Vixenwriter

This has been a really good book week for me! In fact I’m saving some to write about next week too because I wont’ be reading as much because I just got edits for Chased. I don’t generally do plot recaps in my reviews - you can read the links to the book pages for that, FYI.

First up - Eileen Wilks’ Blood Lines:

I loved Blood Lines from beginning to end. I think Eileen Wilks is one of the freshest and most interesting voices out there writing paranormals and reading her books is a pleasure.

I won’t waste time with a plot recap, you can read the blurb above for that. But I will say I think Rule Turner ranks up with Roarke on the best hero ever list.

Lily is strong but not so strong she doesn’t have room in her life for help but she needs to be strong to keep Rule from taking over her life. I like the balance they’ve achieved and I love the emotional tension as they recover from what they endured as they were separated in the last book.

The action is all well written and fun and I can’t say I found the book confusing as a standalone at all. Frankly, I quite liked the multiple storylines at once and the two sets of hero/heroine - it kept me interested and as I love Rule and Lily, I was quite happy that they featured strongly in the book.

In a sea of books that sometimes bleed into each other plotwise, Wilks rises above the pack (no pun intended) and gives readers something to really sink their teeth into (okay so that one was, LOL) I highly recommend Blood Lines and I can’t wait for the next installment.

And - Hells Belles by Jackie Kessler

Again, another refreshing take on a paranormal. Told in first person and with a really unusual heroine, a demon succubus. She’s not virtuous and I loved that about her. It’s tough as a writer to take a character like Jessie (Jezebel) and make readers like her despite the fact she’s a soul sucking demon who steals credit cards and considers prostitution to pay the rent.

But there’s a level of honesty with Jessie that makes you like her despite her faults.

The use of the mytho-religious structure of hell, archangels and demons was quite clever and fresh.

Hells Belles is sexy and really funny and I totally enjoyed it.

And lastly for today, Colleen Gleason’s The Rest Falls Away.

It took me a bit to get started on this one. I’d just read several paranormal contemporaries in a row and it was hard to get into the historical set language. But, IMO, that’s a good thing because Gleason did it right.

Anyway, after my initial stumble in the first fifty or so pages, I fell into the story. This is a historical, yes, but it’s got a decidedly modern feel - and it’s done well. Gleason treads the line between historical accuracy and modern vampire hunter novel with skill. I liked Victoria a great deal even though I often have a hard time identifying with characters in regency romances who are so very young. But Victoria, while wanting a normal life, didn’t storm off and cry about her fate, although she did challenge it and yes, with some tragic results.

The meta story of the Venators was really well done and interesting and I want to know more. I loved the backstory about Victoria’s great aunt and I hope to hear more in the next book. The vampires are baddies, which was delicious and most of the characters were not so much virtuous or evil but flawed, as humans can be. The secondary characters were memorable and not so many you lost count.

I loved this book. I loved the spin Gleason gave the vampire genre, keeping it alive and interesting. I will definitely be back for more!

One thing - the spine says it’s a paranormal romance and if you’ve read this blog for any length of time you’ll know I’m one of the least sticky people about genre boxes. I do however, want to say that as a standalone, this book isn’t what I’d term a romance. There is a wonderful romantic subplot and a lot of great emotional tension, but the end is not an HEA. It’s a series, so I’m expecting it to lead more along the lines of a romance as we go and like I said, the book is really good and I’m willing to wait. I just wanted to point that issue out.

I didn’t do this last week because I was ill.

Over the last few weeks I’ve read (and I bought):

Surviving Demon Island by Jaci Burton.

I talked about this one a little bit when I finished it. It was my first book of 2007 and it’s nice to start the year off with something as good as this.

It’s a paranormal romance with lots of action and adventure in it but I’m also glad to say it’s got Jaci’s great chemistry in it. Gina is a kick ass heroine who’s actually kickass (instead of the more usual case where we’re told the heroine is kickass and alas, that proves untrue). The hero is protective and alpha but not an ass and her worldbuilding and the mythological structure around the demons is clever and unique.

I’m not surprised SDI is a good book, but I’m pleased it was even better than I’d expected and I can’t wait until the next installment.

She’s No Faerie Princess by Christine Warren

I’ve been a fan of Christine’s books since I read her Fixed series at Ellora’s Cave a few years back and I was so pleased when I heard she’d sold to NY. I was also happy to see some characters from her Fixed series featured. HOWEVER, even if I hadn’t read the prior books, it wouldn’t have mattered, she gave enough backstory and didn’t feature them in a way that would have confused you if you haven’t read her Fixed books (although you should really read Fur Fixed with Graham and Missy - my favorite of the series at EC)

Fiona is a total pain in the ass but she’s likeable too. I enjoyed reading about her character and I really loved the scenes with her pixie and imp.

