Review: B.E.A.S.T. of Burden–WINNER PICKED!

TEOH wins a copy of this book! Thanks for playing everyone, and look here for a review of Ally Blue’s Oleander House soon!
B.E.A.S.T. of Burden by Rebecca Goings, Champagne Press
The official blurb: Rogan Wolfe desperately wants to find the wife he doesn’t remember. After kidnapping him two years earlier, B*E*A*S*T* faked Rogan’s death to make it appear as if he’d died in a gruesome car accident. With that knowledge, he is driven to reclaim the life that was so maliciously stolen from him. Marlie Silver is in shock. Not only has she just found out that her husband is alive and well, she learns that he’s a shifter–able to change his shape into a timber wolf. She’s never gotten over his loss and he’s offering her a second chance. Problem is, he doesn’t remember their life together. But Rogan is being pursued by Sean Ross, a murderous shifter determined to kill him–and Marlie–at any cost. Can Rogan protect her from the man who wants them both dead? And can a wolf ever stand any chance at all against a Kodiak grizzly? Book 2 in the B*E*A*S*T* series.

My thoughts: I read book I in this series and am happy to report that Becka Goings pulled off the sequel well. It’s very difficult to strike the balance–make the book a standalone without retelling the whole backstory, but dropping enough references to the first story to satisfy those who enjoyed that. So, you don’t have to have read the first book.

Is this a shapeshifter story? Hmmn. Well, it has to be I suppose, with a wolf guy. But it doesn’t feel like one to me. While pertinent to the whole concept of the B.E.A.S.T. organization, the shifting business is minimally important to the contemporary story here. In fact, this feels most like a contemporary category romance, with shapeshifting as a very secondary aspect.

What did I love about this book? If you’re married, or involved, or have ever lost someone you loved, you’ll understand the wrenching pull of finding that a man you thought was gone forever is back in your life (in a good way). This is a story of love lost and rewon, and that touched me. I really liked the character of Rogan very much, loved the setting, and the story and flow reminded me of many contemporary “cabin in the woods” kind of stories I’ve read before.

What did I not love? Eh, maybe Marlie was a little too wimpy. Well, not overly wimpy, since she has lost her husband, her house, is on the run, and has had a pretty bad shock. I wouldn’t do much better, but we always like our heroines to be superhuman, huh? I would have liked to see a hair more distinction in the personalities of the good guys, they kinda blend into one another a hair.

If you like action, a dash of sex, a very warmhearted romance, then this book is perfect for you. Rebecca Goings writes with heart and real affection for her characters–it shows through, and you care about them too. Her writing is smooth, technically great, and I expect to see her right up on that Intrigue or other category shelf any day soon! 8 of 10 furry growls for this warm book.

If you’d like to win this book, please just post a comment on shapeshifters. What kind of setting do you like for your shapeshifter romances? I’ll pick a random winner on Friday!

Boring Oscars

Was it really only six years ago that Bjork wore a swan dress to the Oscars? I remember thinking it was pretty stupid looking. Now I wish she’d come every year and wear a different animal. What’s not to like about a great singer in a swan?

The only thing I really looked forward to was Billy Crystal doing his schtick at the beginning, and now he’s finished. Sniff.

Thirteen Things to Do While I’m on Earth

While I’m not an official participant in any Thursday Thirteen, I thought I’d play anyway (I was a solitary child after all). What thirteen things would you like to do while you’re still in your current body?

1. Make a cake that isn’t wobbly, undercooked, or plain ugly.
2. Go to Australia with Bruce.
3. Go to Italy with Bruce.
4. Go to Africa with Bruce.
5. Decorate an entire room in retro Tiki art and kitsch.
6. Own a house with a room to decorate.
7. Own Yankees season tickets.
8. Spend a month alone somewhere. Really alone.
9. Be able to say I danced every day one year.
10. Forgive myself for just a few dumb things.
11. Forgive the family. It wasn’t their doing anyway.
12. Help an old person, really help them.
13. See a ghost.

Awesome News!

A doubly delightful day for me! My EC debut day, plus, I placed in the Preditors & Editors poll in both the author category and for Lords of Ch’i in Romance Novels!
Thanks so much to anyone who thought of me!

Wizard of Time Released!

My comedic erotic fantasy novella, and my Ellora’s Cave debut, is out! Whoohoo! The link is here.

The winner of my Dragon Oil burner is Nicole Johnson. Congrats Nicole, and thanks to everyone who entered!

Win This Book! Ciar’s Passion Reviews: The Virgin Courtesan

This week in reviews: The Virgin Courtesan by Sela Carsen available now at Forbidden Publications. To win this book, simply add your comment to this blog, telling me if you like historicals, and what your favorite period is! I’ll pick a winner on Friday.

The official blurb: Venice, 1528
Nerina Morinelo tried being a courtesan like her mother but failed at the first hurdle. Now she’s gained an implacable enemy and she has no one to turn to except Domenico Venieri, scion of a wealthy and noble merchant family. Bent on a vendetta, Domenico needs a woman to lure out the enemy that he and Nerina share, but he doesn’t expect to lose his heart to a virgin courtesan.

