Harlequin Highlights

As promised, I'm starting to go through the volume of "stuff" I gathered at the Publisher's Showcase I attended last Thursday. Since I primarily blather on about romance, I'll start with Harlequin - the presentation I was most disappointed in. By and large, most librarians are incredibly clueless about romance, so I really feel you have to give these folks a good dog and pony show. You have to spell it out for them - like teaching a kid to look both ways before crossing the street. Honestly, I think a lot of this stems from the fact that Harlequin has no clue how to market to libraries. It's not the same as retail or direct to consumer. Those markets one has to be concerned about cost - take it from me, librarians would love more hard cover offerings from Harlequin! It "legitimizes" the genre (yeah, I know it shouldn't - but thems the breaks) and many libraries do not purchase paperbacks with the same ferocity as hard cover titles. But Harlequin isn't asking for my help - although they should because I am Queen Librarian Of The Universe.

So what did I actually learn? Here it goes:

• They're really excited about Kimani Press and were really high on it. In fact, they'll be launching Kimani Tru next year - a YA line catering to African American teens. I think this sounds terribly interesting, and coming from my experience, there needs to be more "non-white" YA titles out there. It's gotten loads better since I was a teen, but there is still a long way to go!
  

• They're still pushing their new manga imprints pretty hard. Frankly I think they're going "too old fashioned" with their authors if they want to reach a hipper audience - but what do I know? You manga readers tell me - is there a market for sweeter stories in manga?
  

• The presenter actually said that she felt the Spice line wasn't erotic enough. I've only read one title in the line so far, and have to say I agree with her. It was kinda like erotica on training wheels. That said, I have the August title, The Blonde Geisha, waiting in my review TBR stack. Can't very well judge the whole line by one title now can I?
  

• Harlequin Romance, Love Inspired, Harlequin SuperRomance and Harlequin Intrigue are currently available in larger print at only $.25 more than the regular print versions. They're still mass market paperbacks too.
  

• Being in Southern California it's no shock I got information on Harlequin's Spanish language lines.
  

• And did you know Harlequin prints catalogs? No joke. I got a very nice Winter 2007 version. Mostly trade paperback reprints, Mira hard covers and Red Dress Ink titles were featured.

I'm probably not going to rehash everything HarperCollins, Warner and Tor dished out - instead focusing on interesting titles coming out this fall and winter. Stay tuned. I still have a lot of paperwork to dig through.

A Plot With A Side Of Fries

I got an e-mail from my younger sister last night. Something along the lines of "Glad it was good. I like my erotica with an actual plot, can't wait to read it." Yes, being the good older sister that I am (I'm more subversive when it comes to corrupting youth), I'm sending All U Can Eat by Emma Holly to her. Yes, I am an excellent sister.

Whenever I give a talk or do a presentation on romance and her "sister" genres I always mention erotica. Mostly because most librarians are terribly clueless about it. I mention to them that if they want to take a walk on the wild side they should try Emma Holly. In my esteemed opinion, if Emma Holly doesn't work for you, chances are erotica as a whole ain't going to work for you. I'm just saying.

With her last several books Holly has really been dipping her toes in more mainstream waters, and All U Can Eat is the pinnacle. She's got it down to a science now. I'm thinking world domination in next.

Frankie Smith runs a diner in a small Southern California beach community. She's young, she's sexy - and her clueless male model boyfriend just dumped her for another woman! That's OK though - there are plenty of men in town who would love to console our girl in her hour of need. But when a dead body of a wealthy socialite is found in the back alley behind Frankie's diner, she finds herself in the hot seat - with Chief of Police Jack West trying to decide if he should arrest her or tie her up in bed. Ooh La La

So there's the plot, and Holly does an admirable job with it. I figured out the mystery, but I hadn't quite worked through the motive until all was revealed - so it hums along at a good pace.

Oh right, you're reading this post for the sex. Forgot myself there for a minute. The sex here is vintage Holly, hot stuff, erotic and adventurous. Lest readers forget that we're talking erotica here - our girl has sex with like 4.5 guys (the .5 is for a threesome, and technically that guy's attention is not focussed on the heroine if you get my drift). But don't be confused - Jack West is our hero and the reader does get a happily-ever-after. I would have liked a bit more focus on this developing romance - but it does work well despite that, so it's more like a minor quibble.

