Donning The Black For Black Lace

Word came down this month that Virgin Books (part of the Random House family these days) was putting their erotica imprint, Black Lace, on hold next year. Meaning what titles are slated for the latter half of 2009 could very well be the end of the line.

Some of you are probably wondering 1) why some of us are truly bereft to hear this news and 2) why you should bloody well care. Well, I'm here to tell you.

This may come as a surprise to any newbie romance readers out there, but erotica and erotic romance used to be very un-mainstream. I was reviewing for The Romance Reader when Kensington literally revolutionized the market by launching the Brava line. Whoa doggie. You would think it was the end of western civilization. You wouldn't believe the crap that was getting posted on message boards and e-mail loops. There was no place in the romance genre for this....this...smut! It's nothing more than....than....porn!

No, I'm not making this up. People were saying this about the Brava line. Oh my, how times have changed!

It was through my affiliation with TRR that I discovered "the hot stuff." It started with Seductive by Thea Devine (Devine Crack Hos: the book with the pearls). From there I reviewed Beyond Seduction by Emma Holly. This was the second "mainstream" historical romance title that Holly wrote for Berkley. I loved it. To which one of my long-time buds on one of my e-mail loops said:

"Oh Wendy! You have to try her Black Lace books."

Black Lace? Really? Off I go to check them out....

I read Cooking Up A Storm and Pandora's Box was officially opened. I was sold. Hook, line, sinker.....addicted. There was no going back.

I'll be honest. As much as I love romance, I tend to get pissed off with The Code. The Code is as follows:

Too Stupid To Live Virginal Twat = Heroine

Female Character Who Actually Enjoys Sex Before Meeting "The One" = Skanky, Slut Villainess.

Being in my early 20s, not that far removed from college, The Code really pissed me off. I know. Sex is better when it's with someone you lurve....blah, blah, blah. I'm going to blunt. If you're having sex with someone you aren't hopelessly in love with, it doesn't mean it's automatically going to be terrible. Don't ask me how I know this, I just do. Let's leave it at that.

I didn't get this clap-trap in Black Lace novels. Black Lace novels made it OK for the female characters who were traditionally vilified in romance novels to be the heroine of their own stories. They could be who they wanted to be, do whatever they wanted to do, and with whomever they wished and....they weren't punished for it.

Hear that? That would be Wendy's little feminist heart singing The Hallelujah Chorus.

Now I'm not suggesting that Black Lace novels were all good (::snort:: hardly) and I'm not suggesting that all romance novels follow The Code. Like most of my reading life, it was my dumb luck to hit a string of irritatingly bad books one after another. Black Lace came along at a time in my life when I needed validation. I got it, for which I am eternally grateful.

So where did it all go wrong? The market changed, and Black Lace didn't change with it. Kensington Brava opened a window into making "hotter" romances more mainstream. Then Ellora's Cave kicked open the door, poured some gasoline on the floor and lit a match. Who woulda thunk it? Readers like erotica and they're more than willing to read it electronically? Golly gee.

Once the digital revolution in terms of erotica and erotic romance launched, Black Lace should have hit the ground running by offering up their titles electronically. They also should have worked on their distribution. You know how many Black Lace titles I've purchased in traditional brick and mortar bookstores?

Zero.

I can never find what I'm looking for there. In the old days, a few well-worn titles with spine creases (grrrr!) would be buried in the Sexuality/Self-Help (tee hee) section. I didn't start seeing Emma Holly's Black Lace titles in stores until their third or fourth reprinting (by which point I had ordered all my copies online), and only after she started swimming the more mainstream waters of paranormal romance.

So even though the revolution had arrived, I was still ordering my Black Lace online. This isn't a big deal for me, but it's still a small percentage of readers who order their books online. A huge market wasn't being tapped by making the titles more readily available in traditional outlets.

As for learning about what new titles were available? Forget about it. To this day it still requires a fair amount of Internet sleuthing, and for years I relied heavily on the recommendations of my smut-minded online buds until I built up a core of authors I knew I could rely on.

But while the possible demise of Black Lace isn't unexpected, that doesn't make it any less sad. It's hard to understand now, what with erotic romance being so darn....respectable, but Black Lace was literally ground zero. It was the safe place where women could go to read erotica that was written by other women, catering to female fantasies. It was breathtaking. It was groundbreaking. And now we're hearing the first few faint notes of a funeral dirge.

And if my broken heart isn't enough, that is why you should care.

Taking Care Of Business

I have a couple of odds and ends to post about, so bare with me. First, I have an opinion piece up over at TGTBTU entitled Can A Blogger Make A Book? This post actually addresses a couple of issues that I've been tossing around in my head, but that I hadn't articulated until now because I wasn't sure how to not sound like a raving bitch. So go on over and read my take on KristieJ's quest to promote the hell out of Broken Wing, if reader bloggers can truly "make" books, and why reader bloggers should never lose sight of why they started blogging in the first place. I don't care how important we "think" we are - none of us started blogging for the "traffic." Well, at least I didn't.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In other news, one of my favorite people, Lisa(bea) slapped me with the Kreativ Blogger award.

The Kreativ rules state that: Once you receive this award you are to list seven of your favorite things and then nominate seven other blogs.

1) Tea. God, how I love tea.

2) A great historical western romance. Seriously, nothing better.

3) A long good hunting trip at a massive used bookstore.

