Jane Litte's Blog, page 928

Open Thread for Authors (Author Promo) for August 2012

Welcome to the Promotional Thread for Authors. What’s this you say? I read quite a few blogs outside the romance blogosphere and many of the big ones have a daily open thread where the commenters drive the bus.

The rules for Author Promo Night Open Thread are as follows:

The book has to be released in that month (i.e., anything released during the last week of February would be a March release)

You can post for yourself or you can have a friend post for you if the idea of posting about your book...

Open Thread for Readers for August 2012

Got a book you want to talk about? Frustrated with a book or series? In love with a new one? Found a buried treasure? An issue that keeps popping up in the books you are reading? Just want to chat about stuff in general? Post away.

Daily Deals: Hold Me Closer Necromancer and other Award Winning Books

[image error] Hold Me Closer Necromancer by Lish McBride. $2.99.

I loved the title of this book but the blurb makes the story sound appealing.

From Jacket Copy:

Sam leads a pretty normal life. He may not have the most exciting job in the world, but he’s doing all right—until a fast food prank brings him to the attention of Douglas, a creepy guy with an intense violent streak.

Turns out Douglas is a necromancer who raises the dead for cash and sees potential in Sam. Then Sam discovers he’s a necromancer too...

REVIEW: Edge of Courage by Elaine Levine

Dear Ms. Levine:

I was encouraged to read this by others in the blogosphere although Angela James was the first to bring it to my attention. The reason to read this book is for the raw and gritty emotion. For some, however, the rough writing, the choppy and often unbelievable segues will be too frustrating.

Rocco Silas has returned from the war a broken man. For years, Rocco had served our country pretending to be an Aghani, ingratiating himself with a tribal chief and eventually marrying the c...

The Principle of Fair Use and Image Usage for Bloggers

Introduction

The blogosphere was a buzz these past two weeks over Roni Loren’s announcement that she had used a copyrighted image without permission and was asked to pay a fee for its use, even after she had taken it down. Bloggers have been going through their archives and taking down images out of concern for their own legal liability.

The use of images on the internet is conscribed by copyright law. Just like a book, a photograph or drawing is afforded the same rights of protection against u...

Daily Deals: Once Upon a Ballroom by Caroline Linden and other historicals (with a YA PNR)

Once Upon a Ballroom by Caroline Linden. $.99.

This is a self published collection of short stories by Caroline Linden, Katharine Ashe, Maya Rodale, and Miranda Neville. I love the title of Neville’s short story.

From Jacket Copy:

An original anthology of short stories set in the glittering ballrooms of Regency England, by Caroline Linden, Katharine Ashe, Maya Rodale, and Miranda Neville.

Discover how a masked ball can turn friends into lovers … how a wicked, wonderful dream can indeed come t...

REVIEW: Captive But Forbidden by Lynne Raye Harris

Dear Ms. Harris,

In a recent comment thread about reading and writing multicultural characters, you talked about your latest Harlequin Presents release, which features a half-South Asian hero. I was intrigued and interested to read about someone who was neither a Maharajah nor a Bollywood star. My reaction to your story turned out to be quite mixed, but not in the ways I might have expected. There were aspects of the book I absolutely loved and there were others I found intensely frustrating.

[image error]V...

First Page: His Charming Seductress

Welcome to First Page Saturday. Individual authors anonymously send a first page read and critiqued by the Dear Author community of authors, readers and industry others. Anyone is welcome to comment. You may comment anonymously. You can submit your own First Page using this form.

Chapter One

Lancashire England – March, 1819

No one said anything about snakes.

Dylan Crosby had agreed to this misbegotten rescue mission less than a week ago. He’d traveled in a cramped carriage in the company of his d...

Daily Deals: Talking to Strange Men by Ruth Rendell and others

[image error] Talking to Strange Men by Ruth Rendell. $3.99.

This Open Road Media re-release is a Young Adult story. The blurb sounded intriguing and not at all YA. According to the Library Journal review, it’s a psychological suspense novel told through the first person narrative of the man whose wife is leaving him and how his story intertwines with the spy games of the teens

From Jacket Copy:

A man yearns to win back his wife’s love and wreak vengeance on her lover with the help of a secret ring of spie...

REVIEW: Bras, Boys and Blunders by Vidya Samson

“What’s a girl gotta do to get her first bra, her first kiss, her first love?

If you thought the Middle East was all about fatwas and burkhas, think again. Join the fun as Veena, a naive teen from India, bungles her way through adolescence on the island of Bahrain. Laugh out loud as she deals with the intricacies of stubborn bras, crazy parents, racist classmates, first love, and the No-No Club, an abstinence club that degenerates into the Yes-Yes Club.

If you’ve ever struggled with body image...