Jane Litte's Blog, page 986

REVIEW: Pack and Coven by Jody Wallace

Dear Ms. Wallace:

In my quest to read more pack romance fiction, I requested this book from NetGalley.  You left a comment here in our February Open Thread for Authors about the book stating that it contained a nice alpha werewolf who had no interest in being a pack leader:

It does not have fated mates.
The alpha male shifter hero has no interest in being the boss of anybody.
It is, in some respects, a May-December romance.
The heroine is not a virgin, or even close.
There are some funny parts...

Monday News and Deals: Paypal Obscenity Crackdown, Fake Amazon Reviews, & Earnings Roundup

News

An author by the name of Mainak Dhar has several self published books for sale and many of his books have an average of 4 stars with over 200+ reviews.  The number of high ranking reviews is propelling sales.  Alice in Deadland, one title, had been lingering on the #1 Kindle sci fi spot for a long time.  Dhar claims to be making $1000 a day on the sale of his books.  Good on him, right? Well, not exactly.  The large number of reviews are actually the result of a dedicated effort by Dhar t...

Behind the Scenes of a Connected Series at Harlequin: The Making of the Notorious Wolfes

I emailed Sarah Morgan and asked if she would take us into the world of connected series books. Mills & Boon published a terrific, eight book connected series called the Notorious Wolfes (US) or Bad Blood (UK). Heroically, she came through with insight from the Harlequin Presents editor and all of the eight authors. It's a fascinating look behind the scenes.  Part one posts today and is about the backstory. Part two posts tomorrow and is about the individual stories.

 

Behind the Scenes of The...

REVIEW: Time Out by Jill Shalvis

Dear Ms. Shalvis:

I've read much of what you've written in the past five years. I've found quite a few of your contemporaries irresistible: Animal Attraction and The Sweetest Thing were two of my favorite reads in 2011. I've been less enthralled with your Harlequin Blaze books; they seem to me to be more formulaic than your longer novels. But, then again, they should be, right? The Blaze series has a formula—I know this because I went and looked it up on the Blaze website.

The Blaze line of...

DA/SBTB Bestseller List, Week ending February 14, 2012

Week ending February 14, 2012

Everything I Know about Love I Learned from Romance Novels by Sarah Wendell A | BN | K | S Heat by Lee Smith A | BN | Are Her Husband's Harlot (Mayhem in Mayfair #1) by Grace Callaway A | BN | Standing In The Shadows by Shannon McKenna A | BN | K | S | Are Out of Control by Shannon McKenna A | BN | K | S | Are Truths and Roses by Inglath Cooper A | BN Edge Of Midnight by Shannon McKenna A | BN | K | S | Are Virgin River books 1-4 by Robyn Carr A | BN | K

Browsing and Discovery of Books in the Digital Age

Two of the largest technical publishing book conferences have just finished their sessions as of last week, Digital Book World in January and Tools of Change this past week. I attended neither but I paid attention to the articles and tweets that were written of and around the conferences. There did not appear to be much optimism nor was there much innovation. The one large question that loomed before publishers is how do they get readers to buy their books.

It used to be that publishers...

REVIEW: Thin Ice by Liana Laverentz

Dear Ms. Laverentz:

This book was originally reviewed by Jayne about four years ago, and I intended to read it after she wrote her review but then other books caught my attention and I forgot.  I ended up buying this book in January because it was included on a sports romance list at Goodreads.  It had a great setup.  A formerly abused woman falls in love with a hockey player who happens to be the enforcer on a pro hockey team.  She has an intense and instinctive dislike for violence. When...

REVIEW: Sophie and Carter by Chelsea Fine

Dear Ms. Fine:

During my Christmas holiday, I sped through a number of young adult stories either self published or published by smaller houses.  This is one of the better ones I picked up.  It's novella length. According to my handy dandy Calibre word count plugin, the Kindle file clocks in at a little under 20,000 words.

[image error]The story is told in alternating first person and my  biggest complaint is that there is no real differentiation in voice between Sophie and Carter.  While the subject...

First Page: Dark Romance "Dear Paris"

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.

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From Susannah to Paris

San Francisco, September 14

Dear Paris:

On this day of thunder and heavy storm over northern California I swear you are driving me mad. I can't stop thinking about you. Still not to know what you look like sets all my senses racing. I imagine you a...

REVIEW: Nightfire by Lisa Marie Rice

Dear Ms. Rice:

Sometimes authors and readers have some kind of strange sychronicity where everything that author writes hits all the buttons of the reader and everyone else on the outside looks on in befuddled wonderment.  Objectively I can see that there are things that don't work very well in this book. There is the excessive use of the unsexy word vagina.  It is often clenching.  There is the ever constant reminder that the previous couples in this Protector series are blissed out on...