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

I remember Joanna Bourne first was mentioned to me last summer at the RWA convention in Dallas. I was told that this is an author to watch. Unfortunately the books weren’t going to be released until January so in googling, I found that Bourne had written a book, Her Ladyship’s Companion, a gothic romance in the early 80s. I ordered it and at the time, it only cost me a few dollars. They are now selling for $49.50 and up at Amazon. I think it says something about Bourne’s writing that her first book is now suddenly a collectible. She’s a writer to watch, someone whose work, even on her worst day, makes the historical genre better. Her third release, My Lord and Spymaster, is in stores now.

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Oh man. This takes me back. The first book.

It was a sweet Regency with gothic elements … and doesn’t that tell you this was not just precisely recent?

This was …

Dear Ms. Bourne,

I was enthralled with the first half of your recent book, The Spymaster’s Lady. A smart hero, a plucky (in a good way) heroine and beautiful prose had the book well on the road to being a solid A for me. Unfortunately, in the second half of the book the heroine underwent what seemed to be a radical personality transplant, becoming incredibly, implausibly naïve and helpless. Further developments and revelations in the latter part of the story brought my grade down even further – the second half was a C (it would’ve been lower if I hadn’t still been impressed with the prose), and my grade for the book ended up averaging out to a B. A respectable grade, but one that didn’t really reflect my frustration with what felt like the sabotaging of a story that the potential to be great.

My Lord and Spymaster is loosely related to The Spymaster’s Lady; the characters of Doyle and Adrian from the earlier book both appear in the latter one. I found that their inclusion was not the only similarity the books shared; I ended up having many of the same issues with My …

Dear Ms. Bourne,

It’s taken me a while to get around to reading your debut, The Spymaster’s Lady. Back in the winter, Robin asked me if I would review it in a conversational review with her before your next book came out, and I promised that I would. When I got to reading it last week, my repsonse to The Spymaster’s Lady was far from Robin’s own experience of the book and she suggested that I convert the notes I had prepared for a conversational review into this letter instead, so that the review could stand on its own.

Readers who have not yet done so can find a plot summary for The Spymaster’s Lady in Jane’s A- review. Another opinion can be found in Jayne’s A- review. And readers should also be aware that this review will contain spoilers.

The writing in The Spymaster’s Lady is crystalline in its beauty and sharpness. The prose is just gorgeous, scintillating, and as others have noted, the French dialogue and Annique’s POV thoughts in French are absolutely spot on in capturing the cadences of the French tongue. You are a brilliant stylist, a …

Joanna Bourne FTW! Three of us here at Dear Author have read Joanna Bourne’s The Spymaster’s Lady and the consensus is that it is super fabulous. The heroine is an amazing French spy who everyone believes holds the plans to Albion, the French invasion of Great Britain. This sets spymaster Grey, Head of the entire British Section, on her heels. The novel is a triumph of the use of language as Bourne creates unique linguistic patterns for her characters. Annique sounds French, Grey sounds English, and everyone else has their own unique cadence, lending a rich overlay to the complex and surprising plot. It’s a book that reminds you why you love historicals.

On the Wings of Love by Elizabeth Lane is a gem of a historical set in 1911. As Jayne called it, it was a period in which the individuals lived “on the knife edge of change” and Lane deftly weaves the spirit of the time period throughout the story. Alex is a woman who wants more from life than just marriage and babies. …

Dear Ms Bourne,

My blogging partner Jane and I usually have similar tastes in historical novels. Usually, I say, because we’ve been known to disagree at times. And it’s those times that I almost hate to do a review and have to say, sorry but I think this one sucked. I’m glad to say that this is a time when Jane and I agree on a book. Jane’s review lays out about as much information as a reader should probably have to not spoil the surprises and plot, so I will direct people there to learn the intricate story you tell. Makes it so much easier on me! I will now proceed with my thoughts, me.

I love how the book jumps right into the action. There’s no long set up or explanation of the characters but the story doesn’t need them. We learn what we need to know as we need to know it. I haven’t read it twice so can’t answer to Jane’s statement that the clues are there to be seen once the tale is known but I adore how …

Dear Ms. Bourne:

What a struggle I had with writing this review. I know some ask what are the hardest reviews to write and I am convinced, after drafting and redrafting this one, it is the review of the book that you love. Because as a reader, I am trying to convey the beauty that is someone else’s writing so that others will see the same beauty. The best thing I can say to readers is to go the bookstore and read the first chapter.

The Spymaster’s Lady is about secrets. It is about the secrets the characters keep from each other. It is about the secrets that you, the author, keep from the reader. Annique, the Fox Cub, is an intentional mystery to Grey, the British Spymaster. But Grey is a mystery to Annique as well. Both characters fail to fit in the predetermined slots each has set for the other. “A man itches to peel you, veil by veil, laying your secrets bare, opening you up to reveal mysteries.”

However, the truth behind the secrets, the reveal, is always there for both the reader and the …

Last Sunday, I started babbling about how much I liked a January 2008 release called The Spymaster’s Lady. At the time, the author did not have an updated blog or website so I wasn’t able to provide a link to an excerpt. However, since that time, Ms. Bourne has updated her blog and provided a delicious excerpt. It certainly whets the appetite, no?

First up is the Apple iPhone issue.

On Thursday, Apple released an iPhone firmware update that adds several functions incluing TV out functionality (meaning you can hook up the iPhone to the TV and watch the video iPhone content on the TV) and the ability to buy music over a wifi connection from the iPhone. Updating the firmware will remove any modifications but it will NOT make the phone inoperable. If you have hacked the phone to add the books.app, as I suggested in this post, wait until the programmers have updated the iPhone jailbreak code.

I do want to note that “jailbreaking” and “unlocking” are two separate things. If you have unlocked the iPhone to use with another carrier, then it is possible that your phone will be inoperable. If you simply opened up the iPhone’s programming (also called “jailbreak”) as I did, the firmware update simply removes your modifications and returns the iPhone to Apple’s preferred settings.

If you have done the jailbreaking but want to update, follow Natetrue’s advice here. If you did update and it is “bricked” or won’t work, then follow the …