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Filed in: book reviews | events | friends and family | miscellaneous | slice of life | The Bookshelf | travel | writing Tags: motivation | rewards | shoe shopping
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 In celebration of finishing my draft and sending it out to be worked over by Little Sis, I went out yesterday for a massage and bought a pair of slinky little shoes to wear at conference.
Yes, I do dream about one day doing this for a living. When the time comes, I’ll have to put the pedal to the metal and just get it done because I want to eat. But in the meantime, there’s a lot of things that can make you feel down during the journey to publication so why not create some reasons to feel up?
Tonight it’s back to work now that all the knots are worked out of my neck and shoulders. How do you reward yourself?
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Filed in: book reviews | new releases | writing Tags: a hint of wicked | book review | historical romance | jennifer haymore | love triangle | release
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I’m pleased to have been able to read an advance copy of this novel, due to be released May 26, 2009. Jennifer Haymore will also be featured on this blog next Monday in an interview about her fantastic NY debut.
Sophie’s husband is wounded at the battle of Waterloo and his body is never found. After eight years of heartbreak and fruitless searching, Garrett is declared dead and Sophie finally starts to rebuild her life with Tristan. She finds love again, remarries and starts to heal — and then Garrett returns.
One woman, two husbands. And Sophie truly loves them both. How can you not want to read every word to find out how this dilemma can be resolved? This is the sort of emotionally charged scenario that only masters such as Julia Quinn and Lavyrle Spencer dare to attempt, yet Jennifer Haymore takes this on in her New York debut.
None of this would work if you didn’t believe in the emotions and Ms. Haymore handles them beautifully. You yearn for what Sophie and Tristan and Garrett have lost, you’ll cry for them. This is not an easy emotional journey and at times, you may wonder how this can all work out. When Sophie says, “I want them both”, it’s not out of selfishness, but out of a deep connection with Garrett, the first love of her youth as well as with Tristan, the new love she’s discovered after the years of pain and loss.
I loved this book for how fearless A Hint of Wicked is in delving deep into the difficult decisions people have to make. Then, on top of that, it’s wonderfully plotted, fits in perfectly with its time period and creates such a sensual and intimate mood that I had to give a deep sigh when it was all over.
I have often wondered a book generates a buzz prior to its release. In this case, the attention is well deserved. I’d read the follow up novel, A Touch of Scandal, today if someone were to put it in my greedy little hands.
A Hint of Wicked is available May 26, 2009. Click here to order from Amazon.
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Filed in: Asian fantasy | book reviews | new releases Tags: adventure fiction | Asian setting | cindy pon | review | silver phoenix | wuxia
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 Seventeen year old Ai Ling discovers a new gift on the day that her arranged marriage falls apart. She can enter another being’s spirit and hear their thoughts. In the aftermath of the scandal, her father disappears on a journey to the Palace of Fragrant Dreams.
As Ai Ling sets out on a journey to find her father and bring him home, she meets up with two brothers, Chen Yong and Li Rong. Chen Yong is of mixed blood, part Xian and part foreigner, and he’s on a quest of his own to discover the history of his parents, kept secret all these years. The three travel together, encountering demons and mystical creatures, while Ai Ling’s powers grow. With each new obstacle, it becomes clearer and clearer that there are powerful forces working against them and that somehow, Ai Ling and Chen Yong’s fates have been twined together by events that happened before they were born.
Silver Phoenix is a spectacularly vivid journey. The Kingdom of Xia parallels medieval China where the lines of the spirit world have become blurred. Ms. Pon’s descriptions are colorful and imaginative. Her characters hitch a ride on a dragon and fly to the land of the Immortals where she pulls from Chinese mythology and iconography to create a view of the heavens never seen before. The demons are suitable grotesque and originally depicted.
In the tradition of Asian heroic fiction, the villians and allies that Ai Ling meets along the way are complex beings. No one is truly good, no one is truly evil. The arch villian Zhong Ye has a touch of humanity that cannot be denied. The seemingly benign Immortals lead the heros into disaster.
What starts out as a fun, fanciful journey through Xia, full of exotic food and magical adventure, evolves by the end into a rich emotional exploration of the depths of honor, spiritual debt, and destiny. I can see where the bittersweet nature of the story at times may be unsettling to Western readers who are used to happy endings, but I found it refreshing that once Ai Ling is back in her home, we truly get a sense of her growth through the epic journey we have experienced with her and feel her yearning for the adventures yet to come. Cindy Pon and Silver Phoenix do justice to the wuxia tradition.
To find the book on Amazon, go here.
Visit Cindy Pon’s page. There’s a release contest and a lucky winner will receive an original Cindy Pon brush painting as well as a signed copy of the book.
