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

It’s been a while, but publishing has also been slow now that we’re in the doldrums of summer. Here are the latest deals.

This series has been selling like hotcakes. It keeps dropping off the USAT list only to pop on again the next week.
NYT bestselling authors PC Cast and Kristin Cast’s HOUSE OF NIGHT series, set in the school where young “marked” students train to become adult vampires, to Michael Birnbaum at Empire Pictures (JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE, BANDITS), by Sean Daily at Hotchkiss and Associates, on behalf of Meredith Bernstein at the Meredith Bernstein Literary Agency.

The James Patterson machine cranks out another money-maker.
James Patterson’s YA series MAXIMUM RIDE, to Columbia Pictures, with Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul at Seaside Entertainment (Iron Man) producing, along with Steve Bowen and Leopoldo Gout at James Patterson Entertainment, and Don Payne (Fantastic Four) adapting.

12 huge books in the series. Surely they won’t all be crammed into one movie.
The late Robert Jordan’s THE WHEEL OF TIME series, to Universal in an outright buy, in a significant deal, by Joel Gotler of Intellectual Property Group, on behalf of Nat Sobel at Sobel Weber Associates.

A move back to historical. Interesting.
Anne …

Dear Ms. Donnelly,

When I opened the package containing the arc of your latest book “The Winter Rose” I gulped. Reason one: it’s got a very nice cover. Reason two: it’s a hella lot of book. 700+ pages of trade paperback sized book to be exact. It’s the type of book that requires a big time commitment from a reader. Not only because of the length but also because of the plot and intensity of the read. Readers who have longed for a return to the sprawling sagas of days past will rejoice, I think. That is if they really want to read this type book again. As I read it, I unfortunately found that that type of reader is not who I am anymore.

After a trip over to the Big Internet Bookstore to check out reviews of the prequel to this novel, “The Tea Rose,” I found that a lot of readers must want to read this genre again or for the first time. Reviews ran heavily towards five and four stars. However it was the three and under ones I chose to read and I found that they eerily mirrored my …

Jennifer Donnelly is a multi decorated author of the fiction books, A Northern Light , The Tea Rose, and her most recent release, The Winter Rose which is the second book in the Tea Rose trilogy. Her books are set in intriguing time periods (early 20th C) and feature strong, dynamic heroines. A Northern Light is set in 1906 Adirondacks and features 16 year old Mattie who has a gift for writing which can be explored if she goes to college but her desires war with her family obligations.
The Winter Rose showcases India Selwyn Jones who graduates from London School of Medicine in 1900 and decides to use her skills to bring medicine to the poor. India falls in love with an entirely appropriate man, a notorious gangster, and the saga takes them from “London to Kenya to the wild, remote coast of California. When the review request was delivered to us for this book the Dear Author group fought over who would get to …