The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley

Carolyn:

This is the book that made Susanna Kearsley an autobuy for me. I read it and immediately started hunting down her backlist.

Easier said than done.

She's not a prolific author, like La Nora or JAK, and some of her books are out of print. A painful fact, sort of like a sesame seed under your dentures; it pokes at you when you least expect it.

Anyway! The Shadowy Horses had everything my little paranormal heart could desire. A hunky Scottish hero, a suave, trouble making ex, a smart heroine with her head screwed on right. And ghosts and history and an archeological site and a small boy with the Gift.

Okay, I'm going to cheat here and copy the blurb. Well hell, it says it so much better than I could and it actually reflects what's in the book - go figure.


"With its dark legends and passionate history, the windswept shores of Scotland were an archaeologist's dream. Verity Grey was thrilled by the challenge of uncovering an ancient Roman campsite in a small Scottish village. But as soon as she arrived, Verity felt danger in the air. She felt it in the icy reserve of archaeologist David Fortune. She saw it in the haunted eyes of the little boy who spoke of visions of a slain Roman sentinel. She heard it in the loneliest hours of the night, galloping across the moors - the unearthly sound of the legendary shadowy horses, who carried men away to the land of the dead. And as the ghostly appearances became more urgent and more chilling, Verity could no longer deny their message: Danger lurked in the Scottish mists - and threatened them all."


Kearsley is a wonderful writer - she has a way with words, as they say. A descriptive excerpt:

"A man was coming across the moor.

It might have been the fogged window, or the wild weather, or the rough and rolling landscape that, like all the Scottish Borderlands, held traces of the harsh and violent past - the echoed din of charging hooves, of chilling battle-cries and clashing broadswords. Whatever it was, it tricked my senses. the man, to my eyes, looked enormous, a great dark giant who moved over bracken and thorn with effortless stride. He might have been a specter from a bygone age, a fearless border laird come to challenge our rude intrusion on his lands - but the illusion only lasted a moment."


History entwines itself throughout the book, from the mystery of the lost legion - the Legio IX Hispania - to the the Great East Coast Fishing Disaster.

There is no explicit sex, but lots of warmth,not only between the h/h but with the secondary characters too. These are people you would like to know.

I highly recommend The Shadowy Horses and all of Susanna Kearsley's books.


Other books by Susanna Kearsley:

Mariana
Season of Storms
The Winter Sea (Sophia's Secret)
Named of the Dragon
The Splendor Falls
The Gemini Game (OOP but you can buy it used at Amazon for $147.26!!)
Undertow (OOP but you can buy it at Amazon used for $102.03. The 3 cents might be the deal breaker though.)

And written under the name Emma Cole - Every Secret Thing.

If anyone knows why most of Kearsley's books are so expensive at Amazon.usa, please do let me know! I bought her latest, Winter Sea at Book Depository for a reasonable price and free shipping. : p Amazon!

My Favorite Tropes

My Favorite Tropes

(from the Sound of Muzak)

Raindrops on roses and amnesiac ladies
Kittens named Cletus and unidentified babies
Tall alpha heroes who snarl and they sneer
These are the tropes that my heart does hold dear…


When the Demon attacks
When the Dragon flies
When the princess is freed
These are a few of my favorite tropes
That excite me to read….


Give me a rock star who likes to read Tolstoy
A Baron or Duke who was sad as a young boy
A Happy Ever After hard and well earned
These are the tropes for which I do yearn.


When the Ton grates
When the Marquis berates
When society stings
These are the tropes that curl my ten toes
And force me to sing!

What's In A Review?

Carolyn:


I have to admit, I have trouble writing reviews. I mean it's not like it was something that was taught in high school English class.

Research essays? Check.

Business letters? Check.

Review columns? Uh - nope.

There's a not so fine line between writing a review and indulging in a synopsis. I say indulge, but don't apply it to myself, because I find it the hardest thing to write a synopsis for a publisher. Sooo cut and dried! Why would I torture myself doing so for a review?

Still, how much to say? I error on the side of discretion and wonder if anyone reading will know what the damn book's about. *grin*

There are some fine reviewers in Romanceland.

DA has a legion of 'em and they all sound so professional. These are some folks that paid attention in English class, even if reviewing wasn't the lesson of the day. I've bought quite a few books after reading a DA review.

The Smart Bitches make me laugh my ass off (I wish!), but at the same time can really analyze a book and give the reader all the pertinent facts and why it worked for them.

KristyJ (Ramblings on Romance) and Sarah (Monkeybear Reviews) both write succinct reviews without spoilers and I'm always thrilled when their opinions mesh with mine.

So what it boils down to is: I can title a post a review, but what it really is, is a recommendation for a book I liked, or conversely a suggestion that this particular book wasn't what I expected.

I doubt I'll ever do a piece on a book I absolutely hate, because thanks to all the reviewers above, I'll never buy it.

Ha!!


Lori:

I can't review at all. I forget the names of the characters while I'm reading the book and a day after it's done I've forgotten half the plot. That's why I reread: it's always new to me.

I find some of my favorite reviews are the negative ones. When a reader takes the time to point out what didn't work in a book then I have a good idea which are the bothersome tropes or plots that might make me dislike the book. And of course, some of the things that reader didn't like might be in my favorite trope category.

I've bought more books based on Dear Author reviews than I want to admit. I'm trying not to anymore because I've discovered I don't share the taste of many of them. At this point I listen to Carolyn most because she's pointed me to Lord Ian, Loretta Chase and Butterfly Tattoo.

As far as writing reviews: ha!

When the Urge Doesn't Strike

Carolyn:

I have a very puny TBR pile. It's not tottering; it can barely be called a pile. (almost changed the word 'pile' - whenever I use it I think of my mother's definition and I'm so not going there!)

