Archive for the ‘Authors’ Category

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Romance Author Booksignings: August and Beyond

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

This month while looking for author booksignings I noticed that a number of authors are going to appear at book festivals around the country over the next few months. I became intrigued and starting searching for book festivals, as well as single-author signings, over the next few months. While many of the book festivals I checked out seem to mainly feature literary authors (not that there’s anything wrong with that), a few also have one or more romance authors, as well as many popular mystery authors.  A quick search revealed the following festivals over the next few months:

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Posted in Authors, Book Signing News, LinnieGayl AAR | 5 Comments »

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor to Be a TV Movie

Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

sean_faris_1296940989Lisa Kleypas has finally made the announcement, which means I am free to reveal the news I’ve been sitting on for months.  Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor will be an ABC and a Hallmark channel movie this year called Christmas with Holly.  Better still, unlike some other past “movie deals,” we know it’s the real thing because the movie is already shooting up in Canada for airing this holiday season.

Here’s the Hallmark press release:

Filming begins this week in and around Halifax, Nova Scotia on the newest Hallmark Hall of Fame production, Christmas with Holly.  It will premiere on ABC in December, 2012, with encore presentations on the Hallmark Channel.

“I’ve been holding on to my old dreams.  But I realize I need to make room for new ones.”  So says Maggie Conway, played by Eloise Mumford (The River, Lone Star), in the film.  She’s decided to move on in life after being left at the altar months earlier.

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Posted in Authors, Book news, Books, Sandy AAR | 23 Comments »

I’ll Take My Mysteries with a Bit of Romance

Friday, August 10th, 2012

I love romance novels, I really do. But, like many AAR readers, I also read other genres, and my other primary reading love is mysteries. I read both contemporary and historical mysteries, serious and light mysteries, cozies and police procedurals. My primary requirements for mysteries are that they be character driven, with minimal graphic details. I’ve read and enjoyed many mysteries, and mystery series, without a touch of romance for the main character, but my preference is that there be a satisfying romance for the main character. The kiss of death for me is when the main character’s significant other is killed off.

Nearly a year ago I wrote here about some of my favorite “recent” mystery finds, including books by Tasha Alexander, Deborah Crombie, Rhys Bowen, and Erin Hart. I’ve read a lot of mysteries since then. Some have a strong romantic component, while others have none, but my favorites all have interesting main characters. Following are a few of my favorite recent finds.

Several AAR readers suggested that I might like Anne Perry’s Victorian mysteries featuring policeman Thomas Pitt and his wife Charlotte. I decided to try the first in the series, The Cater Street Hangman, in audio and was hooked. Ms. Perry does a wonderful job giving the reader a feel for the time. While I listen to a lot of mysteries, I was completely stumped as to the identity of the villain, making many wrong guesses along the way. This is a long series and I’m pacing myself. So far I’ve read the first three, and am getting ready to download the fourth. Thanks to all of you who recommended this series to me; it’s wonderful! I can’t wait to see what happens in future books to Thomas and Charlotte, as well as to other members of Charlotte’s family. How will Charlotte deal with her reduced financial circumstances? Will she continue to investigate cases? I look forward to finding out.

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Posted in Authors, Books, Characters, LinnieGayl AAR, Reading | 67 Comments »

Dream Lake by Lisa Kleypas Five-Book Giveaway (Giveaway Closed)

Monday, August 6th, 2012

LKSummer is 2/3 over and it’s a perfect time to relax with a great book – even better when it’s a highly anticipated book by a much-loved author.  Thanks to the generosity of Lisa and her publisher, I’ve got five copies of Dream Lake to giveaway to five lucky readers.

Honesty alert: I’m in the middle of this one now and I’m loving it.  The third in the author’s series of books set on Washington state’s San Juan Island, this one is Nolan brother Alex’s story.  Here’s what the publisher has to say about the book:

“Dream Lake takes readers once again to the exquisite setting of Friday Harbor, and tells the story of Zoe Hoffman, an innkeeper who has all but given up on love. She’s a gentle, romantic soul, but has been so hurt in the past that she dare not trust her heart with anyone. Especially not Alex Nolan. Alex is the most haunted of all the Nolan brothers. He drinks to keep his demons at bay and not only has he given up on love, he has never, ever believed in it. Zoe and Alex are oil and water, fire and ice, sunshine and shadow. But sometimes, it takes only a glimmer of light to chase away the dark. Dream Lake is classic Lisa Kleypas: romantic, powerful, emotional, and magical.”