4) Hooking up and chatting books with the So. Cal. Bloggers

5) Lazy Sunday afternoons.

6) Blogging. After six years I'm still not bored. Batten down the hatches everybody!

7) My family. Awwwww.....

My nominations are:

1) The gals over at Book Binge

2) Renee from Renee's Book Addiction

3) Lusty Reader

4) Tracy from Tracy's Place

5) Miss Barbara from Happily Forever After

6) Sula - lovin' the details on the upcoming wedding!

7) Tara Marie from Romancing Reading Mom - because I hope she'll see this and start blogging again. God, how I miss her!

My Favorite Swag

I'm sure the vast majority of you are sick of RWA related posts, but the last and final box I shipped from D.C. was waiting for me when I rolled into the office this morning. And since promo is always a hot topic amongst romance authors, readers and bloggers, I thought I'd highlight some of my favorites from this year. Note: clicking on the picture will make it bigger.

• Book bag from author Tracy Wolff. I'm pretty sure I got this at the Literacy Signing when I stopped by Tracy's table. I need another book bag like I need a hole in the head, but what I love about this one is it's smaller size. I like my book bags two ways. 1) Big enough to fit a dead body a mess of books or 2) Small enough for me to carry to the office. I expect to get a lot of use out of this bag, and it's excellent promo for Tracy since who knows how many innocent bystanders will see me carrying it around.

• Post-It Note Tablet from Hannah Howell. Do you know how many post-it notes and pads of paper I go through at work? A lot. I always keep some by my computer to jot down information about books, authors, random ISBNs I need to look up.....

• Green collapsible tote bag from Samhain. I'll admit an e-publisher giving out tote bags strikes me as....odd. That said, this one folds into a handy (and small!) pouch. Ideal for keeping in your car's glove box when you have to make that last minute run to the grocery store. Or that impromptu run to the bookstore. Either way, it'll come in handy.

• Buttons from Cherry Adair and Tessa Dare. Dare's buttons were really clever. She took the title words from her upcoming trilogy - Goddess, Siren and Lady - and made individual buttons. Then she gave them out at RWA....a conference full of women. Women walking around with Goddess, Siren and/or Lady pinned to them. Awesome. Adair's buttons include such valuable advice as "So Many Books, So Little Time" and "Today Requires Chocolate." Amen sister.

• Thumb drive. I think others have already blogged about this. This flash drive came with the conference registration tote bag and includes various handouts and some free Harlequin books. Very cool.

• Sunscreen from Gina Ardito. Individual mini-packets of SPF 15 sunscreen in a matchbook. Great to stuff in your purse when you're on the go. I'm so white I'm see-through and I live in southern California. I cannot have too much sunscreen. Just sayin'.
  

• Zebra Authors CD. This was probably my favorite promo item of the conference. This CD includes excerpts, book trailers, links to the author's web site, and links to buy the books for six authors who are published (or are soon going to be) by Zebra. An excellent example of how authors can work together on promotion and highlight what readers care about the most - the books! Avon authors - are you taking note? This seems like a natural for you guys. Authors on the Zebra CD are: Anthea Lawson, Kit Donner, Lori Brighton, Jackie Ivie, Heather Grothaus, and Kimberly Killion.

Insane Contest Alert

You've got to check out Kimberly Killion's Summer Sizzler contest!

She is featuring a basket of "New to You Authors" which includes 16 autographed books + a $25 B&N gift card. (Wendy: OMG! Squeeee! 16 books AND a gift card?!)

Don't delay, go HERE to sign up for the giveaway.

The winner of the SUMMER SIZZLER will be announced on September 1.





I've read three of these titles that Kimberly is giving away: The Conqueror by Kris Kennedy, Passionate by Anthea Lawson and What A Scoundrel Wants by Carrie Lofty. All three of which earned B grades from me. Just sayin'.

Linkorama Jama

Given the current economic climate, desperate times call for desperate (and cool) measures. Those wild librarians of Texas are raising money for the Texas Library Association's Disaster Relief fund with a calender featuring Texas librarians showing off their....tattoos.

Yeah. Y'all thought I was going to say something else didn't you? Maybe librarians showing off their stacks? Ha!

Thanks to Random House Inc.'s Library Services blog for the heads-up on the coolness.

+++++++++

In other news, it's come to my attention that despite my sidebar and me occasionally mentioning it in blog posts, that some of you don't know that I do a wiki for Upcoming Historical Romance releases. There's even an RSS feed people!

I did some massive updating this week, so you can now see releases through February 2010 (although obviously the later months aren't "complete" just yet). I dig up this information thanks to some of the databases I use at work, along with some publications I get, and right now I'm feeling pretty confident that it's mostly complete through October 2009. Never say never though. I could be missing a title somewhere.

I also have lots of cover art over there. I don't really buy books based on covers, but that doesn't mean I don't love looking at it! So there is lots of pretty and shiny to gaze upon. Here is just a small sampling:






















And for those of you hoping I'll set something up for the other sub genres of romance? Um yeah, don't count on it. While this wiki isn't a total time suck, it does take some work, and I'm really only providing a bare minimum of information (author, title, ISBN, price and publisher). I do it because I love me some historical romance, and I'm fairly passionate about it. I also do it because it amuses me and I love to gaze upon the pretty and the shiny. If some of you find it useful as well, all the better.