My final grade? An A-. Really, Holly just keeps getting better. Lord I hope she never abandons erotica outright. I think it might kill me.

Sidenote: I like the cover. Let's call it Retro Sleaze.

Better Than Nothing

Yesterday I attended a Publisher's Showcase near Los Angeles. I still wish I had the funds this year to attend RWA - but this sort of made up for it.

Basically it was very much in the style of a book talk. The representatives got up in front of their PowerPoint presentations and talked about upcoming titles. HarperCollins, Little Brown/Warner, Tor and Harlequin were there. I think the HC presentation was my favorite, although Warner has a lot of bestsellers in their stable, so it was nice to catch the hot fall books that I hadn't heard about yet.

I was very disappointed in the Harlequin presentation - the one I was looking forward to the most! Frankly, I could have done a better job and I don't work for the company! I suspect the problem is that Harlequin just has no clue how to market to libraries. The company was essentially built around retail and direct-to-consumer sales - and the library market is very different. Still - talk to some librarians people. You have several authors over there that used to be librarians or still are. It's not like you have to look to far.

I have a bag of free ARCs (mostly non-fiction/straight fiction stuff) and tons of handouts. Next week I'll begin poring over those and try to highlight interesting looking titles in the blog. Y'all will just have to be patient. I also promise to blog about All U Can Eat by Emma Holly sometime this weekend. In a nutshell though, loved it!

Do Your Thing Honey

Latest column is up over at Romancing The Blog - go forth and leave comments! Seriously, I know some of y'all are bitching that RTB focuses too much on boring writing crap - and here I sit toiling away trying to think of "reader" based columns. Well, I just did one! So go forth! Leave comments!

The downside of course is that I titled the column after a Christina Aguilera song and now I have the damn thing running through my brain. Oh well.

Also, Alison's contest is still going on - so if you haven't already, leave a comment in the blog post I made yesterday. It's a chance to win a free book people! Who doesn't love free books?

A Week of Bad Boys, Good Spies, Unforgettable Lovers

I surrender. I have given up on Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich on Chapter 8. I was trying to listen to this on audio - and let me tell you, big mistake. Huge mistake! I even have the book in my TBR (I got it at RWA last year), but I thought, "Hey, I'll listen to it on audio! One less book in my TBR that way."

I am a colossal dumbass.

The problem is the reader. C.J. Critt has actually narrated some of the Stephanie Plum novels by Evanovich. She should not have been allowed to get her hands on this book. The issue here is the hero. In Metro Girl, the hero is a Texas NASCAR driver. Critt makes hims sound like a moron. I'm not kidding. Her Texas accent sounds so bad and lazy that the hero comes off sounding like the "slow kid" in your high school math class. He's sort of like the rednecks in Deliverance without the homoerotic tendencies. I hated him with every fiber of my being. Every time his "voice" came through my MP3 player I wanted to start banging my head on my steering wheel.

To make matters worse - Evanovich's talent for guy dialouge was obviously on vacation during the writing of this book. The hero does not talk like a guy. Even worse, he constantly refers to himself as "NASCAR Guy." This is sexy how? It would be like The Boyfriend referring to himself as Salesman Guy. Not only would I laugh in his face, I'd feel his forehead to make sure he hadn't spiked a fever.

As for the rest of it - it wasn't good enough for me to overlook my problems with the hero. The heroine seems OK, but she's so going to be be boinking the dumbass hero pretty soon and I just can't stand it any longer. I know my older sister read this, and I seem to recall she found it "OK." Which I guess is a lesson that you should read it and stay far away from the CJ Critt read version of the audio book.

Oh, and yeah - I've got Alison's contest for today. Which explains the weird title that doesn't have much to do with this post - other than the fact that I think "NASCAR Guy" was supposed to be a "Bad Boy." Bleck.

The Cat's Away

The Boyfriend left on a business trip this morning, so I'll be all alone until Thursday afternoon. I have big plans to surgerically attach the remote control to my hand, fix my favorite comfort foods, gorge on chocolate, and maybe get some reading done. Hell, I could get a lot of reading done. As much as I love me some alone time - I can't sleep for crap when The Boyfriend is off somewhere (or I'm off somewhere - take your pick). It took me about a month to get used to him not "being there" when he moved to California six months before I did.

