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

Dear Dr. Austin,

A dear friend of mine is a doctor. She and I graduated together over twenty years ago from UNC-Chapel Hill. I went into my profession and she headed off to medical school. Then came her internship and finally residency. The whole time she was struggling through her learning and training to become a doctor, she would occasionally moan, “I should have done what you did. I’d have a life. I’d sleep at night. I wouldn’t have to deal with patients who show up in the ER complaining that they slept crooked last night and now they have a crick in their neck.” Life’s a little better for her now that she’s an attending but the slog to get there was long and hard.

So when I read about your experiences in medical school, in training and doing your day-to-day (or evening-to-night, or night-to-morning) job in the emergency room, I had to laugh, nod and grimace as I remembered what she’d told me years ago. Yes, I know what the SCUT Monkey Manual is. I’ve laughed at the stupid things interns will do as they’re learning the actual nuts and …

Dear Mr. Culpepper,

Yours was a book lingering in my Fictionwise wish list (love, love, love that feature) for a few weeks after the title caught my eye during one browsing session. I’ve grown used to hearing less than positive adjectives attached to the word “American” so wasn’t surprised to see ‘clueless’ added to the list. But the promise of wit and humor in the rest of the title caused my mouse finger to click. The description of the book brought up by said clicking made me wonder if this might finally be my light bulb moment.

What? WTF do I mean by that? Let me explain. I am one of the many Americans who just does_not_get the sport of soccer/football. I’ve tried. Each four years, when the World Cup takes over the planet and most of the population is consumed by it I vow to myself that this time I’ll watch an entire game. This year I’ll finally, finally!, understand just what it is about the sport that causes such devotion and fervor.

And each time I fail. Each time I’ll flip on the TV, I’ll watch fans in the …

Harlequin has dabbled in the non fiction market in the past , but is launching a new imprint specifically for non fiction.  It’s launch title is Love Matters: Remarkable Stories that Touch the Heart and Nourish the Soul by a nighttime radio host called Delilah.  

The publication date for this book is end of this month.  The line will include “memoirs, health, diet, fitness, self-help, motivational and relationship books that cater to women, as well as nonfiction books by its bestselling fiction authors, and nonfiction companion pieces to its bestselling novels.”  Some of the 2009 lineup can be read here .

Dear Mrs. Vincent,

I don’t have children, well human children that is. And I’ve known for years that I probably am better off not having had any. That’s why I was quite surprised to find myself clicking on this title at Fictionwise and then actually buying it. What the heck am I doing, I thought? It’s not as if this will help me make a birth plan or anything. Yet something in the excerpt caught my interest, held it and then compelled me to try this book. The humor certainly but also the honesty and joy with which you tell your professional life grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. The many stories of your clients preparing for then living through the birth of a child were infectious and usually delightful. The many varied responses from mothers, fathers, siblings and in some cases casual passers-by to the miracle of birth kept me flipping pages (or in this case actually pressing the advance button on my ebook reader). I am seriously envious of people who have found that dream job, that perfect profession that feeds their souls along with putting food on the table for their families. …

Capitalizing on the success of the back to basics instruction manual for boys of all ages, publishers are now seeking its sister publication. The Dangerous Book for Boys detailed simple things like how to make a paper airplane and how to skip rocks. It’s retro, low tech appeal has been huge. The UK version was a bestseller for a year and in the US, it sits at No. 8 on the USA Today list with 635,000 copies in print.

Scholastic with its The Girls’ Book: How to Be the Best at Everything and Collins with The Daring Book for Girls will try to meet or exceed the success of DBoB. I guess as a mother of a young girl, I wouldn’t mind teaching her how to make an airplane and skip rocks rather than french braid her hair.

Via USA Today.

Okay, so now maybe the weird publicity material that Harlequin does emphasizing romantic relationships instead of books makes sense. It announced today that it would be publishing a line of non fiction books such as self help, diet, inspirational, memior and biographies. Its first non fiction book, Friends: A Love Story by Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance was a New York Times bestseller.

The Press Release also mentioned releasing “companion pieces to successful fictional series by the company’s many bestselling authors.” I suppose those are like the “companion” guides that have been done for Outlander series and Nora Roberts.

Via Newswire.

“Strike while the iron is hot” or so goes the maxim. In an effort to ride the publicity and interest surrounding the outing of Valerie Plame by officials in the Bush Administration, Sterling Publishing’s Union Square Press imprint will be putting out a book titled “The United States v. I. Lewis Libby” in April. The book will be edited by investigative journalist Murray Waas of the National Journal. It’s not listed on Amazon, so I’m not sure it’s pre-ordable quite yet.