Been There, Done That, Bought The T-Shirt

My niece, The Fairy Princess, who fell asleep reading. Her mother, the sneaky Big Sis, snapped this photo, obviously unable to resist the cute-ness.

I have no clue what The Fairy Princess is reading, but knowing her it probably involved princesses, fairies, or both. Bless her heart. And talk about prepared? Not only did she fall asleep with a book open in front of her, she's also lying on top of another book.

Photographic Evidence

First, a shout-out to the So. Cal. Bloggers to let them know that RWA won't be in San Diego in 2012. It'll be in Anaheim! The thought of sleeping in my own bed and attending Nationals is enough to make my heart skip a beat. Who cares if I have to wait three more years to do it?

Last night I finally got my pictures uploaded to my Flickr account. I made an album and you can see all of them here. In the meantime, here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

Carrie Lofty and I after our video interview for Romantic Times. That's not happiness on our faces, it's relief! One of my better hair days, and Carrie? Big Sis informed me she loves your blouse. I loved it too!

I titled this picture the cutest girls in the bar. Lusty Reader, Aymless and Barbara. Bask in their cuteness.

Rosie having some sort of religious awakening with her ARC of Indiscreet by Carolyn Jewel. Getting this ARC made her trip. I'm not kidding.

I was casually wandering around the Literacy Signing when I just happened by Linda Howard's table and saw Rosie was next in line! I snapped this picture so Rosie could preserve her fangirl moment.

The always gracious Harlequin Historical author, Michelle Willingham before the RITAs. You can't really tell here, but she was rocking a really cool necklace that used to belong to her grandmother. It was very sparkly.

The lovely and talented Nora Roberts standing next to some fat girl. Sigh. I'm trying to do better. Honest. Anywho, as always Nora looked lovely for RITA night (OMG, her jewelry!). I got several compliments on my dress. The first non-black dress I've bought in years.

Da girls on RITA night. From front to back: Azteclady, AnimeJune, Barbara, Rosie and Kristie. Note to anyone who lives near Barbara: girlfriend is one mean hair-wrangler. She did Kristie's hair and it was fab-u-lous!
Here I am rockin' the light-up plastic tiara I got at the Harlequin SuperRomance party. It'll have to do until a Greek (or Italian) tycoon shows up on my front door bearing a real one.

And those are some of the pictures. Now Ames and Nath can get off my back! LOL

The Last Day

By Saturday my butt was dragging. The wake-up call came at 7AM, and my first thought was "how badly do I want to get up to attend the NAL and Ballantine booksignings?" Seriously. Exhausted. But I wanted to get my hands on Tessa Dare's debut novel, Goddess Of The Hunt, and I had heard she was going to be signing some copies at the Ballantine signing. I was in luck! She did have copies, along with more of her cute promo pins for her trilogy. Rosie had been coveting mine, and since she was running a little late, I swiped a set for her.

Next up was my video debut. Romantic Times is apparently looking to revamp their web site around the first of the year, and they're shooting video interviews to be posted. They asked me if I would consider interviewing an author. Carrie Lofty and I both jumped at the chance! It went fairly well. Carrie and I didn't have spinach stuck in our teeth, and hopefully we made enough coherent sense that when they go through the editing process we'll come out looking mighty fine. It's going to be a long time before it's posted though! Not until sometime around the launch of Carrie's second novel, Scoundrel's Kiss, which won't be released until January 2010. I'll keep y'all posted!

Carrie and I were on such a high after that shoot that we briefly hit the Sourcebooks publisher signing (which was jammed!), then got a drink at the bar to celebrate. She hadn't eaten all day and one more panel discussion to attend, so after downing my cosmopolitan, I left her to mail my final box of books and goodies before FedEx closed.

Then it was time to beautify for the RITAs! I attended a cocktail party beforehand (the joys of being a librarian who orders a crap-load of books for a living), so I found myself getting all fancied-up before the others. I went up, schmoozed, and left the party around 7:30PM to connect with the other bloggers so we could sit together at the award ceremony.

By now the RITA winners have been posted. I was so happy to see Karen Templeton win. I was sad that Janice Kay Johnson didn't win for the most awesome The Man Behind The Cop, but I did think she was a bit of a dark horse in the Suspense/Adventure category. The biggest shock of the evening (I thought) was a YA novel winning the best first book category. Note to self: have Lil' Sis check book out. Might be good to add to her classroom.

There was a small gathering of bloggers after the RITAs, but as detailed in previous posts, I was dog-tired from lack of sleep. Plus I had to get up early the next day to catch my flight. So I made an appearance, then went back to the room to get some sleep.

Rosie, Kristie and I shared a cab to the airport. Our flights home were uneventful, although the flight to Dallas found us sharing a plane with several other conference attendees. Among them? Stephanie Feagan (RWA Treasurer and writer), Sharon Lathan (Sourcebooks author) and Sharon Sala. Yeah, Sharon Sala. We really only chatted with Sharon Lathan, since she was literally sitting right behind me and Rosie!

Our flights home were just as uneventful as our flights to D.C. My Man met me at the airport, we got my luggage, and he promptly informed me we would be ordering a pizza for dinner (yeah, I looked that good). I was in bed by 7PM last night....and slept the whole night though. Seriously. That tired. It's a full rich day today with laundry and errands. Then it's back to work tomorrow. Coming up? Pictures! Look for an entire post devoted to them tomorrow.