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Posted in Authors, Books, Books with Buzz, giveaways, Romance, Sandy AAR | 99 Comments »

RWA 2012: News From Anaheim

Thursday, July 26th, 2012

literacysigningRWA 2012 began early yesterday for Lynn Spencer and me; we started the day at Disneyland (first time for her, umpteenth for me). Only one thing could tear me away: The annual literary signing. I only got to ride Space Mountain once, but I did get to catch up with lots of authors and find out what they’re up to. Here’s what’s new and exciting:

I caught up with Tessa Dare first. Her latest Spindle Cove book (featuring Kate and Thorne) is out in August. After that, there’s one more…featuring Pauline, the serving girl at the tavern. I asked if she’s really a serving girl. Instead of, you know, a secret countess or something. Yep, she’s the real deal.

Kate Noble’s next book is about Bridget, the sister of If I Fall‘s heroine. But she’s also working on The Lizzie Bennett Diaries, a modern web video and interactive adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Sounds like fun.

Carrie Lofty has several balls in the air. She still has a couple of books to write in the Christie series, but is also collaborating on a contemporary erotica series with fighter pilots in Las Vegas. They’ll be released under a new name – Katie Porter. I couldn’t help asking whether her unusual historicals were a hard sell. She said she had a supportive editor at Pocket who enjoyed unusual settings (and signed both her and Meredith Duran). Vive la Difference! (And if you’re not reading her books yet, you should be).

And speaking of unusual settings and characters, Delilah Marvelle’s next project has a heroine who stutters and a bare-knuckle boxer hero. It’s called Forever a Lord. after that she’ll turn her attention to the French Revolution, with a series of books set in both England and France.

Molly O’Keefe is looking ahead to a contemporary series set in a small Southern town. I had to ask whether anyone marries the sheriff…apparently not. So you can write a small town series sans sheriff. I knew it! I told her our reviewers fight over her books, which is true.

Victoria Dahl’s new series is set in Jackson Hole, with cowboy heroes. Apparently they all live in an old farm house that’s been turned into an apartment building and appropriately named The Stud Farm (because of the landlady’s propensity to accept only hot tenants). Obviously, this apartment building should be closer to my house. And yours.

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Posted in AAR Blythe, Authors, Book Signing News, Publishing, RWA | 10 Comments »

More on Diversity

Tuesday, July 24th, 2012

I have never read a book by Tana French and the first time I saw her name was in the Eagerly Awaited August Books where both Dabney and Lynn indicate that they are looking forward to her new release Broken Harbor.  Then while surfing the Web, I came across  her name again.  She wrote an article for Publishers Weekly outlining her writing tips.

A few of them didn’t resonate, but this one did:

There’s no such thing as ‘men’ or ‘women’. There’s only the individual character you’re writing. One guy emailed me asking me how to write women, and I couldn’t answer, because I had no idea which woman he meant: me? Eleanor of Aquitaine? Lady Gaga? If you’re thinking of ‘men’ or ‘women’ as a monolithic group defined primarily by their sex, then you’re not thinking of them as individuals; so your character isn’t going to come out as an individual, but as a collection of stereotypes. Sure, there are differences between men and women on average – but you’re writing an individual, not an average. If your individual character is chatty on the phone or refuses to ask for directions, that needs to be because of who he or she is, not because of what he or she is. Write the person, not the genitalia.

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Posted in Authors, Books, Characters, Heroes, Heroines, Leigh AAR, Reading, Romance reading, Settings | 7 Comments »

Susan Elizabeth Phillips Booksigning and July/August Events

Friday, July 20th, 2012

SEP1This is the one I’ve been waiting for! Despite living in Chicago for a good part of my adult life, I never managed to make it out to Naperville (far western suburb) to attend one of Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ booksignings in her hometown. But finally, after years of hoping, she did an event not just close to my hometown, but in my hometown!