And Tobias - well, one of the reasons I love to read about werewolves (done right) is how very alpha and protective they can be. I thought warren hit the right balance here. He’s sexy and strong and smart and you know he’s going to fall for Fiona in a big way but I thought the way they came together was believable (it is paranormal romance).

I liked the magic and the world she’s built and the chemistry was HOT! I wish there were more books about the Fae out there but in the mean time, check this one out.

Yep, still listening to Gwen although Belle and Sebastian have been giving her a run for the money today.

Angie is taking the helm at the Samhain blog today - if you have questions for an editor, head on over. She’s talking about reading in general but also answering questions asked. I’m totally biased but I think Angie is a marvelous editor and she’s got a great eye so if you’re thinking about submitting anything to Samhain, she’s a great resource.

And as a total aside, I was looking around some of my bookmarked sites and found that Tri Mates had received the Crystal Tattoo award at Erotic Escapades. Nikita says in part: Tri Mates is without a doubt a phenomenal read! I loved reading this book from the first page until the very last. From the suspenseful thrilling drama to the countless mega-hot sexual encounters, I was totally caught up in this spell-binding tale. Thank you so much, Nikita!

I bought my plane tickets for RT last night! I’m so excited and I can’t wait for April! Hey, chime in if you’re going! I can’t wait to meet people and see the ones I’ve met already again.

Speaking of RT, I ordered Lauren Dane pens - purple ones, hee! And I’m working on a new bookmark design for my Chase Brothers books. Later this week I’m going to order some bookplates too. I think I’m going to need an extra suitcase just for swag!

I’m nearly done with my revision and getting ready to unload 90K on my unsuspecting beta readers, LOL. Yay! I’m told to expect edits today on Ascension so that’s my next task and then back to The Others to hopefully finish the partial up before I get hit with edits on Threat of Darkness and Chased. I’m busy but it’s all the right kind of busy.

How is everyone today anyway?

So I’m revising right now. I did one revision for my agent, who is pitching it on Tuesday so fingers crossed. And I’m nearly done with a revision of a book for EC, the follow up to Ascension. I had one title when I wrote it early in 06. But nine hundred people have that title so I just knew I’d have to change it so I did. But then I saw Keri Arthur’s book (on my TBR pile now) has a very similar title and another ebook with the exact same title, sigh so I have to change it again. I hate changing titles but I have to do it like 50% of the time so I’ve just accepted it, LOL.

One cool thing about revision is that you can see how far your writing has come. Some days when I feel like I’m still as clueless as I was when I first started out, I’ll crack open a first draft of something just to remind myself that I have learned a lot. Not that I don’t have a lot left to learn still, god knows I do, but it’s nice to see that I am learning and getting better at execution and storytelling.

The dude and I were drinking champagne last night and settling in to watch a movie - SNAKES ON A PLANE! The movie is hilarious. It’s not supposed to be a comedy but it is. Anyway, we got interrupted like a dozen times including when the UPS guy came by at 8:30 to drop off my copy of Surviving Demon Island that I was just complaining hadn’t come yet. But my two year old woke up and was not going back to sleep so I cracked open the amazon package and started reading SDI and didn’t put it down until I was done sometime way after midnight. I blame Jaci Burton for my bad case of bleary eyetis today. SID is such a great book! I’ve always loved Jaci’s books, she’s one of my favorite authors but she’s totally outdone herself with SDI. If you haven’t read it yet, you really should. Now of course, I’m salivating for the next one.

Oh and a quick thank you - I got my sales numbers for November and I’m just so stunned that you all responded so well to Tri Mates and Thrice United - thank you all for supporting me and reading my books. I’d be nowhere without you all.

I’m off to go get new curtains for my daughter’s room. Enjoy your Saturday!

So the lovely Kai Anderson has a book out with start up Star Dust Press called Perhance to Dream. PTD is a clever, erotic twist on a fairy tale and a very nice way to spend a few hours. If you’ve read Kai’s other books, you know she does naughty fairy tales quite well!

Here’s a blurb: There is no denying the chemistry in the air when Heath Sullivan and Erica Langdon first meet at a masquerade ball. But before their identities could be revealed, Erica has to leave for an emergency and Heath is left wondering who the captivating lady was.