Pleasant Surprises

Friday at the RWA conference is usually when it starts to show that Wendy has lost half her brain. The busy days and lack of sleep start to catch up with me. I had a particularly hard time getting out of bed this morning because I had a leetle too much wine the night before. I could have easily used a few more hours of sleep, but Harlequin had a book signing this morning and hello? I couldn't very well miss that now could I?

Today was spent at some of the publisher booksignings and attending the Awards Luncheon. The speaker at the luncheon was Eloisa James. I'm not above admitting it - I had some preconceived notions on what her talk was going to be about. James is an academic, so you know, I just assumed her talk would have an academic bent. Not at all. It was more a talk about family, finding inspiration and achieving your dream(s). I can't really do her justice. It was really wonderful, and there were more than a few of us shedding some tears. I told Rosie that is why attending this conference is so deadly. You end up hearing an author give some great talk or speech and your immediate reaction is "I am buying every one of their books, brand new, on the release day, until the day I die." Never mind if you've tried their books before and they're just not for you. Hearing them give a tremendous talk causes you to reform your wicked ways.

This evening a bunch of us got together and hit a Lebanese restaurant. This was where I finally met Kati and Lusty Reader. I had been missing them all week, so it was great to finally be able to connect with both of them.

After dinner we all decided to hit the hotel bar and just hang out. I found myself walking on the wild side and ordering hot tea in the vain hope that it would help my slowly disappearing voice. Yeah, not so much. Hopefully a decent night's sleep will do the trick. Um yeah, but it's now 1AM and I'm still up typing this blog post. Go Team Wendy!

This will very likely be my last blog post live from RWA. Tomorrow is pretty jam-packed and the RITA award ceremony will make for one long night. So my Saturday recap probably won't happen until Sunday and Monday. Until then, see ya'all when I'm back at the Bat Cave!

Live From D.C. It's Jerry Springer!

We had some excitement here in our hotel last night after I signed off from blogging. As you all know from my last post, I was up until 2AM. Well so were Barbara and Kristie, because we couldn't seem to stop yakking about books. Anywho, we're chatting when all the sudden we hear someone pounding on a door down the hall. Then this woman starts screaming, in a very uppity tone saying things like, "Bitch, you better let me in there. I'm going to kick your ass you fucking whore." Seriously. Now as my family, My Man, and most of the bloggers who have met me in person will attest to, I'm a champion swearer. I can cuss with the best of them. But this woman? Every other word was an obscenity. And frankly? She sounded really unhinged. Unhinged enough that I wasn't about to open the door. Just as I was thinking about calling down to the front desk, she storms off down the hall.

Barbara, who was by this point wondering if she was back in New York City, got bit by the curiosity bug. So she left the room and discovered said unhinged woman sobbing by the elevators, surrounded by security, and her luggage. Yes, sobbing. Because she couldn't understand why they "called the cops." She then wondered what kind of convention the hotel had that the attendees would "call the cops." Um, the kind of attendees who don't want to listen to a crazy woman ranting in a hotel hallway at 2AM.

After that excitement, we all went to bed, only to get up this morning early to hear Janet Evanovich give the Opening Session talk. She basically answered some prepared questions about her life and career, and it was a nice way to start the day. After that, I hit FedEx to ship my first box of books back to California. I'm really trying to be restrained and not grab too many....but it's hard. I easily get distracted by the pretty and the shiny.

Then came lunch which featured Keynote Speaker Linda Howard. Now I heard Howard at a RWA Librarian Event some years back and she was charming, funny and entertaining. She delivered again here, relaying some very funny stories about her family that had people rolling in the aisles.

I wrapped up the afternoon by hitting the Avon publisher signing. I picked up a few things for myself and scored a Rachel Hawthorne (Lorraine Heath for you romance readers) YA novel for the Lil' Sis's classroom.

I had a dinner invitation, so I hit the room to get ready - where I ran into my roomies and AztecLady. I keep forgetting to mention that I have met AztecLady! And yes, I now know her real name. Admit it. Y'all are just plain jealous.

I came back to the hotel after a scrumptious dinner, called My Man, then hit the bar to have some drinks and scintillating conversation with Miss Rosie. And despite my original plan to get to bed early tonight? Yeah, it's 2-frickin-AM. Again. Two damn days in a row. Shoot me now because at this rate I'm going to be Dead Woman Walking by Sunday morning.

Librarians, Academics, Authors, Oh My!

Wednesday at RWA is always a full rich day for me since it's All About The Librarians. I got up early, grabbed my conference registration, then headed to the Librarian Event. I attend this program every year for three reasons:

• I always learn at least one thing new from the diverse program.
• They feed me.
• The swag is off the charts.

This year was no exception. The panel discussions ranged from such topics as planning author events at your library, a panel of authors discussing the various sub genres, an academically-bent panel talking about the history of the genre and how to recommend romance to literature snobs, and a focus on multicultural romance. My personal favorites? The academic panel and the multicultural panel that featured Jade Lee, Candice Poarch and Tracy Montoya.

The librarians get their own swag room, and even with me behaving myself, I still walked away with several books. My biggest coup? I got my hands on Beth Williamson's first two Brava titles. Kristie was particularly green.

