealing bosses and over protective rich daddies.

Annie Macy might seem like she’s an unbelievable character but I know fourty-some year olds who are still daddy’s girls, drifting around life and waiting for Mr. Right. At least Annie is trying to earn a place in her father’s bank even if he’s too protective of her to allow her to take over after he retires. And when she discovers that the latest man her father hoped she’d marry is in love with another woman and that her long dead mother might have been mixed up in something shady, she takes a chance and heads off to find out about it. I admire her for wanting to learn the truth about her mother, even if it might not be what she wants …

Dear Ms Archer,

The back blurb for this Harlequin Next book was a little confusing. Something about grown children and empty nest syndrome and being in Hell. Well, that’s a lot of the story but not quite all.

Dana Logan can’t imagine where all the years went. One day her children were young and suddenly she and her husband are dropping their youngest off to start college. Dana heads back home to discover that there’s nothing to fill her days but worrying about her daughter’s impulsive elopement and if her son is getting to his classes on time. Pretty soon she’s reduced to following the antics of the backyard squirrels and playing bridge with women she’s never liked. When a call to her son reveals he’s sick and needs to her finagle an extension for a test, she doesn’t stop to think before heading out to drive to his rescue.

Only Troy never meant for his mother to show up in his dorm room and Dana leaves just as quickly after they fight. Now she’s driving home, late at night, through gathering snow until a detour sends her in the direction of Hellen, CO …