Dear Author: Romance Novel Reviews, Industry News, and Commentary

First Page: Contemporary Romance

Jane — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:00:41 +0000

Welcome to First Page Saturday. Individual authors anonymously send a first page read and critiqued by the Dear Author community of authors, readers and industry others. Anyone is welcome to comment. You may comment anonymously.

***

‘Em? Emily, is that you?’

Emily Standish sat down hard on the little wooden chair with its faded floral needlepoint cushion. She barely registered the small cloud of dust it gave out in protest. Her heart was racing and her breath was short. It couldn’t be. It must be nearly fifteen years – and this really wasn’t the moment for that kind of complex mental arithmetic. If someone had asked her, Emily would have claimed she barely remembered him. She certainly wouldn’t have expected that she could recognise his voice on the end of a crackling phone line in just five words.

‘Hello? Can you hear me?’

She could hang up, of course. For all he knew, she was on a train heading through a tunnel at just the wrong moment. Right moment. Whichever.

Or perhaps she could pretend he’d got the wrong number. He wouldn’t be able to tell if she changed her voice a bit, would he?

‘Emily, it’s Simon.’

‘Yes.’ She knew that. She didn’t have a clue what else was going on but she did know who it was who had got her phone number from somewhere and called her out of the blue.

‘It is you! For a moment there I wondered if I’d made a terrible cock-up and phoned some other Emily Standish.’

Simon sounded just like he always had. Charming and confident with a deep humour always lurking just beneath the surface. Emily couldn’t help herself. She smiled.

‘Hello Simon.’

He laughed. ‘Hello darling! God, it’s good to hear your voice again. You don’t sound as though you’ve changed a bit. Have you? No, don’t tell me, I’m coming to see for myself.’

Emily clutched at the phone more tightly and hoped that Simon couldn’t tell she was shaking. ‘You’re coming to see me?’ Wildly, she looked around the piles of magazines, the not-quite-abandoned knitting, and the tulips that were out of water and dropping petals all over her front room. She closed her eyes and prayed that he’d at least give her time to tidy up a bit.

‘Yes. There’s something I need to talk to you about. That’s okay, isn’t it?’

‘Well, I suppose…’

‘Great. Are you free on Saturday? I’ll pick you up at seven, shall I?’

‘Simon, I…’

He paused. ‘Is something the matter?’

Emily swallowed, wondering how her mouth had suddenly got so dry. Simon Lennox had phoned her. Was talking to her now, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Wanted to come and see her. To take her out for dinner on Saturday.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening.

It wasn’t what she had planned.

She took a deep breath. Probably it was nothing. Just dinner with an old friend. ‘No. Saturday’s fine. Do you need directions?’

‘You’re still in the cottage, aren’t you? Park in the lane and come round through the back gate. I remember.’

And that, thought Emily, summed up her life over the last 15 years. Still in the same tiny village, in the same tiny cottage that her landlord had never bothered to have modernised. Still doing the same dead end job and still waiting for Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet.

‘Yes. I’m still here.’

‘Great. See you on Saturday, then.’

She listened to the empty buzz at the end of the line for a moment before replacing the phone on its base.

Simon Lennox.

Fifteen years ago, she thought she loved him.

Fifteen years ago, he had married someone else.

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REVIEW: Home for the Holidays by Sarah Mayberry

Jane — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:00:11 +0000

Dear Ms. Mayberry:

I think this might be your most emotional romance yet. I certainly felt a little misty eyed (damn you) at the end of the story. Hannah Napier and Joe Lawson meet under inauspicious circumstances. Joe is exhausted and all he can hear is the loud sound of an engine next door. It’s keeping him from enjoying some solitude and it’s bound to wake his kids. Hannah is working on her motorcycle. Once it’s finished, Hannah is going on a long awaited road trip, escaping her ex fiancé and her sister who have found love together. She thinks Joe is good looking but a jerk and Joe, well, he doesn’t appreciate Hannah’s physical attraction either.

Joe lost his wife, Beth, in a car accident a couple of years ago and he is left to parent their two children. He feels like he is losing control over his kids. He does not want to be over his deceased wife Beth. He resents his body’s attraction to Hannah.

