My New Years resolution is to write every day in the blog. Even if it's only one line. I'll also attempt to review at least one book per week. The only thing unusual about this resolution is I plan on enacting in starting tomorrow December 1st. Why put off a month what you're going to start anyway?
Things have been busy with my lately. I finally have the location for my wedding all figured out and the clothing designed for most of the participants. I have several prospects for my wedding photographers and I found my dress in November. Now I'm just waiting to get the contract back from the location and start working with the caterers. I'm hoping to keep them at the same price, but I think that might be delusional thought right now.
I also got in my first accident, yeay. It was so fun I hope I never get into one again.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Book Review- Styx's Storm
Styx’s Storm
By Lora Leigh
This book brings together Storme Montague, whose father and brother where killed by the breeds they helped create, and Styx, whose a wolf breed with Scotland highland warrior genes. Storme is on the run from the very council her brother and father worked for and a group of breeds who either want to help her or kill her. They want the information her father gave her on a secret project and she refuses to release the information to just anybody. Styx’s seduction begins they night he kidnaps her and he’s decided that he won’t let her go until she gives him her heart.
I love Lora Leigh books. Her scenes and character involvement are a joy to read and always get me wrapped up in her books. That being said, I felt this novel might have been better as a Novella. After Storme has been kidnapped by the ‘good’ breeds, there are a couple of scenes that seem to repeat themselves again and again. We are also re-introduced with several past novel characters and it could be a bit tedious with all the job descriptions and past histories of each character provided, especially if you are already familiar with them. Styx’s ‘grandfather’ was also briefly introduced and I wish that he had made more then one appearance as he could have helped carry on some of the storyline and provided more emotional growth for Styx. Storme is a strong female character whose opinion doesn’t change fast even with a large amount of emotional pressure. Her character also didn’t seem to have a lot of growth aside from the trust aspect of the story.
Overall once you get past the little bit of rocky start, although it’s only rocky if you’ve read the rest of her books and know the characters, the story picks up and the romance between Storme and Styx was steamy and enjoyable to read.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a hot read and a sexy accent that could nock your socks off. I give this book a 4 out of 5 for storyline/romance and a 5 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess.
By Lora Leigh
This book brings together Storme Montague, whose father and brother where killed by the breeds they helped create, and Styx, whose a wolf breed with Scotland highland warrior genes. Storme is on the run from the very council her brother and father worked for and a group of breeds who either want to help her or kill her. They want the information her father gave her on a secret project and she refuses to release the information to just anybody. Styx’s seduction begins they night he kidnaps her and he’s decided that he won’t let her go until she gives him her heart.
I love Lora Leigh books. Her scenes and character involvement are a joy to read and always get me wrapped up in her books. That being said, I felt this novel might have been better as a Novella. After Storme has been kidnapped by the ‘good’ breeds, there are a couple of scenes that seem to repeat themselves again and again. We are also re-introduced with several past novel characters and it could be a bit tedious with all the job descriptions and past histories of each character provided, especially if you are already familiar with them. Styx’s ‘grandfather’ was also briefly introduced and I wish that he had made more then one appearance as he could have helped carry on some of the storyline and provided more emotional growth for Styx. Storme is a strong female character whose opinion doesn’t change fast even with a large amount of emotional pressure. Her character also didn’t seem to have a lot of growth aside from the trust aspect of the story.
Overall once you get past the little bit of rocky start, although it’s only rocky if you’ve read the rest of her books and know the characters, the story picks up and the romance between Storme and Styx was steamy and enjoyable to read.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a hot read and a sexy accent that could nock your socks off. I give this book a 4 out of 5 for storyline/romance and a 5 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Book Review- Last Dragon Standing
The Last Dragon Standing
By G.A. Aiken
This book follows the outrageous adventures of one female dragon name Keita and Rangar, the male who can't decide if he wants to kill or marry her.
