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

Dear Ms. Janzen:

I really liked the first Steele Street stories. One thing, in particular, is that they sounded very modern. Over time, however, because the books are similar to one another, I stopped being impresed by the fresh tone because, well, it wasn’t fresh anymore. And with extended exposure to anything, the flaws in the series began to stand out. This is particularly true when the flaws are consistent from book to book.

Loose and Easy is focused around a twenty four hour period that starts when Johnny Ramos, former street kid and gang member, turned superfly military guy spots a high school crush apparently turning tricks. Nicknamed Easy Alex due to the lock she had between her legs, Esmee Alden is the last person he thought would have gone from Valedictorian to well, insert your own tasteless “head” joke here.

Of course, Esme is not a hooker but rather a purported expert in art recovery. She’s doing a job in Denver to get her father, who loves to gamble, out of hock for the last time. The job is pretty complicated. Get a piece …

Dear Ms. Mallery:

I’ve gone on a bit of a Mallery glom and the readers here will have to suffer along with me. Delicious is the second book I read in the Buchanan series. I read book 2, Irresistible, first. I’m not sure whether knowing the outcome of the story in Delicious affected my enjoyment of it, but I found the chemistry in Delicious to be a bit tepid. (Of course, PW gave it a Starred Review, so what do I know?) However, there was a lot to like in the story and didn’t stall my 6 book Mallery gorging.

Delicious is a second chance at love story where Cal Buchanan and Penny Jackson, formerly married to each other, reunite, fall in love all over again, and get to take another stab at the elusive HEA. Three years ago, Penny walked out on Cal and he never fought to get her back. Ostensibly Penny walked out because she didn’t believe that Cal loved her and Cal never convinced her otherwise. One thing that Penny wanted more than anything was to have children but Cal was …

Dear Ms. Thomas:

I first learned about you when Sybil sent me a link to your excerpt (this is a link to your blog because your website? It is gone!). It was enticing but your book wasn’t due out for months and months so I tried to put it out of my mind. But then my friend, Janine, mentioned that she was your critique partner and that she loved your book and maybe she could wheedle a copy out of you to read.

As you know, I stayed up late to read it. As is my normal course when I love a book, I begin emailing everyone I can to share the love which, in the case of early books, is like the author. I remember that I read this into the early morning hours and even forgot to set up a post for the blog for the morning.

Gigi is a very rich young girl who wants to marry well. Through a series of incidents, Camden Saybrook becomes Marquis of Tremaine. Camden has promised himself …

Dear Ms. Milburne:

In an attempt to broaden my reading horizons, I’ve been trying out new category authors. And when I say new, I mean “new to me.” Generally, my rule is that I don’t read books that have “baby” in the title. High off my reading success with other HP authors, I disregarded this self imposed rule and bought this.

I actually read about the inspiration for this book on the harlequinpresents.com author site. You said that your inspiration was from an autobiography about a young woman who becomes hooked on heroine and what her family did to bring her back from the brink of destruction. In Bought for Her Baby, your heroine’s sister is that drug addict whose habit has gotten to the point where she sells herself for sex and resorts to stealing wallets and I presume, other stuff to feed her habit.

Charlotte Woodruff is an assistant curator at a Sydney museum. She was put in charge of a special traveling greek exhibit when she finds out that the financier behind the exhibit is her ex lover and father of her secret baby. …

Dear Mrs Bowling,

This is the second story of yours I’ve tried and the second one I’ve liked. Again you make good use of the short word count in telling the story of of young lovers parted, love that lasts and a touching reunion but with the twist of time running out for a happy ending. Honestly I wasn’t quite sure how you’d end it but I enjoyed the heroine’s quick witted response and the joy between the two of them. And you even manage to include enough about the villains so that they’re not totally two dimensional. I’m still a bit hazy about the time frame of the story (was the hero’s father washed up on the English shore after the Armada?) but I like it enough for a B grade.

~Jayne

this book is available in ebook form

Dear Ms. Blake:

Perhaps it was a case of missed expectations but Tempt Me Tonight was like a rice cake: bland, airy, but not very sexy.

