Claiming the Courtesan by Anna Campbell

Last year, I was on an “oldies but goodies” kick. I read lots of old romances and complained… "I wished they wrote stories like they used to!" Anna Campbell is the answer to my pleas. But this isn’t to say she doesn’t have a modern voice, she does… it’s the story, the way the characters grow. It’s the DEPTH of the story. Let’s not forget to mention, it’s also a very SENSUAL story. Loved the Love Scenes!

And this lady knows EMOTION!! Keep the tissue box handy. Both the hero AND the heroine are tortured people and they both go through incredible transformations by the end of the story.

This story is controversial. Yep, I can see why that is, because of the way the hero treated the heroine (that’s all I’ll say about that). BUT you know… I freely admit that I can easily read this kind of story when they are written as well as this. And I wish I could say what kind of story this is (LOL) but it could be too big of spoiler for the book I think ;) You’ll have to look at the Amazon reviews if you are that curious… but warning… those Amazon reviews are definitely spoilers.

I hope this is representation of a turn to a new trend... and I don't necessarily mean "the plot" but I am talking the depths a story like this takes. Kudos to Avon for publishing this one!!

I HIGHLY recommend this novel to those want to experience a compelling and romantic journey.

Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey

I am an official Cameron Dokey Fan! Her Storyteller’s Daughter was not a fluke!! Ms. Dokey KNOWS how to weave a fascinating tale!!! I loved Beauty Sleep!!! I mean… what an imagination this woman has!!!

This story was a twist on Sleeping Beauty… and I LOVED the ending!!!! I read it last night and seriously went to sleep with a smile on my face!!

Now I’m in a dilemma… I want to read Golden today… But I also want to read Anna’s Campbell’s romance ;)

Oh… my family TRIED to play an April fool’s joke on me. I heard my son and husband whispering in the kitchen. Then the whistle for the tea kettle went off and since I am the only one who drinks tea in the house… I say, “What are ya’ll up to?” Well my youngest pipes up that they are making me tea. OK… they never do things like this for me unless it’s mothers day or my birthday. But a few minutes later they hand me a big mug of something that looks like coffee… not tea. And I say… “This is tea?” And everyone around… my husband and both my son’s watching me with this mug of “tea,” nod their heads. HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS! I was about to drink it… and then the SMELL. I couldn’t figure it out… at first I thought it was syrup. I say, ”Did you put syrup in my tea?” They start laughing and I hand the tea back. “I’m not drinking this.” It turns out to be their April Fool Gag on me and it was soy sauce NOT syrup LOL! Fooled them ;)

The Storyteller’s Daughter by Cameron Dokey

I picked up this story at the library today. It was only 218 pages… I couldn’t resist. What a great tale!!! I cried… several times!! I believe this is the first story I have ever read by Cameron Dokey. I also picked up Beauty Sleep at the library and the one I ordered from Amazon (Golden) came in the mail today. I’m excited for the weekend!!! Actually, It’s spring break for the kids… so I will probably read a lot since I will be spending a goodly amount of time outside.

Ms. Dokey’s writing is ripe with emotion. Tears!!! I think I wasn’t even to 50 pages when they started coming. It’s her twist on Arabian Nights… a beautiful story that I highly recommend.

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig

I think I wrote a mini review on the Wild Hearts blog. SPOILER ALERT for the review below.

I loved this story! But I have mixed feelings on how she had two romances going on… and here’s why I say this. SHPC had a modern day romance AND a historical romance. Most of the book was in the historical romance because this one had a satisfying ending. The modern romance is left open for the next book… but that really isn’t the point to my feelings on how she did this. The only reason why I don’t think I would attempt this… at least right now… is that when I reached a point in the story where she switched to either the modern or historical story… THAT was where I put the book down to move on to something else… laundry, sleep, whatever. When I am in a book… I’m usually in the story for the entire duration. I still kept coming back to see what happen but it did end up taking me a week to read this story because I don’t read much during the work week… that’s my writing time. Lauren Willig was able to carry this off because her story was compelling but another writer might not be able to do this without completely loosing the reader somewhere in the book.