This book was a joy to read. I love all of her books, but I wasn't aware when this book was released that it was going to be under a pen name of G.A. Aiken instead of Shelly Laurenston which series was originally published under. So I didn't get to read it until two weeks after its release. Laurenston does an amazing job portraying her characters and making them unique. She has the great ability of causing entertaining chaos when the interact.
I felt the romance between Keita and Rangar was in the foreground during the first part of the novel then moved to the background once it was decided that they liked each other. The characters had a strong emotional bond that grew through the durration of the plot, but the physical aspect of it was only briefly encountered. Towards the end of the story, when all the big climatic action was being described, I felt she skipped around a little bit to much for the story to flow easily. That being said, she did have about 6 different action scenes happening at the same time and they were all easily trackable.
I would recommend this book to anyone. I love her characters and the plot kept me hooked till the end.
I give this book a 5 out of 5 for storyline/romance and a 3 out of five for bedroom steaminess.
By G.A. Aiken
This book follows the outrageous adventures of one female dragon name Keita and Rangar, the male who can't decide if he wants to kill or marry her.
This book was a joy to read. I love all of her books, but I wasn't aware when this book was released that it was going to be under a pen name of G.A. Aiken instead of Shelly Laurenston which series was originally published under. So I didn't get to read it until two weeks after its release. Laurenston does an amazing job portraying her characters and making them unique. She has the great ability of causing entertaining chaos when the interact.
I felt the romance between Keita and Rangar was in the foreground during the first part of the novel then moved to the background once it was decided that they liked each other. The characters had a strong emotional bond that grew through the durration of the plot, but the physical aspect of it was only briefly encountered. Towards the end of the story, when all the big climatic action was being described, I felt she skipped around a little bit to much for the story to flow easily. That being said, she did have about 6 different action scenes happening at the same time and they were all easily trackable.
I would recommend this book to anyone. I love her characters and the plot kept me hooked till the end.
I give this book a 5 out of 5 for storyline/romance and a 3 out of five for bedroom steaminess.
Romance Publishing Houses Submission Guidelines
I thought I'd take a gander at some of the publishing houses to see what they're accepting for submissions. I do have to say, for not having an agent there are a lot of publishing houses that won't except unsolicited manuscripts.
Please note, this is for reference only. Please visit publishers website for more information.
Random House, Inc.
Does not accept unsolicited submissions, proposals, manuscripts, or submission queries via e-mail at this time.
Kensington, Zebra, ect…
For fiction, send cover letter, first three chapters, and synopsis (no more than five pages). Note that we do not publish science fiction or fantasy.
We do not publish poetry.
For non-fiction, send cover letter/query, including the author’s qualifications and connections relevant to the book’s content and marketing, and summary or outline of book’s content.
All submissions should be double-spaced, paginated, cleanly printed and readable. Do not bind pages together.
If you need material returned, you must enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope large enough to hold the submission. If we may recycle your pages, you can receive a response by enclosing a letter-size, stamped, self-addressed envelope. MATERIAL WITHOUT RETURN POSTAGE WILL BE DISCARDED.
You may QUERY ONLY by e-mail. Do not attach manuscripts or proposals to e-mail queries. An editor will respond if he or she is interested in seeing your material based on your query.
SUBMIT TO ONE EDITOR ONLY. From the list of editors and their areas of interest, determine which editor would be best suited to or most interested in the type of book you are proposing. Address the submission to that editor’s attention.
ALLOW AT LEAST THREE MONTHS FOR RESPONSE. PLEASE DO NOT CALL THE KENSINGTON OFFICES.
IF YOU DO NOT HEAR BACK ON YOUR QUERY, IT MEANS THAT WE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN SEEING YOUR MANUSCRIPT.