This novella packs a lot into a small package–adventure, good characters, a cool setting (how can you not like a book that mentions the Medicis?), steamy sex, and romance with a somewhat sweet feel. It’s a quick read that is pure escapism–Ms. Carsen wisks you back in time and you immediately get a good sense of time and place. The opening description of the brothel and the initial set-up is particularly convincing, and I was caught up in caring about Nerina immediately.

I don’t have much negative to say. It’s hard to move characters who don’t know one another to eternal love in the space of a day, and Sela almost pulls it off–I might have liked to see things a hair more open-ended, but that’s just me. I think you’ll love Nerina and her sexy little story, as well as the chance to set your cares aside for a few hours.

Ms. Carsen’s writing is smooth, convincing, and very intelligent. I am dying to read more from her!

8 of 10 daggers, holding one aside for wanting a longer, more developed book (sorry, can’t help it–that setting is just so intriguing!) and one for good measure. I loved this story and can highly recommend it!

Do you want me to review your book? All my reviews are recommendations, so if I don’t like it, I won’t post it. Contact me through my website.

Friday Funny

Just can’t resist, I have a bunch of these, and they’re priceless. It’s about how I felt with such exams…

The winner of this week’s freebie is Jessy! Congrats, you won Sara Dennis’ Fortune’s Fool. Look here next week for a new review and new giveaway!

RWA and Why You Want It

I can be kinda dense, I admit it. But I’d love for someone to really explain to me why RWA recognition is so important to you, the writer, the publishing company. Because it gains us….? Legitimacy? The opportunity to enter contests as a reduced rate? The chance to spend advertising dollars? To join a local chapter? What does it do for publishers? Do bookstores care? Readers certainly don’t; they wouldn’t know what it stands for, would they?

I now write for one publisher with the “RWA seal” and one about to get it. I’m not sure how my life is about to change.

I recently cancelled my personal membership to some professional organizations because…well, they collected my money, elected officers, and issued mandates that didn’t really affect anything except how much money they would charge, who would become officers, and what kind of mandates they should issue.

I’m willing to be convinced, honestly.

Ciar’s Passion Reviews: Win This Book

<a href=”http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/fortunesfool.htm
“>Fortune’s Fool by Sara Dennis
ISBN: 1-60088-005-3

The official blurb: Three years ago, Valerie’s husband was killed in the line of duty. Now she and her eleven-year-old son have a new home in California’s Gold Country. When he’s accidentally shot with his father’s gun, the race to the hospital puts them in the path of Dylan Graves, a Highway Patrolman with skeletons of his own that he doesn’t want to face. A widow and her son are exactly the people Dylan doesn’t need in his life, or so he thinks. Sometimes, Fate has something else in mind. He’s just hoping he doesn’t end up Fortune’s Fool.

Remember contemporaries? No otherworldy happenings, furry men, aliens. It’s what I grew up reading, and Fortune’s Fool by Sara Dennis struck me as somewhat nostalgic, harkening back to a time when you really had to get your characters nailed down and your emotion real, because there are no quirky bits to fall back on. Not that there’s anything wrong with shapeshifters, honestly. But this book was simply refereshing, exactly what I was in the mood for. It’s a classic troubled (beta) hero and single mother, but if that description doesn’t whet your appetite–Stop! Do not pass go, and give this book a try.

The characters are believable, Dylan is a hero to die for (I promise, you will want him), and the plot, while not terribly original, works. The mild sexuality is actually very erotic. One (tiny) disappointment: the children in this book didn’t sound quite natural to me, but then, I live in the mid-Atlantic states where I don’t even understand the profanities coming from kids these days. A few typos, nothing major.

The real treat is that Sara Dennis can write. Smooth, polished, no “huh?” moments, no purple prose, nothing jarring. The book was so smooth, that you could really get into the characters immediately. You walk with the main characters through each moment of the action-packed story, and Ms. Dennis manages to give each paragraph a real sense of immediacy. The little details (what a mother might do/think if her son were hurt)–she nailed them. The book is missing a bit of sense of description of place, the characters float a little in a house we can’t picture, for example. Bah–all that is trivial.

I have only one way to really judge a book. I got annoyed when my husband turned on the TV, because I wanted to get back to this book to see what happened next. I cared. Yay! I cared about fictional characters! It’s been a while.

Thanks for a great read, Ms. Dennis. 9/10 cop badges for making me care!

Do you want to win this book? Tell me what you think of contemporaries–rants and raves, right here on this blog, and I’ll pick a lucky winner this Friday!

If You Want to Piss Someone Off, Talk About Erotic Romance

I guess by now most of you have read Mrs. Giggles’ musings on erotic romance. I agree with a lot of what she says, and I found it a good reminder to really examine my physical love scenes for the senses and emotional content. But I came away from a few loops (and folks all over the place on the topic) thinking: this doens’t really apply to me. I’m not an erotic romance writer, never was, probably never will be. I write romances, and they happen to be explicit because the genre has changed and explicit sex has become the norm. I don’t do, in real life or in writing, BDSM, menages, and alien sex ;o) So I’d be rather uncomfortable writing those. I can write about imaginary places more easily that I can write about physical acts I haven’t experienced. Interesting. There’s a lot of pressure on romance writers to write hot stuff, there’s not a lot of pressure to write well. I wonder if Mrs. Giggles’ prediction will pan out–that the tide will turn. But which way?