Jane Litte's Blog, page 980

Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James Primer (and Books You Might Like If You Liked Fifty Shades)

Introduction

Fifty Shades of Grey is a self published work by a British author using the pseudonym, E. L. James.  It was originally published along with the two sequels, Fifty Shades of Darker and Fifty Shades of Freed, in its entirety, as Master of the Universe on ff.net, a site that hosts what is known as fan fiction.  Master of the Universe reimagined the Bella and Edward love affair set in contemporary Seattle, Washington with Bella as the young college graduate virgin and Edward as the...

REVIEW: Gold Mountain by Sharon Cullars

Dear Ms. Cullars,

I can't recall whose blog I was reading when this book was mentioned but I'm glad I found out about it. A Negro heroine and a Chinese hero in 1865? Sign me up.

"In 1865, the hope for gold has spurred many to seek their fortunes in California, the place the Chinese call Gum San or "Gold Mountain." Amidst this backdrop, Quiang, a new Chinese immigrant, works the dangerous rails hoping to save enough money to send home to his parents. In town, Leah and Clara, two enterprising...

Debut Print Book: Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

I've had some concerns by readers who are primarily print readers that the coverage at Dear Author has been too focused on ebooks. When I asked the readers what they were interested in seeing, they responded that they would like to know more about print debut authors. We developed a little questionnaire and every Wednesday at 10:00 AM CST (as long as we have content) we'll post the questionnaire answers along with links to the author's site and a buy link to her book. I hope this helps...

REVIEW: Moonrise by Anne Stuart

Dear Ms. Stuart—

When I saw that many of your older titles were finally available as eBooks, I thought I'd check one out. I never know whether one of your books will work for me or not, but the ones that do—Reckless and Black Ice are two of my all-time favorite novels—really do. I picked Moonrise based on its high ratings on Amazon. It's an older book—first published it in 1996, almost ten years before Black Ice. I mention Black Ice because Moonrise reads like a pale version of that book.  At ...

It's time for the DABWAHA!

What is DABWAHA? It is a tournament of books. We pit 64 books against each other, fill out brackets predicting who will win, and vote vote vote.

The nomination slate is ready and seven out of eight books have been listed at the DABWAHA site. Why is one missing? Because it's time for you to nominate the book you think should be included that isn't listed right now.

Which book were we insane to leave off? Fire up your browser and head on over to fill out the form to enter your nominations.

A few w...

REVIEW: A SEAL in Wolf's Clothing by Terry Spear

Dear Ms. Spear:

I mentioned a while back that I wanted to read your werewolf series and somehow your publisher, Sourcebooks, caught wind of this and the publicist sent me your entire series, both backlist and an ARC of the next book.  I was overwhelmed with the generosity and sat down immediately with book one. Unfortunately (and I can't remember why today) book 1 of the series never captured me. I put the book down and never returned but every now and again I would see your name and think to ...

REVIEW: Where There's Smoke by L.A. Witt

Dear Ms. Witt.

I really enjoyed the main characters in this book. I'm…ambivalent enough about the other characters and some of the plot that it affected my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

Jesse is running for Governor of California. He has no experience whatsoever in pretty much anything. He comes from acting royalty but is a semi-reality-show also-ran himself. He has very little life history before his decision to run except for the fact that he's married to an Oscar-winning actress. So his ...

Tuesday News: Women Writers Get Ignored; SMP's Homage to the Brady Bunch, Random House Triples Cost to Libraries

News

There are a series of charts being passed around showing the sad gender divide between female and male journalists and female and male writers and what is being covered in the mainstream press. The gender divide isn't really improving year over year.

Random House is one of the two big six publishers still partnering with libraries for digital content access but as of last week a book that would ordinarily run libraries $28 will now run them $80 .  Eric Hellman argues that this is a...

Guest Opinion on Shame and the Heroine with Molly O'Keefe and Caitlin Crews

I asked Molly O'Keefe and Caitlin Crews if they would share some thoughts on shame and the romance heroine.  The two were obvious choices for me because Crews and O'Keefe both write about the topics in their books.  In the Disgraced Playboy, the heroine's entire life is shaped by some modeling photos she had done as a teen.  She was made to feel that these photographs were shameful rather than a beautiful exhibition of her body.  Later in the book, the heroine learns to embrace her past and r...

REVIEW: Oracle's Moon by Thea Harrison

Dear Ms Harrison,

While I enjoyed Dragon Bound, the first novel in your Elder Races series of paranormal romances, I had a hard time finishing the second novel, Storm's Heart. The third book, Serpent's Kiss, felt rushed and left me unsatisfied. I went into your latest novel, Oracle's Moon, hopeful, but worried. I wanted the sort of compulsive, engrossing read I'd found in Dragon Bound, but after books two and three, I was afraid I wouldn't get it. Boy, was I wrong.

I'm so glad I read Oracle's...