Alicia Condon, Alicia Condon, Editorial Director of Brava (paranormal and fantasy romance, romantic suspense, historical and contemporary romance, young adult paranormal romance of 80,000 – 100,000 words). acondon@kensingtonbooks.com
Audrey LaFehr, Editorial Director (women’s fiction, romance, romantic suspense, thrillers, erotica, multicultural fiction). alafehr@kensingtonbooks.com
Amy Pyle, Assistant Editor, Citadel Press, Kensington, and Aphrodisia (nonfiction including memoir, pop culture, narrative nonfiction, business, pop science/psychology; fiction including mainstream novels, women’s fiction, literary thrillers, and erotic romance). apyle@kensingtonbooks.com
Peter Senftleben, Assistant Editor (mainstream and women’s fiction, mystery, suspense/thriller, urban fantasy, paranormal and contemporary romance, romantic suspense, erotic romance, gay fiction, pop culture, humor, entertainment). psenftleben@kensingtonbooks.com
Megan Records, Associate Editor (historical romance, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, urban fantasy, historical fiction, select women’s fiction). mrecords@kensingtonbooks.com
Penguin Group/Ace/berkly/Viking
Manuscript Submissions
Due to the high volume of manuscripts received, most Penguin Group (USA) Inc. imprints do not normally accept unsolicited manuscripts.
HarperCollins
How do I submit a manuscript? Can you send me a copy of your Writer's Guidelines? Do you accept manuscripts from unagented writers? And other questions along the lines of "where should I send my fabulous manuscript?"
Unfortunately, with the exception of Avon romance, HarperCollins does not accept unsolicited submissions or query letters. Please refer to your local bookstore, the library, or a book entitled LITERARY MARKETPLACE on how to find the appropriate agent for you. You can also visit our site for writers, http://www.authonomy.com/?utm_source=hccom&utm_medium=tilead&utm_content=mssubmissionfaq&utm_campaign=hccomQ409
Avon
To submit your romance or women’s fiction (only), please query first. You must query by e-mail. When you do so, please put QUERY in the subject line. Due to the overwhelming amount of Spam email we receive, subject lines that have manuscript titles often do not reach the editors. Your query should be brief, no more than a one-page description of your book. Do not send chapters or a full synopsis at this time. Also, please do not send attachments – THEY WILL NOT BE OPENED. You will receive a response — either a decline or a request for more material — in approximately six to eight weeks.
Please e-mail your query to avonromance@harpercollins.com
Random House
Q. I want to submit my manuscript to be considered for publication, how should I go about doing this?
A. We only accept for consideration those submissions which come via a literary agent. This decision has been taken in response to the vast number of unsolicited submissions we receive, which we simply do not have the time or the manpower to evaluate properly. So please follow the advice above.
Ellora's Cave/Cerridwen
Ellora's Cave is always open for submissions in all our genres.
Cerridwen Press is currently open by invitation only. No unsolicited submissions.
Please read the Author Information brochure for information on the company and instructions and advice on how to submit manuscripts to us.
If you would like me to look into other publishing houses, please comment and I will look into it.
Please note, this is for reference only. Please visit publishers website for more information.
Random House, Inc.
Does not accept unsolicited submissions, proposals, manuscripts, or submission queries via e-mail at this time.
Kensington, Zebra, ect…
For fiction, send cover letter, first three chapters, and synopsis (no more than five pages). Note that we do not publish science fiction or fantasy.
We do not publish poetry.
For non-fiction, send cover letter/query, including the author’s qualifications and connections relevant to the book’s content and marketing, and summary or outline of book’s content.
All submissions should be double-spaced, paginated, cleanly printed and readable. Do not bind pages together.
If you need material returned, you must enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope large enough to hold the submission. If we may recycle your pages, you can receive a response by enclosing a letter-size, stamped, self-addressed envelope. MATERIAL WITHOUT RETURN POSTAGE WILL BE DISCARDED.
You may QUERY ONLY by e-mail. Do not attach manuscripts or proposals to e-mail queries. An editor will respond if he or she is interested in seeing your material based on your query.
SUBMIT TO ONE EDITOR ONLY. From the list of editors and their areas of interest, determine which editor would be best suited to or most interested in the type of book you are proposing. Address the submission to that editor’s attention.
