February One

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROLYN!!!

Your friendship is a blessing.

Loves you muchly.

Ice Blue by Emma Jameson

Here I go again, trying to communicate why I liked a book.

See, I'm not a picky reader. I can tolerate a lot and half the time don't even notice what seem like egregious errors to others until they're pointed out to me. And even then, I might say "For God's sake, get a life!" To myself, of course, because I'm never, ever rude in public. Never.

This book did have one whopper of an error involving blood type, but I knew what the author was going for, rearranged some letters in my head and carried on. Hopefully she'll fix it. That's the great thing about ebooks, you can fix stuff like this and have the book back to the public in no time at all.

Anyway, I love police procedurals and I especially love British police procedurals. This one has a lot to love about it.

There's a May-December 'maybe' romance between Anthony Hetheridge, ninth Baron of Wellegrave, chief superintendent for New Scotland Yard, suave and unflappable, and Detective Sargeant Kate Wakefield, determined to be equal with the males on the force, honest if brash. They both come to appreciate each other, although nothing is resolved by the end of the book, which bodes well for a sequel, I'd think. And sure enough, Blue Murder is coming out spring 2012. Yay!

The murders reminded me a bit of a Georgette Heyer mystery, only more gory. They are 'upper class' murders, with all the accompanying power maneuvers you would expect from people who routinely get their own way.

This is a book strongly driven by character. The author does not psychologically roto rooter their minds, but enough is shown to make them and their actions believeable. I liked all the main characters, with the exception of Superintendent Vic Jackson, who's a sexist pig, but I don't think I was supposed to like him. *grin*

As far as the writing is concerned, nothing tripped me up. No weirdly put together sentences, no awkward, stiff dialogue. The writing flowed, therefore the story flowed. The mystery was complicated enough to satisfy me, although I wish more had been explained about the resolution.

Nothing in the formating pulled me out of the story; it was very well done.

All in all a great deal for $2.99 and a great example of an indie done correctly by someone who can first of all write, and second of all format.

If I come across other indies I like, I'll be sure to let you know. If I did do reviews, which, as you know, I don't, I would have to give Ice Blue 4 stars.

I'm going to link to Amazon (I hope), so you can see what others have to say.
Amazon is where I live, heh. My apologies to those with other formats. :-(

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Lord-Lady-Hetheridge-ebook/dp/B004UB0WTY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327855328&sr=8-1

Wordage With Friends

See this blog post header was a pun because Carolyn and I play Words With Friends and we also write together so we have wordage and... okay, it seemed funny when I first wrote it.

Anyway, we got our first round of edits back on Letters From Greece, our non-shitty book that comes out in July and I had it a few days and worked on it and now Carolyn has it and is working on it.

Edits are an interesting thing. Our editors, Tir, goes through and fixes the spelling and punctuation shit per House rules. We truly try to do it ourselves but the amount we miss can be astounding.

Then she sends it back and it has a million little notes on the side, most of which say "What's she thinking here?"

Now in my case, I usually write my own note that says "Isn't that apparent?" which of course it isn't because Tir wouldn't have had to ask if it was. But it gets me out of doing any work in the first round because Tir has to point out that I'm an idiot.

Carolyn, I'm sure, fixes it right up. Carolyn is a very good girl.Carolyn doesn't leave snarky notes on the side or cheat.

Which leads me to Words With Friends. My sister is hooked on the game (it's like Scrabble for the phone) so she got me playing it and then I got Carolyn playing it.

I lose a lot. I mean, I lose a whole hell of a lot. In fact, I don't know if I've ever won a game. So now I cheat. I'm a mad cheater. A crazy-ass cheater. I am a cheater extraordinaire.

I still lose but by less of a point spread.

Carolyn whoops my ass. I wonder if there's a moral to this blog post.

My Point (is not just on the top of my head)

So all these blogs are doing a pile-up on some book about a soccer playing man-whore and the heroine, a black woman who's milkshake wouldn't bring the boys to the yard (gads, I love that line because it makes no sense). Anyway, what's interesting to me is the side conversation going on about inter-racial romance and how readers will accept a crappy book if it has a character of color.

