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

I saw blog hopping today that Mary Jo Putney of the Fallen Angel Series and the Silk Trilogy (one of my favorite historical trilogies) is leaving hardcover and paranormal historicals to concentrate on what made her famous: straight, meaty historicals. I think this is a fabulous move and better yet, her readers will be able to purchase her books in mass market instead of hardcover.

Via BookDaze.

Dear Ms. Putney,

This collection, published by Jove in 2002, includes one original contemporary Christmas novella and reprints of four of your older novellas from the early 1990s. All but one were new to me when I picked up this book. Here are my opinions of each of the stories:

“A Holiday Fling”

This is the contemporary novella. It is set in England and featuring two side characters from your book The Spiral Path. Jenny Lyme is a British actress. Greg Marino is an American cinematographer. Many years earlier they worked on the same movie, and after Jenny’s then-boyfriend dumped her, she ended up in bed with Greg. Because she was still hurting from being dumped, it didn’t turn into a romantic relationship, but rather a long distance friendship.

Now, years later, Jenny needs Greg’s help. A video of a play she is directing and starring in needs a good cinematographer. The proceeds from the video will go toward saving the tithe barn that served as a community center for Jenny and her neighbors for many years. So she calls Greg and asks him to be her cinematographer during his Christmas holiday. Greg has …

Dear Ms. Putney,

This book has been mentioned as being one of the weakest of this series (the Fallen Angels) and I can see why. I found myself far more interested in Robin and Maggie’s relationship, and for that matter Helene and von Fehrenbach’s relationship, than in seeing Rafe and Maggie get back together. Heck, I was more interested in Rex the cat than Rafe.

Years ago Rafe and Maggie loved each other then a (stupid) misunderstanding parted them in anger. Now it’s thirteen years later and Rafe is a Duke of Slut who (for reasons never fully explained) is sent to post Napoleonic France for some diplomatic high jinx. And he’s suited for this because he sleeps with any woman? Whatever. There he sees his old love Maggie now known as Margot who is also a spy. Maggie is involved with Robin, another Fallen Angel, who is also a spy. Rafe acts like an oaf, believes more lies about Margot/Maggie until he finally sees the light. Now the two of them have to keep Europe from being plunged back into war.

I was very disappointed with the awkward style in which historical information was worked …

Dear Ms. Putney,

Nestled between Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Ain't She Sweet and Amanda Quick's Scandal on my bookshelf are ten of your novels and your novella collection Christmas Revels. It's been over sixteen years since the first of these paper-bound inhabitants settled into my library, and they have not been allowed to gather dust.

I'm a finicky and spoiled reader: only one romance author has written a greater number of books that I have kept, and truthfully, I've mostly held on to her books out of nostalgia. They sit there unread, peering at my well-thumbed-through copies of Petals in the Storm and Angel Rogue, Uncommon Vows and The Wild Child, Shattered Rainbows and One Perfect Rose and yellowing with time and envy. To say that your books are dearly beloved is both a bad pun and an understatement.

I begin my open letter this way in the hope that you will understand that my disappointment with your latest book, The Marriage Spell, is partly a function of my great appreciation for your 1990s works. It is not that The Marriage Spell is a bad book; in fact, my opinion is that it's better than average. …