ALLOW AT LEAST THREE MONTHS FOR RESPONSE. PLEASE DO NOT CALL THE KENSINGTON OFFICES.
IF YOU DO NOT HEAR BACK ON YOUR QUERY, IT MEANS THAT WE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN SEEING YOUR MANUSCRIPT.
Alicia Condon, Alicia Condon, Editorial Director of Brava (paranormal and fantasy romance, romantic suspense, historical and contemporary romance, young adult paranormal romance of 80,000 – 100,000 words). acondon@kensingtonbooks.com
Audrey LaFehr, Editorial Director (women’s fiction, romance, romantic suspense, thrillers, erotica, multicultural fiction). alafehr@kensingtonbooks.com
Amy Pyle, Assistant Editor, Citadel Press, Kensington, and Aphrodisia (nonfiction including memoir, pop culture, narrative nonfiction, business, pop science/psychology; fiction including mainstream novels, women’s fiction, literary thrillers, and erotic romance). apyle@kensingtonbooks.com
Peter Senftleben, Assistant Editor (mainstream and women’s fiction, mystery, suspense/thriller, urban fantasy, paranormal and contemporary romance, romantic suspense, erotic romance, gay fiction, pop culture, humor, entertainment). psenftleben@kensingtonbooks.com
Megan Records, Associate Editor (historical romance, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, urban fantasy, historical fiction, select women’s fiction). mrecords@kensingtonbooks.com
Penguin Group/Ace/berkly/Viking
Manuscript Submissions
Due to the high volume of manuscripts received, most Penguin Group (USA) Inc. imprints do not normally accept unsolicited manuscripts.
HarperCollins
How do I submit a manuscript? Can you send me a copy of your Writer's Guidelines? Do you accept manuscripts from unagented writers? And other questions along the lines of "where should I send my fabulous manuscript?"
Unfortunately, with the exception of Avon romance, HarperCollins does not accept unsolicited submissions or query letters. Please refer to your local bookstore, the library, or a book entitled LITERARY MARKETPLACE on how to find the appropriate agent for you. You can also visit our site for writers, http://www.authonomy.com/?utm_source=hccom&utm_medium=tilead&utm_content=mssubmissionfaq&utm_campaign=hccomQ409
Avon
To submit your romance or women’s fiction (only), please query first. You must query by e-mail. When you do so, please put QUERY in the subject line. Due to the overwhelming amount of Spam email we receive, subject lines that have manuscript titles often do not reach the editors. Your query should be brief, no more than a one-page description of your book. Do not send chapters or a full synopsis at this time. Also, please do not send attachments – THEY WILL NOT BE OPENED. You will receive a response — either a decline or a request for more material — in approximately six to eight weeks.
Please e-mail your query to avonromance@harpercollins.com
Random House
Q. I want to submit my manuscript to be considered for publication, how should I go about doing this?
A. We only accept for consideration those submissions which come via a literary agent. This decision has been taken in response to the vast number of unsolicited submissions we receive, which we simply do not have the time or the manpower to evaluate properly. So please follow the advice above.
Ellora's Cave/Cerridwen
Ellora's Cave is always open for submissions in all our genres.
Cerridwen Press is currently open by invitation only. No unsolicited submissions.
Please read the Author Information brochure for information on the company and instructions and advice on how to submit manuscripts to us.
If you would like me to look into other publishing houses, please comment and I will look into it.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Book Review- Under Cover
Author: MaryJanice Davidson
Title: Under Cover
This book is an anthology of three short stories which are linked together and written by the same author. The first starts out with Renee Jardin, a feisty head of security at a biotech firm who is on the run because the firms leading medical project was slipped into her purse. While fleeing from her own staff she unknowingly runs into the very person who is trying to find her. The second story deals with one of the biotech’s security personnel Peter Random and Lori Jamieson, a damsel in distress who, and I’m still not sure how, knows of him. Her stepfather and his son will do anything they can to get their hands on her inheritance money. The only thing standing between her and them is Random. The third story deals with the genius of a scientist Thea, who invented the medical breakthrough ‘stolen’ in the first story. She and her staff are unsure of their future as their biotech company has just been purchased by boy genius Jimmy. When he comes in wearing a cap, things really start to get interesting.