I went wading into the literary waters over the weekend and rediscovered why I don't do that very often. My younger sister recommended In The Cut by Susanna Moore to me. I seem to recall a discussion in the blogosphere some months back (way back) about the term "literary porn." Well, if I believed there was such a thing - this book would probably qualify. It's slim (180 pages) and while there aren't a lot of sex scenes, the ones that made the cut (ha!) are pretty hot stuff. That said, this isn't what I would call "happy sex." It's sex between two people with problems. People who should frankly know better. Oh, and the ending is sooo not happy. That said, being the sick, deviant little monkey that I am - I liked the ending. Of course if I'm to read way too much into it, the feminist in me is more than a tad offended by the ending - but there you go.

For those of you who have seen the movie version starring Meg Ryan (I have not), my sister tells me they changed the ending. Trust me, this is no big shock. Those of you who have read the book will totally understand where I'm coming from here.

The literary stuff in this novel made my head hurt at times. The protagonist is an English professor who specializes in language, regional slang etc. And there's a whole mess of talk about language, words, accents etc. B-o-r-i-n-g. Frankly I would have been happier had the author dropped all this high-falutin' stuff and given me more character development - but what do I know? I'd bet my last candy bar that this book is on the required reading list for more than one university English course.

I've got a book in route to me at work, so in the meantime I'm cleansing the pallet with Business or Pleasure? by Julie Hogan. This is a Silhouette Desire from 2004 and I think it's going to get the skimming treatment. It's not bad - it's just I've read way too many category romances. Heroine quits job because she's got a crush on her boss who doesn't know she exists outside of being his errand girl. The boss (our hero) has to woo her back to work because a big contract he just landed hangs in the balance. The conflict? Heroine is in love and doesn't know hero wants her back "only" to land the contract. Hero is used to people he cares about abandoning him (cue violin music) and his sudden attraction to heroine is unwelcome.

By the end of the second chapter I knew where this was going....and I'm only on chapter four. As much as I love categories, I think I need a break from the SD line for a little while....

Keepin' Cool

Well I haven't been keeling over from the heat - but looking at last month's electric bill just about did me in. Highest ever. Turns out I was the only one shocked however. When I asked The Boyfriend to guess how much it was he was only off by like $5.

My reading has slowed down quite a bit lately, but I finally got the new Laura Levine mystery from work yesterday. Um, I finished it this morning. It took less than 24 hours. Levine's books are always like that for me, and then I find myself going through withdrawals for a year until the next one comes out. Which I then read in one day starting the cycle all over again.

This fifth adventure finds Los Angeles freelance writer Jaine Austen (no relation) coping with the impending marriage of her best friend, Khandi. Khandi has had no time for Jaine - dragging her adorable fiance' on their lunch dates, talking about endless wedding plans, and making Jaine feel like a third wheel. So when she gets invited to join The PMS Club, she sees it as a chance to make some new friends.

The PMS Club was formed at a local gym and they meet once a week over margaritas and Mexican food to gossip. There's Pam, the struggling actress; Colin, the token gay guy; Rochelle the hostess with the mostest who makes a killer guacamole; Ashley the augmented shopaholic; Doris the sassy 60-something divorcee' and Marybeth. Yeah, Marybeth is the fly in the ointment. An insufferable perky interior designer that gets on everybody's nerves, except for Rochelle who adores her. Turns out though that Marybeth is boffing Rochelle's husband and after confessing as much, keels over dead from peanut-oil tainted guacamole. Yeah, Marybeth is deathly allergic to peanuts and yeah, Rochelle made the guacamole.

Jaine doesn't think Rochelle is capable of murder, so she starts to investigate. What she finds is that everyone had a reason to hate Marybeth and whoa doggie, are there plenty of motives.

I'm not sure how Levine does it. Her books always have short page counts (this one at 245), but they never feel skimpy or overstuffed. The mystery is always very good, with several suspects and plenty of red herrings. Plus, she throws in quite a bit about Jaine's personal life. Besides the usual antics and e-mails from her parents (her dad is a trip!), her cat, Prozac, has to go on a diet but he has Jaine wrapped around his paw. There is also the swanky job writing a company newsletter for a local bank that Jaine desperately wants - but she keeps embarrassing herself in front of the hunky guy who is interviewing her. Then there is Jaine's issue with food. She likes to eat and she lives in Los Angeles. Seriously, I can relate. I don't care what anyone says - lettuce and tofu are not real food!

