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

We are starting a new series called “If You Like” which will be hosted by various readers, authors and bloggers of Dear Author. The purpose of the post and the comments is to explore what we like about a particular iconic author and what other authors have books like the iconic author. Val Kovalin who writes about fantasy fiction at ValKovalin.com and m/m fiction at Obsidian Bookshelf is hosting this If You Like entry on Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel series. Val Kavolin did a great piece on Julia Spencer Fleming, a favorite of author of mine.
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If you like Jacqueline Carey …

Jacqueline Carey writes the Kushiel’s Legacy epic fantasy series (six books: Kushiel’s Dart, Kushiel’s Chosen, Kushiel’s Avatar , Kushiel’s Justice , Kushiel’s Scion , Kushiel’s Mercy), which may appeal to fans of historical romance and fantasy romance. To see why, please read on and rest assured that I don’t include any plot-spoilers.

Setting (era): Medieval.

Setting (geographic): Action takes place in Terre d’Ange (Land of the Angels), loosely based upon medieval France. The epic plotlines range across recognizable equivalents to …

Dear Mrs. Beverley,

Oh why don’t you write medievals anymore? Is the market not there? Are the only periods that will sell Georgians and Regencies? Not that I don’t like the books you set in those eras but your medievals were so good. I’ll pause a moment to blink back a tear. Sniff. Okay that’s finished.

Yet another “what does this title have to do with the book?” book. Unless
it’s referring to Renald’s black Damascus steel sword. But he’s never called this
in the book so…well, anyway on to the book. Since this is such a close sequel to “Dark Champion” I’m doing it next.

I won’t recap the plot as there is a wonderful DIK review at AAR that actually inspired me to read the book. LOM isn’t a DIK book for me but it was interesting and I’m sorry that when I finished it, I knew I’d read your last medieval. The hero is the friend in “Dark Champion” but I like that I didn’t need to read that one first. In fact, readers might like LOM better if they don’t
read DC first as we see a totally different side …

Dear Mrs. Townend,

When I read the description for your newest book, “His Captive Lady,” all I truly noticed is that it’s a medieval and set in the fens of East Anglia. It’s not until I began reading it that it dawned on me that it’s also a Saxon vs Norman story featuring a Saxon maiden and a Norman warrior. It was with a sigh of relief that I realized it was different from the other 1001 books with this combination of lead characters. For one thing, Erica is an outlaw on the run and despite the fact that Wulf is, yes, a bastard, he’s also half Saxon and more willing to use his head and negotiating skills to bring peace than just randomly hack at things with a sword.

Sweet baby Jesus but Erica was determined to end the generations old blood feud! That might be taking things just a little too far for modern sensibilities. I’m firmly with Wulf on that one. But, having said that, I’ve got to admire her courage for being willing to go just that far. As Guthlac says, …

Dear Ms. Gifford,

Your name was on my list of authors to try so when I spotted your latest release and realized it was about weavers in Flanders during the middle ages, I decided to try it. Hey, no knights, different setting, middle class, little used historical incident - I’m there. True it has a bastard hero but at least he’s not hooking up with a Saxon maiden after Hastings.

I like that you sprinkle information about women, weaving and the battle brewing between Edward III and Philip of France throughout the novel. No massive info dumps that bring the action to a dead halt is always a plus. I felt I got a good idea about the daily life of an unmarried woman in 1337 Ghent - very restricted - and how this contrasts with the greater freedoms that Katrine has as an agent for her absent father.

Weaving is her life. She takes great pride in it and how good she is at it. She’s managed their shop since her father was interned during his trip to England to try and obtain the English wool that is their lifeblood. This helps me to understand the …

Dear Mrs. Beverley,

Since it seems you’ve settled down into writing just Georgians and Regencies, I’m afraid new romance readers won’t be aware of the wonderful medievals you used to write. With that in mind, I’m going to try and dust off a few golden oldies, flog my gray cells to remember details and maybe entice some new readers in their direction.

Imogen of Carrisford is a pampered miss who has just been hurled into the real world. An orphan since her father’s mysterious death from a festering arrow wound, she knows she’s one of the richest prizes in England. After all, she’s had eligible men lined up courting her for months but when one storms the castle, she’s forced to flee for her honor and maybe her life. With no one to help her but a loyal servant, she heads towards the nearest man who might be willing to help her, FitzRoger of Cleeves. Bastard FitzRoger.