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Filed in: book reviews | craft | events | friends and family | pitching | publishing | slice of life | The Bookshelf | travel | writing Tags: chocolate rose | lara | morwa | romance writing | rwa | rwa contests
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 I had a great day today.
I gave my first writerly talk and I didn’t implode. Even though I’ve taught high school, every single time I address a group of people, I still get butterflies. It never goes completely away. I think people had a good time and hopefully learned something about pitching and querying. My main goal was to demystify what it involves and give people tips about being as prepared and as comfortable as possible.
I also received a lovely Chocolate Rose for our local chapter contest where published authors critique and judge first pages from the unpublished authors. Intrigue of the Dragon Court, my first baby, was awarded first. That’s the actual picture of the award. 
And in addition to seeing my chaptermates, who are an energetic, lively bunch of people, an online writer buddy drove two hours to attend the meeting. She asked me over lunch about the benefits of joining RWA. Whenever I get that question, I start to gush. I know many romance authors have made it without being an RWA member and truly, it’s not for everyone. But it is for me, for these reasons:
- I’ve always been close to a strong, supportive local chapter. The monthly workshops plus additional programs such as writing loops, critique groups, and mentorship programs are worth the membership fee times ten.
- I need to see real people. I need the face to face connection to keep me motivated. I’ve met some of the most wonderful writers through LARA who encouraged my writing and made me believe that real people can do this. When I moved, MORWA put me instantly in touch with a new group of friends who have pushed my writing in leaps and bounds over the last year.
- RWA National Conference. Going to National conference every year for the last three years has taught me so much about the industry and the lowered fee for members makes it worth it.
- One way to show this is not just a hobby. If I want to show that I’m a serious writer, membership to professional organizations seems like a must for me to put on my writing resume.
- And I’m all about the contest loop. You don’t have to be an RWA member to enter all of them, but again, the added cost makes membership worthwhile. Contests have been integral in getting my foot in the door with agents. I can track the effectiveness of my query process to the day that I started putting contest finals and wins on the letter.
- Days like this. I learned tips from Angie Fox about how to craft a killer story that works from start to finish. I networked with friends and authors in every stage of their career, had tortellini for lunch and chatted about everything from poodles to e-publishers. Can’t beat this for a Saturday!
I know many, many successful authors walk this road without RWA membership, so I’m not saying you can’t get by without it. I’m just saying, I can’t get by without it. As with all things, you can get as much out of it as you want and I try to squeeze out every last drop and gulp it down.
Going to enjoy some chocolate now. If you haven’t joined, but were thinking of it, here’s the link –> RWA National Organization
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Filed in: book reviews | events | friends and family | miscellaneous | slice of life | travel | writing Tags: brainstorming | inspiration | plotting | random musings | travels | writing
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 Lately I’ve been brewing a lot of thoughts. Last night I even plotted out an entirely new novel. For some people that’s no big deal, but I rarely commit enough to an idea to outline it. It takes a long period of mulling over an idea before I decide it’s tickled my interest enough to latch onto it. Writerly friends always talk about how many ideas they get that are pulling at them and urging to be written. That so ain’t me, babe.
In San Diego, I was thinking about Little Sis’ fiance. Soon-to-be Brother in Law is a journalist and a freelance travel writer. Sunday morning, they got up early to take my brother to the airport, hit the zoo for five hours and then meet up with us for lunch. What kind of crazy person wants to squeeze in time at the San Diego zoo on Sunday after going to a huge wedding the day before? To me, it just sounded exhausting, but Brother in Law was giddy about going to the zoo and seeing lions and tigers and bears.
I thought then about all the articles he has to write on a daily basis. If I had to come up with ideas on a daily basis, I’d implode. Even these little bloggy thingies are hard to come up with sometimes. But BIL loves to go out and experience things. You might think, yeah, who doesn’t? But Little Sis and BIL, both writers, are out every chance they get finding events, places to go, people to see. Maybe all these inputs help BIL formulate this neverending cycle of ideas.
It leads me to think about what kind of experiences I’ve been stirring into the daydream soup. Ever since my honeymoon, I haven’t been writing or revising in earnest (yes, confession time). Some of it was because of the whole euphoria of finding an agent and getting embroiled in the day job. But I’ve also been going out and doing things. There was the weekend in San Diego and the entire week visiting friends and family in Los Angeles.
Even back in St. Louis, we’re getting out more. After the farmer’s market in Amsterdam, I remarked to hubby that it was the sort of Saturday I’d like to have every week. Sure enough, when we got back home, hubby started taking us to the Soulard Market on Saturdays. We’ll walk hand in hand, buying fresh fruit and vegetables. Then we go home and I’ll make the best sangria and guacamole. And that, of course, leads to another couple hours of lounging and non-writing.