Next up was the Literacy Booksigning, and I honestly believe it was crazier than usual this year. I can't wait to hear how much money they ended up raising. I was very restrained and only picked up a handful a titles. A few for myself, and a couple for two romance reading colleagues at work. But the Literacy Signing is also a great place to just chat with authors. I stopped by and talked to several - including Christie Ridgway, Kathryn Smith, Chris Marie Green, Sylvia Day, Tracy Wolff, Trish Albright, and probably half a dozen others I'm forgetting. And for any of my e-mail loop buddies reading this (Hey SL-ers!!!!), I did run into Amy, we did get our picture taken together, and she did buy too many books. As if there really is such a thing as too many books? I also briefly ran into JMC at the signing, but it was so insane that we were more like two ships passing in the night. She's here for the rest of the conference, so I'm hoping I see her tomorrow!

After that, I made a pit-stop at a party hosted by the Harlequin SuperRomance authors. They had munchies, and gift baskets to give away (sadly, my unlucky streak holds). I also got myself a rather kick-ass plastic tiara that lights up. Yes, I know. You all are supremely jealous.

By this point it's 10PM, but I'm not done. It's off to do some mingling and "networking." I got to connect with some more bloggers, including Katie(babs) and Aymless. I also ran into the ever fabulous Megan Frampton who was hanging with one of her best buds, Carolyn Jewel.

Tomorrow (uh, OK....today) the conference officially gets underway with workshops, keynote speakers, and a luncheon. It's now 2AM and I'm still up typing this blog post. The no sleep at RWA trend continues to hold. So if this post is a complete mess, makes no sense, and you're wondering if I've gone slightly insane? Yeah, it's 2AM. Cut me some slack.

Until tomorrow.....

I Knew I Forgot Something

OK, here's the thing. I've been taking pictures. Honest. I got pictures of the White House and everything. But I've been bogarting Kristie's laptop while in the room, and I've been scratching out blogging time really late at night. Plus I'm lazy. Can't discount the lazy. So I think I'll save up all my pictures until I get home, download them all in one fell swoop, and throw them on my Flickr account.

I know this will make some of you impatient and unhappy....but I'm lazy. Can't discount the lazy. You'll get pictures. Honest. Just not immediately.

Anywho, today was sight-seeing day. Kristie blogged about this already - we took a trolley car and we had two different drivers. One good. One not so good. The good driver, I'm not kidding you, was named A-Train. Yep, A-Train. Seriously. I'm hoping that wasn't his real name. Cuz damn, if it was I bet kindergarten was hell. The other one was a former teacher, and no offense to Lil' Sis who reads my blog and is also a teacher, but this woman kept quizzing us. Hello? You're the tour guide. It's your job to tell us, not have us tell you. Geez.

My only goal today was getting to the Library Of Congress. Or as I like to call it....Mecca.

It's a librarian thing.

I saw the reading room. I saw a Gutenberg Bible. I saw some of Thomas Jefferson's library. Books owned by Thomas Jefferson people! I got pictures, I got souvenirs, and I controlled myself and didn't latch on to anybody official looking and beg for a job.

Or beg them to let me live there.

Either would be good.

After sightseeing, we hooked up with Barbara and AnimeJune. Eating, drinking and general merriment ensued. It's been so fabulous to talk about other readers about romance novels! Even when we don't always agree on said romance novels.

It was after dinner, laughs and fun that I noticed my right arm. Damn, I got sunburned. Now for those who have never met me in person - I'm so white that I'm see-through. Pale, pale, pale. The kind of evil complexion where if I stand out in the sun for 5 minutes I better be wearing SPF 45. So what do I do? I come to Washington D.C. where it's hot and humid and do not pack any sunscreen. I've had this complexion for 30+ years. Hello? Wendy? Anybody home? Where is your brain?! So now I have this sunburn on my right arm, and I'm rocking a sleeveless dress on RITA night. I'm gonna look lop-sided. Oh well. It's not the first time I'll look silly, nor will it be the last.

Tomorrow is the full rich day for me. It's the Librarian Event, the Literacy Signing, and probably a party afterwards. I imagine I'll be half dead on my feet, but heck this is RWA. Who needs sleep when you have caffeine and adrenaline?

Travelin' Fool

After a long day, I have made it to Washington D.C. Rosie and I both got very early starts this morning, up and marginally conscious by 4AM. We met up at the airport, got ourselves fully caffeinated, and boarded the plane. The travel itself went fine. Totally uneventful flights, everything went according to plan.

I think a big reason everything went so well is that Rosie and I were around to distract each other. Travel is just more fun when you have someone to chat with about romance novels.

We got to the hotel a little before 7PM, got checked in and then met up with Kristie, where much squee-ing ensued. Then it was a quick dinner, and now we're all hanging out in the room chatting about books, kids, significant others, and any other nonsense we can think up. Tomorrow it's some sight-seeing and hooking up with Barbara, who is taking the train down.

Well kids, it's back to the slumber party. It's also late, so I should also think about bed.....

Making A List, Checking It Twice

It's finally here chickadees! I'm on vacation and boarding a plane tomorrow for the RWA conference in Washington D.C. Rosie and I are traveling together (weeeee!) and we'll both be up at an ungodly hour in order to make it to the airport. If all goes according to plan, we'll be in D.C., at the hotel, sometime early evening. Since we'll be on California time, I figure we'll either be bouncing off the walls, or so darn exhausted from the traveling that we'll fall into bed.

