1 more day to enter for a printed copy of A Kiss of Ashen Twilight

If you're on Goodreads, there's one last day to enter for a signed printed copy of A Kiss of Ashen Twilight!

Within the Shadows of Mortals is on it's way and I'll be offering a few printed ARCs up at Goodreads before its June print release. The digital copy will be available in late April.

Mosey on down and enter now if you haven't already!

Happy reading!

Dmitry's Closet ~ An Excellent Love Story Mixed with Action Packed Suspense

4.5 - This is easily a 5 star story. Ms. Nelson weaves a wonderful love story mixed with action packed suspense and some welcoming surprises along the way.

Royal Stone is tired of job hunting on a hot Memphis day. As she steps into a little restaurant unknown to her called Mother Russia, she has no idea how much her life will change. She comes upon a handsome Russian in an expensive suit playing the violin. Right away, she is entranced by his music and him. He offers her food and some refreshments and soon he's offering her a job for her new boutique opening up called Dmitry's Closet. Complete with room and board, Royal can't resist the invitation. She's lived a life from one foster home to another, never really settling anywhere. She takes up the job and soon enters a lavish lifestyle led by the charming, handsome and enchanting Dmitry.

I loved this book. I really liked the fact that even though Dmitry's profession and lifestyle is revealed in the blurb, the story takes its time to reveal it slowly. First we see him as a person, then we see how he treats those around him before the truth about how makes his money is revealed. I love antiheroes especially when they're written with such complexity like Dmitry. I don't think I've read such a compelling character this year since Jon F. Merz's Parallax which features two deadly yet sympathetic assassins in the lead. Kudos to Ms. Nelson for writing such a wonderful love story with a side of action and suspense. It's one of my favorite genres to read and she did it awesomely. I also loved the fact that she handled the love scenes so sensuously. Often IR books nowadays get so crude and short on the emotion that there's no time to really connect with the character but Dmitry's Closet allows you to really feel for both Dmitry and Royal and understand how they see each other through one another's eyes.

As I said, this is clearly a five star story but I give it 4.5 starts due to some grammatical, homonym and spelling errors that interrupted the flow of the story at some points.

Other than that, the story was excellent, the characters were engaging and I'm jazzed to add this to my keeper shelf. I look forward to more works by Ms. Nelson if this is what we have to look for in the future!

This is definitely going on my best of 2010 reads list.

Linkety Split - The Publishing & SFR Edition

There are lots of great blog posts floating around the blogsophere these days. Most are pertaining to publishing and the juicy Amazon/Apple/Publisher smackdown business but also about how digital is changing the face of the industry.

I thought I'd pass on some of my faves. If you're an aspiring author or an author still trying to expand your career, definitely check out these first links.

Teleread has been kicking butt on the news lately. They have a great series of publishing posts with awesome commentary with nuggety goodness that will take pages to post. Instead, I'll post some highlights. ;-)

Books and Buggy Whips: Publishing in the New World

Author Levi Montgomery takes a look at what the future publishers may be doing to close the gap between authors and publishers. It's certainly something that needs to be done for publishers to continue in the future.

The business model of today’s publishers is built on maximizing profit from each book produced, and since the traditional way of doing business is to make a huge stack of books, truck them halfway around the world, pay bookstores to put them in strategic places on the shelves, and only get paid at all for the ones that eventually sell, the need to make a profit turned into the need to create blockbusters. Who cares if it’s well written? Who cares if anyone reads it? Just make a bazillion bucks on it, and you’ll be all right.

Sad but true. Trot on over and check out the full letter by Montgomery and the comments below.

It also appears the agency model that publishers have been huffy over is causing a problem for Ingrams. The print distributor has to rewrite all its contracts for each publisher and then implement a new system based on the new agency model. Which may actually disrupt distribution and further delay ebook releases. Seems like the new model is doing more harm than good as feared by many of the online blog publishing analysts. The more publishers try to force feed a print model into the digital publishing one, the more the brain is boggled. Progress? What progress?

Meanwhile, Random House is holding back from going with Apple and the iPad because they see how troublesome it is to current publishing. Trailblaze on Randhom House.