I had a feeling there would be a lot of people at the event, and I was right. However, I don’t think the bookstore was quite prepared for the size of the crowd. I was determined to arrive early in order to get a decent seat. I got there nearly 45 minutes before the event began and already about 70% of the seats were full. Initially the store had as many chairs out for the event as they’ve had for some lesser-known mystery author events I’ve attended. It was clear the setup wasn’t going to work. As people continued to pour into the store, the staff began putting out extra chairs.  The author’s books were in numerous places throughout the bookstore. There was a large bookshelf right next to the microphone filled with The Great Escape; I should say filled until 15 minutes before the event started when one of the staff came and took every book from the shelf, as they were running out up front.

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Posted in Authors, Book Signing News, LinnieGayl AAR | 5 Comments »

Speaking of Audiobooks: It’s All Linda Howard

Monday, July 9th, 2012

Dream ManMention Linda Howard in a romance discussion forum and you’ll see highly favorable comments from her legion of fans.  Look closer and you’ll probably discover that her fans are seriously partial to one style of her writing over another.  You’ll find one group loving her series books while others swear by her lighter romantic suspense books and yet others fondly recall her frontier/westerns.  Fans are often disturbed that she doesn’t continue writing a certain type of book and may wish for the old days when she wrote the Mackenzie series or the likes of Midnight Rainbow – all series titles.

Writing romance for three decades now, Howard has penned series romance, contemporary, romantic suspense (both light and dark), frontier/western, paranormal, time-travel, and urban fantasy.  She has written more than fifty titles (the number is hard to verify since she has co-authored some books).  Best I can discover, thirty-six of her print books have been released in unabridged audio format with another five of her earliest books as abridgements.

Just as we have changed over the years, Howard’s writing has done the same.  She is not an author who stays still and you never know exactly what to expect with her next release.  And that is part of the magic of Linda Howard.  She always has a surprise around the corner.  Just when you think her books are tending to contain too much suspense and too little romance, she’ll turn around and hit us with the likes of the laugh-out-loud To Die For.  She’ll give us the darkness and separation of Death Angel only to deliver the humor and lighter contemporary romance in Veil of Night.

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Posted in audio books, Authors, Lea Hensley | 8 Comments »

Amazon to Bid on Dorchester Assets

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

auction Just when you think you’ve learned the latest news about Amazon acquiring another company, something new will pop up on-line. In June, we learned that Amazon was acquiring Avalon Books, a “clean” publisher that mostly sells to libraries. The latest news is that Amazon is bidding on the assets of Dorchester Publishing. By assets, this means books. Lots and lots of books. The Digital Book World post includes this wording from Amazon: (more…)

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Posted in Anne AAR, Authors, Publishing | 7 Comments »

Speaking of Audiobooks: Tavia Gilbert Interview and New Releases

Monday, June 25th, 2012

Tavia GilbertThe 2012 Favorite Romance Audiobooks Poll is up and running.  It’s your chance to tell the audio industry what you like best about romance audio.  It’s a different type of poll this year and you will find few of the same categories as our 2011 Poll.  The poll ends Monday, July 2nd at midnight.  So go cast your ballot!

We’re continuing to celebrate June Is Audiobook Month with our fourth special event – an interview with Tavia Gilbert.  Tavia was a finalist for an Audie Award this year and attended the ceremony earlier this month.  She’s giving us an inside look at the Audies and the Audio Publishers Association and sharing a little about her career.  There’s another event that has Tavia’s name on it this month and that is the release of Jeaniene Frost’s Once Burned.  Tavia is once again in the narrator’s seat with Vlad’s book – something that Night Huntress fans have been waiting for.

We also have our New Releases for July and a number of reviews.  Up for review today are Kristan Higgins’ Catch of the Day, J.R. Ward’s The Player, Shiloh Walker’s Ash trilogy, and Nora Roberts’ The Last Boyfriend.

Talking with Tavia Gilbert

Welcome to Speaking of Audiobooks Tavia and thanks for joining us today in this last of our special events celebrating June Is Audiobook Month (JIAM). It’s been exciting to watch all that is going on in the audio industry this month as well as looking from the outside in at the 2012 Audio Publishers Association (APA) Conference and the Audie Awards.  I see that you have been an Audie finalist three times including the 2012 Audies for your narration of The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball.  Can you tell us about the Audie Awards and what being a finalist means to a narrator?

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Posted in audio books, Interviews, Lea Hensley | 15 Comments »

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