Jane Litte's Blog, page 934

Something is very wrong with us, and it’s not bad reviews

It’s so much worse than that. Something is very wrong with us, and by “us” I mean the online community of (largely) women authors and readers. What is wrong is the “outing,” threatening, shaming, and silencing of readers who are perceived to be too critical of or hostile to authors. And for those in this online community who believe that this is not their concern or their harm, I would ask them to think again.

Several disturbing events targeting women have happened in the past few weeks. First...

Daily Deals: Urban Fantasy, Historicals, Suspense

Jill Kismet: The Complete Series by Lilith Saintcrow. $ 9.99

Pre Order and release date for January 22, 2013. This is for the entire series. I’m not certain whether this is a mistake or a promotional pricing effort. Six books for $9.99 is really good.

From the Jacket Copy:

Not everyone can take on the things that go bump in the night.

Not everyone tries.

But Jill Kismet is not just anyone.

She’s a Hunter, trained by the best —- and in over her head.

Welcome to the night shift…

The omnibus edition o...

REVIEW: My Fair Concubine by Jeannie Lin

“Yan Ling tries hard to be servile–it’s what’s expected of a girl of her class. Being intelligent and strong-minded, she finds it a constant battle.

Proud Fei Long is unimpressed by her spirit–until he realizes she’s the answer to his problems. He has to deliver the emperor a “princess.” In two months can he train a tea girl to pass as a noblewoman?

Yet it’s hard to teach good etiquette when all Fei Long wants to do is break it, by taking this tea girl for his own….”

Dear Ms. Lin,

Some my favorit...

REVIEW: Rock and a Hard Place by Jane Davitt,Alexa Snow

Dear Ms. Davitt and Ms. Snow,

I enjoy your contemporary romance collaborations and was interested to see how you would approach an enemies-to-lovers story, especially one with the added twist of an unexpected deserted island interlude. While the romance didn’t entirely convince me, I found the cast of characters were fun to spend a few hours with and I liked the way you played with some standard m/m tropes.

Sean Darrow and Andrew Carney are coworkers, competitors, and mutual thorns in each othe...

Pimp My Read eReader Contest and Book Giveaway

The Contest

Pimp My Read is your chance to win one of four fantastic e-readers, as well as best-selling, super-sexy, fun contemporary romances by authors Ruthie Knox, Sarah Mayberry, Shannon Stacey, and Molly O’Keefe. This week, we four authors bedeck ourselves in (virtual) feathers and gold chains, climb on top of our Pimp Caddies, and sing the praises of e-readers and digital books at four fantastic romance review sites: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, Smexybooks, Dear Author, and The Season fo...

Monday News: Tilt Shift Photography; Changes in Romance Covers; YA Self Censorship

30 Tremendous Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography– “Tilt-Shift photography is an amazing part of talent in which photographer utilizes his skills and technique of photography that develops tilt-shift lenses to beat the boundaries of strength of ground and outlook that normal lenses present” Bloggs 74

Let’s start the day out with something cool. I love tilt shift photography images. Some photographers even use their iPhone cameras to create tilt shift images. This is an image taken from the top...

Daily Deals: Chasing Sunset by Sami Lee

Chasing Sunset by Sami Lee. $Free.

It is one of Samhain’s monthly giveaways. Free from 7/15/2012 to 7/28/2012

From Jacket Copy:

When the sun goes down on their erotic encounter, who will be left standing?

After an unsettled childhood, Sidney McCall has finally found a home in Graceville. This dream town comes with a dream boyfriend. Drew Buchanan is charming, romantic, completely devoted to her—and he cooks! Now if only the whole commitment thing didn’t give her night sweats…

Drew, a professio...

REVIEW: Giving It Up by Amber Lin

Dear Ms. Lin:

Trigger: Rape

Your book came highly recommended by author Ruthie Knox. Knox did admit that her view may be somewhat colored by the fact that the two of you are friends. There are moments of incredible loveliness in the writing and I appreciated the challenging characterization you were trying to bring to life, but the story got bogged down by an unnecessary suspense plot and lacked depth for the other individuals in the book. Telling a story in the first person can create immediat...

Privacy and eReading Part 1: Overview

Based on the Wall Street Journal article, I thought I would explore the extent of companies’ spying on digital readers. Data mining and predictive analysis has become an important component of marketing. In The Power off Habit Charles Duhigg shares the story of how Target built a data model that predicted when a woman was pregnant based upon her buying choices. The expecting parent demographic is the holy grail of consumers. They are price insensitive, tend to buy everything at the same place...

Daily Deals: Between You and Me by Emma McLaughlin

Between You and Me by Emma McLaughlin. $3.99.

Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus are the writing team behind the Nanny Diaries. I have never read them but this seems like a good deal for a book that is still in hardcover.

From Jacket Copy:

What happens when you are followed by millions . . . and loved by none?

Twenty-seven-year-old Logan Wade is trying to build a life for herself far from her unhappy childhood in Oklahoma. Until she gets the call that her famous cousin needs a new assistant— an...