This is a really fun series, and one of the few that stand alone very well. Levine doesn't really build each book on top of another - they're more like Day In The Life snapshots. It's easy to zip around the series without getting lost.

That said, I do have one complaint. The author has a tendency to plug the other books. Romance authors have been known to do this (the heroine is reading a book written by the author's pseudonym for example), but Levine's is more heavy handed. Jaine will say something like, "I've solved murders before and you can read all about it in Titles 1, 2, 3 and 4 out in paperback now." I think it's supposed to be tongue-in-check and fun - but I find it a touch on the grating side.

Other than that though - fantabulous series. Run out now and read 'em.

Tag, You're It!

Well both Tara and Fiona tagged me - which means I'm outnumbered and outgunned. Here it goes:

1) When did you first start blogging and why? I started blogging back on February 28, 2003 - which makes me really frickin' old in the Blogosphere. I used to have a web site (now dismantled) and I used the home page to ramble on about various topics. I also had a page where I put up my latest book reviews. I was too lazy to archive any of this stuff and then I discovered blogging. Totally easy to archive and I loved the interactive capabilities.

2) What don't you talk about? My sex life. Frankly it's none of your business. Oh what the hell - it's good. Very, very good.

3) Are you and your blogging persona the same person? Pretty much. That said, I'm more of an opinionated loud mouth on my blog than I am in real life. In real life I'm the classic middle child - I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, everybody should be shiny and happy, and they all should love me!

4) How do you use blogging to build friendships? Well I've met a lot of totally cool readers through blogs that I didn't meet via my various e-mail loops. I also think the blogosphere has tapped a previously uncharted resource of "new voices" and "reviewers" from a reading standpoint. I think this is a very cool thing. Also, I've met other women who like baseball (waving to Tara and Kristie!) I'm willing to overlook that Tara is a dirty Skankies fan - she most likely cannot help it and I'm confident that one day she will get deprogrammed.

5) How do you describe your writing style? A mess. Truly. I'm awful with grammar, structure, run-on sentences, wacky punctuation etc. That said, I think my writing voice comes off a lot like my speaking voice. I'm so sarcastic most days it's amazing The Boyfriend hasn't smothered me in my sleep yet.

Who am I tagging?
Ha! No one! Ya'll been tagged already me thinks.

How To Write Competent Reviews

Disclaimer: I don't think I'm the bestest review writer ever. Hell, most days I fall in the marginally good category, and that's if I'm lucky. But given that everyone is talking about Amazon reviews again (seriously, who reads these?) I thought now would be a good time to offer Wendy's Helpful Hints of Reviewing. Oh, and you authors who like to bitch about Big Fat Meanie Reviewers? Pay attention, I'm spelling it out for you.

In Order Of Importance (as I see it):

1) The Characters. If you have time to kill and cruise around my TRR reviews for books that got less than stellar ratings 99.9% of the time you'll notice I harp on the characters. Seriously, they make or break a book for me. In fact I would say a good 90% of my enjoyment of a novel hinges on how the characters are working for me. Is the heroine a dumb ass? Is the hero a Neanderthal jack ass? I'm going to hate the book. Just am. No amount of fantastic plotting, delicious word play or superior editing is going to help one iota.

2) Plotting. Really all I'm looking for here is how the story flows. Does it bog down? Is it too frantic? Are there gaping holes you can drive a city bus through? That said, if I love your characters, I am kinder on the plot.

3) Writing. I know, this should probably be higher on my list. I like my writing clean. Give me show, not tell. And for cripes sake, I hate purple prose! Silly sex euphemisms and flowery description make my eyes roll back in my head. I did not pick up your novel to read 25 pages on a beautiful rain storm. I picked up your novel to read about the characters and conflict.

4) Editing. I barely notice this, which I'm sure would lead many readers to burn me at the stake. The only time editing in a novel becomes in issue for me is if I'm having obvious issues with 1, 2 or 3.

