Jane Litte's Blog, page 1054

Harlequin Treasury Guest Review: Fletcher's Baby by Anne McAllister

[image error]I loved Fletcher's baby. Sam Fletcher(the guy dumped in Finn's Twins) comes home from Tokyo to find his mother telling him that his Aunt Hattie left him everything, her inn and Josie. Josie came into his aunt's life at fifteen after roaming from foster home to foster home and is now the inn-keeper.

Seven months ago when Izzy was getting married Sam went there to get away and one night he found Josie crying when on her birthday her fiancee didn't come. They start drinking and end up making...

Guest Backlist Review: Secrets of Midnight by Miriam Minger

The title is kind of gothicky, and I've always enjoyed a good gothic, so I was comfortable with that.  And the first page tells me the story is set in Cornwall in 1813.  As a great fan of both Daphne duMaurier and Winston Graham, I looked forward to another Cornish tale.  Unfortunately, Secrets of Midnight didn't stand up very well in comparison.

[image error]The story begins with two young women, Corisande Easton and Lindsay Somerset, sharing their last day together in their native Cornwall before...

Harlequin Treasury Guest Review: Mommy by Suprise by Paula Detmer Riggs

[image error]Prudy & Case's first marriage ended when Case couldn't forgive Prue for her deception. She desperately wanted a child (while Case didn't) that she tricked him into getting her pregnant. She not only lost her baby, but her husband as well.

Eight years later Prudy and Case meet again. They let their attraction run loose and spend the night together. She gets pregnant. As she tries to get courage to admit it to him, he lands in her ER with a gunshot wound. And he needs someone to help him...

Friday Film Review: Scott Pilgrim vs The World

[image error]Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010)

Genre: Graphic novel romance

Grade: B+

I just finished watching this and TBH am not totally sure what the fuck I just saw. But it sure was entertaining. It looks like a graphic novel x comic book x video game. It's got great dialogue, great visuals and I know I'm gonna want to see it again. Especially since I saw one of the new rental discs that come with no stinking extras! I hate that.

[image error]Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) who is the bassist for the struggling rock...

REVIEW: Tell Me More by Janet Mullany

Dear Ms. Mullany,

I have enjoyed your witty historical romances quite a bit, and liked your historical erotic romance (written as Jane Lockwood) as well, though I had a few issues with it. So I was more than happy to hear that you had a new book out, even if contemporaries aren't really my first choice in romance reading. (Tell Me More, written under Harlequin's Spice Imprint, is I guess technically an erotic contemporary, rather than a straight contemporary, just to be clear.)

[image error]Jo Hutchinson...

Thursday Midday Links: Kindle Too Restrictive for Library Use

Amazon announced its second quarter results on July 26, 2011.  Sales were up 51% but net income was down 8%.

This is consistent with Q1 where sales were up (38%) and net income was down 33%.  Amazon predicts that there will be an even greater reduction in operating income in Q3.

Amazon hasn't said what it is doing in regards to the tax issue.  More and more states are imposing taxes on online retailers.  According to this article, Amazon's tax free sales give it about a 10% pricing advantage...

REVIEW: Never Kiss Me Again by Christine Rimmer

Dear Ms. Rimmer:

I've enjoyed many of your category books in the past and when you shared that you were self publishing a contemporary, I was eager to read and review it. Unfortunately this book didn't work well for me. It's not that the quality was lower because it wasn't. It looked and read like the professionally edited product that it was. Rather the characters and the type of story just didn't appeal to me. I wondered if the book was supposed to harken to the murder mysteries of Agatha...

REVIEW: The Reluctant Nude by Meg Maguire

Readers please note: I found it difficult to discuss what did and didn't work for me in this book without revealing SPOILERS. While the biggest spoiler is hidden, there are other spoilers visible in the review. — Janine

Dear Ms. Maguire,

Last year, after Jane reviewed it, I read and enjoyed your erotic novella, Willing Victim, written under your Cara McKenna pen name. When your contemporary romance The Reluctant Nude was released recently, I heard good things about it and picked it up, hoping ...

REVIEW: The Rites and Wrongs of Janice Wills by Joanna Pearson

Dear Ms. Pearson,

Word on the street is that the next big thing in YA is the contemporary. I'm not sure I'm convinced. Vampires seem to be the dying trend that never goes away. With the impending Hunger Game movie(s), I don't see dystopians leaving anytime soon. In fact, I foresee an explosion once the first movie actually comes out! But despite my preference to stick with what I know (all things SFF), I decided to give this emerging trend a try and your book fit the ticket..

[image error]Janice Wills is...

REVIEW: The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn

Dear Ms. Raybourn,

By now the Lady Julia Grey series is well known among fans of historical mysteries. And it's also had time for flaws to emerge from it. I doubt any long running series is immune from this. The initial bloom is off the rose so to speak. You also have to balance a continuing romance in with the mystery and that always opens up a new can of worms since new ways of maintaining the tension in the relationship must be found after a dueling pair get married. In "The Dark Enquiry," ...