All of this stuff feeds my mind, so I guess I have a happy brain right now. So maybe it’s not so bad to not be writing so much for the moment.
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Filed in: book reviews | new releases | publishing | The Bookshelf Tags: barbara scott | historical romance | listen with your heart | review
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“Listen With Your Heart” is a new release by Golden Heart® winner, Barbara Scott.
In Chicago, late 1800s, Morgan Gable grows up surrounded by the life of the theatre. As a young girl, she is touched by Irish singer Daniel Connolly’s performance after a brief encounter where he emerges as her knight in shining armor. Throughout time, amidst her father’s downward spiral and her mother’s continued absence, her childhood crush develops into something much deeper.
Daniel Connolly is the sort of man who loves completely and with all his heart — even when he knows he’s given his heart to the wrong woman. Caught in a tragic marriage to a woman who does not return his devotion, his soul is torn apart when she dies suddenly in a fire, one of many sparked by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Daniel’s friends scheme to exorcise the ghost of his ex-wife Helene. Unfortunately, they’ve employed Camilla Browne, a charlatan with a projection box. Camilla has tricked Morgan’s father into her servitude and presents Morgan in disguise as the manifestation of Helene. Morgan destroys the projection box and spoils Camilla’s plans. In the aftermath, Daniel arranges to marry Morgan, both in an attempt to banish the memory of his dead wife as well as to avoid being deported back to Ireland.
Listen With Your Heart incorporates many fascinating historical details – the Chicago Fire, the projection box, likely some form of a Magic Lantern used for “spirit summoning”, and the Fenians — a secretive Irish Brotherhood with underworld connotations. All of these elements provide a fascinating backdrop for the love story between Daniel and Morgan. At times, you almost wish there was more time to explore some of the plot points. Daniel’s son from his past marriage is deaf and his education and relationship with Daniel and his growing acceptance of Morgan provide some very endearing moments, yet this subplot is abandoned by the end of the story to follow up on another subplot involving Helene’s involvement with the Fenians.
Aside from some rough spots at the beginning as the story transitions from Daniel and Morgan’s past to their reunion and arranged marriage, the romance between them is beautifully rendered. Daniel is a tortured hero who treats Morgan with heartbreaking tenderness despite his lingering memories of Helene. Morgan is a strong, believable heroine who is able to harbor an unrequited love without appearing weak and pining. Ms. Scott does an incredibly wonderful job of creating Daniel and Morgan as real people with wounds and with rich pasts that color their every action.
The story is strongest at its center where the romance flourishes. The subplots take a backseat and it is more than enough to watch Daniel and Morgan learn about one another, navigate around each other’s vulnerabilities and burrow deep into each other’s hearts — as they burrow deep into yours.
Listen With Your Heart is a very special romance. You will care for these characters and their deeply emotional journey and you can’t help but fall in love with them.
Listen With Your Heart is available from Desert Breeze Publishing. Buy it here!
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Filed in: Asian fantasy | book reviews | publishing | writing Tags: adventure | Asian settings | cindy pon | silver phoenix | wuxia | YA
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I have been looking out for the release of “Silver Phoenix” for months! I came across the gorgeous cover and Cindy Pon’s name once when browsing Absolute Write for information about agents. I checked out her website and blog immediately and was thrilled to my toes to see that this novel was going to be released in May 2009. (Correction! The release date is actually April 28, 2009. Thanks Cindy!)
“Silver Phoenix: Beyond the Kingdom of Xia” is a heroic Asian fantasy about Ai Ling (yes, I did wince at the name similarity to Ai Li) a girl with extraordinary gifts who embarks upon a journey to find her missing father.
I’m going to start stalking bookstores for this. I’m sure I’ll find other similarities since this story is set in the same wuxia (martial arts heroic fiction) genre, but I’m hoping (selfishly) that this indicates there’s a market for what I write. Even though this book is YA, it seems like there must be a lot of crossover potential. I’m certainly going to read it! And if Asian fantasy can penetrate the YA market…oh, the possibilities!
Cindy has a fabulous trailer for it on her website. Check it out!
She also has a release party going on until June 8th. Follow this link.
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Filed in: book reviews Tags: dining in | emily ryan-davis elise logan | erotic romance | erotica | jesse's hands | reviews | short story
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I love reading outside of my genre and I’ve always admired a tightly written story. I recently had the opportunity to read and review two wonderfully crafted shorts. There really is an art to writing something with so few words that has so much impact.
“Jesse’s Hands” by Emily Ryan-Davis
Emily Ryan-Davis’ “Jesse’s Hands” is a captivating exploration of unfulfilled desire, control, and the psychology of loneliness and longing. The heroine’s sense of desperation throughout her one time only rendezvous with Jesse is utterly heart-wrenching. The story gives a rare look into the delicate and powerful balance between domination and submission that is difficult to achieve. Ms. Davis’ writing is an example of the sum being greater than the parts — not a single gorgeous word is wasted. I couldn’t help but compare it to the beauty and dark complexity of AnaÏs Nin; a work that invades your body and mind.