If you're still confused about how all this pricing structure works between print and digital distribution for the Apple/Amazon/Publisher situation, trot on over to this blog post at A Kindle World which gives a nice breakdown of everything.



Mucho kudos and thanks to author Lynn Emery for her recent Blogging in Black post entitled My Needs are Simple. Not only does she reflect my thinking, I never would have known about veteran author Dean Wesley Smith's wonderful blog series Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing. Keep in mind that these are the experience of these particular groups of veterans. He says a lot of interesting truths that I've been noticing about all aspects of publishing especially how to use an agent correctly. Many writing boards keep shilling a certain way to get publishing being the only way and that's simply not true. Just look at the paths of curently published authors and how much they vary. Smith and co (check out other posts from Laura Resnick and other authors who weight in) illustrate that an author has to be in charge of their career and do what's best for them.

Here's one myth that's a pretty big one:

The myth is simply: YOU MUST HAVE AN AGENT TO SELL A BOOK


To be clear, I like agents and have no desire to bring them harm. But the myths these days about agents are so thick and have become so ugly to new writers, I figured I had better tackle at least one of them next. And yes, there are more than one.


And in the last 20 years, the biggest myth that has blown up into a damaging myth is that you need an agent to sell a book.


This is, of course, complete hogwash, but I have no doubt some of you reading this are already resisting this idea. You want someone to do the dirty work for you, to do the research, to just “take care of you.” Yeah, that’s going to happen.


So to explain this myth clearly, I need to back up just a touch and run through some history to get to why this myth even exists and then move on into how to fight it.

Check out the rest of the post here.

Smith plans to make the series into a book and I'll be the first in line to buy it based on what I've read from theses posts here. It'd be a great addition to my keeper shelf under 'writing references'.



Last but not least, there's a new brigade in town! Heather Massey of the awesome blog The Galaxy Express has just announced the SFR Brigade is now looking for members. The post gives a great rundown of future and current plans for the group which aims to have an award, combine networking, contests and critiquing with overall support for the genre. More information at TGE and the official SFR Brigade blog!

That's all for now!

Love Lasts Forever by Dominiqua Douglas

POC Reading Challenge

4.5 - What an awesome book! I've been thirsting for more historical IRs and this definitely helped my craving. I really like the fact that Ms. Douglas flips the usual time travel trope and has the hero travel back in time to meet his strong willed heroine. Usually the spitfire heroine travels back and meets the hunky, hot historical hero. And it's IR to boot!

In Love Lasts Forever, Thor Magnusen has always known football as his life. When he suffers career altering injuries, he feels his life is over. His father and brother take him out to the family cabin to get his mind off things and there Thor learns a little about his family cabin and finds a timepiece from his great great great grandfather. The timepiece doesn't work but Thor, always interested in learning how things work, decides to fix it. The next day, on a walk while his brother and father go fishing, Thor takes a break in the woods and wakes up in 1860. His first visit is with the beautiful heroine, strong minded Willow Elkridge while she's out gathering water. His attraction is strong but he has to be mindful of the tumultuous time as he learns how to live in 1860.

I like how the author really pays attention to the time. The supporting characters are just as interesting as the main ones, including Eva and Anders Magnusen, Thor's ancestors, the Reverend Brown, an abolitionist who is also Willow's father figure after her parent's death along with his wife Olivia. I was also thankful that the author acknowledged that Thor's clothes and speech were different as some time travel books gloss it right on over.

There are some heavy themes in Love Lasts Forever. The story takes place during the time of slavery human trafficking in America and Thor gets into the thick of helping the abolitionists. There was also an instance where Willow helps an enslaved father reunite with his children but not before trying to sneak onto a plantation to find him. There's a character who reminds me too much of a certain Outlander character I detest (she appears in the third book 'Voyager') and I was glad when Thor told her off. I don't like to watch or read about harsh inhumanities in detail and Ms. Douglas gave enough of the reality of the times to paint a picture but not too much that it became hard to read (although the reality of the time frame and how enslaved families had to live and survive was heart-wrenching itself).