5) Packaging/marketing. At this stage in the game I try not to let cover art influence me. I've read great books with shitty covers and crappy books with fantastic covers. Marketing gets me a bit more. A good example of this would be last year's In Deep Voodoo by Stephanie Bond. I'm sure Avon pushed it as a romance because that's where Bond built her audience - but I really think the book would have been better served had they concentrated on the cozy/humorous mystery market. It worked a lot better as a mystery than it did as a romance. It's my job to tell the reader - well the romance is lackluster but the mystery is very good. Then of course it's up to reader to make the ultimate choice. Seriously, I still think Avon dropped the ball on this one. Is this Bond's fault? Of course not. It's a fun book. Just targeted to the wrong market in my ever so humble opinion.

You'll notice nowhere on this list do I mention the author. This might wound some egos, but frankly authors are a nonfactor me. I think about authors the same way I think about the Wizard of Oz. Please don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain! The novel is there for me to consume. I don't think too hard about the guy who makes my cheeseburgers (unless the health department shuts him down!) I know authors are people to, but thinking about them gets in the way of my entertainment value. So rarely (if ever) will I mention in author in a review other than to say, "SoAndSo's latest for Harlequin puts a new spin on a well worn plot device" or "SoAndSo's sophomore effort features a petulant heroine determined to prove her Daddy wrong." I won't say, "SoAndSo wouldn't know her ass from a hole in the ground, her politics suck monkey balls and her children are ugly." Why? Because chances are I've never met SoAndSo. Maybe she does know her own ass. Far be it from me to make sweeping statements.

Also, authors really need to get off this kick that Big Fat Meanie reviewers are all frustrated writers who couldn't hack it. Not all of us have aspirations of getting published. Frankly that shit is hard work and a lot of us are too lazy. I can appreciate that it is very hard to write. It's even harder to get your work in print. I know you all worked very hard on that book. Doesn't mean I have to like it though. Just another joy of living in a democratic-based-consumer society.

You Look Marvelous!

A big howdy-do and thank-you to those wacky folks over at DreamForge Media (OK, Alison!) for designing my new blog template. Go ahead, tell me how wonderful it looks. Tell me I'm the prettiest girl on the block. Tell me I really am Queen Librarian of the Universe. My ego can handle it, I assure you.

Blog Meltdown

I got fed up with the template acting wonky, so here we are back to plain jane canned template provided by Blogger. To get the other template to work I would have had to transfer all the images, and while it looked simple enough, there were a lot of bloody images. Frankly, I'm too lazy.

I really should spring for my own designed template, but I'm a computer moron and I'm cheap. Maybe I should hold a really cool contest like the Smart Bitches. Design Wendy's Blog Template. Win Books! Win Amazon Gift Card! Think anyone would be crazy enough to do the work for me? I didn't think so. Back to the canned.

I didn't read a darn word all weekend long, but I just wrapped up Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich on audio. It was good. More of the same. And more Ranger. Oh, how I love me some Ranger. Morelli is stable, but where's the fun in that?

While I found this story fun (again more of the same), the love triangle really grated on me in this book. Frankly, I hate love triangles. I want to take the girl by the shoulders, shake her until her teeth rattle and scream, "Just make a choice already you clueless bimbo!"

We have an expression in the Midwest that I find fitting - shit or get off the pot. It's just gone on too long, and now Stephanie is looking more stupid than usual. I also can't believe that Morelli continues to put up with her indecision. He strikes me as too much of an Alpha dog for that. Ranger, I get. Ranger likes to play. But Joe? I can't believe he's still around. I can't believe he hasn't said, "Look cupcake, you need to shit or get off the pot."

But that's just me.

Love In The Library

My blog seems to be looking wonky this morning. My banner isn't showing up. Since I republished and that didn't fix it, I'm hoping it's just a mysterious Blogger ailment and the ship will right in short order.

On today's agenda is a really fantastic library article written by children' book author Eva Ibbotson for the British paper, The Observer. I've only been half-paying attention, but UK libraries are in a state of flux at the moment, and Ibbotson's little article damn near brought a tear to my eye. All you hopeless romantics out there will adore it. It's like something out of a romance novel.