Written by a woman of color, that is.

I wrote an inter-racial (IR) romance called Sugar B's Back in Town. Look at the book cover. That man is definately of color. That woman is not. Therefore: IR.

Worst selling book I got.

It's wonderfully edited, the story is good, the reviews have been fucking amazing and unlike the soccer playing man-ho, you'd be hard pressed to find misspellings or a lack of commas.

So for all those people posting that they want IR romances and will settle for a piece of shit, why does a good book like Sugar sell so badly? Is it because I'm not black, myself? (I'm also not a porn star but my heroine was.) Is it because I don't write about milky fluid coming out of sweet honey holes? (ewww, see a gyno and get that taken care of!!)

Is it because the only books anyone hears of are simply those that get this kind of publicity?

I don't get it. I'm frustrated by the folks out there saying they want IR romance yet truly aren't buying it. I think they want IR erotica, quite frankly. And I think the reason Ms. Comma-Not has sold so well is because she's an Ellora's Cave author and therefore people trust there will be bodily discharges and jutting unsheathed erections.

It's frustrating. Because I can't scream "Buy my book dammit and see if you like it!" but I want to.

Oh wait, I think I just did.

Holy Moly... My Head Just Exploded

Sometimes you got to love a kerfluffle, and sometimes you don't.

So I woke up and googled myself this morning.... just kidding. I googled myself in the past and found this weird comment I made on a blog about Seb liking bananas and it was so strange out of context, I never did it again. Never googled myself again. Strange comments abound.

I've googled my book titles.

The other night I googled Hot, Hexed and Bothered and discovered two reviews I didn't know were out there. One hated the book and one liked it. What did I learn? One reader hated my book and one liked it .

I also discovered as I googled a title of Carolyn's that she was being pirated.

Anyway, there was a point to this. But I forgot what it was.

I went over to Dear Author to see if I'd left my point over there but Janet wrote a blog post about reviews that I didn't understand. It was all academic or something. I wish people would leave the smart shit at home or at work where it belongs and not put it on blogs. Smart shit makes my head hurt.

So I wandered over to Smart Bitches where thankfully they don't get too smart for me. They were having some fun and I meant to stay there for awhile but then I remembered I was on a search for the point of this blog post.

I texted Carolyn and asked What's the point? but she answered Huh? which wasn't very helpful.

So I went to google and typed in What's the point of this blog post? and it answered Transcendence which I thought was a good answer but didn't really have anything to do with book reviews.

So now I'm going to eat a brownie and try to figure out what this all means.

Cease and Desist ... Says Carolyn??

Dear Lori:

It has come to my attention that we are operating illegally. Please refer to your post below, titled In Defense of Writers, which touches on the point I'm about to make.

We are writers. We are published writers. And here we are operating a blog more or less as readers. We talk about books we like and even worse, we give opinions!

Heavens, I feel faint.

I mean, I just realized I'm in conflict with myself. According to some, I have to be either one or the other: author or reader. I can't be both.

I suppose the problem is I feel more like a reader than an author. I'm easy to hide, despite my size, because very few people know my name or my books. But I am published, as are you, so I can see only one solution ...

We'll have to shut down.

Sincerely

Carolyn

~~~~~~~~~~~

My darling Carolyn,

I assume you were in your kitchen and got high from the oven fumes. Mold will do that when burned.

I'm terribly confused. Are you saying that by virtue of selling four books every month to whatever relatives we can drag out of our old Christmas Card lists (hey! Aunt Helga hasn't yet heard about my new novel!) we've lost the right to read or write?

Wait. That made no sense.

So are you suggesting that I can buy books and read them but not have opinions?

Or are you speaking specifically of this blog? So our writing about age spots and wet spots and which we prefer is no longer allowed?

I think I have to lay down. Or lie down? Now I'm even more confused.

Lori

~~~~~~~~~~

My darlin', darlin' Lori:

You know I'm speaking specifically of this blog.

