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

Dear Ms. Shinn,

I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve never read any of your novels before. Given how long I’ve been a fantasy reader, I don’t know how I managed to accomplish that. I hope my blogging partners here at Dear Author won’t hold it against me since several of them love your books. Better late than never, right?

To be honest, this probably wasn’t the best novel of yours to start with. First of all, it’s the fifth installment of an established series. While I didn’t get lost or confused at any point in the book, I could tell I was missing a lot of texture and richness when it came to the characterizations and relationships. I don’t think the book suffered because of it but I feel that people who’ve read previous books in the series would have gotten more out of it than a new reader like me would. That’s a just a theory though. I’d be interested in hearing from any other new readers who started with this book and what they thought about the presentation of characters and events.

I liked the idea …

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 …

Reader and Raelynx is the fourth novel in Sharon Shinn’s 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. Reader and Raelynx is the climactic book in this series. It brings together many threads from the three previous novels and the novella “When Winter Comes,” and for the most part, does this successfully. Recommended by Janine.

All that I loved about the first three Crazy books was back in On the Loose. There was a super sexy heroine who was smart, capable, fiercely loyal to her family, and one who knows how to get what she wants matched with a super sexy hero who wants to forget the best night of his life but can't once she's standing …

Sharon Shinn is one of our favorite authors here at Dear Author. Given the diversity of our tastes, its amazing that we can come to any agreement but the consensus at Dear Author is that there is magic in Shinn’s pen. This month you can sample a young adult book, General Winston’s Daughter, an anthology piece in Elemental Magic and soon, the fourth book in her Twelve Houses series, Reader and Raelnyx. A reader can’t go wrong with a Sharon Shinn book.

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I wrote my first book when I was twenty; I sold my first book when I was thirty-six. I had fairly well resigned myself to the notion that I would never be a published author, but I continued to write because there was no other way to get the stories out of my head.

Oh, I made submissions from time to time. One publisher lost a manuscript. Another publisher kept a book for two years before rejecting it. I had the name of the editor there, and every six months or so I would nerve myself to call …

Dear Ms. Shinn,

You’ve written some of my favorite romances (Yes, I know that they are published in the SF/Fantasy and YA genres, but I consider many of your books romances). General Winston’s Daughter, your latest YA fantasy novel, may not be my most cherished among your works but it’s still an unusually good book, a tale of a young woman’s coming-of-age, a powerful depiction of a society that chafes under colonialism, and the story of a romantic triangle that is quite unlike most of what I usually come across in my reading.

Averie Winston is the only child of General Winston, the highest General in the Aeberelle Army. Averie’s mother is long dead, but Lady Selkirk, her very proper and widowed chaperone, is accompanying Averie to Chiarrin, where Averie will be reunited with her father and with her fiancé, Colonel Morgan Stode, both of whom are stationed in Chiarrin as part of a military campaign.

At eighteen, Averie is curious and adventurous, and very much looking forward to her first visit to a foreign land. Averie hopes to be married in Chiarrin, and there to begin her happy life with …

Dear Ms. Shinn,

This book was so good that after finishing it I kept saying to myself, "This book was so good! This book was so good!" I sat down at my computer to write this letter and like an inarticulate idiot, all I could think to say was "This book was so good!”

Yes, Dark Moon Defender was a very, very good book, and easily the most romantic thing I've read that came out in 2006. Thus far it's also my favorite of your Twelve Houses books, which began with …

Dear Ms Shinn,

I hadn’t known, or perhaps I’d just forgotten, that this book was a police procedural murder mystery. I did know that it involved priestesses so expected some religious element but I had not expected to be blown away by how wonderfully you would work that into the story. And while the book is set on a faraway planet, it features themes that are probably eternal everywhere: religion, greed, love and redemption.

From the Publisher
On a planet of barren beauty near the edge of the civilized galaxy, two religions are practiced. Both sects worship the same goddess - the Triumphantes in joy and splendor, the Fideles in solemnity and selflessness. As different as day and night, sun and shadow, joy and grief, the two sects are now bound together in death… A serial killer is stalking the priestesses, killing first a Triumphante, then a Fidele, in turn. Six women are now dead, and the planetary authorities are at a loss. Enter Interfed Agent Cowen Drake. A cunning professional, he must immerse himself in an unfamiliar world of stark spirituality to catch the killer. A world that will trap him between opulence and sacrifice, between …

Sharon Shinn, author of such fabulously romantic fantasy novels as Archangel and Dark Moon Defender, has launched a website at http://sharonshinn.net. Shinn’s many fans will be pleased to learn that her new site includes the author’s news, biography, links and interviews, FAQs, contact information, and even behind-the-scenes details about her books for both adults and young adults.

Dear Ms. Shinn,

Once again I’m lost in the world of Samaria. Every time I pick up one of these novels, I feel transported to a different place and time. Some of the characters I like, others I despise but they all feel real to me. They have hopes, dreams, fears, plans. But let me ask you, is there anyone there who can’t sing? Was that one of the requirements when Jovah chose which earthlings to carry away from imminent world destruction and carry to this new planet where once a year everyone must raise their voices in harmony or face the wrath of their God?

Gaaron is less than a year away from assuming the role of Archangel of Samaria. It will be his task to lead both angels and humans. Sometimes he feels like it will be an endless, thankless job but it’s one he’s been prepared for all his life by his volatile, bitter angel father. Now in addition to trying to control his self destructive younger sister, he has to find his angelica, the woman the God Jovah has chosen to be his wife. But as he begins his search, he learns of …

Dear Ms. Shinn:

Before I start fawning all over this book, can I say something about the cover? What is with this guy’s lips? They’re huge! They look like they are stolen from Angelina Jolie. The more I look at this guy, the less attractive he is to me. All right, enough about the book cover.

This is the third in your Gillengaria series. I loved Mystic and Rider which introduced us to 6 disparate characters brought together for a journey into southern Gillengaria. The story focused primarily on Senneth, the most powerful mystic in the land, and Tayse, a leader of the King’s Riders. The second story, Thirteenth House, told the tragic love story between Kirra Danalustrous, a noblewoman, and married man of the Thirteenth House. I was a bit distraught at the end of Thirteenth House. I suffered through so much emotional turmoil for that book only to arrive at an unsatisfactory conclusion. I still feel that Kirra’s life is unfinished, that she is not yet complete. But DMD is such an utterly romantic book that it makes up for …