I'm pretty much packed and ready to go. Just a few last minute toiletries that will have to be stuffed in the suitcase in the morning. I've also got Ye Olde Laptop ready to roll, along with my Sony Reader loaded with lots of books. Of course, I've pretty much decided I'm only bringing it along so other people can play with it. I never, ever seem to get any reading done at this conference. Too much to do, too many people to see, and I'm easily distracted by the pretty and shiny.

As for what's in store for you all? Well, hopefully lots of blog updating. Tweeting? Not at all. I tend to ignore my Twitter account and stick to blogging cuz that's how I roll. Also, I'm really going to try and be better about taking pictures this year! I'm always terrible about that, but this year there is no excuse since My Man got me a shiny new digital camera for my birthday. One that easily and conveniently fits in my purse. Praise saints!

My dance card seems to have exploded a bit, so I should have lots to blab about....assuming of course that I find time to blog about it all. Oh well, I just won't sleep. That will solve that problem!

Until later faithful blog readers. Next post will be coming to you live from D.C.

Stopping To Smell The Roses

Passionate by Anthea Lawson is a debut novel by a husband and wife writing team, and it just so happens it's up for the Best First Book RITA award at the RWA conference next week. How timely then that I wrapped it up this evening!

Lily Strathmore comes from a very fine Victorian family. Her father is a Marquis and a very influential man in Parliament. You know what that means right? Yep, her mama is determined to make her a fabulous match and drag her down the altar by her hair. Sigh. All poor Lily wants is to paint and travel, preferably with her uncle Edward's family. A lovely and adventurous family. Sadly though, mama has other ideas, and Lily finds herself agreeing to consider the very proper Lord Buckley's hand. In exchange, she gets to travel one last time with her uncle's family and continue to paint. Then James Huntington shows up.

James and his sister, Caroline, were poor relations taken in by their uncle after their parents died. Their uncle is a kindly sort though, and is hoping to see them both settled before he departs the earthly plain....mostly because his son, their cousin Reggie, the heir, is a vile, jealous creature. Lord Denby tells James that one of the country estate is up for grabs. The catch? He has to find his grandfather's long lost journals, which were hidden somewhere in Tunisia, North Africa. Grandfather was a enthusiastic botanist, and the journals were hidden/lost during his last expedition. Lord Denby suggests James hook up with Uncle Edward, since he was a friend of his grandfather's, and can aid him in an expedition.

What follows is James, Lily, and Uncle Edward's family trooping through the wilds of Africa looking for a fabled blossom and the lost journals. Naturally James doesn't know everything about Lily (oh, like her mama's plans for her) and Lily doesn't know everything about James (the real reason behind his desire to go to Tunisia). There's also the small matter of cousin Reggie, who serves the roll of villain and crops up to throw a wrench in the works.

I'll be honest, this was a second-half book for me. Part of me suspects that it's because I've been reading a butt-load of Harlequins lately, and any book longer than 250 pages is going to seem "slow" to me. The other part of me thinks that it was a simple matter of pacing. The author has a number of secondary characters to address, along with the stage to set, so the first part of this story, while quite charming, did drag a bit for me. That said, once we get to Africa (about the halfway point), that's when it starts to cook. The adventure begins, the sexual tension kicks into hyper-drive, and the conflict begins to boil.

Lily is one of my favorite types of characters. An independent-minded young woman who bristles at what society expects of her. The fact that her mother is desperate for her to toe the line only adds to her frustration. James is charming, with a hint of roguishness, and finds himself out of sorts when he realizes just how "important" Lily's family is. He's a man with few prospects, and Lily is way above his station.

This was a nice, charming read, with a light tone and style. I know a number of readers who enjoy these types of historicals that feature adventure-seeking characters, and Passionate certainly fits that moldy nicely. It didn't knock my socks off, but it was a pleasant diversion, and as far as first books go? Pretty darn good.

Final Grade = B-

Blowing Out The Candles

Wendy's Top 13 Birthday Wishes

1) Whatever the Hell My Man got me. The Master Gift Giver Of The Universe tells me I'll get my present this evening. At this point all I know is that it's small-ish and he's known for months what he was going to give me. Jewelery would be the obvious guess, but I don't think that's it....

2) A State Budget. This is probably too much to hope for from the politicians of California.

3) World Peace.

4) A Beatles Reunion. Is it too much to ask that George Harrison and John Lennon rise from the dead?

5) My own private library. Hell, I've got the books - just not the space.

6) Maggie Osborne to come out of retirement and start writing again.

7) Lunch with Phyl. Oh wait, did that yesterday! She's in town for a family wedding and is staying very, very close to where my office is.

8) Western romances to make a comeback and flood the market.

9)







10) To have Nora adopt me. I could be the daughter she never had, or probably even wanted. Ok, so that's not terribly realistic.....

11) To have Ewan McGregor adopt me. Yeah, much more realistic.

12) A Greek Tycoon. I'm sure the editorial department for Harlequin Presents has a couple of extras stuffed in a broom closet somewhere.

13) A job that requires me to sit at home, read all day and watch Law & Order reruns. With an employer willing to pay me, at least, my current salary. Surprisingly, this is a harder job to find than one would think.