Here's a 'what if':

What if we become famous, like the 'authors behaving badly'?

See, when you're famous authors, even if it's just in a limited circle, you aren't allowed to do certain stuff, like dislike a Julia Quinn book, because what if you need her to blurb you one day?

Anyway, I gather from your rather pointed reply you don't want to close the blog. Therefore I suggest you share your mother's recipe for turkey casserole and leave all the writing stuff to competent reviewers, except for your own stuff, of course, which you are expected to promote.

And despite your remarks about my oven, I remain

Yours sincerely

Carolyn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carolyn, my poppet,

Courtney Milan has opinions. I don't know if she has opinions about other writer's books but she has bunches of opinions and she shares them all over the damned place!

If Courtney can opine, I want to opine too.

And I take pointed offence at your suggestion that my book reviews are less than professional. They are amazingly professional. They have the book title, the author's name and my feelings about the book.

Do you mean to tell me there's more? Like do I have to have a degree in reviewing?

And that casserole recipe was not my mother's. My mother was the one who suggested that kitchens were a wonderful place to keep the menus for the take out places.

Anyway, I refuse to shut down the blog, shut my mouth or be ashamed of my reading. Goodness, I'm starting to feel like I'm on a playground and being told I can't use the slide.

I like to slide dammit!!

Your BFF,

Lori

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Listen Lori -

I'm just trying to save you from 'the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune', because you know what'll happen if some of these blogs get ahold of you, where everyone on the internet has an opinion and isn't afraid to post them. Why should they be afraid? No one knows who the hell they are, and half of them still post as 'Anonymous' or variations thereof anyway.

Well, I've always supported you in everything you've done (except that time you wanted to kidnap Carlos and keep him in my attic - although it was tempting) so I guess that means we'll continue on as usual.

I really expected a more ... um ... logical response from you, because I've seen you thank people for reviewing one of your books, which, you know, really eats into that therom that authors should be completely hands off after publication.

You rebel, you!!

Damn, I've talked myself into not being mad at you anymore.

MWAH

Carolyn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carolyn my bestie,

You and I make it a practice to do everything wrong so why change now? After all, we started off in fan fic and not even the right kind of fan fic. I mean, did we know there were right and wrong fan fics?

Then we went and chose to write non fan fic and we found someone who wanted to publish us. And still does! Despite our four copies a month.

And then what do we do? We start a blog together and we have no idea what we're doing. But we do it anyway. We give our opinions, we review the books we read and we plot Carlos domination.

You know what I think? I think we do it all wrong and I don't give a shit. Call me soft hearted but as long as we still enjoy it, I think we're doing it right.

Lubs ya muchly.

Lori

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Lori:

When you're right, you're right. We've always marched to a different drummer. Why change now?

We can reassess when we're rich and famous. *snort*

Love

Carolyn

Relatively Real

If you want realism in romance books, then nothing much is gonna happen. Just sayin'.

Because while Real Life can be stranger than fiction, for the most part it's relatively boring. Even historically, it would tend to be boring. The ton (which compromises 99% of the historicals written) do the same things day after day. There wouldn't be much contact with spies, women wouldn't cross dress, etc., etc.

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule and I'm sure some erudite soul could point me towards proof that such things indeed happened. But people like Lady Hester Stanhope stand out precisely because they are so different from the norm of their times.

(Btw, is ton singular or plural?)

Reality for most of us is doing the same things every day for most of our lives. Get up, go to work, come home, get supper, go to bed. It's why vacations are so coveted - something different!! Even jet setters can get bored with party after party. Always the same people, always the same thing.

And I think it's why romance fiction can be fantasical, historically incorrect, and downright outrageous sometimes and still find an audience.

Screw realism. Just entertain me and offer me a well written escape when I need it and I'm yours for life.

Oh lord, I suddenly feel the urge to read Naked in Death again.

Sister Wives

I love Netflix streaming and have gotten hooked on different shows. Currently I'm watching Sister Wives and it's just fascinating.