Read “Jesse’s Hands” and see for yourself over at Freya’s Bower.
“Dining In” by Elise Logan 
Elise Logan’s “Dining In” portrays a well-written, delightfully sensual encounter — doors wide open. This is the sort of scene you might fantasize about while sitting at your desk at work. “Take charge” Adam fulfills Carrie’s every fantasy. The story cuts to the good part, putting you right in this very intimate and sexy moment between two characters that is all about desire and wish fulfillment.
Take a look at “Dining In” over at Freya’s Bower.
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Filed in: book reviews | writing Tags: butterfly swords | excerpt monday | excerpts | free reads | historical romance | opening | polls | romance divas
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I’m joining in with my fellow Romance Divas for a fun exercise. A group of divas are posting their excerpts for general review and reading enjoyment. Some of these are works in progress and some are upcoming releases.
For my Excerpt Monday, I have a poll. I recently changed the opening of Butterfly Swords and I’m wondering which opening works better, his or hers? Please vote on your favorite. Any comments are welcome!
Enjoy!
Excerpts:
Vote:
[poll id="2"]
Read more Monday Excerpts:
Warning! I have not screened these excerpts myself. Please bear in mind that some authors have provided a rating for their excerpts which may contain language or content that is not typical of this blog.
Cami’s First Kiss by Bria Quinlan
Excerpt Monday by Mel B (silentdreamer)
A Halloween Novella by Vivienne Westlake
Set the Night On Fire by Maureen McCarrie (Rating: NC-17 for language)
Monday Excerpt by Crista McHugh
Another Time, Another Place by T. Sue Versteeg
Monday Excerpt by Kinsey Holly
Del Fantasma by Becca Sheridan-Furrow
The Chancellor’s Bride by Kirsten Saell (Excerpt rating: PG, Site Rating: NC-17)
Scenting Cinnamon by Ella Drake (Rating: NC-17)
Asking for It by Kate Willoughby (Rating: PG-13)
21st Century Courtesan by Eden Bradley (Rating: Adult)
Excerpt Monday by Evie Byrne (Excerpt rating: PG, Site Rating: NC-17)
A Run for the Money by Gina Ardito
The Scroll Thief by R.F. Long
Resisting Kane by Stephanie Adkins
Inheritance by Lynne Chandler
Dying Embers by B.E. Sanderson
More than Magic by Babette James
First in the Soulguard series by Amber Gilchrist
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Filed in: book reviews | miscellaneous | writing Tags: auction | commas | contest feedback | critique | grammar | judges
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First off, I’m offering a group critique as part of a charity auction over at Ciar Cullen’s blog. Check out the Rose Group: Romancing a Cause
The premise of the critique is that Amanda Brice, Cynthia Justlin and I all swapped critiques of our Golden Heart® entries. Due to some diva mojo and our collective feedback, all three of us are 2009 Golden Heart® finalists. (By the way, RWA told me to put that trademark sign whenever mentioning the GH.)
I’m not a bad critique partner. I can be cruel, yet kind. But the one thing I cannot do is critique grammar, as evidenced by the Marlene entry I just got back. Judge #16, I thank you wholeheartedly! This thing has been through so many readers, and no one pointed out the mechanical errors to the level that you did. Were they just thinking I must have left out all those commas because I was typing fast? Surely Jeannie will go through and fix all these elementary mistakes herself. She can’t be that bad at grammar.
Yes, she is that bad at grammar. (Head on desk) Reason #1 that I’m a contest slut — your known readers and cps love you too much to see your flaws.
The thing is, I have an ominous memory of where things took a turn for the worse. I realized once that I was overusing the nefarious comma. So I did a quick lookup online about comma overuse. I looked it up online. Did I go to my Strunk and White’s, which I had used faithfully to write my master’s thesis? No, my lazy butt read something really quickly on Google and screwed myself up for the next year. I’m a quick learner — I pick rules up and program them into my head immediately. (Head on desk)
Ominous memory number #2. Not even two weeks ago, little sis was telling me about how people in her MFA program were griping about the period in education when people tried to get kids to read more for the joy of it and didn’t stress mechanics. So now we have this cadre of Lit majors who suck at grammar. “That’s me!” Little sis lamented. Little sis is my primary critique partner.
Judge #16 set me straight. I’m sending along a thank you letter soon, and I wish I could tack on some flowers and candy to that. (See previous comma. Now imagine a whole manuscript where that sort of comma was left out. See light bulb going off in Jeannie’s head about why she continues to get rejections.)
Re-programming starting now…
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