Worsening the situation is that the one place where Hannah felt safe, a bar/restaurant called The Watering Hole, has been purchased by Joe. It was Beth’s dream to own a restaurant and when she died and he found himself needing to be with his kids, he quit his job as troubleshooter on oil rigs and bought this restaurant. I found the scenes about and in the restaurant to be unnecessary. It seemed contrived that Joe would buy the one place that Hannah enjoyed hanging out. Given that they lived next door to each other, I wasn’t sure why this was even included. It didn’t add anything to the conflict and after a couple scenes, the bar was almost forgotten.

These are two reluctant lovers. Hannah hasn’t really recovered from the body blow to her heart and ego when her fiancé jilted her for her sister. Joe is trying to reconcile his love for Beth and his feelings for Hannah. Hannah is so much one of the guys that the holding of the door open for her is something that gives her pause. She feels completely out of here element. Their first date is a study in awkwardness. Problematically, Hannah is getting near completion of her bike and Joe can hardly bring himself to talk about the wife’s death without choking up.

They both acknowledge that they are too screwed up to be dating and from then on, the flirting, the talking, the companionship comes easier and harder. Easier because there is no pressure and harder because neither are ready to expose themselves to vulnerability by admitting that there might be a future for them.

It was really wonderful watching the two of them fall in love and it was heartbreaking to see them face difficult challenges. This was a very emotional book and I admit to feeling a tiny bit manipulated at the end. I kept thinking that they had both already suffered and now you were laying this on top of it???

Ben and Ruby were very conflicted about their dad dating, as were Hannah’s mother and Joe’s mother. Everyone seemed to question Joe and Hannah together. I liked it when Joe responded to his mother’s request that Ben come stay with her: ”No. We’re a family. He can’t opt out when it suits him. We have to work this through.” There weren’t easy solutions for any of them although Ben’s resentment over Hannah’s inclusion in their lives resolved rather quickly toward the end.

I loved Hannah and the way that she grew back into believing in herself with the help of Joe and Ruby and even Ben. And Joe as the struggling single father falling back in love was sweet. B

Best regards,

Jane

This book can be purchased at eHarlequin.com or in ebook format from Sony or other etailers.

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Friday Midday News Roundup

Jane — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:31:01 +0000

[Show picture list]

[[Show as slideshow]]

I ordered a bunch of Harlequin Stationary goods that feature the vintage covers. The stationary goods include little matchbook notepads, bound composition notebooks and address books. I liked the address books the least. They have a spiral binding and I found them to be a little too bulky. My favorites are the little matchbook notepads. They come three to a box. The composition notebooks are nice as well and feature very hard cardboard front and back covers so it would be easy to write on a non hard surface.

The postcard tins are a great gift item but I don’t have anyone to send snail mail to. Should I start up a prison correspondence?

I’m going to give the notebooks and the address books away on the blog (am keeping the notepads myself). Just as a disclaimer or non disclaimer, I purchased these myself and Harlequin, which does many nice things for Dear Author, did not pay for them or give me any kind of discount.

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Simon & Schuster saw sales increase in the last quarter to $230.4 million which is up 2.4%. The improvement in sales was offset by “higher write offs of advances for author royalties” which I understand to mean that there were a number of author royalties that ended up being a loss for S&S. Ebook sales are about 4% which matches that of HarperCollins. CEO of S&S is disappointed by the fall sales. Read more at PW.

***

Internet users aren’t actually more isolated than not internet users according to PEW.

Instead, researchers found that online participation and mobile phone usage leads to people having larger and more diverse core discussion networks. (Discussion networks are defined as being the places where we can discuss “important matters” with friends and confidants.)

I know I’ve often read comments from readers stating that the internet has allowed them to find other romance readers and that their reading interests have grown and not diminished because of the online romance communities.

***

New Fiction blog notes that the BN prices for ebooks are more expensive, almost uniformly more expensive, than the prices for ebooks at Amazon. If you buy a lot of books this will add up. I noticed this last week when I was purchasing some backlist titles that the Amazon books were almost $1.00 cheaper than Barnes and Noble except for BN’s promotional pricing. I did receive an email today from BN proclaiming that it has reduced pricing for over 100,000 books and that it is upping its affiliate program to 8% commission. I find that the BN affiliate program is difficult to use so I doubt I’ll change. (I’m far too lazy even for an extra 2%).

