Lisa Marie Wilkinson's Blog, page 2

Annual Brenda Novak Online Auction for Diabetes Research

I have the opportunity again this year to provide auction items for the wonderful annual charity event organized by author Brenda Novak.

The auction is offering opportunities to bid on fabulous prizes this year, including:

• One Night Stay at NYTimes Bestselling Author Nora Roberts' Inn

• A Writer's Perfect Getaway (for up to 6) at NYTimes Bestselling Author Cherry Adair's Guest House

• 3 Night Stay in NYTimes Bestselling Author Susan Wiggs' Guest House

• Fabulous Stays in Hawaii, Lake Tahoe, and Mexico

• Lots of Electronics...Kindles, Nooks, and even an iPad

• Lunches with Bestselling Authors Suzanne Brockmann, Diana Gabaldon, Karen Rose, Carla Neggers, Steve Barry and more!

Many authors (like yours truly) are offering signed books and manuscript critiques. I hope you will check out my auction items in particular because I’d like to help raise money for this great cause, and the more I can help raise, the better I’ll feel.

Why? Because this year, diabetes has become horribly personal. As I compose this blog, my sister Christina lies in the Critical Care Unit of our local hospital with double pneumonia, her breathing assisted by a ventilator. The pneumonia is a complication that occurred two days after she was transferred to a physical rehabilitation center following the amputation of her left leg, which became necessary after an ulcer on her foot became infected and seeded infection into her bloodstream.

My sister Christina is a diabetic, and I have seen the ravages of this disease through her eyes and suffered the anguish of sitting by her bedside this last week, watching a machine breathe for her and searching for hope in the faces of a hospital staff who are understandably guarded concerning the prognosis of the critical patient in their care.

I want to put on my steel-toed shoes and kick this disease in the butt. I hope you will help me. Please visit the auction site, find something among the many offered items that interests you, and BID!


Lisa Marie

Book Review: Precious and Fragile Things by Megan Hart

As a reader, the key to my being able to enjoy a story often hinges upon whether I can muster empathy for characters with whom I cannot identify through common experience or moral/ethical attitudes.

I found Gilly Solomon, the protagonist in Precious and Fragile Things, unlikeable at the onset of the book, and my opinion of her had not improved by the final page. Gilly is on her way home with her two small children during a snowstorm when she and her children are suddenly carjacked by a knife-yielding young man. Gilly's reaction to the event is odd, to say the least. Prior to being faced with sudden peril, Gilly had been ruminating about motherhood and the dull, thankless routine her life had become.

Gilly manages to protect her children by engineering a crash and forcing her children out into the snow through an open car window, at which point her captor orders her to keep driving, which she does without hesitation.

When her captor forces her to stop at a gas station and deliberately provides her with an opportunity to escape, Gilly remains in the car, not because she's paralyzed by fear, but because she's so sick of the rigors of motherhood that the temptation to see how her current situation might play out is simply too strong to resist. I had a difficult time finding a kernel of credibility in Gilly's reaction. Would even the most harried of caregivers risk her life in this manner? Would a mother court death and risk abandoning her children permanently just because she feels like an unappreciated floor-scrubbing, laundry-sorting automaton?

These basic questions formed a struggle within me as I continued to read, and for me, the book played out like a claustrophobic sleep-over that lasted several months as captor Todd and hostage Gilly were trapped in a remote mountainous cabin by a particularly harsh winter. Gilly comes across as extremely immature at times, complete with temper tantrums, making her captor seem less menacing by comparison than the author might have intended, although the real issue with the Todd character is that he remains two-dimensional throughout the book.

Gilly experiences some guilt pangs and renewed feelings of love for her children once it has been clearly established that there will be no hope of escaping Todd until the winter snows thaw with the arrival of spring. My problem as a reader was that I never fully believed Gilly's reversal, and as the dark secrets held by her captor Todd were gradually revealed, the sympathy I wanted so much to reserve for Gilly's predicament shifted to the chain-smoking, enigmatic young man who had caused her plight in the first place.

Todd Blauch is the tragic figure in Precious and Fragile Things, while Gilly comes across (at least to this reader) as a selfish, neurotic brat with a foul temper. Although the novel is a fair entry into the contemporary suspense category, readers who want a more engrossing read based upon the captor/captive theme should try The Collector by John Fowles or Bel Canto by Ann Patchett.



Lisa Marie

Book Review: Unveiled by Courtney Milan

In 1837 England, battle lines are being drawn in a fight for a dukedom. Ash Turner, a distant cousin of the ailing Duke of Parford, has petitioned Parliament with proof that he is the legitimate heir, leaving the current Duke's grown children, Lady Anna Margaret and her two brothers, to face the scorn of society and a bleak future as bastards.

While her brothers race to rally votes on their behalf in an upcoming Parliamentary session, Anna Margaret remains at Parford Manor and assumes the identity of nurse Margaret Lowell, with instructions to spy on the man attempting to steal their birthright.