Generally when people think of polygamous marriages, it's the icky ones where 50 year old men are marrying 15 year old girls and impregnating them. Sister Wives turns that on its ear.

Kody is the husband and he's kind of a goof. His three wives are normal women and all of age. Kody takes a 4th wife who is a grown women, divorced and with kids.

It interests me that the choice for the women in being in this marriage is not so much that they've fallen in love with Kody but that they love Kody but they want to have the large family and the other wives.

The women create a working unit of watching each other's children, taking care of each other and being best friends. There's something amazing in that.

I'm really enjoying seeing these women work around their feelings and relate to one another. They've totally got it going on.

And it makes me wonder... if the spouses are of age, why is it wrong to have a polygamous relationship?

A Little Early, but ...

I'm building the anticipation. *grin*

Seems a little silly to post a pic when there it is right over there ---->
but it's de rigeur at these times to give a sample of the sample. So, I'm going to give two, the cover and the first chapter, because I'm generous that way. ;-)

I don't really know how to feel about Song of Life. It was the first book I wrote that wasn't fan fiction and so, while it's not my favorite (that would be Mariposa, due out around May), I'm proud of it and even prouder that a publishing house contracted it.

Here's the link to the first chapter, I hope you'll check it out. Some might recognize it, it was a First Page at Dear Author long ago, around 2008, I believe. It garnered about thirty critiques, including one by Shiloh Walker. *grin* It's changed a bit since then.

http://clmccullough.yolasite.com/song-of-life.php


Song of Life will be released February 6 and will be available at Lyrical Press and the usual e-sellers.

Ten Reasons Why I Loved Ten Reasons by Julia Quinn

1. I just finished Ten Reasons I Love You and it was a wonderful, satisfying read from page one to page end.

2. Her hero, Seb had that adorable rake thing going on and I love adorable rakes.

3. Her heroine Annabelle wasn't brilliant or amazingly adept at mathematics or.... She was an ordinary woman who was muddling through society and falling in love but she was just a person. I liked that.

4. Her hero wrote novels (think The Perils of Pauline) with a feminine pen name. And he was successful. I loved that.

5. The villian was someone worth hating. He acted atrociously from start to finish and truly because he was just an unredeemable ass.

6. Unlike poor Miss Miranda Cheever, this plot had no mis-steps. It was laid out perfectly and never lost its footing.

7. Annabelle made her own decision at the end and was able to state it and free her own heart. It was a great scene to read.

8. The Grandmother. Now I didn't like Annabelle's grandmother and I don't think she was meant to be likeable. But at the end (the big reveal, I suppose) she was brilliant. And she was brilliant without changing character. That's hard to do and it was done so well.

9. It made me feel good. I wanted to know what happened next and I resented when I got to my bus stop or my daughter wanted attention. I wanted to finish reading.

10. Because it reminded me how much I enjoy reading Julia Quinn. Every time I see her name, for some strange reason I never remember that I've read her. But she wrote the Bridgerton books and she has a nice light touch and good romance. She never goes heavy on the sex which I appreciate. One nice sex scene is just fine, thankyouverymuch.

Highly recommend this book. It's like a great piece of chocolate when you're craving something sweet and uncomplicated.

In Defense of Writers

If you're reading us then you probably found us because of someone linking to us somewhere in Romancelandia or because you like old farts or because you know us and we make you come here. Oh yes... we have our methods and we're more than willing to employ them all **evil stare**

So all the author behaving badly shits are on your radar. The recent slew of YA authors getting butt hurt because of middlin' reviews or the lack of the squee in response to every pearly nugget of wisdom they depart. Oh you know it all.

And by the way, if you haven't seen Miss Meljean Brooke's hystical Diary of an Author then check it out. OMG. She should sell it on Amazon under the Kindle Select Program (seriously, $1.70 from everyone who reads it!)

Dear Author had a wonderful post of the author/reader paradigm and what Jane said should be required reading for every author. Some of the following responses not as much (as some, very much).