Lauren Willig also head hopped LOL! This surprise me because of Janie’s reaction to this story ;)

I look forward to the next one… The Black Tulip… well, I think that’s the next one ;)

Dream Gypsy by Nina Davies

I was updating my side bar when I realized that I DIDN'T write a review for Dream Gypsy by Nina Davies!! BAD ME!! It's not available in bookstores... yet ;)

I love how Nina Davies writes!!! Her stories are action packed with heart pounding excitement!!! Dream Gypsy, a 2006 Golden Heart Finalist, has the perfect elements for a powerful romantic suspense... a reluctant psychic, a tortured cop, and a creepy villain!!!

I can't wait until you're published... GO NINA!

A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux

I finished A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR by Jude Deveraux yesterday. An awesome book!!! Believe it or not... I never read this romance classic. Note: I read the second version... apparently she rewrote the story and added fifty more pages. I think this newer version came out in 2002. And don't forget to read the author's note in the back. She tells where she got the idea from, very interesting, and deep... I wouldn't have realized.

This was a unique story!! She gave the time traveling such a unique twist!!! I loved how she did it! I don't want to give it away... BUT I will say this... she wrote it in such a way... the hero and heroine fell in love twice!! And then the ending... WOW! If someone would have told me about the ending before I read it... I probably would have been convinced that I wouldn't have liked it... but NO... the ending was perfect!!!

If you can ignore things like head hopping... this book is a MUST read for the contemporary or historical romance reader.

Lady Ilena and Patricia Malone

I finished reading the second book of Lady Ilena's story.... LADY ILENA: WAY OF THE WARRIOR by Patricia Malone. I have really enjoyed both of her books. I checked out Patricia Malone's website but it doesn't mention another Lady Ilena story even though Ms. Malone allowed room for her story to continue. The time that these books are written in A.D. 500 and takes place in Britain which now looks to be lower Scotland.

Ms. Malone's writing seems simple yet she does an excellent job conveying what she wants to say/describe. I hope she has more Lady Ilena's stories in up her sleeve ;)

How to Write a Great Query Letter by Noah Lukeman

I read this ebook yesterday. Well... I printed it out because I just can't read an ebook on the computer for some reason. I won't get into how I got sidetracked on this one but I did. I like the way Noah Lukeman writes. I bought this ebook last year and only read part of it and stopped because at the time I was just curious... and didn't really need to write a query letter. Well, now I do ;)

I personally learned a lot of interesting things about query letters... like the use of capital letters when writing the title of your book instead of italics in a query letter.

I'm nearly done with my query letter. It is better than the one I composed before but it's not there yet.

This 80 page ebook costs $24.95.... that is the only reason I hesitate recommending it to buy. I will say that I am very glad I bought it... and I plan on following his advise.

You can read an excerpt here.

The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin

Last night I finally finished The Children's Blizzard. I typically don't read things like this... it's probably as close to horror as I'll go. It took me about 2 or 3 months to read it... reading a chapter or two once a week.

But I am posting about it here for those who are putting their hero/heroine in a blizzard. This book describes what it is like to perfection. It was such a sad story. It's a true story... but the author wrote it "like a thriller." This blizzard killed hundreds of people and many of them children caught in the blizzard on their way home from school.

I never read anything like this. Mr. Laskin did his research... he described the children's struggle in the blizzard and then what it was like for them to die. I found myself praying for the people in this story.... it may have happened in 1888 and this story is Mr. Laskin's retelling but he based his story on real people, and got the accounts from diaries, newspaper articles, things like this. This really happened.

It makes a person appreciate the advancements made in weather prediction. This was also another element of the story... the weather prediction service run by the military screwed up. They didn't have the technology they have today... but because of one reason or another... they didn't warn the people fast enough even though the signs were there. Not that it would have necessarily helped because it wasn't like the people working their farms had a radio or tv to catch the news of the coming weather.

Spell of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning

This was an Awesome story!!! I swear Karen Marie Moning is just getting better and better!!!! Why did I wait so long to read this story?!!!!