Public Service Announcement

I just got word that one of the branch managers I used to work with (before fleeing Middle Management) has passed away. She fought her ovarian cancer for 18 months, with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Unbelieveably, she also kept working.

If ovarian cancer doesn't scare the shit out of you - it should. At this moment there is still no consistently reliable test to detect it. Hello?! What is wrong with this picture? So when you hear about a woman being diagnosed it's usually a death sentence. By the time many realize that something is "not right," they've hit Stage III. Which was the case with my coworker. She wasn't feeling well. She was losing weight. Her library staff essentially goaded her into seeing the doctor. Surgery was performed right way, the staff took turns taking her to chemo, she kept working.

We have a test for breast cancer. We have a test for colon cancer. We even have a test for cervical cancer - assuming you're not a dumbass and refuse to get an annual PAP. Yeah, I know PAPs aren't fun. I figure if I'm going to spread my legs and put my feet in stirrups I should be 1) half drunk and 2) having a really good time - but you know what? It has to be done. No PAP - no idea if you are cancer free. Also, a PAP usually comes with a matching pelvic exam - which can help your doctor determine if there is any abnormal swelling or tenderness around your ovaries. So get your damn PAP!

For more information about symptoms, diagnosis and treatment click here. In the meantime, get your annual PAP and pelvic done.

All You Do Is Talk Talk

I finally finished listening to The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown on audio yesterday. Never have I been so happy. Seriously, I can't believe so many people lost their damn minds over this book. OK, I can see why the Church is a bit unhappy - but those people who loved this book? Gushed endlessly about it? Get help! Get help now!

Brown commits one of the biggest sins in fiction. Info dumping. Seriously, the characters are either scurrying around or talking endlessly. I began fantasizing about Silas The Killer Albino shooting one of them just so they'd shut up already.

My coworkers asked me if it was the "bestseller" label turning me off. I said, no. I mean, I've read many bestsellers that I thought were excellent reads (see: Tess Gerritsen). This was just boring. Really bloody boring. I'm sorry people, not getting the sheer majesty of it.

I've had about 24 hours to contemplate my reaction to it, and here are my developing theories:

• It's a better book to "read" than to "listen" to.

• I liked the identity of the bad guy. Truly. It just took forever to get there. I suspect other people feel this way and "forgave" Brown the sagging beginning and middle because the ending is good. Nothing wrong with this. I felt this way about Patricia Cornwell's last book (Predator).
  

• It's the kind of book that makes people feel "smart," yet it's still readable. Lots of European locales and endless talk about art and religion. Plus there aren't a lot of confusing "big words" and flowery description to bog the reader down.

The other problem? I probably should have read this book 3 years ago instead of waiting for all the hype to jade me. My bad.

Next audio book? I started Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich this morning.

Another Year

Today is my birthday. I'm one of those who doesn't have a problem revealing my age - but then again, I only turned 31 today. Can you imagine - I'm still the youngest person working in my particular department at work. Seriously, if you're crazy enough to go back to school and get a master's degree, being a librarian is where it's at right now. My employer saw record highs in retirements this last year, and I think they're in for another wave in a couple more years.

My birthday usually causes reflection and it usually revolves around my career. I've been working professionally since I finished my degree at 23. 23! I swear I don't remember being that young. Was I ever that young?

But enough of being maudlin. Let's talk gifts! The Boyfriend, as long time readers of this blog already know, is an excellent gift giver. I suspect it's because he was outnumbered by women as a child. For the most part, he knows how we think. Except when we're being irrational - but hell even we don't understand our own behavior then.

This year's birthday present was a trip to the local day spa. (I'm dreaming about the oil wrap and massage already) He also got me a Detroit Tigers visor. Bless his heart.

Last night was dinner at The Cheesecake Factory where I discovered Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cheesecake. Oh. My. God. If I had discovered this stuff in college I think I could have avoided some bad relationships. I'd also now weigh 600 pounds - but you take the good with the bad. Seriously, I think this stuff might be illegal in Utah. And in case my sisters are reading this - Oh. My. God. It's expensive as hell but you can order their cheesecakes online!

But finally, this is not just my birthday. It's also my niece's adoption day. Four years ago I was housesitting, anticipating RWA in Denver, while my sister and brother-in-law were bonding with a screaming 8 month old in China. It took some time, but really the tyke settled right in once they got her back to the states. So I leave you with my adorable niece as she looked four years ago.