I love this book. Each story was unique and different from each other. Even though the humor is the same throughout the entire three stories, I didn’t feel like I was reading the same character in every one. Both male and female characters had emotion and physical hurdles to overcome not only to be together in the end, but for the story to finish and to emotionally grow on their own. Although there are several sex scenes in each story, they progressively got better the further into the book you read. The first story is little more then description of foreplay and the actual sex skipped over, the second story provides the same brief information on foreplay and the sex while the third one, and I don’t know if it’s because of the day dreaming, provides a bit more description and the scenes are longer.
Over all I give this book a 4 out of 5 for storyline/romance and a 4 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess.
Title: Under Cover
This book is an anthology of three short stories which are linked together and written by the same author. The first starts out with Renee Jardin, a feisty head of security at a biotech firm who is on the run because the firms leading medical project was slipped into her purse. While fleeing from her own staff she unknowingly runs into the very person who is trying to find her. The second story deals with one of the biotech’s security personnel Peter Random and Lori Jamieson, a damsel in distress who, and I’m still not sure how, knows of him. Her stepfather and his son will do anything they can to get their hands on her inheritance money. The only thing standing between her and them is Random. The third story deals with the genius of a scientist Thea, who invented the medical breakthrough ‘stolen’ in the first story. She and her staff are unsure of their future as their biotech company has just been purchased by boy genius Jimmy. When he comes in wearing a cap, things really start to get interesting.
I love this book. Each story was unique and different from each other. Even though the humor is the same throughout the entire three stories, I didn’t feel like I was reading the same character in every one. Both male and female characters had emotion and physical hurdles to overcome not only to be together in the end, but for the story to finish and to emotionally grow on their own. Although there are several sex scenes in each story, they progressively got better the further into the book you read. The first story is little more then description of foreplay and the actual sex skipped over, the second story provides the same brief information on foreplay and the sex while the third one, and I don’t know if it’s because of the day dreaming, provides a bit more description and the scenes are longer.
Over all I give this book a 4 out of 5 for storyline/romance and a 4 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Book Review- Dead Girls are Easy
Dead Girls are Easy
By Terri Garey
Nicki Styx is a vintage store co-owner who has a near death experience that enables her to see dead people, and not every ghost is nice. Upon waking she finds herself inexplicably drawn to her handsome doctor, Joe Bascombe, who was the attending physician during attempted resuscitation. While struggling to overcome the fact that she can see dead people, Nicki is also attempting to workout her budding romance with the doctor. When she finds out her friend has been murdered, things head south as Nicki discovers that her deceased friend had sold her soul to the devil and the devil wants its due.
This book was an interesting read as I haven’t read a lot into voodoo. I was unsure how accurate her descriptions where in regards to the voodoo aspect, as a food reference earlier in the book was not correct and leads me to believe that although she might have researched her work, perhaps the material she used was not correct. Terri provides interesting secondary characters, which at times almost seem to overpower the main character. The romance storyline in this book was unusual in the fact that the male interest, Joe, character doesn’t really evolve or change in any way. He doesn’t have any real problems to overcome in order to grow as a character in this story which, to me, puts him in a secondary character place. He is also frequently overshadowed by Nicki’s friend, the storyline and her dead friend’s parent/grandma.
The main character also doesn’t really seem to emotionally evolve nor does it seem in the end that she’s really gotten over or accepted her current ‘I can see dead people’ issues. There are some evolving points thrown in the way, like a cheating ex that ruined her for love and commitment issues, but the characters displayed emotional involvement in those issues is negligent and doesn’t provide a strong feeling of ‘these are serious issues’ to the reader. This negates the hurtle of getting over an emotional problem if the character doesn’t really feel like it’s too big of a difficulty to begin with.