The story opens with 18 year old Trish not giving up her virginity to Joe. Joe then goes on to cheat on her and Trish vows never to love anyone again. Prologue over. Then comes the first chapter where Trish returns home to help her parents ready their small town business for sale. Trish is a big time defense lawyer in Indy (whose law practice is like none I’ve ever had the pleasure with which to be acquainted) and she's surprised to see how little her home town has changed. For some reason it is not explained why Trish never came home in the past fifteen years to see her parents. They were not estranged and it’s not like she lives sooo far away (like in another country) that visiting was prohibitive.

Trish and Joe see each other in a bar the night of Trish’s return and they still have …

“Marianne Findlay lives next door to the Earl of Latteridge’s York townhouse.
Though she has never met him, it was his mother who sealed her fate years before–and drove her from polite society. Now she and Aunt Effie take in boarders and live a modest life, which is soon disrupted by the handsome earl, his scapegrace younger brother, his charming and determined sister–and that vengeful mother of his.”

Dear Ms. Matthews,

I first noticed this book at Belgrave House and loved the cover. Then I started to look for a print copy (this was in the days before I had my Ipaq and could easily read ebooks on it) and was confused since the OOP Signet edition makes it look like a Regency. WTF? The people at Belgrave did you much better than the idjuts art department at Signet.

Marianne Findlay was once friends with the Earl of Latteridge’s sister but that relationship along with Marianne’s place in Polite Society was ended by an incident over which she had no control. Now she and her aunt live quietly in York. At least until she meets the next generation of the Latteridges and gets pulled into their lives. …

Dear Ms. Kent:

I bought this book during Fictionwise’s 20% off sale last December. I’ve bought other Blazes but this is the first Blaze I’ve actually read in a long, long time. I guess I’ve been missing out.

Milla Page is one of those people who have a job that most young people would dream of. She gets paid to go to the hottest nightclubs and restaurants in San Francisco to review the venues for suitability for the MatchMeUp.com clientele, an online dating service. Only, like most dream jobs, the reality is that going out and partying every weekend is very tiring and Milla is running out of guys who will be her “business only” date.

In the last minute, she decides to raid the office “Sisters of the Booty Call” fund. After a woman dates a guy but finds that he isn’t a good fit, she drops his business card in a vase shaped like a boot in the woman’s lounge with some descriptions of his “suitability” on the back. Milla reaches in and pulls out the name, Rennie Bergen …

Dear Ms. St. Claire,

So I am on my way to a small town for a business trip and I have a Pocket PC full of books to read. This one made my four hour trip seem like 1 hour. And I gleefully reminded myself that I only paid $3.89 at SimonSays.com.

Thrill Me to Death is an action packed book that reunites two old lovers. Cori Paker nee Cooper is the widowed wife of billionaire mall developer William Parker. Theirs was a May to December romance that lasted five years. William died of a heart attack in his bed but Beckwith International, the insurance company, questions whether this is really a homicide. Cori is concerned for her safety and contacts Beckwith who refers her to Bullet Catchers. Now, it bothered me a lot that BC was hired both by the insurance company and by Cori. It was a huge confict AND BC took on the case with no real loyalty to Cori.

Lucy, the enigmatic head of BC, taps Max Roper to be the muscle. She does so intentionally because Max …

Dear Ms. Peterson:

Your series has been advertised as loosely based on the Charlies’ Angels and it was the reason that I picked up your book. What a novel idea (pun sort of intended)–women Regency spies. I have always been a fan of the franchise, both in its original ideation and in the modernized version. One of the things I love about Charlie’s Angels is the action and with the current version, the campy over the top nature of the stories. Other than the opening scene, however, this story crawled by slower than a snail on Prozac.

Meredith Sinclair, widow, is living an ordinary and routine existence when she is tapped to join a newly formed group of female spies. She undergoes two years of physical and mental training. Her next mission is her most difficult. She must investigate Tristan Archer, Marquis of Carmicheal, who once saved Meredith’s life. Tristan is under suspicion of treason and as much as it breaks Meredith’s heart to be the one to expose him, her duty comes first. Meredith, like any good spy, will do anything including …