Jane Litte's Blog, page 1070

JOINT REVIEW: Bad Company by K.A. Mitchell

Dear Ms. Mitchell.

Sarah: It's no secret that we love your books here at DA. Your No Souvenirs is on my list of Perfect Books. I recommend Collision Course to anyone who will listen. You've had some semi-duds (for me) and some it was incredibly difficult for me to read, but overall, I adore your voice, I adore how you write men, and I wish like anything you could write faster.

[image error]This book…well, I've had a storied history with it. The first time I read it, I was…in heated discussions, let's say...

Wednesday Midday Links: The "Other" eBook Sales

Discoverability is a problem, isn't it? Avon and Hachette are among the Agency publishers who have their books discounted but are not on the Kindle Sunshine Deals page. Avon smartly made up an entire list of their deals which I have listed here (with the DA affiliate code). The best thing about this? Because of Agency pricing, these deals should be available at your favorite ebook store. You don't need a Kindle to take advantage of these prices.  Also, I put a DA Recommends by the...

REVIEW: Honey Grove by Genell Dellin

Dear Ms. Dellin,

I had read some of your older historical novels when I first got back into reading romance lo these 15 years ago and, hate to say it but, though they were good, they didn't set me on fire. The description of this book as the beginning of a "heartwarming new series" didn't light a fire either because usually when books or movies are described as "heartwarming," I get hives as generally this means they're treacly messes. So why, in the face of this lack of rah-rah enthusiasm...

REVIEW: The Charm School by Susan Wiggs

Dear Ms. Wiggs,

Your book, The Charm School (1999), was suggested to me one night whilst I was prowling around on Twitter looking for answers. I had asked for suggestions of books with ugly heroines. Ugly, mind you, not plain. Plain means that at some point in the novel there will be a paragraph in which the hero realizes that the heroine is actually beautiful. Much like in a 1960's sex comedy where the fussy and frumpy secretary will take down her hair, remove her glasses, and in the...

Tuesday Midday Links: Sunshine Deals Making a Big Impact

I believe it was June 1 when Amazon launched its Sunshine Deals.  Sunshine Deals highlighted over 600 books that were all promotionally priced at $2.99 and under. (U.S. Residents only).  I've been watching these deals and the books since Sunday as well as the news articles surrounding the deals.

Dan Lubart from eBook Market Views is, among many other things, tracking the pricing of bestsellers at Amazon.  This makes sense because ordinarily bestseller lists are dominated by Agency priced...

June Recommended Reads

[image error]Reviews forthcoming. I'm not sure why we are all in a historical slump of late.  Anyone have some good historicals to recommend?

GLBT

Bad Company by K.A. Mitchell, recommended by Sunita.
Come Unto These Yellow Sands by Josh Lanyon, recommended by Sunita.
Deconstruction by Kit Zheng, recommended by Sarah F

Historical

The Charm School by Susan Wiggs, recommended  by Angela Toscano.

Paranormal/UF

Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh, recommended by Jane, Shuzluva, and JanineMagic Slays by Ilona Andrews...

Infidelity and the Romance Genre

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WARNING THERE WILL BE SOME SPOILERS FOR SHADOWFLAME by Diann Sylvan, a July 2011, release. I recommended her 2010 release but this book was the inspiration for this piece.  In February, we posted a guest piece by author Julia Spencer-Fleming entitled Julia Spencer Fleming on Infidelity: Adulterer. Cheater. Unfaithful. Home-wrecker. Other woman. In romance, infidelity is often used to describe the villain in the book whether it is the terrible ex boyfriend or husband or the faithless...

REVIEW: Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey

Dear Ms. Stacey:

Robin read and reviewed your first two books. I agreed with Robin's first book grade, but skimmed the second one. Hated the heroine, really. Sorry about that. When Angela James sent me Yours to Keep, I confess to being a bit leery of it. But Angie was very excited about it and she's in my trust network. In fact, the last book that I believe she sent me was the incredible Butterfly Tattoo by Deirdre Knight. (Angie hardly ever recommends her own books to me, I suppose so...

STC: Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey & Giveaway

It's been awhile, but our multi-blog campaign to Save the Contemporary is back. If you're not familiar with it, don't worry – it has been a very long time since we've run one. If a contemporary romance that both Sarah and I enjoy enough to recommend or as Sarah says "to pimp the ever lovin' holy moses out of a book." This time it's Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey. We ask for help spreading the word about a contemporary romance that rocked our worlds, and we award prizes during a week of...

Quadruple Review: SEALed series by Mary Margret Daughtridge

Dear Ms. Daughtridge:

This review is a testament to the power of the Kindle free chapter. I had never heard of your SEAL books until Jane wrote her opinion piece on the caretaking alpha, and someone mentioned your books in the comments. Although I'm not a big fan of military heroes, for some reason I was intrigued, went to Amazon, and downloaded the first chapter of SEALed With A Kiss. That evening, while I was looking for a new book, I hit on that chapter and started reading. By the time I...