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Jessica, at the Dystel & Goderich blog, notes that online promotion can be effective well past the initial release date and that it can help move beyond publishing’s reliance on the blockbuster model:

Connecting an author with communities of like-minded readers on-line requires about as much virtual legwork as finding these folks in the real world, but especially as traditional media contracts, it’s well worth exploring. On-line promotion does not necessarily rely on a rolodex of producers and editors. Anything that helps move the industry away from the blockbuster model, which makes failures of far too many books, is, in my eyes, welcome.

***

A recent study out of the UK claimed that file sharers represented the largest portion of legitimate music purchasers. This has flustered media and IFPI, an international music trade group put out a release to counter the study. Ars Technica notes that few outside the music industry actually believes that file sharing is the main cause of revenue decline including folks at the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media. However, this has not stopped many countries in engaging in treaty talks about copyright under the guise of stopping counterfeiting.

News of the secret treaty talks leaked earlier this week and present a real shocking list of super restrictive copyrights which seem to be to overturn the fundamental concept upon which our criminal justice system is premised as well as poses unreasonable responsibilities on the shoulders of ISPs which will result in much higher internet costs. Apparently the secret treaty would like to dispose of fair use ; block internet access; take down websites on accusations (not proof) of infringement; criminalize copyright infringement even when there is no commercial gain; ban any legitimate circumvention (like cracking the DRM so you can read a book on your iPhone as well as your laptop); and so on. It’s pretty frightening.

On the one hand, I find it outrageous and on the other, I hope it gets passed. Restrictive copyright helps large corporations and not content creators. Restrictive copyright actually works to chill creation and I can see this ultimately leading to fiction being primarily work for hire. Copyrights will be too valuable for individual content creators to have them (much like comic books).

See you all over at fanfiction.org, that is unless you’ve watched a Youtube video with a song overlaid on it because then you’re internet will have been cut off. Actually, there won’t be a Youtube. Maybe I’ll buy those postcards after all.

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Friday Film Review: Dear Frankie

Jayne — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:46 +0000

Dear Frankie (2004)
Genre: Drama
Grade: A-

Gerard Butler, please stop acting in rubbish films that have heroines put in vibrating underwear and do more like this one. This film is wonderful. And it’s wonderful without overdoing the important moments or slathering on the pathos in order to yank on our heartstrings.

Lizzie Morrison (Emily Mortimer) has carried on a deception for years. When her son was a baby, she took him and fled her abusive husband. Living with her mother, Nell (Mary Riggans), they’ve moved from town to town to avoid Davy. But she’s kept all this from Frankie (Jack McElhone), instead telling him his Da is a merchant sailor and writing to Frankie as if the letters come from his father.

[[Show as slideshow]]

Their latest move has taken them to Glasgow and unintentionally brought about the thing Lizzie has always worried about. The name she randomly chose for the ship Davy supposedly serves on is actually the name of a real ship and it’s coming into port soon. When Frankie’s new classmate bets him that Frankie’s Da won’t come to visit while his ship is docked, Lizzie sets out to find a stranger to play the part for a day. But the Stranger (Gerard Butler) might turn out to be more than either Frankie or Lizzie ever hoped for.

Director Shona Auerbach hit the jackpot with her cast who all turn in spot on performances. Mortimer conveys a woman who’s put up barriers against being hurt and against seeing her child get hurt. Then she has to pull them down to reach out to this stranger and allow him to know the hidden hurt of her world. For her son, she’ll do it but she still stands ready to defend Frankie and the lie she’s perpetuated to give him some contact with a father.

Butler displays an awkwardness one would expect of a man trying to pull a fast one on a 9 year old child. But then slowly warms and thaws to the role of being an absentee father beginning with watching Frankie at football then finding him the perfect stone to skip across the water. Later he’s the one who wheedles Lizzie into allowing him to spend one more day with the two of them, extending his role of having this family for a brief moment longer.

