| Home | Website | Forum | Reviews | Upcoming Reviews | Review Policy | Excerpt Thursdays | Newsletter | Advertising Rates |
 |
I thought today, as we’re going into the Labour Day weekend, I would give away a sample of each genre (except for Mystery because unfortunately I don’t have one to give) featured on the website. Comment to enter to win. I’m off to make my word count for the day (which is why the post is so short) 
**Click the cover for blurb, reviews, book trailer and buy links
Congratulations, ladies! Please email your full name and address to me at contests at theseasonforromance dot com. You have one week to contact me to collect your books.
Congratulations, Susan! Please email me at contests at theseasonforromance dot com so I can give you a list of the books you have to choose from. You have one week to contact me.
It’s wonderful who one might meet at an RWA Conference. This year, I became better acquainted with the very lovely Allegra Gray. I met Allegra before–I believe last year–but only this year did I realize we also share the same agent. Well, Allegra has generously offered her latest release and sophomore book, NOTHING BUT DECEPTION, up for a giveaway. Comment to enter to win!
Nothing But Deception
Author: Allegra Gray
Publisher: Zebra / Kensington
Pub. Date: August 3, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1420108262
Retail: $5.99
Pages: 352Beatrice, Lady Pullingham, knows the type of captivating beauty who inspires great art–or at least, she thinks she does, until Paris’ most exciting young painter invites her to pose for him. Incredulous, Bea nonetheless has the sense to accept Philippe’s invitation, and in so doing, signs on for lessons in seduction that give her the courage to embark on the adventure of a lifetime…
Secrets. Jean-Philippe Durand has had enough of them. First, his mother’s deathbed revelation – the one that brought him to England in search of his true father. And now, the secrets kept by the Englishwoman who has become his muse. Philippe wants more than just to paint Beatrice, he wants to show her every pleasure society has denied her – and she’s denied herself. But there’s something Beatrice isn’t telling him, and his art only allows for truth…
Other books in the series
Please welcome the fabulous Sarah Mayberry to the blog today. If you haven’t read her yet, you should. She’s one of my favourite authors, and I’ve read every single book she’s ever published. Hot Island Nights is the solitary Contemporary Romance Top Pick this month. Check out my review of it here.
~**~**~
Do you believe that some relationships are Meant To Be?
I was thinking about this question this weekend, spurred on by the fantastic Yvonne Lindsay book I’m reading. Stand In Bride’s Seduction is about one of those classic romance novel situations – an identical twin is asked by her sister to stand in for her with her fiance while the first sister rushes off to deal with a mysterious crisis. Of course, the first sister and the hero have no chemistry, but things are hugely different with the stand-in sister – even though they’re identical twins, there’s just something about the second sister that cooks the hero’s goose.
Which, as I said, got me thinking. There are lots of scientific theories about sexual attraction and love and pheromones, but as a romance reader (and writer!) I tend to favor the idea that some couples are just meant to be. I know of a real life example of this – my good friend and her husband met while they were both working overseas and the night of their first date, she went home and told her flat mate that he was the man she was going to marry. Two weeks later, he proposed, and she said yes. Ten years later, they have three children and a great marriage.
As a big believer in love, I am seriously invested in the idea that sometimes you just know that the person standing across the room from you is The One. It appeals to me on so many levels, even though I know that in real life love probably sneaks up on most of us in small increments as intimacy deepens.
As a writer, I like to play with the idea that sometimes my characters are aware on a deeply unconscious level that the other person is The One – but for reasons of their own they’re not quite ready to plunge head-first into all that that represents. Sometimes that unwelcome awareness manifests itself as a niggling sort of irritation with the other person - why are they unsettling me so much? Why do I feel so uncomfortable when they’re around? – and other times it manifests itself as straight-up I-can’t-stand-you conflict.