Two days later, they meet again and discover that they belonged to two feuding families who have an intense rivalry going on for generations. Heath, a well-known black sheep of the Sullivans, is willing to give up his family for a chance at love and passion. But Erica is hesitant to follow her heart, unwilling to risk her father’s health.

The plot thickens when Erica’s family uncovers confidential information being leaked out and starts suspecting Heath. Divided by family loyalties, there seems no way for them to be together, until the night he bridged the chasm and came to her…in her dreams.

I also finished Lilith Saintcrow’s Dead Man Rising last week. It was my last book of 2006. I know some people are put off by first person but I love them. LOVE them, especially when done right. Saintcrow does it right. Dante is the kind of heroine I long to see more often. She’s deliciously fucked up. Flawed. A warrior who is actually a warrior instead of telling us she’s a warrior and having her ride around on rainbows and snuggle kittens. I can’t believe it took me so long to pick this book up.

On my TBR pile this week - NJ Walters’ Return of Patrick O’Rourke, Mackenzie McKade’s Bound for the Holidays and Charli Teglia’s The Gripping Beast.

More exciting book news: Anya Bast got her cover for Witch Fire. It’s absolutely stunning. Go check it out.

Megan Hart’s Dirty officially released on January 1 - if you haven’t bought it yet, go on!

There’s a new In Death book coming out very soon, yeah!

Mistrial’s Kiss - yes, I’m going to read it. I’ll tell you what I think when I finish. And no, I’m not going to talk about her ex-husband or her personal life.

Surviving Demon Island - still waiting for my amazon order to arrive. I’m officially annoyed now because I want to read this book!

What are you all reading? Anything you want to recommend to me?

I normally talk about books on Friday but this one is special for a few reasons. First of all, right up front, Megan is one of the people on the planet I flat out adore. Seriously. Very few people can make me laugh like Megan can. She’s just a joy to be around and I’m thankful to count her among my close friends.

Secondly - this book is amazing. I mean, when I first read it, I had to put it down and pick it up and read it again immediately. Yep, I was fortunate enough to have seen this book from the seeds to final product and it’s been stellar from day one. This story gets under my skin. It’s fragile and deep and beautiful and sad and joyous. It IS a romance - you know how I can say that? I’ve read it. I’ve read people talking about what the book is and isn’t but they haven’t read it. Is it a traditional romance? It does have a romantic resolution, it does have the couple together at the end and happy. Nothing about this book is what I’d think of as traditional though. It’s, I don’t know how to describe it really.

Elle is one of those characters that once I read her, she stuck with me. I didn’t like her all the time, she’s very flawed. But all humans are flawed and she’s got reason to be. And yet, she rises above and overcomes. Elle is probably one of the most three dimensional and compelling characters I’ve ever read.

And Dan, oh sigh. I lurve Dan. He’s so not your typical chest beating alpha male. Oh he’s a man, masculine, sexy, smart, just enough wicked to make you all tingly. But he sees Elle, sees her in a way that makes her freak because it’s hard to be known like that.

This is not “a woman’s sexual journey.” There is sex, very well written sex that is in some places, so insightful and raw that it made my nerves a bit jangly because Megan has this way of writing that simply distills so much emotion and sensory information down into a few pages - it’s vivid and sharp and unforgetable.

I suppose that’s Dirty in a nutshell - vivid, sharp and unforgetable.

When I read the first draft of this book, I knew it was something special. Not just good, not even just great, but one of those books every author dreams of writing someday. Megan has outdone herself. Do yourself a favor - Amazon is shipping now and it’s already in stores here and there with the official release on the 1st - grab it.

So it’s Book Talk day! Wooo!

This week I finished a revision, got crit, did more revision and sent it away, away. I also have edits which I started yesterday as well. But the point of that meander down off topic avenue is that I had time to read! Well, partly because my oldest son broke a tooth and I sat in the dentist’s office yesterday for a long stretch, but still.

So this week I read, Billionaires Prefer Blondes and Gift Wrap Optional. I also started (and am loving) Bound For The Holidays.

Gift Wrap Optional is TJ Michaels’ Wild Winter Quickie just out from Ellora’s Cave. And I loved it (of course). First of all, it makes me sad that you don’t see heroines as mothers very often. Melaniece is a mom of two grown children. I loved the interaction between mom and kids! It’s a story about second chances and well, I have a soft spot for second chance stories.

And okay, more than that, the chemistry between Michael (yay a red haired hero!) and Melaniece is wonderful. This is a quickie but TJ builds the tension well, not wasting a single word. The sex? Wooo baby, nicely written and hot, hot, hot!

