The New It Girl

Oh the things you learn when you browse publisher catalogs. I have seen some minor buzz around Blog Land for Lisa Kleypas October historical, Seduce Me At Sunrise. She even has a sneak peek up at her web site. What I didn't know is that she also has a Christmas hard cover coming out mid-October (I'm finding a 10/14 laydown date) called A Wallflower Christmas. Yes, a hard cover historical. And yes, it's one of those cute little Christmas books. According to the specs in the catalog, it's clocking in at 224 pages and retailing at $16.95 (which is about average for these sort of releases).

Description:

When an uncivilized American rake seeks a proper British heiress to wed, love is the last thing on his mind.

Rafe Bowman comes to London for an arranged marriage with the perfect aristocratic bride. But before the courtship can begin, Rafe needs to learn the rules of London society. And when four former Wallflowers try to make him into a gentleman, their plans go wildly astray. Winning a bride turns out to be more complicated than Rafe Bowman anticipated as Christmas works in the most unexpected ways...and changes the most cynical hearts.

I know a lot of readers get their panties in a wad when an author moves to hard cover, but I tend to find it exciting. Why? Because even though "we" all know that paperback originals are "real books" there's an air of legitimacy to hard covers. There just is. Yeah, yeah - I know many readers think they're bulky, over priced, and not worth the money - but I gotta say nothing gets my librarian rocks off quite like a shiny, new, hard cover book with a crisp, clean, pretty book jacket. It just does. And if the cover featured in the catalog is what ends up on the finished product? It's pretty. Really pretty. Another headless people cover, but these headless people are three young ladies wearing high-waisted dresses.

I've been excited to see Kleypas move to hard cover, because I thought it was a jump that made sense. One, I thought Avon was nuts to let her go (completely and totally insane). Two, her foray into contemporary appears to have been largely well-received by her fans and I do think it's given her more name recognition. As much as I love me historicals, I do think they're still a niche market. By branching out into writing some contemporaries, Kleypas has gained new readers - readers that very well might follow her back to her historicals. It also doesn't hurt matters that she's one of the most poised and professional authors I've ever encountered. And nice. Damn, just really, really nice.

So will readers turn out and buy this cute little Christmas book? I suspect so. For one thing the Wallflower series turned out to be quite popular, and for another, Kleypas is the kind of author that has generated a very loyal fan base. They'll buy, they'll lap it up, and they'll beg for more. I really think Kleypas is poised to become "the next big thing" in the mainstream - even if we romance readers know just how long and hard she's worked over the years to become an overnight sensation.

Now to sit back and watch it all unfold....