But McElhone, as Frankie, steals the film. He’s not above using his deafness to get his way, as with a librarian he guilts into letting him check out more books but he’s a decent kid who actually knows far more than he lets his mother think he does. And he can hold his own against the classmate Ricky played by Sean Brown with cheeky charm. Frankie also has a girlfriend of sorts, Catriona (Jayd Johnson) who defends him against Ricky then gets him into trouble herself with her knowledge of where mothers store things in order to hide them.

Everything about the film is subtle and scaled perfectly. There’s no overblown orchestral score or soaring violins to hammer us with the knowledge that this is an Important Emotional Moment in the film. The music backs up the acting and the acting is done with finesse. There are looks and glances, spacing to emphasis the awkward first meeting between Lizzie and the Stranger and time to catch the shock on the Stranger’s face when he finally learns why Frankie’s real Da isn’t part of his life.

When I rented the film, I wasn’t expecting much beyond some nice eye candy moments from Butler. I hoped that it wouldn’t be too mushy or maudlin. I hoped that the ending wouldn’t pull out all the stops to manipulate me and force the film into a “feel good” resolution. The film avoids the pitfalls I was worried about and still gives me eye candy. It’s a film that uses silence and physical space to let the actors tell the tale. It’s a charmer and a film I’m glad I took a chance on.

~Jayne

This is currently available in DVD form but it ain’t cheap so my thanks to Susanna Kearsley for pointing out that it’s posted on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZY-xUzLoAw

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REVIEW: Christmas Angel for the Billionaire by Liz Fielding

Jane — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:00:23 +0000

Dear Ms. Fielding:

I’m not sure if you were inspired by Roman Holiday starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck but there are a lot of similarities. Audrey plays a princess who, struggling under the strictures of her position, decides to flee. Princess Ann falls asleep on a park bench and is rescued by Joe Bradley, a reporter. He takes her back to his apartment. Over the course of a day or so, Ann and Joe fall in love, but they can’t be together because of Ann’s duty to her people. Cue bittersweet ending. (I always thought that Ann shipped Joe in for regular loving because what’s the point of being a princess if you can’t bone your lover from time to time?)

Roseanne Napier is the daughter of the Marquess and Marchioness of St Ives who died during a humanitarian effort when Rose was 6. Lady Rose, or Annie to her intimates, grew up to be the people’s princess. Unfortunately all that Annie does is smile, shake hands, smile, kiss babies, smile, go to parties. Her only skill is looking good and being polite. Every part of her life is rigidly controlled and now it seems time for her to get married and have children. Her grandfather has the perfect candidate picked out, one Rupert Devenish, Viscount Earley. The crushing weight of the public expectation is making her crazy.

After one event, Annie runs into her double. There is a professional lookalike that Annie’s handlers have hired for security purposes but Annie asks her what she charges, just in case Annie would like to have “a day off.” Lydia, the lookalike, gives Annie a card and tells her to call anytime. Annie tells her grandfather that she just wants a week to think about her future, but in reality, Annie just wants a vacation from everything. She gets in a car and drives until her car breaks down in Maybridge.

Stranded, Annie is ultimately rescued by George Saxon and his truculent daughter, Xandra. George has been an absentee father, at first because he was working hard to provide for his young wife and child; and later, as his wife and he parted, Xandra, turned to other men for guidance including George’s father. In the end, George drifted away from Xandra completely providing financial support and occasional visits. Xandra was essentially raised by George’s parents but what she desperately wants is her father and she engages in classic teenage behavior to get his attention.

George has been at odds with his father since his high school years when it became apparent that George had no intention of carrying on his father’s mechanic / car repair business. Xandra is, however, and it is just one more source of conflict between the two. George resents his father’s easy relationship with Xandra and is filled remorse for his failed relationship with Xandra. He doesn’t know how to reconnect.

George knows right away that Annie is lying about who she is and why she is in Maybridge and initially can’t wait to usher her out of the door but in the end forces conspire to place Annie in George’s home. Through Annie’s help, George comes to realize that there is a relationship that can be repaired with his daughter, even if it will take time and commitment on his part.

Annie has to come to grips with what she feels like she owes her grandfather and the public. She’s been the people’s princess, always striving to please everyone as if good deeds will fill the hole left in her heart by her parents’ death. She’s unprepared to really let go. The week’s vacation is just that, a temporary respite from her duties. But in order for her to be with George and live the life that she has always longed for, she has to let go.