I recommend Love Lasts Forever to all time travel romance and historical romance fans. Thor was an awesome hero who was self aware and selfless in helping those in need and he even goes through a change of his own as he realizes what really matters in life besides football. Willow is a strong yet kind heroine who was willing to put her life in danger more than once to help those less fortunate that herself. Even if her decisions were foolhardy at times (especially after a near assault), she was determined to set things right, in what she believed was in her power. Thor and Willow's love story is one of true human devotion, morality, the human condition and fighting for what's right. Up until the epilogue I was invested in their love story and found myself gasping and holding my breath during perilous moments. I hope we see more offerings from Ms. Douglas if this is a sample of her wonderful work.

A highly recommended read.

Where to Find Rae this week & Who Censored Roger Rabbit

I'll be posting around the blogosphere this week!

Today I'm over at The Romance Studio posting about the internet opening up a variety of means of discussion about books, reading and publishing.

This Friday I'll be over at PopCultureDivas chatting about the Oscars and Sci-Fi. Don't forget to stop by and say hi at my stomping grounds!

Also,  today Teleread posting some wonderful news! Author Gary K. Wolf is currently selling his out of print novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit as an ebook over at Smashwords! I nearly jumped out of my chair because I've been looking for this book for the longest time and it's been so hard to find a copy. Now it's available from the author himself! This was also the basis for the groundbreaking film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? I saw the movie again recently after a few years and it's still one of the most memorable and awesome films in my library. I love the 40s setting, the mystery, the music (Amy Irving actually sang Jessica Rabbit's nightclub cover of Peggy Lee's Why Don't You Do Right. Wow!). Plus the style and the comedy. Everything came together so nicely so I'm really jazzed to see how the book was originated the story. No other movie has managed to do what Who Framed Roger Rabbit did (although Cool World tried its hardest) and I'm pretty sure we won't get anything as imaginative from Hollywood in the future. It's worth checking out if you haven't already!

Liar by Justine Larbalestier ~ A Spoilery Review of an Unforgettable Book

2010 - Young Adult Reading Challenge #8 
POC Reading Challenge

Warning: This is a highly spoilerific review with my thoughts, ideas and outcomes of the actual story. The author has requested around the blogosphere to keep the "twist" under wraps. I'm putting this under the cut so I don't freak anyone out too much but I highly suggest you read the book before reading the reviews so you can see how things turn out. Things in the book are definitely not always as they seem.

A little background.

I had heard about the Liar whitewashing cover controversy when it happened. I was shocked how some shrugged it off as saying the narrator is a liar so naturally her appearance wouldn't be as presented (seriously, people?) but I'm glad the hoopla made Bloomsbury rethink their cover into something a little closer (although not quite spot on) to the description of the character. Unfortunately, we had another go 'round with another whitewashing cover. This time it was Jaclyn Dolamore's Magic Under Glass (which is in my TBR pile) whose book video clearly states how the heroine is depicted. A vast difference from the first cover. Again the re-imagined cover doesn't come quite close to the description of the heroine but it is a minor improvement.

It's more than just a brunette character being portrayed as a blonde on the cover, it's wiping out a big part of the narrator's heritage which has been going on a within the publishing industry on the belief that people of color don't read or don't sell as much as their white counterparts. Hopefully with more readers going online to shop for hidden gems to support authors and books that go under the radar, this will change even as the publishing industry continues downhill. For more info about this phenomenon and to show your support against it, check out the Facebook page for Readers Against Whitewashing (and grab a spiffy logo while you're there ;-)).

Also check out The Librarian's Bookshelf Cover Fail Post and the awesome Cover Matters from The Book Smugglers.

I went back and forth whether or not I'm going to post the full review here or not. I don't want some unsuspecting reader to randomly come across the book and be spoiled unwittingly. So instead I'll just link to the full review on Goodreads. That way folks can have more of a choice.

My full review of Liar is located here.

If anyone has read this and would love to chat about it, don't be afraid to open up a dialogue!

