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

Dear Ms. Kring,

Jane often sends me packages of arcs and free books we receive at Dear Author. I think sometimes it’s just to get them out of her house as I’m sure she’s swimming in them. Many times I’ll read the back blurb and think, “Oh, no thank you Jane.” But every once in a while, Jane will send me a book that I might never have tried on my own but which proves to be one I’m glad I got a chance to read. “Carry Me Home” is such a book.

On the surface, it seems straightforward enough. A young man narrates his life in rural Wisconsin in the years before, during and after WWII. And as such, it’s a book that romance readers might not be interested in, though there are secondary romances for two of the characters. It wasn’t until I began reading that I discovered that Earl Hedwig Gunderman, Earwig for short, is a “sixteen -year-old, dumb-as-a-stump brother” who’s going to tell us about his life, his brother, his family and the small town he lives in. Though his eyes, we see how the war is going to …

Dear Mr. Bohjalian:

When I first got a copy of this and read the dust jacket, I thought “A story of the end of WWII. A book about a family’s flight through the horror that was the collapse of the thousand year Reich. I bet that’ll be uplifting.” And though I didn’t immediately put this in my “why did Jane send me this because I’m never gonna read it” pile of books, it lingered on the “I’ll get to it sometime. Maybe.” stack until something made me pull it out. Why? I really don’t know but once I got started, the pages flew.

I did worry that I would lose track of the various protagonists and characters. Because let’s face it, there are a lot. The Emmerich family - those five who start the journey and the brother fighting on the eastern front, the Scottish POW who got placed on their Prussian sugar beet farm as a laborer, the Jew who decided he wasn’t going to stay on the train to Auschwitz and who’s spent the past two years shifting like a chameleon based on which soldier’s papers he can find, the work …

Dear Ms. Brand,

I’ve been on a WWII kick the last few weeks which is what made me focus on the blurb for “Blind Instinct.” The heroine obtains a Nazi codebook that’s going to lead to all kinds of secrets and threats to her life. This is what brings her together with the hero as they race to solve the connection between the codebook, a killer and a Nazi criminal.

When I looked at “Blind Instinct” at the eharlequin site, I didn’t realize that it’s actually the third book in a series. Usually there is some icon on the front cover of series books but there wasn’t one here. So when I started it, there was a lot of information that I had to catch up on. You do a good job filling in the information from the past books but there were times I still had to stop then mentally flip through the many characters and their relationships and their pasts to get myself back on track. By the end of the book, everything made sense but newbies should be …

Dear Ms Bostwick,

I’m so glad that your publisher offered us a chance to review your latest novel. “On Wings of the Morning” took me back to a simpler time in American history but one in which people loved as much, still made mistakes but had a common purpose. So much of it reflected what those interviewed for Ken Burns’ latest film, “The War” said about the era. It had to be done, it might not be what people wanted to do but they were in it until it was finished and willing to make any sacrifice to see it through.

The book has a great period feel and I can see you’ve done your homework. From Morgan’s childhood on a farm in rural Oklahoma to Georgia’s uprooted existence moving from backwater Florida to big city Chicago, I could see them and the people around them. I could feel living through a summer with only an oscillating fan, driving to see Charles Lindbergh — to actually see the Lone Eagle, the man who changed aviation history! — wanting to learn to fly so badly and sensing that it was your destiny that …

Dear Ms Harris,

I’d seen your books available in a few other catalogues but it took one of the 100% rebates from Fictionwise to spur me into action. As Jane says, what’s to lose? Watching the new Ken Burns PBS series on WWII had me in the mood so I took the plunge. The book starts a little slowly but I was soon lost in the wealth of visual details about life in the countryside of France during the German occupation of WWII and how this impacted the family of Framboise, her widowed mother and two siblings. Memories of the event that shattered their small town still linger in the modern day village but some spark of the defiance and stubborness that filled her youth has made Boise return as an older widow herself.