Much I agreed with. I've spent many years writing and taking classes and workshops and critique doesn't bother me. I've said this before and I mean it: a thoughtful rejection outlining what you did wrong can be the greatest gift a writer receives. I've been on the lines a long time and some of my best writing has come after it was rejected.

If you can't take critique, this is the wrong business for you.

But I was bothered by the attitudes that a writer should be completely hands-off once the book is released. Don't thank people for a good review. Don't acknowledge any feedback whatsoever. In fact, one person suggested that authors shouldn't even check reviews. Once you hit send then your emotional connection is severed and whether praise or disdain greets what you do, it's none of your business.

Um... no.

I'm not going to say that writing is the hardest job ever or that my work is art or well... let me try this again. I sit down with an idea that I like and I start to write it. As I write characters appear and a plot takes shape and things happen. Sometimes when I'm writing it's like being possessed and the words are all there and it types out lickety-split and life is good.

Sometimes I can't come up with the next word and I think that I'm crap and nobody will ever want to read this and why do I bother? Sometimes I don't write for days on end because I suck and the words refuse to come unless I threaten them with creamed spinach and liver and it just doesn't feel worth it.

I can't tell you how often I decide to stop. Just not do this anymore. I don't sell that much and I'm never going to hit my goals and it's just distracting me from playing Plants Vs Zombies and getting my ass kicked by Carolyn in Words With Friends.

But at some point I finish a story. And then Carolyn and Lea read it and point out errors and give me (usually) positive feedback. And I fix the errors. And I polish it up and send it out. And then maybe someone says, "Yeah, we'd like to publish this."

And my soul dances and I'm lifted from despair and I call Carolyn and write Lea and then post it on Facebook and all is well with the world.

Then the edits start. And I discover how wonderful Carolyn and Lea are because they didn't point out that my hero was 6 foot tall in one scene and 6 foot 7 inches in the next. And commas are not supposed to be used the way I was using them. And the line editor is pointing a pitchfork at me and my hair starts to fall out in stress and then I get a cover and I'm so happy again for awhile...

And the book comes out.

Truly, the worst thing that happens is nothing. It's ignored. Nobody reviews it, nobody cares. Oh yeah, I know that feeling. Shall I tell you how many copies of Miss Hex Mex have sold? You can count it on your fingers and that's with one hand behind your back.

But maybe the book does okay. 666 Angel Lane has done okay. It sells, even a year after release. Oh, not in hundreds but every months statements show sales. And on Goodreads every now and then someone new might put it on their bookshelf.

And it got reviews. Some really good reviews. And even a not so good review. And over on Goodreads someone gave it 3 stars and no comment. (By the way, I never google myself. But I have googled the titles of my books to see if there were reviews.)

I care about how people react to the book. I created a world where the Devil has ads on the radio and War Demons become television stars. This is my imagination and I made that. I'll say it again because I'm proud of it: I made that. If someone praises the book I want to know and feel good that they got it and they liked it and I did it right. And if someone didn't like it I'm interested to know where it failed for them and if it's a flaw in my writing or my world building or maybe they just didn't like it.

Just because it's out of my hands doesn't mean I'm not still attached. I wrote it. I made it. That was my world built from my words and my imagination. The reader can react however s/he chooses (my brother loved the epitath the Demons used that now instead of cussing, he says "Clouds!") and I don't have any right to tell a person how to read or react but damn if I don't want to know.

Some folks think it's all about praise. Some say writers have no right to learn where they might have failed in a reader's experience. I say that almost every human being carries around an invisible sign that says: How am I Doing? We want to know if we're connecting and doing okay.

Writers are people too, you know.

The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever aka: The Can't Say Those Three Little Words Trope

We don't grade books here or give a number of hearts or anything like that. But I was thinking about it in regards to this book and would give it a solid B grade. The first two thirds of this book was wonderful. Maybe even the first three fourths. Then the last part went straight to bad trope-ville and ruined a great book.