In my current release, Hot Island Nights, my hero and heroine definitely do not hit it off on their first meeting, even though on a very primitive level they are aware of each other. Elizabeth is tired and jet-lagged and keyed up, having flown all the way from England to hunt down the man she believes is her biological father, while Nate is hung-over and deeply reluctant to get sucked into someone else’s personal crisis. As Elizabeth eventually discovers, Nate may look like a care-for-nothing surfie with a hot body and no conscience, but in reality he is doing his best to cope with the aftermath of serious trauma.
~*~*~
Hot Island Nights
Author: Sarah Mayberry
Publisher: Harlequin Blaze
Pub. Date: September 1, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-0373795703
Retail: $4.99
Pages: 224
Elizabeth Morgan didn’t intend to abandon her very proper life. But that’s the best way to find her true—and less proper—self. So here she is in Australia, standing in front of a man who’s clad only in a towel. Nathan Jones is so tempting he could be the ideal candidate to help this good girl be very bad!
Sure enough, thanks to Nathan’s talented hands, Elizabeth is living all her sensual fantasies. And while the sex is great, something more is developing. She trusts him, and wants to share her secrets with him, and… Suddenly this feels more like a real relationship than some fun in the sun. Luckily, there’s a cure for too much commitment—more wickedness!
~*~*~
These two people need each other – they just don’t know it in those first few moments. But they also can’t stay away from or stop thinking thinking about each other. And when Elizabeth discovers the extent of Nate’s problems – and they’re sizable – she faces a tough choice: disengage and move on from the messy, difficult challenge he represents, or dig in and do her best to help him come to terms with his past. A hard decision to make at the best of times, but when her fling with Nate is supposed to be a holiday romance, it becomes even more daunting.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and stories about instant attraction, love at first sight and The One. Do you believe in any of the above? If not, why not? And if you do, what makes you believe? I’ll be giving away 2 (two copies) of Hot Island Nights to two random posters – just comment and you’ll be in the running to win. So, over to you… I’m looking forward to your responses.
Other books by Sarah Mayberry:
Congratulations, Camille! Please email me at contests at theseasonforromance dot com so I can give you a list of the books you have to choose from. You have one week to contact me.
Congratulations, Dee! Please email me at contests at theseasonforromance dot com so I can give you a list of the books you have to choose from. You have one week to contact me.
When I was down in Orlando attending the RWA National Conference, I met the very lovely Zoë Archer; we share the same agent. Now I knew that Zoë had four books coming out from Kensington back-to-back beginning in September. I knew the books are historical and not only are they not set in England–I think we’ve seen many books not set in jolly ole England–but they’ve been dubbed by RT Book Reviews ‘part Indiana Jones part The Mummy‘. I have to say I loved and have both movies on DVD.
I’ll tell you what got me though, really interested, those gorgeous covers. To me, they’re a flashback to those Nancy Drew covers from the 50s. Kensington’s art department really did a fabulous job here.
So the first book out in September is WARRIOR. Where’s it set you ask? Mongolia. What, you’re thinking, ‘so not romantic’. I say we give it a chance and spread our wings well past the grey, coal-sodden air of England. I’m the first to admit, I’m like many of you and I love my British historical romances. Above all else, however, it’s the story that pulls me in, and I’m so ready to go with Zoë to Mongolia. I’m so ready to step out of my comfort zone and immerse myself in The Blades of the Roses series. I also fully recognize that if we, the consumers, the readers don’t go out and support these new types of endeavours by the publishers, they’ll stop stretching their wings by buying stories ‘outside of the box‘. Currently, I may not write outside of that same box, but I sure as heck appreciate writers who do.
WARRIOR
Author: Zoë Archer
Publisher: Zebra / Kensington
Pub. Date: September 7, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1420106794
Retail: $6.99
Pages: 370
To most people, the realm of magic is the stuff of nursery rhymes and dusty libraries. But for Capt. Gabriel Huntley, it’s become quite real and quite dangerous…
IN HOT PURSUIT…
The vicious attack Capt. Gabriel Huntley witnesses in a dark alley sparks a chain of events that will take him to the ends of the Earth and beyond—where what is real and what is imagined become terribly confused. And frankly, Huntley couldn’t be more pleased. Intrigue, danger, and a beautiful woman in distress—just what he needs.