Mind Screw

My Man and I once had a conversation about Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter character. My Man says Lecter is scarier when he's a "free" man. I disagree. Lecter is at his scariest when he's locked up. Why? Because he can't physically hurt others. He has to get to them by mind-screwing them. He chips away at them, worms his way into their psyche, and toys with them. Yeah, way scarier.

I picked up Shatter by Michael Robotham when Stephen King put it on his list for recommended summer reading. Uncle Stevie was right. The villain in this story is top-notch and top-drawer. This is a guy who doesn't physically touch his victims. He doesn't even make himself seen. No, our guy talks his victims to death. They're mothers, so he uses the one thing he knows he can (their children) to psychological mind-screw with the victims to the point where they actually kill themselves. Seriously. Effed. Up.

The story follows clinical psychologist, Joe O'Loughlin, who has appeared in other books by Robotham. He's now a professor at the University of Bath and is picked up by the cops to try to talk a suicidal woman down from a bridge. He fails, she jumps. Then her teenage daughter shows up telling Joe that her mother would never commit suicide. However the police aren't willing to listen to a distraught teenage girl, until another woman ends up dead.

While part of a series, with plenty of baggage, I felt this story stood alone quite well. Joe suffers from Parkinson's Disease, has two daughters, and his marriage is a little rocky. He passionately loves his wife, but he thinks she's having an affair with her boss. She begs him not to get involved in the murder investigation, but the first victim's daughter and his own professional curiosity can't keep him away.

This was a wonderful story....until the ending. The ending pissed me off. I'll be blunt. The big reason I like genre fiction (romance, mystery/suspense) is that I get black and white endings. If I wanted ambiguous endings I'd stick to literary fiction where the authors routinely flog their characters to death or I'd read the daily newspaper. Real life is ambiguous. The ending of Shatter left me with unanswered questions. Questions like, "Hey, what happened to...." and "But wait, what's going to happen with...."

Those types of questions.

I hate those types of questions.

So what easily started out as B+/A- read for me ended up somewhere in the neighborhood of a C+. It was certainly a well-written suspense novel, with oodles of character baggage, and a villain that made my skin crawl. But I like black and white endings folks. I like having all the answers. I like having it all tied up in a neat little bow. I just do. And I felt like I didn't get that here. Bother.

A note on the audio production: I listened to the Recorded Books production on CD. This is also the production that's available through Audible. It's excellent. Sean Barrett, who has credits ranging from the BBC to the London stage, narrates - and given that the story takes place in Bath, it was nice to hear a British accent reading the story. He also does a very good job using different voices and inflections for the characters, and his reading of the villains' parts are particularly creepy. If you're interested in listening to this on audio, you really can't do much better than this production. Of course, Recorded Books routinely turns out a quality product.

Hey, I'm Working Here!

In one week I'll be on a plane, on my way to Washington D.C. for the annual RWA conference. This will be my fifth time attending, but that doesn't mean I'm immune to nerves and excitement-induced jitters. I will say though that this year is proving to be much more sedate than last year. Why? Because this time last year I was sweating over the fact that I only had one confirmed romance author for my library's literary event. Which meant that I spent a lot of time at RWA in San Francisco passing out my business card, giving my "sales pitch" and trying not to look too desperate. It all worked out in the end, and thankfully the trip helped me net two more authors.

D.C. should be much more "relaxing," at least in terms of Wendy Doing Her Librarian Thang. Why? I broke a land-speed record in securing three authors for the romance panel for my library's fourth annual literary event in April 2010.














Once again, I've outdone myself. See how modest I am? My only goal in securing the romance fiction panel is that I get authors who all write "different." Which means every year I shoot for historical, contemporary and paranormal representatives. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep this up indefinitely, but so far this is the third time I've managed to pull it off.

As for the mystery panels I'm supposed to be working on? Well, they're almost done. I really only need to secure one more author, which I'm thinking will have to wait until after I get back from vacation. Still, it's all shaping up quite nicely.

Linkie Goodness

Oh sure, Twitter is one of the worst time sucks ever invented, but it's also handy when it comes to staying on top of the happenings around Blog Land. Angela T, one of my fellow Romancing The Blog columnists, tweeted that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and has started her own wiki for upcoming African-American romances. Oh and look! Beverly Jenkins has a new historical coming out in October. And it looks pirate-y!

In other news, Rosie (who is not dead in a ditch) has posted another excellent column over at the Readers Gab blog on the Three E's For RWA. If you're a reader who is attending the RWA conference for the first time this year, or you're thinking about attending in the future? Yeah, read this column. It gives oodles of helpful insight. Also, be sure to check out a post about the RWA conference that Rosie did last year as well. I think "just readers" can get a lot out of the RWA conference, but you need to go into it with realistic expectations.

And in case you didn't see this already, Holly over at Book Binge is spearheading a drive to help a fellow blogger replace her book collection she recently lost in a fire. When I think about how I could have lost everything, including my own insanely over-the-top book collection, in last year's So. Cal. wild fires, it really gives me pause. If you have the means to contribute either gift cards or books, I encourage you to do so.

The Month That Was June 2009

It's July 1, which means two things. 1) The stupid politicians in this god-forsaken state still haven't been able to slap a budget together and 2) it's time for me to look back at the reading I accomplished in June. I actually did quite well last month. I read 13 books. OK, so there are a mess of Harlequins here. Throw me a bone will ya?