It's Like My Own Mini BEA

I've never been to the BEA (Book Expo America) conference. That said, I likely will not go until 2008, given that they'll be Los Angeles that year. In the meantime I just signed up for a upcoming Publisher's Showcase at the end of the month. One of the very large public library systems here in So. Cal. is hosting. Hey Shayera? Are you going to be there?

It's a half-day affair with reps from Hachette Book Group (that would be Warner and Little, Brown), HarperCollins, Tor and Harlequin. ARCs are promised. As are publisher catalogs, which frankly are almost as fun as Advanced Reader Copies - and in many instances a hell of lot more dangerous. Upcoming fall and winter titles will be highlighted - so hopefully I'll have killer book gossip to spread around.

D-Day arrives on July 27.

It's Not Fair

I thought I had finally accepted the fact that Maggie Osborne had retired. I thought I was OK with the fact that she selfishly decided to stop writing books for me, and instead wanted to spend time with her family. Ha! Like they need her more than I do. Whatever.

Yeah. I made the mistake of digging out The Seduction Of Samantha Kincade from the TBR. Yeah, I loved it. Damn that woman! Damn her for wanting to have a life!

For the sake of full disclosure, I am a Maggie Osborne fan girl. However she has written books that I'm not madly in love with. That said, even when I'm not madly in love, her books always stay with me well after I finish them. Even the ones I consider "OK" or "Eh." There's just something about her characters. They jump off the page and resonant in such a way that they feel real. They never feel like cliches. Also Osborne was one of the few romance writers out there who took chances and didn't bow to convention. Take Samantha Kincade for example:

As a young tomboy Sam was witness to the brutal gang rape and murder of her mother. That one horrible moment set off a chain of events that destroyed her family, and she has vowed vengeance on the man responsible - an outlaw named Hannibal Cotwell. To achieve this goal Sam passes herself off as a man and becomes a bounty hunter. A very successful bounty hunter. No one knows the truth. Not even her long lost, powerful uncle realizes that his nephew is a girl.

(And unlike other dimwitted romance heroines who merely shove their long flowing hair under a hat - Sam dresses like a man, cusses like a man, drinks like a man, shoots like a man, rides a horse like a man and cuts off all of her hair. You know logical things a woman would do if she truly wanted people to think she had a penis.)

Trace Harden first spies Sam in a saloon and immediately knows he's a she. Frankly he thinks it's rather obvious, but whatever. He doesn't give her more than a passing thought really since he's looking for his half-brother - none other than ::drumroll please:: Hannibal Cotwell.

Sam eventually finds out that Trace is Hannibal's brother and on her uncle's orders (he's a judge by the way), she's to bring Trace in as bait for a trap they plan to spring for Hannibal. But it doesn't quite work out that way, and Sam soon finds herself joining forces with Trace. Seems he wants his brother dead almost as much as she does.

The above plot description should give you a clue that this isn't a shiny happy book. It is very much a gritty western. We have lawlessness, violence, hardship - all the proper ingredients that Osborne uses to make it her own. Sam is so dang prickly that I suspect this book couldn't be published today because the editor would say she isn't "sympathetic" or "likeable." Osborne also chooses to humanize Hannibal. I know, how is that possible? Well we get chapters from his point of view. It doesn't minimize the awful things he has done - but it means he's not one dimensional. Even the most notorious of serial killers had surprising facets to their personalities. Do I feel sorry for Hannibal? Not really. This is ultimately a novel about choices. Sam's choice to seek vengeance and nurse her desire for revenge to the point that she's not sure who she is. Trace's choice to not look deeper at what he thinks he knows, instead vowing to kill his brother. And Hannibal's choices - which are admittedly hard to understand given that he's a raging asshole how rapes and beats women - but there you go.

That's not to say this book is perfect. The author stumbles a bit when Sam accuses Trace of "ruining her life" thus necessitating them to join forces and skedaddle out of town thanks to a posse on their trail. Blessedly this doesn't last too long. Also, I suspect many readers would be annoyed by Sam's "don't want to be a woman because women are weak" argument. But again, this novel is all about choices, and it's up to Sam to learn that gender has nothing to do with how strong a person is. Frankly, this moment of revelation really seals the book for me - leaving it up to her to knock some sense into Trace.