Miranda is a great heroine. She's pretty without being beautiful, smart as heck and her repartee is brilliant. The hero Turner is pretty good for a hero, also a smart ass and funny and tortured. He has the great hero-angst of a previously unfaithful wife who died on the way to meet her lover.

Seriously, this book started and went going great guns. I loved all the characters and was reading this in huge gulps. I was turning into a Julia Quinn fan girl as I read. And then.... I don't know what happened.

Miranda is in love with Turner (has been since she was a child) and now he's a bitter widower who spars with Miranda and fights his feelings and it was just done so well but then ...

ALL SPOILER FROM HERE ON OUT....

Miranda and Turner do it. She gets pregnant. She runs to her grandparents in Scotland and he doesn't follow immediately but when he does she's lost the baby but he demands they get married and then they do and they're blissfully happy except he can't say "I love you" and she gets pregnant again and because he won't say the words she has issues and then gives birth and almost dies and he says the words and all is good in HappyVille.

Say what?

I mean, here was this great story with smart characters and what the fuck happened? I swear it was like Julia Quinn was writing this book and suddenly ran out of plot so she borrowed from another book. It didn't fit, it brought this wonderful story to a grinding halt and destroyed an almost perfect read.

I would recommend this book because so much of it is wonderful. Just be prepared for an ending that seems like it came from another book.

By the way: I hate the trope of the hero who can't say he loves the heroine. First of all, they're happy. They're fucking delirious with happiness. Actions speak louder than words after all and if the hero is acting like he's in love then suck it up woman and realize that words are words and the man is yours.

And a heroine on her deathbed forcing the hero to face his feelings and then say the words which rescues her from the Grim Reaper... omg, RETIRE THIS TROPE IMMEDIATELY!

Okay, I'm calm now.

Anyway, so that's my non-review of The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn.

Congratulations to the Alabama Crimson Tide

My heroes!

Monday night they won their 14th College Football National Championship by defeating LSU 21-0 in the Superdome in New Orleans.

The Tide done rolled, baybee. A great defensive game and I hope to be making a similar post next year. :-D


Woo hoo!!

Whatever Happened to !

Since I acquired minimal computer skills and forged a pathway onto the internet, I've noticed a few things. The one I want to discuss today is exclamation points.

When did the definition change?

There's been a resurgance of Georgette Heyer books recently, along with the requisite number of complaints about all the exclamation points she uses. A couple of posters even asked why all her characters had to shout.

Darlin', her characters aren't shouting, they're being emphatic. That's what an exclamation point used to mean back in Heyer's day, and evidently mine too.

An exclamation point can also define a character's personality.

"She didn't." Meh

"She didn't!" Shock. Horror. Widened eyes. Perhaps hands to throat.

Lots of descriptors attached to that second dialogue when you add an exclamation point.

Ms Heyer wrote of the ton, most of whom had affected talking down to a fine art. I think it fair to say most of her exclamation points occur during dialogue, because that's how these people talked.

Then, while my back was turned, exclamation points suddenly designated shouting. Is it one those unwritten writing rules, like start with the action?

I think exlamation points and their users, in particular Ms Heyer, are getting a bum deal. Since I tend to talk in exclamation points myself, you can understand why I feel that way. And why I love Heyer so much. ;-)

Lori's Best of 2011

I don't know that I have a best of list really but there were some books I really enjoyed for different reasons.

Silk Is For Seduction by Loretta Chase. I make no bones about my willingness to bear Loretta Chases' love child or even *gasp* clean her bathrooms. Yes, that's right. I'm such a Loretta Chase fan girl I would willingly clean her bathroom. I wouldn't like it but if it would free up wrting time in her life then I'm all over it.

Heart of Steel by Meljean Brook. I liked Iron Duke but I loved Heart of Steel. Archimedes Fox and Yasmeen are simply the best romance couple evah. Now I'm not offering to have Meljean's babies but I would happy bake her a cupcake and not lick the frosting off before I give it to her.