Here's how it breaks down:

Let It Ride by Jillian Burns, Harlequin Blaze, 2009, Grade = B - Keno girl with no time for romance catches the eye of a wounded Air Force pilot partying with his buddies in Vegas. Unexpected charm and emotional depth made this a very enjoyable read. This was a debut Blaze - really hoping the author writes more for the line. TGTBTU Review.

Tonight My Love by Tracie Sommers, Spice Briefs, eBook, Short Story, 2009, Grade = D- - OK, so I know the Spice line doesn't have to be "romantic" but this story took me places I really didn't want to go. It literally turned my stomach. The sex is hot enough to peel wallpaper, but the ending left me wishing I hadn't read this on my lunch break. TGTBTU Review.

Disrobed And Dishonored by Louise Allen, Harlequin Historical Undone, 2009, Regency England, Short Story, Grade = C+ - A heroine who begs the hero to "ruin her" so she won't be forced to marry the odious lout Daddy has picked out for her. This plot can sometimes work for me, but it didn't here. Allen has a charming writing style though, and this is pretty harmless fun. TGTBTU Review.

Killer Cruise by Laura Levine, Cozy Mystery, Part Of Series, 2009, Grade = B - The latest entry in the author's Jaine Austen (no relation) series. Brain candy, fluffy fun. I found myself suspending some disbelief when the murderer was unmasked, but it was clever, so I was able to roll with it. Ideal reading for the beach or lounging by the pool. Full Review.

A Holiday Romance by Carrie Alexander, Harlequin SuperRomance, 2009, Part Of Series, Grade = B+ - Carrie Alexander is one of my favorite HSR authors, and this book is a prime example of why. Heroine looking for some fun and adventure after her ill mother passes away. Hits Arizona on vacation and meets the hero, a career driven hotel manager who doesn't have time to be distracted by his hormones. No babies (secret or otherwise), no tycoons (Greek or otherwise), and not a virgin in sight. Just a straight-up, well-written, sweet (PG-rated) romance. TGTBTU Review.

The Heiress's Two-Week Affair by Marie Ferrarella, Silhouette Romantic Suspense, Part Of Series, 2009, Grade = C+ - Great soap-opera style plot, and a homicide detective heroine that I really liked. However I actually used the words "sanctimonious prick" in my review to describe the hero. That can't be good. TGTBTU Review.

Pleasured by the Secret Millionaire by Natalie Anderson, Harlequin Presents, 2009, Grade = C+ - A refreshing, young, adventurous heroine wasn't enough for me to overlook the "Oh crap we didn't use a condom" sex scene and a hero who is HP standard-issue. If you're a fan of the line this one will probably work better for you. TGTBTU Review.

Pulling The Trigger by Julie Miller, Harlequin Intrigue, Part of Series, 2009, Grade = C+ - An impulse buy that I didn't realize was part of a series. The beginning suffers from series info-dump, but by the second chapter it cooks up to a pretty decent cat-and-mouse-style suspense plot. Unfortunately I thought there were some holes in the story - most notably why the hero didn't immediately gut the villain upon his arrival back in town. TGTBTU Review.

The Border Lord by Sophia James, Harlequin Historical, Scottish, 2009, Grade = C - Plain Jane heroine forced into marriage by decree of a king. The romance is pretty decent, although these characters obviously took a side trip to Regency England because they're incapable of talking to each other. I also found the villain a bit schizophrenic, and the second half is bogged down by too much external conflict. TGTBTU Review Forthcoming.

From Friend to Father by Tracy Wolff, Harlequin SuperRomance, 2009, Grade = B- - Heroine agrees to be surrogate mother for her BFF, when tragedy strikes and BFF is killed in car accident. Hero is shell-shocked and pulls a vanishing act, leaving heroine alone to take care of a baby girl she had no intention of raising and her rambunctious twin boys. I had issues with the hero (who runs at the first sign of any sort of conflict) but loved the heroine to bits. Also, Wolff can flat-out write her ass off. TGTBTU Review.

Evil At Heart by Chelsea Cain, Suspense, Part of Series, 2009, Grade = B+ - Not as good as the previous two books in the series, but that's just me being greedy. I do think this book marks a turning point in that I don't think this series can "stand alone" anymore. There's essentially no character development here, the assumption being that the reader has read books one and two already. Also, I thought the gore factor was much higher in this book. There's a moment in the final 100 pages where I literally had to set this book down and walk away from it. Seriously. Messed. Up. TGTBTU Review Forthcoming.

Sultry Storm by Celeste O. Norfleet, Kimani Romance, Part of Series, 2009, Grade = D+ - A plot that sets the heroine up to look Too Stupid To Live, a borderline creepy hero who is in love with the heroine, even though they've never met. It also doesn't help that the heroine is so stubborn that she's incapable of listening when the hero wants to spill his guts to her about The Big Secret. Lots of sex scenes (and I mean a lot) weren't enough to make it work for me. TGTBTU Review Forthcoming.

Second Time Around by Portia Da Costa, Spice Briefs, eBook, Short Story, 2009, Grade = B- - I tend to love Da Costa's heroines, and this one is no exception. That said, there were aspects of the erotic love scenes that pressed some of my feminist hot buttons. Just as I was contemplating how annoyed I should be by it all, the author pulls it out with a really fab ending. Fun, frothy, just don't go over-analyzing it like I did. TGTBTU Review Forthcoming.