Expecting a cold-hearted, ruthless opportunist, Anna Margaret is surprised to discover Ash Turner is a kind, intelligent man who harbors a grudge against her father. The more she learns about Ash and the injustices his family has suffered, the more difficult maintaining her familial loyalty to her brothers becomes, especially when Ash reveals a personal secret to Anna Margaret that could result in his own destruction.

Unveiled is one of those rare books where the human heart is revealed in all its complexity and the relationship between the hero and heroine develops in a believable, completely satisfying way. Major themes such as self-image, loyalty and trust are explored, and author Milan handles the intricacies of the English courts system of that period with a deft hand.

The only thing that keeps Unveiled from being a solid 5-star read is that it was difficult to believe Ash failed to guess nurse Margaret's identity, despite the number of hints that were dropped and the fact that most of Ash's business dealings were based upon his strong instincts and insight into people.


Lisa Marie

Book Review: Breathless by Anne Stuart

Miranda Rohan, the heroine in book three of the House of Rohan trilogy, is abducted and ruined as part of a revenge plan concocted by Lucien de Malheur, a criminal known as The Scorpion who blames Miranda's brother for the suicide death of de Malheur's sister.

Set aside by an unforgiving society, Miranda adapts to her new status and lives quite contentedly outside the bounds of propriety, thwarting de Malheur's vengeance to the extent that he decides to take matters into his own hands by kidnapping Miranda and whisking her away to his moldering family estate, where he plans to place her beyond the reach of her family while he exacts his revenge.

Unfortunately, Miranda has learned nothing from her earlier experience. When a creepy, scarred man enters her life under suspicious circumstances, she instantly feels a kinship with him because he is a society outcast. Once Miranda realizes de Malheur's intentions toward her not honorable, it is too late and she's imprisoned in a fast traveling carriage, speeding toward an unknown fate.

Lucien de Malheur fails to overcome his bad-boy status. His desire for vengeance against the innocent sister of his enemy motivates him through too much of the novel, and his determination not to soften his heart toward Miranda makes it difficult for the reader's heart to soften toward him. Miranda and Lucien make an odd couple because Miranda approaches challenges with a falsely cheery resolve to endure, prompting Lucien to plan new ways to humiliate and subjugate her.

The true romance in Breathless is found in the charming love story between Miranda's friend Jane and a charming jewel thief.


Lisa Marie

Thoughts on the Series Book -Examining the Rohan Recipe

After reading Breathless, the final book in the House of Rohan series by Anne Stuart, I concluded that my concept of what constitutes a series novel may need to change. The Rohan series includes a novella, (The Wicked House of Rohan), and the trilogy of titles: Ruthless, Reckless, and Breathless.

My concept of a series book was formed long ago by works such as the St. Germain series of vampire novels by Chelsea Quinn Yarbo and by Diana Gabaldon's series of time-travel novels beginning with Outlander. JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series and Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series are other examples of collections that support my idea of what series books are all about.

In my view, a series is comprised of multiple books forming the atlas of a literary world, a landscape spanning generations, many characters, and a variety of settings. The experience of reading a book in a series should be made richer by reading the books that come before and after it as the picture expands in much the same way a well-researched genealogical tree expands with painstaking research.

The House of Rohan series did not provide the series experience to which I've become accustomed, although that is not necessarily a bad thing. It just leaves me wondering if publishers might not be packaging stand-alone books as a series in order to spur book sales and requiring authors to invent a few broad common elements in order link the books in a series.

The single recurring, unifying element in the House of Rohan books is the Heavenly Host, a debauched group of émigrés who gather regularly for parties dedicated to the pursuit of physical pleasure. The Wicked House of Rohan introduces us to the group of men who conceived of the Heavenly Host and the woman intended as their first sacrifice. Ruthless continues the theme using the same setting and placing its hero at the center of the festivities, and then Reckless introduces us to the second generation of participants (which includes the son of the hero in Ruthless). The third installment, Breathless, again features the Heavenly Host while switching things up a bit by centering the story around a female member of the Rohan clan.

These books could easily be stand alone novels because they follow the generations in a linear fashion and few characters make appearances in more than one book. Breathless feels the least connected to the other novels because it has distinct gothic elements and an unpalatable revenge angle that depicts a scarred, lame "hero" called "The Scorpion" who plots to use the novel's heroine as a tool of vengeance against her family.

The threads that link Breathless to the other novels in the Rohan trilogy are slender: Miranda Rohan is the daughter of Adrian Rohan from Reckless, and the Heavenly Host factors into the plans of the revenge-obsessed hero. Other than that, Miranda could be anyone's daughter and the hero's plans could have included raffling her off to the highest bidder at the local gaming hell instead of offering to share her with other men at a Heavenly Host fete.