She tied this story up very nicely!!! Everything was used!!! And I loved how she ended it!!! OMG!!! It was so perfect and so logical!!! Yes I’m excited!! She really has a way to keep the urgency in a story… its always urgent!!

And she does this in all her books… a time limit!!! I have to review her earliest books but there is always this urgent the world will be doomed time limit in her stories. And her writing… I forgot how amusing she is. I chuckled A LOT!!!

She is a good writer to study IMO. She is definitely one of my favorite authors! Shana Abe has the beautiful prose; Karen Marie Moning has the urgency and tight plots. If only I could combine the two!!!

And the good news is... this series is not over! I wondered about that because she had a different book come out this winter... not a highlander book. But she assures her readers that it isn't over and she did leave other story lines wide open using the Queen of the Fae. And I loved how she started the books with the Queen of the Fae in the prologue and then ended it with her too. Very interesting ;)

Highlander in Love by Julia London

Highlander in Love was my favorite of the three... I suspected it would be before I read it. Ms. London must have plotted this one when she plotted the first.

This story was tight... everything was used. I LOVED the ending Epilogue!!! I didn't realize until I read the Epilogue how important everything had been. Looking and talking about portraits, sweetmeats, the artistic talent of the niece that had been introduced in book one. I really really LOVE when a book ties everything up so neatly!!

I always think of endings. Those are the books you remember... the ones with a tight ending that makes you foolishly grin when you're reading it because you realize all those little details in the book that you thought were only atmospheric were in fact a setup to a perfect ending! I want to right like this.

Highlander in Disguise by Julia London

Another great story by Julia London!! She really knows how to do characters.

I can't wait to read the next one!!! Ms. London has already done an excellent job setting up this last story. She had both the hero and the heroine interact in both of the two previous books. I shouldn't admit this... but while I read this second story (the second brother's story) I was thinking that I couldn't wait to read the sister's story.

I am going to work especially hard today... and if I feel like I accomplished something worthy... I'm going to read that third book tonight ;)

Okay... I clicked "published" and read my review... LOL!!! I didn't talk about the book I read, only the one that I can't wait to read ;) Seriously, Highlander in Disguise was a good story. I especially loved the spunky heroine. And it was an interesting story. Yes, they had chemistry from the beginning but they were not focused on getting the other. The heroine wanted someone else and used the hero to teach her how to get him. Okay, I have read this story line before BUT I still find it highly amusing. I really like the way Ms. London writes... meaning her prose. It's not poetic like Shana Abe but reads well.

I have noticed in my draft that there is a lot of he did this or she did that... too many sentences that start with he, she or the character's name. Professionals don't do this. Not as much as I do. I need to fix those offending sentences but not during this rough draft. But I will definitely fix this when I revise. And the crazy thing is... I know that I'm doing it WHEN I'm doing it! I'll give myself a little credit. I am getting better at trying to avoid using he, she sentences while I'm in my rough draft... but it's just so tempting.

Highlander Unbound by Julia London

I should have held my peace in my earlier post. As it turns out... Ms. London DID start the book where she needed to. It's because of how she ended it. And I cried!!! It's been a while since a romance made me cry... and I love to cry LOL!

I think Julia London does Characters and Dialogue REALLY well. You can see how she uses little details to make them more real. Like the hero's love for his Kilt and how she used the little girls fantasy of a Prince rescuing her and her mother. She drew pictures of a princess in a tower trapped waiting to be rescued all the time. And that's another thing... I don't like when children play such a big part in a romance. It's just a thing for me but this one worked. The little girl was really useful in building the hero's character and of course, she was the motivation for the mother's desperation... to save her daughter. It was amusing how the little girl was a pest in the beginning but Ms. London showed the hero's patience with the girl. Well done!

I am totally into this trilogy now. The next book is the other brother. But I'm going to have to use it as a carrot.

Today, I read more of my book. I am also going to my local RWA meeting today. I have to go when I can. Soccer season will be starting pretty soon which will take over my Saturdays.

The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason

This is a difficult book to review without giving away spoilers so I think the best thing to do is zip my lips. I will say one thing... I wish Penguin would have allowed this to be a bigger book.