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

Dear Ms. North:

Ned opens the packages at our house and when he opened the Avon November 2007 box and saw this book, he proffered his opinion on the plot. “This book,” he said holding up the novel with its cover toward me, “is about a guy whose been having sex with a married woman and he just jumped out of the window because the husband got home; he hasn’t even had time to put on his shirt yet, but plans on getting one last smacker in before the husband comes and beats the crap out of him.”

I guess that is one interpretation of it. The cover did imply some type of furtive coupling but I didn’t actually see anything in the book that actually pertained to the scene on the front other than the heroine’s hair is, indeed, short, spiky and dark. The story actually started off strong for me. The heroine is one of those nerds in high school returning triumphant and I like that story. It had a secret baby plot, but it seemed that the heroine had a pretty legitimate excuse for not informing …

Dear Ms. Ellwood:

You have a fun sense of humor and your prose is quite readable. The romance, however, seemed rushed and pushed aside for the sake of the explicit sexual content. I had trouble believing that this couple truly loved each other or whether they just enjoyed the sex.

Cal Briscoe is a studio musician who struggles with the fact that at the age of fifty-one, he is unmarried and essentially alone. This loneliness is punctuated by the imminent marriage of his best friend, Brady, the hero in Truth or Dare, to a woman that Cal fancies himself with, Ellie. Much of the beginning half of the story is spent on the poignant feelings Cal exhibits when he longs for Ellie and his unrequited love for her.

Upon the urging of Brady, Cal decides to take refuge in Ellie’s hometown of Dareville, Virginia. There he meets Sue Carmichael, a photographer. Sue and Cal are opposites (the contest entry said think the Odd Couple) and often rub each other the wrong way.

The story is about taking chances and moving outside of one’s comfort zone for both Sue and …