However!

In this non-tottering, non-pile are several books I've started and sort of lost interest in. Bummer, because there goes several Carolyn reviews.

But what am I do do? I find myself rereading old favorites. I just reread all three of Ilona Andrews' magic books in anticipation of the release of the fourth. I'll probably do the same with Mercy Thompson.

And then it hit me! Those half finished books, staring back at me so sorrowfully are historical romances.

Now, back in my heyday, I was an historical junkie (minus the Romance) I loved Sharon Kay Penman and Edward Rutherford and James Michener and Susan Howitch. Loved those huge generational tomes So when I gravitated to Romance, I mostly read historicals, especially Regencies (Georgette Heyer is a GODDESS!). And Flowers from the Storm just knocked my socks off; one of the best books I've ever read in any genre.

Have I OD'd on history? I find myself caught up again in pure fantasy and sf and paranormal and urban (sorry but I can't tell the latter two apart) and thus Andrews and Briggs et al. I pounced on the release of a new book in the Paksenarrion universe - it had been twenty years, for God's sake!

I don't know why this is. Even contemporaries are a struggle. (psst - I've only read the first in La Nora's Bride series; that's like sacrilege or something, isn't it?)

Does anyone else have this problem?



Lori:

I'm doing a slow burn-out on contemporary romances and starting to discover some of the brilliant historicals out there. Right now I'm doing a glom of Loretta Chase. Currently I'm reading Mr. Impossible and I have three more after that.

I've even got two Jennifer Cruisie's in my TBR pile and I'm such a Cruisie fangirl, you know that's just wrong!

I do think that reading cycles though so we should cycle back into our favorite old reads sooner or later.

I do have a bunch of new-to-me authors to try. I have Arianna Skye, Shelli Stevens, Jaci Burton. Need to spend some time in the Demonica series I think but even more... I need more Chase! I'm reading what you stopped Red!

Good News For an Old Fart

We're still waiting to hear back from a buttload of epubs about our little Bodice Ripping piece o'shit but ...

sound the trumpets


Lori has sold her first novel to Lyrical Press. There's a signed contract, streamers in our hair and the chocolate has all been eaten in a gorging of glory (ye Gads, I love me some alliteration!)

There may be future updates regarding the loss of hair, eyesight or responsible rhetoric as Lori learns the ins and outs of editing/publishing but as Two Old Farts always say: Why be miserable alone when there are others to drag to the depths as companionship?

So be prepared for a dragging. And yee-haw! Good job to an old fart!

REVIEW: Speed Dating by Nancy Warren

Carolyn:

My friend Pam forwarded an email to me wherein Amazon was promoting Kindle for PC. I was very appreciative, but I wasn't sure I'd like reading on my PC - my ass is spread enough and my hand gets cold working the mouse for long periods. *grin*

But then I discovered there were FREE BOOKS to be downloaded!!

Well, of course, that changed everything - free is free, after all. Still, I didn't want a free book just to say I had an ebook library, so I tried to be very discerning and I finally downloaded four books.

One of them was Speed Dating by Nancy Warren.

May I just say - I LOVED it!

I liked the heroine, I loved the hero, and I was familiar with the background (Jeff Gordon is my boy!)

Kendall Clarke is an actuary, attending a conference in Charlotte, NC, where she is to receive an award for Actuary of the Year. (Be still my beating heart!). Minutes before the banquet, her fiancee informs her that a) he's breaking their engagement, b) he doesn't love her, he loves another woman who works with them (rather incestuous, in a way), and c) the woman is pregnant.

So, after handling this confession in a mature and adult way, Kendall manages to lock herself out of her hotel room in her Victoria Secret slip. That's when she meets Dylan Hargreave.

Dylan is a NASCAR driver who hasn't been winning much lately. He's also divorced but can't seem to be rid of his ex-wife. He's attending her 4th wedding and needs some protection.

He and Kendall cut a deal.

I liked the light heartedness (for lack of a better word - that happens a lot to me) of the writing. Kendall had her head screwed on right for the most part, and her character grew and changed and finally she took charge of her life. She took action instead of just reacting, as she had been.

Dylan grew also. He came to realize that his love was worth something and the real Dylan was worth something (when you meet his family, you'll understand that statement better, I've never seen such cold fish).

And surrounding this love story is NASCAR. The descriptions of the racing and the atmosphere at a track on race day were spot on and contrasted sharply with the peace and quiet of Dylan's home of his heart, a 50 acre farm far, far from racing.

A great little story. Frankly I was surprised, but pleasantly so.

Didn't you read it also, Lori?



Lori:

Surprise, surprise. I did read it... and amazed myself by really enjoying it.

The NASCAR part of the romance was really good. I enjoyed the relationships and the world it showed with the men being celebrities as well as athletes and a tight family.

I liked Kendall although I'm not crazy about the misunderstanding tropes. I like people communicating. Although I think she was clear in her intentions and really put herself out there.

I think the best thing about this book was that it was a NASCAR romance that I enjoyed. I'm learning that there a lot of books out there that i never would have picked up previously that have turned out to be excellent reads.

I wonder if m/m is in our future Red?


Carolyn:

Oh geez ....

Well, we're almost there with Butterfly Tattoo. (Gorgeous book but not erotica.)

One should never say never, but ... no.

Quick Question

Lori:

Is it just me or do you want to go off on every author who posts on reader's blogs about how their wonderful new release doesn't do whatever someone is complaining about or their sparkly wonderful publisher makes their teeth white and their breath smell fresh?

Is it possible that DA, SB, KKB or any of those blogs could be author promo free in any major discussion?

Okay, I vented. Back to our regularly scheduled nonsense.