I felt like Annie’s path to emotional fulfillment was easier than George and I was disappointed at how quickly it seemed that Xandra and George would patch things up given the long history of dereliction. I wondered that Xandra wouldn’t have been resentful of the attention that George was paying Annie or if I was supposed to believe that Xandra saw Annie as a way to secure George’s presence in Xandra’s life.

I did love the Roman Holiday feel to the book and I thought Annie and George’s characters were sweet and honest. As a holiday themed book that riffs off one of my favorite movies, I can’t help but be fond of it despite its flaws. B-

Best regards,

Jane

This book can be purchased at eHarlequin.com or in ebook format from Sony or other etailers.

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Thursday Midday Links Roundup: Education is moving toward digital

Jane — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:00:52 +0000

How good is Harlequin doing? Pretty good. In a dismal economy that sees revenues at its parent company dropping, Harlequin is bringing in the profit. David Holland, the interim CEO at Torstar, said that the decline in newspapers and digital were offset by continued growth at Harlequin. (Actually Holland stated it the other way around but I decided to put the positive spin on it). Harlequin posted $122.5 million in revenue which was up 3.7% from third quarter of 2008.

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After a dismal few quarters, HarperCollins experienced a small rise for the fiscal first quarter. Sales were slightly down (1.5%). Sales of ebooks accounted for 4% of the adult group revenue. Most of the profit came from restructuring and not from sales.

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The Wall Street Journal accuses Amazon of stockpiling cash by paying late on its bills by up to 72 days or longer. I understand that late payment is fairly standard in the industry and the writer of the article asserts that Amazon has never made a profit, something the SEC filings for the past five years would dispute. However, if Amazon’s posted profitability rests solely on delaying cash payments, it seems, as Jose Furtado notes, that “Such things won’t flow Amazon’s way forever.”

***

Companies are trying to get easier access to ebooks for students including text to speech enabled ebooks which will help students with physical or learning disabilities. I think this is great and I hope the content creators will see that this is a social good that won’t create economic harm for them. Persona Non Data writes that K-12 online learning will mushroom in the next few years. My tot’s fine motor skills need some help. She has a hard time using the mouse. That’s a fair impediment to online learning.

***

Sarah Weinman discusses the New York Times article by Motoko Rich about the rising influence of Glenn Beck as a mover of books. Beck apparently is a big thriller fan and he’s been having a steady stream of thriller authors on his show and those thriller authors are then selling many books. It’s a double edged sword for some authors. Andrew Gross reported having received emails calling his work “lefty bullshit” and accusations that associating with Beck means that the reader would not buy another Gross book.

***

I’m really beginning to salivate over the MS Courier. Gizmodo has more exclusive design and function leaks. My fear is that this device will be too expensive, much like what I think killed the UMPC market before it even got off the ground. With the rise of netbooks, I think consumers don’t want to pay in excess of 3 figures for a computing device.

***

Jill Myles has a quiz for the Nalini Singh fans over at the Oddshots. If you want to hump things into submission, you are a Changeling.

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For whom should the author write?

Jane — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:58:57 +0000

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Keishon, avidbookreader.com, linked to a discussion at copyblogger which debated whether the theorem that talented authors write badly when they are trying to express an idea and conversely write well when they are trying to touch an audience.

Now, the qualification in the copyblogger post is the term “talented” which can have a whole gamut of interpretations. But setting aside that term, should the author be writing for the reader or writing for herself? Unlike many of the commenters at the copyblogger forum, I believe an author should write for herself.

Interestingly, I think that there is a big difference between “writing for the market” and writing to touch an audience. The commenters, to me, are discussing creating an emotional connection with the readers (which I think is very important, thinking back to the post by Chloe and why she reads). So I’d ask you when voting that you think about the poll in terms of the development of a relationship with the reader through writing and not writing to the market.

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REVIEW: Transformed into the Frenchman’s Mistress by Barbara Dunlop

Jayne — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Dear Ms. Dunlop,

A friend of mine married her Frenchman so when I see books with French heroes, I check them out. Since I’ve found that the Desire line tends towards less assholic heroes, I decided to give “Transformed into the Frenchman’s Mistress” a shot.