I don’t want to give any spoilers, but Gift Wrap Optional takes the story of second chances at love and gives it a fabulous paranormal twist. A fabulous quick read that I really enjoyed.

Suzanne Enoch’s, Billionaires Prefer Blondes is the third in her series that follows slightly “retired” cat burglar Samantha Jellicoe and hot billionaire Rick Addison. I’ve always liked Enoch’s historicals but I fell in love with Sam and Rick and have eagerly read each new book about them (if you haven’t read Flirting with Danger and Don’t Look Down yet, why not?)

I like that Enoch gave us some more of Sam and Rick and how they’re attempting to both fit themselves into a relationship they were both clearly not expecting. Neither is perfect and there are moments in each book where you want to smack the crap out of one or the other of them.

The secondary characters are wonderful (Stoney is one of my favorites ever) and the overall story is clever and has a little bit of a twist.

BPB is quick, the chemistry between Sam and Rick is believable and very well done and the romance is realistic (to a point, we are talking billionaires and cat burglars here, LOL) in how two people who have been very independent fit another person into their life. I can’t wait to see what’s next for these two.

I’ll write up Bound for the Holidays when I finish it. But it’s Mackenzie McKade, so you know it’s gonna be good, right?

I was lucky enough to have this fabulous book drop into my inbox earlier this week. Craving Candy is the next insallment in NJ’s Awakening Desires series and it releases from Ellora’s Cave December 27. This book came when I had to finish up two other projects but I found myself sneaking time to read it when I could, I was so addicted!

Here’s the blurb: Candy Logan loves her job as a publicist for TK Publishing, but her newest client is causing her problems. She is determined to meet the elusive Lucas Squires and get him to agree to publicize his upcoming book. She crashes a party that he is giving in hopes of cornering him.

Lucas wishes he’d never let his friend talk him into writing a cookbook. He had his hands full opening a new location of his café, Coffee Breaks. He forgets all about his business problems when a woman straight out of his dreams walks into his party. He knows he can’t let her leave without finding out who she is.

Sparks fly between the Candy and Lucas from the first moment they lay eyes on each other. The sexual attraction is immediate and consuming, but a case of mistaken identity gets their relationship off to a rocky start. Just when things start to smooth out between them, issues from each of their pasts threaten their budding relationship.

Can they overcome the seemingly insurmountable problems? Now that Lucas has had a taste of Candy, will he be able to live without her?

I loved this book. Well let me back up, I love NJ Walters. In the first place, she’s one of the nicest people around on top of being incredibly talented. I love the way she writes and I love the emotion in her books.

Craving Candy starts out on a taut note, lots of action and emotion in those first pages and it only keeps going. Lucas is an emotionally wounded man but he’s not an “Alpha” who’s really just a jerk with an alpha tag.

Candy is a layered heroine - she’s got her own issues in spades but like Lucas, she’s risen above them and has a successful career. Still, she’s wounded like he is.

Their chemistry is off the charts. I won’t give spoilers but NJ does something that I find rarely works in romantica and she does it well. Lucas is the kind of hero who can make you all hot just with a look. Oh and he bakes. Yes. And there’s this scene with chocolate and honey, whew, *fanning self* ANYWAY, I think I’ve given you the idea here - hot, hot, hot!

More than the chemistry though, NJ has written a book with depth and heart. The journey Candy and Lucas take toward understanding each other and themselves is beautiful and heartbreaking in places but ultimately rewarding.

In Craving Candy, NJ Walters has written another winner and a truly wonderful romance.

So my friend Amelia June had her very first release The Jason Factor, from Venus Press and I’ve been meaning to pimp it for some time but then I got sick and had deadlines, etc.

Anyway, The Jason Factor is a clever little short, a book within a book with a few fun twists that you don’t expect. It’s not wall to wall dumb sex, the sex in it is hot but just right and has a Domme flavor going on and yet, Jason is a very strong man so it works.

Go on, check it and Amelia out, you won’t be sorry.

So today, Shelley Munro’s Fallen Idol releases from Ellora’s Cave! I got a sneak peek at it and I have to tell you it’s really wonderful. First of all, it’s futuristic. A rarity these days, sadly. And FI is well done and a part of her Sex Idol series.

It’s well done MM romance. Romantic but also realistic in that her male characters are not chicks in man suits! I hate it when I read men who do and say stuff, even gay men, who don’t sound like men at all but like my mom.

Anyway, the secks is steaming hot! The plot is well done, funny, sad, wistful in places even. Go on and grab it!