Gold Mountain by Sharon Cullars ~ A Highly Recommended Read

 TBR2010 - His­tor­i­cal romance or fic­tion or mystery #3

What an excellent novella! I love it when historical romance balances both aspects while keeping true to the setting the story takes place in and Gold Mountain doesn't disappoint. Sometime ago I was researching around the setting and time period depicted in this story. It mentioned the rise of the Chinese immigrant males taking African American wives and I loved that the author centered around this not only as a way of writing about that true aspect but to center on a type of couple that isn't given much spotlight.

Gold Mountain focuses on Quiang, a Chinese railroad worker, and Leah, an African American woman who runs a laundry/store with her best friend Clara. They meet one day when Quiang comes to the shop one day to have his shirt cleaned. Although they each speak a different language, both the hero and heroine take time to communicate with each other and of course the most basic communication, that of the heart, begins to bring them closer together. As they battle the social obstacles of their time and try to navigate just how to live each day, Quiang and Leah grow closer and find out just how much they need each other.

I loved this book! I was a little nervous about reading it because the publisher is known for kinkier fair but Gold Mountain was sensual and sexy without going over the edge to crudeness. Kudos to Ms. Cullars for writing such an engaging tale that had me on the edge of my seat, fascinated by the history and cheering for the hero and heroine all at once. I really love her voice and the way she takes time to build chemistry between the leads. There are some scenes of violence in the story but they definitely complement the story and give the reader and idea of what the leads had to go through and how harsh the conditions were for them. Overall, my only complaint is that I wish the story were longer!

I really hope Ms. Cullars writes more historical romances. We definitely need these types of stories to show more of how minorities lived and fell in love thoughout the ages and with Cullar's masterful storytelling, it'll be all the more interesting. In the mean time, I'll happy grab some goodies from her backlist and start reading them as I wait for her next release. This is going on my best of 2010 release reading list.


If you love historical fiction and/or romances, definitely check out Gold Mountain!

A Short Story Re-release Coming up For Read An Ebook Week

The Real Miranda, a short crime/noir/suspense story formally published in the Twist of Fate anthology from Eternal Press, is now in the bag for formatting. It'll be re-released as a free short story with a new cover and a rewritten ending starting Monday. I'll have a link up at my website to the online vendors in case you want to grab a copy. It's short enough to read during your lunch or coffee break but loaded with enough suspense to (hopefully) keep you captivated the whole way through. :-)

I'll also be offering all my books currently for sale at Smashwords at half off throughout the week of the event. If you've been waiting to grab a copy, be sure to make a note of that.

Next up is continuing edits on 'Mortals' and trying to finish a fantasy story that's been swimming around in my head since last year (agh!) which finally needs to be written and sent off.

Lots to do but for now I'm going to take a rest day and catch up on some reading before hopping back in to the long haul once again.

I just finished a marathon of Being Human this week and WOW! Talk about awesome! The show kept me to the screen the whole time because I never know what's going to happen. That's one of the reasons I love BBC shows. The other being ethnic diversity you don't see in American television. I'm a little terrified about the US version of the show. I have a feeling Annie will be completely different than her Brit counterpart which will be a complete bummer. The show won't have its snappy dialogue that I love so much from George and Aidan's edginess mixed with his sensitivity will probably be absent also. In fact, the thing I loved about this season was the fact that the characters grew and changed. They were different than what I previously known about them and the interesting thing is I didn't always like them. But that was a good thing because like people you know, you're put off with them one day by the things they've done and the next day, as they work through their problems, you start to feel close to them again. Strange considering these are fictional characters but I love when writers have the ability to do this.

Thankfully Being Human will be returning for more drama and comedy fun for a third season. Which is good because the way it ended was wide open and the repercussions of everything that happened this season will surely stay with the roommates for a long time. I can't wait to see what else the three have in store for the future.

Firespell by Chloe Neill

2010 - Young Adult Reading Challenge #7 (after Faerie Path by Frewin Jones)

Cute opening to a new series. A bit slow in the beginning with Lily settling into her new school and dealing with the usual school girl politics but the eventual reveal behind the school's mystery was interesting. I'll probably check out the next in the series to see how the overall story develops.