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

Dear Ms. Shinn,

I was tired, crabby, and busily packing for a trip when the ARC of Reader and Raelynx arrived on my doorstep. Minutes later, I gleefully sent off an email to my fellow Dear Author reviewers, quoting the little note that said “Sharon Shinn said you would be interested in seeing a galley of her upcoming book for possible review! Enjoy!” Was I interested? You better believe I was. And did I enjoy the book? Absolutely, although I have a few caveats.

Reader and Raelynx is the fourth novel in your Twelve Houses series. Although published as fantasy, the books all contain romantic storylines that take center stage. The series is set in Gillengaria, a kingdom where mystics (those people who have magical abilities) are frequently persecuted by those who fear them, and the books follow the fortunes of a group of friends, five mystics and two elite soldiers belonging to the king’s personal guard, as they seek to help Gillengaria’s sympathetic King Baryn.

As Reader and Raelynx opens, the group is dispersed, with shapeshifters Kirra and Donnal prowling though the kingdom and newlyweds Justin and …

Dear Ms. Riley,

After reading “The Oracle Glass” I knew I needed to look into getting your other books. I just wish more than “Vision of Light” were available as ebooks. Ah well, I’ll keep looking for others and in the meantime, I’ll point out to other readers that they need to buy this one.

Brother Gregory is a man with a mission. He needs to prove to his fight loving aristocratic father and his obtuse Abbott that he really does have a vocation for the holy life. For now, he’s trying to eke out a living in London by hiring himself out to write letters for the mostly illiterate population of the mid fourteenth century city. He knows he’s hit rock bottom when a woman wants to hire him to write her life story. What’s next, writing the autobiography of a horse? They’re one and the same to Gregory. But his stomach demands food before it will allow him peace to seek visions of God so he grudgingly agrees and in doing so, he learns the life story of an incredible woman. Margaret of Ashbury might have been born in a small English country …