If there was anything Charlotte Hudson had learned in her twenty-five years, it was how to be proper. So how had the ambassador’s granddaughter ended up on a wild movie assignment, ensconced in a centuries-old Provençal castle with notorious French playboy Alec Montcalm? While her relatives from Hudson Pictures were busy filming at Chateau Montcalm, the real drama was going on behind the antique wooden doors–beneath satin sheets. Charlotte knew their crazy, scandalous secret liaison wouldn’t last. And then she discovered she was pregnant….

This is a hard book for me to grade. There are some things about it I loved and other things that drove me nuts.

Charlotte actually has a backbone and is fairly intelligent. When she arrives at the Montcalm chateau to ask her school pal Raine Montcalm
if her family can rent it for a movie location and finds she’ll have to deal with Alec, with whom she has a slight history, instead, she shifts gears quickly and comes up with a plan of attack. What she agrees to do to get the shoot, isn’t something sleazy. No, all Alec negotiates with her – and I loved the fact that they negotiate instead of Alec going all demanding about it – is that she’ll stay there during the shoot and keep an eye on the production staff.

Alec does have his eye on Charlotte and wants to finish their earlier, unfinished business from three years ago. But he takes his time, is gracious and charming and well mannered about it. Early in the book when Charlotte throws his “playboy” ways in his face, he defends himself by pointing out that a lot of what he does is for the Montcalm business, he doesn’t poach other men’s women and why shouldn’t he enjoy taking out lovely women if they want to be taken out by him? He even dislikes his assistant’s idea that he be seen with Charlotte to deflect attention from the female star of the movie. Hey, I like this guy.

When he and Charlotte start their physical relationship, Alec is determined that she enjoy it, he doesn’t force anything, he’s delighted when she refuses to let him pay for everything during their worldwind – okay more Europewind – buying sprees and together the two are having a great time. Wonderful.

Then they head back to the south of France and things head south with them. Charlotte’s Hollywood mogul family – all from whom she’s estranged though, like a child with her face pressed against the glass of the candy shop, she clearly longs to be a part of it – has arrived and the book turns into an info dump of the previous couple in the series plus a preview of the upcoming attractions. There’s just enough of these other people taking up breathing air to annoy me without enough explanation to make me care at all about what might happen to them.

And – the moment I’d been dreading – Charlotte finally realizes she’s knocked up. Oh noes, she can’t tell Alec! Oh dears, she’ll head off on her own – no worries as she does have money of her own – and have the child by herself. “But you can’t,” Raine and Charlotte’s sister-in-law rightly tell her. So she tells Alec and basically gets called a money grubbing bitch slut by this man who up until now had been charm itself. Talk about a personality 180.

Except that Charlotte’s estranged brother finally acts like a brother and slugs Alec. At which point Alec tells Jake about how Charlotte feels like the redheaded stepchild of the Hudson family which leads to a too sudden reunion between Jake and Charlotte which didn’t satisfy me at all after 22 years of her family’s neglect. Then Alec sees the light because Jake informs him about the family money so – gosh! Charlotte can’t be one of those women who only wants him for his cashola – it must be twue love.

I really wanted to like this book. I really started out liking this book when it centered on a smart heroine and a charming hero but the herd of Hudsons, the incompletely dealt with family issues and Alec’s frankly slightly frightening 0-> 180 trip to bastard and back changed my view. C+

~Jayne

This book can be purchased at eHarlequin.com or in ebook format from Sony or other etailers.

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REVIEW: SEALed and Delivered by Jill Monroe

Jane — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:00:52 +0000

Dear Ms. Monroe:

Is it too corny to say that this book delivered for me? I’m not a huge fan of the Navy SEAL books anymore because I think that there are so many of them and I worried about the machismo level of the hero but nothing about the book was very expected. That was a good thing.

Hailey Sutherland and her sister have taken over the family business, a San Diego institution that was once the place for social events like showers and parties and small receptions. Hailey was not as excited about the revitalization of the family business as was her sister for although she had been engaged three times, she doesn’t really know much about party planning. Because she was engaged three times, had her heart broken three times, she really isn’t in the mood to celebrate others’ newfound love.