IN HOTTER WATER…
Raised thousands of miles from England, Thalia Burgess is no typical Victorian lady. A good thing, because a proper lady would have no hope of recovering the priceless magical artifact Thalia is after. Huntley’s assistance might come in handy, though she has to keep him in the dark. But this distractingly handsome soldier isn’t easy to deceive…
~*~*~
Anyone else ready to give The Blades of Roses series a go–at the very least WARRIOR to see if it takes? Comment today and you’ll be entered to win 3 (three) books from my Anniversary Giveaway stash.
Congratulations, Cories!! Please email me at contests at theseasonforromance dot com so I can let you know the plethora of books you get to choose from.
Finally!!! The September issue is up and out. Yes, I am over five days late with this one in hopes of getting more reviews posted. This month was a doozie because I received so many of the review books late, which gave the poor reviewers barely any time to turn them around. But, with what they did have, they managed in fine style. Thank you for stepping up, ladies. More reviews will come in and as they do I will post the covers on their respective homepages on the site.
So what’s new this issue? Well, as you can see I went with a new ‘Autumn’ look. I’m craving cooling temperatures like nobody’s business. It gets unforgivably hot down in the south in August. I now dream of a picturesque day in Maine or New Hampshire. Sigh…that would be paradise just about now. But apart from the new decor, Helena, one of The Season reviewers, is doing a monthly Market Musings column, where she chats with an author about–well you got it–marketing books. This month she spoke with Lisa Marie Wilkinson on what works for her in promotion of her books. You can check out the column here.
TOP PICKS!
I have to say Carina Press is completely impressing me with the caliber of books they’re putting out every month. You might have seen from the post below that Susanna Fraser’s THE SERGEANT’S LADY is one of our Top Picks this month, but so too is Susanna Ives’ RAKES AND RADISHES. I also want to mention another historical Top Pick, Renee Ryan’s Historical Inspirational, DANGEROUS ALLIES. Seriously, all of those books sound fabulous. Please check them out.
Have you ever read an Anne Stuart book? I hadn’t either until I read RUTHLESS. This month, the second book in her trilogy, RECKLESS, is out and it’s a Top Pick. In my opinion it’s a well-deserved Top Pick. But you need to like your heroes dark, passionate, sexy and wholly scandalous.
Moving on to Contemporary Romances, when deadline hit, there was one single Top Pick, which is Sarah Mayberry’s HOT ISLAND NIGHTS. Yes it’s Harlequin category from their Blaze line. Now, I know I usually don’t include contemporary categories on the site because of the sheer number of them, but Sarah is a total auto buy for me and because I love her books so much, I’m always eager to share that love. I wrote the review (click here to read it) on this one but it will be my last review. The only reviews I will do in the future are Fabulous Finds (you know, stuff that’s been around more than a year or two). Which is not to say I wrote that many to begin with, because I didn’t. But every once in a while, I’d take to a book in a hugely fangirl kind of way and slap a review together to express my fangirl adoration of it. That I won’t be doing anymore. But I’ll still mention books I adore in the odd post…or two.
Moving on to Paranormal Romances, again we have one single Top Pick from the reviews turned in by deadline (we received most of the review copies late so reviews on these will be coming in), which is Christina Dodd’s CHAINS OF FIRE. I do like the premise of this one, the hero and heroine trapped within a tomb of ice. They also share a history…a relationship gone wrong. So my favourite kind of plotline. Click here to read the review.
And finally, my Fabulous Find for this month is Sandra Brown’s TEXAS! CHASE. I love this book soooooo much. You must read it, I swear you must. Check out my review and 10 to 1 you’re going to agree with me.
So those are the highlights and I must go and get some writing done today. But as promised, I’m continuing to give away what’s still in my Anniversary Giveaway stash. Comment to enter to win 2 books (there are too many to list but the pickings are good, that I guarantee).
RSS Feed