As a reader, I didn't feel a connection to the other House of Rohan books while reading the individual entries in the series, although I enjoyed all three books based on their own merit. Even the Heavenly Host premise that made the blurb for Ruthless so tantalizing eventually became tedious by the final book because the setting had been overused as the main area of overlap.

Writing an effective series book represents a huge challenge from a writing perspective as well. How does an author penning book #5 in a series decide how much world-building to include if elaborate attention was given to creating and describing the world in book #1?

How much back story should be included for characters making a cameo appearance in one book when those same characters will be featured in a book of their own in the series? How much repetition is too much? How does a writer provide a reader who is reading a series out of order with enough information and still avoid annoying the reader who already understands the foundation of the world in which the stories are set?

From the reader's point of view, do readers eventually burn out on series novels? Do they become so invested in their expectations of events in future books that they feel disappointed if the overall arc of the story takes a completely unexpected turn? Do they cringe when they hear that a series by a favorite author will feature multiple books releasing over a short period of time because it may mean their available budget for buying stand-alone books will be seriously reduced if they plan to pick up each book in a planned series?

Series books have been around for a long time, and they aren't going away. They appear to be evolving to meet the demands of the marketplace, in much the same way the entire world of publishing is changing.


Lisa Marie

Review of Ruthless by Anne Stuart

Book One in the House of Rohan Trilogy: King of Hell or King of Disco?
Elinor Harriman faces a dilemma. Her father has died, leaving his fortune to Elinor's cousin, and her mother Lady Caroline is a gambling-addicted, former party girl now in the late stages of syphilis. When Elinor learns her mother has entered the chateau of the infamous "King of Hell," she follows Lady Caroline into the lion's den to prevent her from gambling away what little money the family has left.

Francis Rohan, le Comte de Giverney, is bored, narcissistic, and incredibly handsome. Rohan is the leader of The Heavenly Host, an assemblage of hedonistic émigrés who celebrate the sins of the flesh and other indulgences. Elinor crashes a Heavenly Host revel, demanding Rohan's aid in locating her mother among the partygoers, and the plucky, shabbily clothed young woman awakens Rohan from his ennui. The ensuing protracted game of cat and mouse between innocent and determined seducer provides an entertaining read.

Rohan's eighteenth-century roué is reminiscent of a 1970's disco king ala Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever. Resplendent in satin and lace and diamond-studded high heels, Rohan presides over a sex, drugs, and harpsichord bash while his modern counterpart strikes a pose in his white suit in a Studio 54-esque setting where sex, drugs, and rock and roll prevail.

Like his Disco King counterpart, the King of Hell seems a bit of a poser. Despite being a self-professed villain, the majority of Rohan's actions are respectable. His most noticeable flaw is vanity, and his kindness toward Elinor and her sister Lydia cannot be totally put down to self-interest. Rohan finds Elinor intriguing, and his initial intent to exploit Elinor's innocence eventually forms the path to his own salvation as the world-weary rake is transformed into a man with a heart and soul.

Lisa Marie

Review of Sins of the Heart by Eve Silver

Book One in the Otherkin Trilogy: Hero Dagan Krayl Steals Hearts…Literally.

Young Roxy Tam is rescued from a serial killer by Dagan Krayl, a half-mortal, half-god soul reaper who harvests darksouls—the souls of evil humans—at the behest of his father, a god of the Underworld. Although Roxy witnesses the violent death and harvesting of the killer's darksoul by Krayl, the soul reaper spares Roxy, warning her to seek out a normal life and keep her distance from the Daughters of Aset, the natural ...

Thoughts on the Future of Book Publishing

As an author and a reader, I feel anticipation tempered by abject terror when I contemplate the changing face of publishing. Recent media bytes from Dorchester and Medallion Press announcing their plans to scale back on or eliminate print publishing altogether in order to embrace the e-book as the future have me wondering how those creating the product publishers sell (aka writers) will be affected.


I'm not Nora Roberts. I'm not Dan Brown. I'm not Stephenie Meyer. Those authors have a huge...

Pondering Goodreads Book Shelf Names

One of the many things I find interesting about Goodreads is the inventive names its members come up with for their virtual bookshelves. Since I'm both a reader and an author on Goodreads, it's always flattering to come across a shelf with my name, or to find one of my books on someone's "Wishlist" shelf.

There are other shelf names I've seen in conjunction with my work that give me a warm glow such as "Keeper," and "All-time-favorites."
Lest these wonderful category names threaten to...

Review of Open Country by Kaki Warner

The death of Molly McFarlane's sister Nellie forces Molly to assume responsibility for the welfare of her young niece and nephew. When it becomes clear the children's step-father Daniel Fletcher is involved in dealings that will ultimately endanger them, Molly takes the children and heads west, intending to put as much distance between Fletcher and the children as possible.

Molly, having served as her physician/surgeon father's assistant from a young age, is a capable woman who quickly realize...