Our boy is naturally dragging around a bit of baggage of his own.

Is this the best Maggie Osborne novel I've read? No. Is it still incredibly good? Yes. I'm going to do my best to move on to another book, but it's a guarantee that this one won't be leaving my consciousness anytime soon. If that isn't the mark of a keeper I'm not sure what is.

Final Grade = A

All American Read

Still sick - but I am getting some reading done! I finished a really good, and appropriately themed anthology earlier this weekend:

4th Of July Picnic by Pat Pritchard, Cheryl Bolen & Tracy Cozzens

Peace of Mind by Pat Pritchard - Heroine is a newspaper owner who lost her father in the Civil War. Hero runs the town's rival newspaper and has become increasingly intrigued by the intelligent heroine who always prints a rebuttal to his editorials. It's time for the town's annual 4th of July picnic and imagine the heroine's shock when the hero bids an outrageous sum on her box lunch! This was a really good story. Intelligent heroine, charming hero - my only quibble? The sex. There shouldn't have been any! The scenes felt intrusive and out of place. Would have worked much better as a "sweet" story me thinks. Final Grade = B+

The Four-Leaf Clover by Cheryl Bolen - Hero is an up-and-coming banker who proposes to his dream girl during the 4th of July picnic. He has admired her from afar for years, so is over the moon when she accepts. The story follows their marriage - which naturally features a big misunderstanding because the hero isn't the best with words. This would have been irritating in a novel, but in a story that clocks in at less than 100 pages it works. Final Grade = B

The Magical Elixir by Tracy Cozzens - Hero is a con man, selling patent medicines out of the back of a wagon with a "real swami." Actually Noah is a former slave - but whatever works! Heroine is a mountain girl who came down to town for the annual picnic. She buys the hero's magic elixir thinking it will cure her lame foot. Hero begins to feel like a shit-heel and gets a crisis of conscience. Certainly a different story, and well done. Final Grade = B

Back to being sick...

Alpha Dog

Sybil mentioned this blog post by author Lori Foster about Alpha heroes.

Dictionary.com describes "Alpha" as being "the highest ranked or most dominant individual of one's sex."

Please note, it does not say “being a jerk.”

Foster is right of course, so then how come so many authors get the Alpha male so bloody wrong?

I used to claim that I didn't like Alpha heroes in my romances. Then I quickly realized that I was fine with Alphas, it was assholes I had a problem with. Some authors (and I've read many books to back this statement up) I think go out with the best of intentions of creating a strong male character. However "strong" does not equate raging asshole determined to push back the cause of feminism 100 years. Here's a simple test. If instead of wanting to take your panties off for him you start thinking that maybe you should own a gun - that's an asshole. Since I personally feel there are enough assholes roaming around in the free world, the last thing I want to do is read about them in my leisure time. Color me crazy.

Yep, yep, I’d say Alpha Heroes are very much in control, and controlling.

NOT because they want to take away from anyone around them, most especially the heroine, who they hold in high regard.

I'm a girl with control issues - which is one big reason why I never experimented with a variety of drugs in college. Side rant here: I always get annoyed with girls who say something like, "I was drunk, I didn't know what I was doing!" Puhleeze. You knew exactly what you were doing. Now would you have done it if the alcohol hadn't lowered your inhibitions? Probably not. But if you didn't black out - you knew. Stop hiding behind an excuse and just say, "Yeah, I did it and it was frickin' unbelieveable!"

The problem with the controlling Alpha male (as opposed to the one who just likes to be in control) is that there is a line that so often they gleefully go sprinting across. In order for these fellas to work for me, they need to be paired with an equally compelling adversary. I need a heroine who can go toe-to-toe with these guys. Call them out should they go tip-toeing through Asshole Territory.

But you'd be surprised how many authors will give you the Wet Dish Rag Heroine instead. I suspect because some think that the hero is the show. That romance readers don't really care about anything other than a hunky hero with fabulous man-titty. Not true. Most of us are there to read about *gasp* the relationship. And if one half the relationship is annoying the hell out of us? Not going to work.

So there you go. I like me the Alphas, hate me the assholes.

Oh, and still sick and hating every minute of it.