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 …

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 …

If there’s one author that Jane, Jayne and I have all enjoyed reading, it’s Sharon Shinn. So when I floated the idea of interviewing her, it was met with great enthusiasm and it quickly grew into Sharon Shinn week here at Dear Author. Of course, the whole thing hinged on the author herself agreeing to be interviewed. Luckily for us, Sharon Shinn said she would be delighted to do the interview. So we sat down togeth– well, no, not really. We sat down at our computers to send the questions and answers back and forth. The result was this interview, here for your enjoyment. — Janine

Tell us a little bit about how you got started writing and how you came to be published.

I wanted to be a writer from the time I was about 8 years old. I wrote my first novel the summer I was 20 and working at a pretty slow-paced government job. Every time one of my co-workers asked me what I was doing, I said I was writing a letter. All summer! But that book was unreadable, and the …

Dear Ms. Shinn:

I remember that I originally checked this book out from the library. I had been a reader of yours but you hadn’t quite made it on my hardcover TBB list. The book languished on my nightstand for about two weeks when I realized I was getting close to the due date. So I picked it up and I couldn’t put it down and when I say I couldn’t put it down, I mean that I walked around my house to the car to the restaurant to the car and to my home without putting the book down.

Mystic and Rider tells the story of a powerful mystic, Senneth, who has been charged by her king to travel to Southern Gillengaria and investigate the rumblings of unrest. There are rumors of mystics being hunted and killed in the southern regions. Senneth chooses two mystics to go with her, Kirra Danalustrous and her companion, Donnal. Kirra and Donnal are shapeshifters. King Baryn orders two of the members of his elite personal guard, called the King’s Riders, to protect the group of mystics. Tayse and Justin are warriors …