Imogen’s rude awakening continues as FitzRoger agrees to help her but after retaking the castle, appears to take over no matter how nicely things are phrased. Realizing that she’ll soon be married off and knowing that it’s for the good …

Dear Ms. Franklin,

Last year we were introduced to Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar, the “Mistress of the Art of Death.” Brought from Salerno to help solve a brutal series of murders, she proved so helpful that Henry II, exercising his royal right to run things whatever way he damn well wants, decided to keep her in England in case he might need her skills again.

It’s taken 18 months but now Henry’s snapping his royal fingers in the form of one Bishop of Saint Albans, aka Adelia’s former lover and father of her bastard child. Henry’s beloved mistress Rosamund the Fair has been poisoned — oops no, make that killed, and the blame is being flung straight at his Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who recently escaped from a palace prison in Henry’s French holdings and is headed back across the channel. Henry and Eleanor have their marital problems, Henry and his sons have their filial problems and if Adelia can’t figure out who really did Rosamund in, and Henry punishes Eleanor leading their sons to rebel against him, England will have Civil War problems. Again. And no …

Dear Mrs Townend,

As I’ve said in other reviews, these days it takes something different to interest me in a medieval. A new twist on an old plot, unique character traits for a knight or his lady or, glory be, something totally out of the ordinary. When you offered me a copy of your latest book “An Honorable Rogue,” the Breton setting caught my fancy. As I began to read it, the working class hero and heroine cemented my interest. Mix in a road romance crossed with a friends-turned-lovers and I got a book that held my attention and seemingly took no time at all to read.

Mistress Rozenn Kerber was a refreshing change from the feisty, foot stamping heroines who seem to inhabit medieval romances of late. Even her name is a nice change from endless Isabeaus. And no swords for this woman who’s far more comfortable wielding her needle as she creates beautiful clothes and wall hangings. Her desire for a settled home makes sense in light of the fact that she was a foundling and sets up a realistic conflict to be worked out with the wandering man she finds she …

Dear Ms Higginbotham,

I wasn’t aware when we accepted your offer of an arc for “Hugh and Bess” that it is actually a novel following in the footsteps of Jean Plaidy and Norah Lofts. I grew up reading those accounts of English Kings and Queens and even though I know now that some of the happy endings were merely cutting off the telling of the tale before the sad ending, I still recall them fondly.

To me it has always seemed like it would be harder to write within the confines of the historical facts known about people than to make everything up. Not that you didn’t do a fine job of adding shading to the known facts and filling in the knowledge gaps with some educated deductions. After finishing the book, I tried to find information on the internet about Bess and Hugh and let me tell you, as if you didn’t already know, you must have done some incredible sleuthing to find what you did. I’m impressed.

I was delighted that the story was filled with a gentle, dry, very subtle sense of …

Dear Mrs. Franklin/Norman,

What can I say? I finished “Mistress of the Art of Death” late in the evening after reading non-stop for almost 200 pages. My heart was racing, I was glued to the book and if a fire had started somewhere in my house, I honestly don’t think I would have noticed until I turned the last page. Then I would have grabbed my cat, my dog and my copies of your books before running for the door.

I closed the book and lay there, stunned and happy, as I tried to absorb the total story, the ending that wasn’t the end and the ending that was. The various characters who became real for me, the times in which I was immersed, the clues to the mystery that grabbed me from the start and as evil a villain as I ever hope roasts in hell for all eternity. The display of English Common Law had me wishing, as you implied, that Henry II were better known for more than ordering the death of Thomas àBecket because it should be his legacy to the English speaking peoples. And …

Back blurb:

“The cowled figures which stood around the open grave in the moonlight at Glastonbury in the year 1189 were used to mystery but even they were overawed by what was in the coffin.

Their great and ancient monastery was in trouble and if this sword was what they thought it was, if those bones were really Arthur’s, then they had a great relic for which their king would be properly grateful.

But their king was in France, fighting his son, Richard Coeur de Lion, and getting the sword to him would be a perilous business. A lot of people wanted that sword for a lot of reasons.

The young monk who takes it for them is unobtrusive enough but, as rumour of what he is carrying spreads, he is in danger. The companions he picks up on the way, a formidable Prioress, a Crusader haunted by the massacre in the Holy Land, may be trustworthy, or they may not.

The king they are seeking, Henry II, is sick so they are not only evading enemies, they are also in a race against time.

KING OF THE LAST DAYS makes a story full of sharp medieval detail, and lively wit and variety of mood. …