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

Dear Ms. Banks:

Thank you for sending me, Into the Lair, the second in the Falcon Mercenary series.  It might surprise you want I liked and didn’t like about this story.  Into the Lair takes up where Into the Mist left off by following shapeshifting brothers Ian and Braden as they hunt down the sister of their former team member. Gabe betrayed them and nearly killed them but all was forgiven when they found out these actions were taken to save his sister, Katie.

Ian and Braden head out to find Katie while struggling with their new shapeshifting skills.  The brothers were exposed to a chemical which affected their genetic makeup forcing them to change into animals at inconvenient times.  Ian and Braden fear losing control over this and have taken, at the advice of a medical doctor who is part of their new paramilitary/mercenary team, to injecting themselves with sedatives.  The fear is that the beast part of the men will overtake them to the point where they are savaging anyone who comes across their path, be they friend or foe.

I think you signal fairly early on how Ian and Braden …

We’re mainstreaming it this week – lots of broad-appeal books and a Dear Author favorite make the headlines.

Disclaimer: These books are not published yet, ergo these are not reviews. Repeat: Not reviews. If your book is snarked, it’s because your blurb failed to entice. No more, no less. Since we know the PM blurbs aren’t usually written by the authors, feel free to come by and tell us more about your book. Or be offended by the fact we snarked your blurb. Whichever you think is going to sell more books.

Meljean Brook is one of our favorite reads. Yay!
Meljean Brook’s DEMON DAWN, in which two Guardians must put aside their own tragic history after a terrifying betrayal by one of their own, to Cindy Hwang at Berkley Sensation, in a four-book deal, in a very nice deal, by Roberta Brown of the Brown Literary Agency.

This one is categorized as a romance, but…I’m guessing it’s more on the women’s fiction end of the spectrum. Three Rivers Press is Obama’s publisher, so I think they cater to a less genre market than, say, Harlequin. Also, author name? Is that her real name because if …

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. Banks:

I know you have a list of books you think I should read that you wrote and books you think I will despise but I can’t recall where this one fell on the list. Nikki has wanted JT Summers for as long as she remembered wanting a man but she’s always been too young or too much his best friend’s little sister. Fresh out of college, Nikki returns to her hometown with one person and that is to claim her man. Unfortunately, JT still sees her as off-limits no matter how grown up he finds her. His list of why not’s include age, promise to N’s brother to keep her safe (which presumably doesn’t mean shagging her brains out), and not tying her down to a small town filled with small minded individuals.

The ‘why nots’ are in a fierce battle with the ‘hell yes’s’ his body keeps erupting with.

The efforts Nikki goes to seduce JT is quite humorous and JT inevitably succumbs although he puts up a good fight. Strangely, though JT misinterprets Nikki’s intentions and not wanting to tie her down insults …

Dear Ms. Banks:

As I explained in my previous review, I hadn’t expected to read you again based upon my past experiences, but this book hit my doorstep at just the right time. I had had a rough day at work and just wanted to lay down on the sofa for a few hours and decompress. I started paging through this book and after reading the first couple chapters, my interest was hooked. So many setups for erotic romance tilt to the silly side such as involving some fantasy weekend and ridiculous games or bets.

The setup for this book, a cop determined to find the killer of his partner and a woman seeking to find her sexual identity, got immediate placement in the plus column. Essentially, Sweet Surrender passes the eyeroll test. At least at the start.

Grayson Montgomery lost his best friend and partner, Alex Winslow, in the line of duty. Only the Dallas Police Department believe that Alex brought about his own death. Gray and Alex’s father, Mick, are determined to find Alex’s killer and bring him to justice. Mick believes that the cop …

Madhouse by Rob Thurman is recommended by Jia. (Thurman is a woman if that matters to you and I have to admit I have a pro-female author bias so I thought I would throw that out there). Madhouse is a continuation of a series about two brothers which started with Nightlife and its sequel, Moonshine. Caliban Leandros, half monster, and his fully human brother Niko run a preternatural detective agency in New York City but their real mission is to put down the AUphe. The Auphe, a group of sadistic monsters from hell, bred Cal as their key to transforming the world into their own personal playground. Jia loves this series because there is great plotting, a fully realized paranormal world and, well, because the Leandros brothers are hot. They wield guns, serrated daggers, swords, and axes. I think if you love the Winchester boys of Supernatural, there’s a good chance you will love the Leandros brothers of Thurman’s books.

Mystic Horseman by Kathleen Eagle is from Jayne. Long time …

Dear Ms. Banks:

I know that alot of people give up on authors after one or two books. I also know that I have “hot button” issues that will make me leave an author behind even after one book, or a portion of a book. I had real issues with the portrayal of the heroine in For Her Pleasure. My notes of the book said “Kit Townsend was such a weak character. I felt sorry for her mostly. She was pitiable.” I didn’t finish the book, not even enough to write a DNF review. I am big on strong heroines and I didn’t feel that Kit Townsend met that definition. Ordinarily, a weak heroine will prevent me from following that author’s writing in the future.

So this is the story of how I came to read Into the Mist. Last Thursday, I came home a bit early from work. I had had a tough week and I was looking forward to just vegging out. Your book, Sweet Surrender, was the only book that I had received that day and I just …

moar humorous pics

The news recently has been all about free ebooks lately, mostly stirred by Oprah’s Valentine’s Day gift of Suze Orman’s bestselling book, Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny. More than 1 million copies of the books were downloaded. The news reports have been mostly positive as Yahoo stated that the giveaway did not appear to adversely affect sales.

Carol Stacy, President of Romantic Times, emailed me today after Lynn Viehl posted on the issue of free ebooks. Viehl has given free books away, although not any of her New York published work likely because most contracts ceding US distribution rights to the publisher also cede the right to distribute ebooks. In her post today, Viehl makes a reference to RT:
“Now I wonder if Romantic Times will accuse Oprah and Suze of undercutting other writers’ advances, the way they did with me and Melanie last year. I’m thinking no, how about you?”
Carol Stacy wanted to know what blogger protocol was, because she couldn’t make a comment on Viehl’s site in response to the post. I informed her that some …

Dear Ms. Banks,

You know what made me buy this book? Some people had commented on how closely it paralleled Shiloh Walker’s My Best Friend’s Lover. I had to buy the book myself to see if those accusations were true. See how well controversy sells? Suffice to say that these two books were very dissimilar despite the same plot: Friends to lovers story with a deception overlay. Oh, and in the cover contest area SS wins marginally. What the hell is with huge pager/cell phone on the hero’s pants in MBFL? But then again, what the hell is the expression on the SS hero’s face?

Toni (heroine), Matt (brother), AJ Spinelli and Simon Andrews all live at Matt and Toni’s house and have for several years (which is kind of weird in and of itself but at least it doesn’t feature the three men laying next to each other. IN BED. NAKED. like some other guys we know in romancelandia). Toni decides to move out because she can no longer disguise the strong feelings she has …