This book was interesting to read and the story flowed nicely from one scene to the next. I’d recommend this book for some light reading. I give this book a 3 out of 5 for storyline and a 1 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess as everything was behind closed doors, except for a few kisses.
Please click here if you’d like to visit the author’s website.
By Terri Garey
Nicki Styx is a vintage store co-owner who has a near death experience that enables her to see dead people, and not every ghost is nice. Upon waking she finds herself inexplicably drawn to her handsome doctor, Joe Bascombe, who was the attending physician during attempted resuscitation. While struggling to overcome the fact that she can see dead people, Nicki is also attempting to workout her budding romance with the doctor. When she finds out her friend has been murdered, things head south as Nicki discovers that her deceased friend had sold her soul to the devil and the devil wants its due.
This book was an interesting read as I haven’t read a lot into voodoo. I was unsure how accurate her descriptions where in regards to the voodoo aspect, as a food reference earlier in the book was not correct and leads me to believe that although she might have researched her work, perhaps the material she used was not correct. Terri provides interesting secondary characters, which at times almost seem to overpower the main character. The romance storyline in this book was unusual in the fact that the male interest, Joe, character doesn’t really evolve or change in any way. He doesn’t have any real problems to overcome in order to grow as a character in this story which, to me, puts him in a secondary character place. He is also frequently overshadowed by Nicki’s friend, the storyline and her dead friend’s parent/grandma.
The main character also doesn’t really seem to emotionally evolve nor does it seem in the end that she’s really gotten over or accepted her current ‘I can see dead people’ issues. There are some evolving points thrown in the way, like a cheating ex that ruined her for love and commitment issues, but the characters displayed emotional involvement in those issues is negligent and doesn’t provide a strong feeling of ‘these are serious issues’ to the reader. This negates the hurtle of getting over an emotional problem if the character doesn’t really feel like it’s too big of a difficulty to begin with.
This book was interesting to read and the story flowed nicely from one scene to the next. I’d recommend this book for some light reading. I give this book a 3 out of 5 for storyline and a 1 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess as everything was behind closed doors, except for a few kisses.
Please click here if you’d like to visit the author’s website.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Book Review- The Undead Next Door
The Undead Next Door
By: Kerrelyn Sparks
This is the fourth book in her vampire series that deals with Jean-Luc who is a sword welding Paris fashion designer who is being hunted by his arch enemy Lui who does everything in his power to destroy everything Jean-Luc holds dear including killing his current love interest Heather.
I've enjoyed reading the first four books in her series. The stories are interesting and each one is different then the other. She does a good job providing different male characters, mostly by providing them with different backgrounds. I have a hard time with her female characters as I feel that for the most part, they are the same base character.
Her storylines, not necessarily the action side, but the romance, also feels as if it changes little from each book. I will say that their wasn't any 'vampire sex' in this story (you'll have to read the story to find out what juicy little act it is, and its not what you think). I would recommend reading this book for some easy reading.
I give this book 3 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess and 3 out of 5 for storyline/romance.
Click here to visit Kerrelyn Sparks website.
By: Kerrelyn Sparks
This is the fourth book in her vampire series that deals with Jean-Luc who is a sword welding Paris fashion designer who is being hunted by his arch enemy Lui who does everything in his power to destroy everything Jean-Luc holds dear including killing his current love interest Heather.
I've enjoyed reading the first four books in her series. The stories are interesting and each one is different then the other. She does a good job providing different male characters, mostly by providing them with different backgrounds. I have a hard time with her female characters as I feel that for the most part, they are the same base character.
Her storylines, not necessarily the action side, but the romance, also feels as if it changes little from each book. I will say that their wasn't any 'vampire sex' in this story (you'll have to read the story to find out what juicy little act it is, and its not what you think). I would recommend reading this book for some easy reading.
I give this book 3 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess and 3 out of 5 for storyline/romance.
Click here to visit Kerrelyn Sparks website.
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