When a SEAL team exercise plays out in front of a shower party and the women are drawn to the beach like George Clooney to brunette cocktail waitresses, Hailey recognizes that the Sutherland’s position on the beach could present some unique marketing opportunities for The Sutherland.

Lt. Commander Nate Peterson is stateside helping to train a new set of SEALs due to an injury that has left him unable to perform his duties. He resents being sidelined and stuck training newbies but realizes that in another year or two one of these newbies might be fighting along side of him. I liked that Nate was both a bit peeved but also realistic.

Part of the setup, where Hailey is playing a shower game which requires her to kiss the first man she sees, was a bit irritating. Would Nate Peterson, SEAL hardcore, really stop and kiss some chick during a training exercise? I wasn’t sure but one off note in the book didn’t slow me down. Part of the scene, the part after the kissing, did a great job at rendering how tough the SEALs were. One of the trainees was hit in the head and lost consciousness. Peterson dragged him to the shore and allowed him to recover. The shore was right in front of the Sutherlands. The SEAL trainee recovers and then goes back into the ocean to finish out the training exercise because, as Nate points out to a shocked Hailey (and a concerned reader), the trainee would have to endure much worse in battle.

Hailey’s plan to use the SEAL training exercises as a way to draw in more business is a concern to Nate. He comes to ask her to rethink her plans because the attention and boisterousness of the crowd interferes with the training. In other books, this would become an issue of contention between the two but both recognize and value the other person’s position. Nate recognizes that Hailey needs the business and is willing to listen to an alternative plan. Hailey accepts Nate’s explanation that the training is being compromised and offers up a different solution.

This is not to say that the book is conflictless, but the conflicts weren’t based on disrespecting the other person. The conflict was based on Nate wanting nothing more than an affair and Hailey having sworn off men. She falls in love too easily. Nate begins to court Hailey. There’s no other word for it and I really thought this part of the book was charming.

Nate and Hailey have a deep physical attraction toward each other, but they do not fall in bed immediately. Maybe some would say that means that their passion just wasn’t strong enough but for me, this detail helped me buy into Nate and Hailey’s happy ever after. Nate would be going back into service once he was fully healed which would mean long separations for the two of them. Their ability to forego immediate gratification made me believe the two would be able to survive Nate’s obligation (and desire) to be part of the SEAL teams. Hailey clearly could survive without Nate by her side.

I also appreciated the secondary romance between a young bride to bride to be. The arc of Nate and Hailey’s romance was somewhat echoed in that of the secondary characters. B

Best regards,

Jane

This book can be purchased at Amazon or in ebook format from Sony or other etailers.

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Grand Central Publishing Specials & Other Ebook Deals

Jane — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:00:21 +0000

Grand Central Publishing has these November deals. If you haven’t tried Elizabeth Hoyt yet, it’s a safe bet at $1.99. Even if you don’t like it, you haven’t spent too much money on the try.

Blood Ties by Pamela Freeman for $1.00
The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin for $1.99.
To Taste Temptation by Elizabeth Hoyt for $1.99. This is a historical romance.
Simple Wishes by Lisa Dale for $1.99. This is a contemporary romance.
Put a Lid on It by Donald E Westlake for $1.99
The Blue Knight by Joseph Wambaugh for $1.99
A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read for $2.99

I thought about not posting this because I really dislike Macmillan’s ebooks policies. Most of the prices for ebooks by St. Martin’s Press are $9.99 and above for mass markets. But alas, it is a deal.

Marked by PC & Kristin Cast for $2.99

Random House has been releasing freebies for months now. This month we have the following:

A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K Hamilton (Sony is supposed to replace all the files you buy through the Sony eBookstore with epub files so even if you don’t have a Sony, you might want to take advantage of this for the future).

Samhain Publishing offers up the following books for free on the Kindle. The first date is when the promo goes live and the second date is when the promo ends and regular pricing will be returned.

11/2/2009 - 11/9/2009 Bound for the Holidays by Mackenzie McKade
11/9/2009 - 11/16/2009 Look What Santa Brought by Annmarie McKenna
11/16/2009 - 11/23/2009 Understood by Maya Banks
11/23/2009 - 11/30/2009 The Twelve Lies of Christmas by Kate Johnson

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Dear Author: Romance Novel Reviews, Industry News, and Commentary

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