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

Dear Ms. Mancusi,

While I’ve read a few of your adult books, I’ve never tried your YA works. I’m not sure why that is because I’ve always gotten the impression your voice would do well with a younger audience. In my opinion, Gamer Girl proved my hypothesis correct. Maybe a little too well, in fact.

After her parents’ divorce, Maddy Starr leaves Boston to live with her grandmother in the suburbs. Starting over at a new school is always tough when you’re fifteen. It’s harder when your new school is full of poster children for Abercrombie and Fitch and your outfit of choice comes from Hot Topic. To make matters worse, Maddy’s first day at her new school is marred by having to wear a unicorn sweatshirt, her grandmother escorting her to the front office, and that same grandmother embarrassing the school’s quarterback by recounting an embarrassing childhood incident. Branded “Freak Girl” by the in-crowd, resulting in becoming a social pariah, Maddy loses herself in the online gaming world, Fields of Fantasy. Too bad her real life can’t be as perfect.

The best comparison for this book is …

Dear Ms Kelly,

I’m not a gamer so I’m sure I probably missed some “insider” stuff while reading your latest book but I had a great time laughing my ass off through the rest of it. And I’ve got to admire the chutzpah of having Princess Zara have you as her favorite author.

Poor Princess Zara. She’s got to be the horniest pixilated character in game land. And she’s gonna stay that way, courtesy of the Great Programmers until her hero, Sir Lincoln of Green fights his way to the highest level of the game. What game you ask? Only the best game on sale today, that’s what.
The Mythical Quest for the Illusion of Zara.

Millions had bought the game, millions were playing it even now. But as of yet, nobody&emdash;not one frickin' nimble-fingered mortal twit&emdash;had managed to reach the final level.

Zara glanced automatically at the large LCD screen adorning one wall of her chamber in the Tower of Chaos. The bar up one side was still green, not even approaching the yellow level. The final red bits at the top were distressingly dark.

She knew that once the red bars lit up, so would she. They indicated …