It’s hard to like almost every main character in the book at some point or another during the story, yet I still had sympathy for almost all of them. Boise, fighting against her rapacious nephew and his wife now and against her mother’s seeming stone heart then. Mirabelle, trying to keep a roof over her childrens’ heads …

Dear Mr. Capella,

I’m so glad your editor persuaded you to write this book. And for the positive buzz at various other romance review sites that brought it to my attention. I’ve also heard that it’s already been optioned for a movie and after reading it, I can see why. The descriptions of Italy and Naples put the reader right on the scene, the characters (even the secondary ones) are three dimensional, the humor is delightful yet you manage to convey what war was doing to these people and this country. It also brought to mind something I read while preparing an Advanced American History report when I was in high school. One British general is said to have remarked about the mingling of soldiers and prostitutes of Naples, “Some of you chaps stick your privates in places that I wouldn’t even put the ferrule of my umbrella.”

Captain James Gould arrives in wartime Naples assigned to discourage marriages between British soldiers and their gorgeous Italian girlfriends. But the innocent young officer is soon distracted by an intoxicating young widow …

Dear Ms. McKendrick,

I’ve been delighted with your previous books (written as Morag McKendrick Pippin) set in and right before WWII, such a little used era of history. Your integration of historical facts with plots different from almost any others I’ve read stand out the mass of generic regencies that the Powers that Be seem to think is all we historical romance fans want to read. Brava.

Englishwoman Sophie de Havilland fled her homeland after discovering the unsavory truth about her long-time fiance, a truth known but covered up by her parents. Now after having lived in late 1930s Germany for two years with her aunt, who had married a German baron, Sophie is learning some hard truths about this wonder society which she had admired for pulling the country out of the wreck which followed WWI. Time catches up with her aunt and war is declared before she can flee the country. Sophie has to turn to a predatory SS officer to help smuggle Aunt Augusta out of the reach of the Reich. But as Sophie learns, he demands tit for tat and she’s forced to move in …

Dear Ms Gaia,

I love books set during WWII. There’s so much scope for drama, heartbreak, courage and bravery. Your book appealed to me because of the setting and the fact that from the blurb, the heroine looked like she is more in charge of her own sexuality than in most historicals and that it would make sense in the context of the story.

Resting in London after his tour of duty in France, Richard Hart is called upon to investigate a stolen Picasso that has surfaced in New York. With Leslie Havens by his side, Richard boards a steamer to New York and becomes embroiled in identifying art smugglers who are selling confiscated artworks on the black market. To his chagrin, his mother, Nanette (Hart) Bishop, is involved, and Claire’s old flame is one of the prime suspects.

I’m sad to say that although there were parts of the story I liked, there was a lot that didn’t work quite so well for me. From looking at your website, I know you’ve done a lot of research and there is a lot of period detail in the story. But …

Dear Ms Green,

When you offered us an ebook copy of your WWII paranormal buttsecks novel, my blogmates unanimously elected me to read it. I’m still pondering what that might imply. I hate to admit it but I’m also still pondering and trying to figure out just what the heck went on in this book.
November, 1942: Headlines scream of war overseas, not of monstrous Hydes lurking in the blacked-out streets of New York City. Yet Hydes once driven underground by electric light have reclaimed the dark hours.

The city’s Guardian summons Huntsmen Jack French and his twin, Tommy, to combat the Hydes. Only half a step from becoming monsters themselves, the twins risk life and soul to protect the people of the daylight world. Their chances of survival are small indeed, but that’s what war is. That’s what Huntsmen do.

After her mother’s murder gives The Home Front new meaning, Lorie-the-Riveter volunteers for frontline duty in the secret war against the Hydes. Jack and Tommy need her as a lure. More, feeding on her orgasmic energies might keep them from taking that fatal half-step into the darkness. Lorie loves with the intensity of a wartime romance, …

Dear Ms. Markham,

I had seen a review of your book at another site which whet my appetite to read it. Imagine my surprise and delight when Jane sent me the copy we received from your publisher. I do wonder why the cover depicts a blue eyed blonde when the heroine is a green eyed brunette.

Actress Clara McCallum is already at work on the set of the movie which could be her break out role when she gets the bad news. And this is really bad news. She has breast cancer. Her grandmother had died of the disease decades ago when cancer was almost an automatic death sentence and Clara knows she has to start her treatment immediately. The good news is that the disease is still contained and with surgery and chemotherapy, her chances are good. Now she just has to break the news to her director and friends in the cast and crew of the film, something which won’t be easy. This film is the baby of the director and tells the story of the 11 men lost from his hometown during the D-Day invasion. Clara has a major role as the love …