The Shop of Shades and Secrets by Colleen Gibson. I admit I have a weakness for free-spirited heroines and uptight heroes. Add a ghost, a mystery, a politician and grandparents having sex and well, it's a winner all around.

Hello Kitty Must Die by Angela Choi. I don't remember if this was a Kindle free read or a 99 center but it was awesome. I mean, mass murdering, soulless soul mates. I snorted and giggled throughout the whole damned thing.

When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James. This book was amazing. Funny, felt, fresh. Easy to read and a pleasure to do so.

I read a lot of books I enjoyed but I don't know if I would label them best of. Some new authors hit my Kindle: Nalini Singh, Saranna DeWylde, Sally McKenzie.

What I'm always looking for is foodie romance. Or foodie books without romance. I've read The Best Food Writing of Name Your Year, Anthony Bourdain, Ruth Reichl, Gesine Bullock... Those books that talk about food with passion. That describe the art of eating.

Anyway, that's my list right now...

Carolyn's Best of 2011

Everyone's doing the 'best of 2011' reads, so I thought I'd give it a try. Problem is, I can't remember when I read what and 2011 sort of zipped right on by. I've never seen a year pass so fast!

I guess this will be my 'best of within recent memory' reads and I'm almost sure to leave something out and I'll wake up at 1:00 in the morning and cry out, 'oh my God, I should have put *insert book title* on the list!' Of course, by then it'll be too late, but if I get enough left over titles, I can do another list and another post and so it'll all be good. :-)

I shall have to retire to Amazon to see when I acquired some of these books. Hold on, I'll be right back.

Good lord, I'm not even going to tell you how many pages I had to go through, because it's kind of embarrassing even though a lot of the books were freebies. That won't change my habits though. Okay, my list in the order bought:

1. The Peach Keeper, Sarah Addison Allen

2. Archangel's Kiss, Sword and Blood, Naline Singh

3. Blue Eyed Devil, Lisa Kleypas

4. Magic Slays, Fates Edge, Ilona Andrews

5. River Marked, Patricia Briggs

6. Blood Magic, and all the lupus books, Eileen Wilkes

7. Kiss of Snow, Nalini Singh

8. Dragon Bound, Thea Harrison

9. Silk is for Seduction, Loretta Chase

10. Heart of Steel, Meljean Brook


All righty, that's a rather eclectic list, isn't it? There's your paranormal, your historical, your contemporary, your fantastical and your steampunk. Plus some extra ones I snuck in. All wonderful reads, and most will have sequels, so my future enjoyment is quaranteed.

Happy reading in 2012.

Penquin is Pulling My Leg - Go On, Penquin, Tell Me Another One

I was lollygagging around the internet today and checked out some of my favorite authors on Amazon to see if they had any new releases coming up, when I happened across this:

Book Bundle, Amazon

I saw the bundles before my brain took in the prices. Forty dollars, y'all, for five books.

Now - please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't book bundles supposed to be an enticement? As in enticing the reader to invest in the series by offering a too good to pass up price? As in enticing the reader to re-invest in books s/he may already have?

The first In Death bundle, books one through five, are OLD, y'all. You might say they're backlist, except I don't think they've ever been OOP. So why the hell would I pay $40.00 damn dollars for them, expecially considering I have them all in paperback?

I thought this e-bundle and its companions, would be a great way to keep track of the books. I have every one, but they're scattered here and there throughout the house, as I pulled them out for something and didn't put them back. Plus they exceed the shelf space alloted to them. Since all the titles sound the same to me, the bundles would be a great way to keep them in order.

Alas, it is not to be. $39.99 boils down to $7.99 per book and that's just not good enough, not for this reader.

Why are these publishers so hard headed? Is it just corporate greed, or do they have some sort of agenda, a business plan for the future (one that doesn't gouge the customer so much).

I'd be interested to see how the Lady Julia Grey bundle is selling. Three books for $8.83. That's $2.94 a book. I bet they've made more sales and more money than the J D. Robb bundles.

Now, that would be an interesting comparison!