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

Dear Ms. Briggs,

Once in a while there comes a book that sweeps you off your feet, a book you fall in love with so completely that it is hard to do justice to that love in a review. Alpha and Omega and Cry Wolf made me feel that way.

Because of the way I read them — first Alpha and Omega (from the anthology On the Prowl), then Alpha and Omega again, and then again Alpha and Omega, then Cry Wolf, and then more bits and pieces of Alpha and Omega and favorite parts (which means a good portion of the book) of Cry Wolf — and because they follow the same main characters and the same romantic relationship, it is hard for me to separate the two. I am, I think, going to have to review both together.

Here I sit, bleary-eyed from lack of sleep, trying to explain the euphoric grin I’m wearing. If someone had given me a bare bones description of Alpha and Omega — “Alpha werewolf hero, sexually traumatized heroine who possesses special abilities she is unaware of, and instant attraction between mates” — I might have …

Dear Ms. Brennan:

I bought this book because I’ve been wanting to read you for a long time but never got around to it. I actually have no reason because I think I even have received a few of your books for free. I think I believed that your books were more suspense-y and not very romance-y and I like the mix. Well, honestly I like books with a good dollop of romance.

Aaron Doherty was in prison for a little thing like killing a famous actress due to suffering from erotomania. Erotomania is a disease in which individuals delude themselves into believing that they have an intimate relationship with another, usually a celebrity. While in prison, Aaron begins reading romance books written by Joanna Sutton. He begins to believe that she writes these books directly to him, that the passages are communications. One day there is an earthquake and he is able to escape with a few other prisoners. He makes his way to Montana where Joanna lives and plans to start a new life that she’s been promising in her books. Yeah, Doherty …

Dear Ms. McCarty:

You’ve been a long time member of the romance blogosphere and I’ve wanted to read one of your books for quite some time. Your fan base is deep and devoted and you clearly write work that resonates strongly with them. Unfortunately, I never really connected with the stories in this collection until the end.

Running Wild is a collection of stories featuring three male werewolves and their mates who are conveniently all sisters gathered in the small Montana town of Haven. The first one features Donovan, a Protector (with a capital P) and middle sister, Lisa. The second features the youngest sister, Robin, and Donovan’s twin, Kelon (also a capital P Protector) and the last is Wyatt’s and the eldest sister, Heather.

The first novella, Donovan, plot is more about convincing Lisa that there are werewolves than anything else. Robin and Kelon’s story has a small suspense plot with a villain who could make a great serial killer for a full length book. Wyatt and Heather’s story is about the changes Wyatt wants to bring to the Pack as the new alpha, including doing away with the law …