October 2008 Issue # 3

Hey everyone!

I’m Phoebe Jordan also known as The Voice of Romance here on Romance Writers United, but you probably already know that. For those of you who are just tuning in, this is my October column, my third column for RWU, and I have to say that I have been looking forward to writing this all month. I’m a bit more secure about writing this column now, and I am enjoying every time I sit down at my laptop and think about all the novels I’ve read lately, and trying to pick the ones that I should mention. Well, unfortunately this month none of the RWU member authors, both published and unpublished, have posted any current, upcoming or work-in-progress information. So for this month I will have time to discuss some awesome new authors and books that I’ve recently discovered.

I was lucky enough to have found such an amazing author through a blog called The Book Girl from Book Blogger Appreciation Week. Marta Acosta is such an amazing author, and I was happy that I found out about her when I was surfing through blogs. I was also lucky enough to get all of her novels personally autographed. I love paranormal novels, and I thought that the comedy in the them just made them so much more fun to read. This wonderful Casa Dracula series is different from other novels that I’ve read because it's about a Hispanic woman, who I at times identify with because I'm also Hispanic and am trying to graduate from college while trying to find my purpose in life.

The heroine of the novel is Milagro de Los Santos, which in English is translated to mean Miracle of the Saints, a Latina Ivy league graduate who hasn't found her place in the world or a man to go with it. I reviewed all three novels on my blog Talk About My Favorite Authors if you want to read what I had to say about them. Here is a little bit more about them so you can understand why I got hooked. This is from the first book to the current release of the series, which isn’t over because I was promised, by the author herself, that she is working on Casa Dracula book four.

Happy Reading!

~ Phoebe

Happy Hour at Casa Dracula

Copyright © 2006 Marta Acosta

Published by Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group

A dazzlingly original new voice in contemporary fiction, Marta Acosta bursts onto the literary scene with a wryly comic, vibrantly written novel about a young woman who finds her heart’s desire in the least likely places.

Happy Hour at Casa Dracula

Latina Ivy League grad Milagro de Los Santos can’t find her place in the world or a man to go with it. Then one night, at a book party for her pretentious ex-boyfriend, she meets an oddly attractive man. After she is bitten while kissing him, she falls ill and is squirreled away to his family’s estate to recover. Vampires don’t exist in this day and age—or do they? As Milagro falls for a fabulously inappropriate man, she finds herself caught between a family that has accepted her as one of its own and a powerful, clandestine organization that refuses to let the undead live and love in peace.

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Midnight Brunch

Copyright © 2007 Marta Acosta

Published by Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group

Milagro thinks she’s finally found love and a home at California ranch of fabulous Oswald Grant and his urbane relatives how have a rare genetic disorder that some call vampirism. But Milagro is bewildered when she’s excluded from a mysterious midnight ceremony whose participants include a creepy family elder and Milagro’s powerful ex-lover. What skeletons are the vampires keeping in their designer closets? When Milagro’s life threatened, she flees to the desert to hide. Instead of solitude, she encounters an egomaniacal actor, a parting heiress, a sly tabloid reporter, and a lavish spa full of dark secrets—all of which might help her find a way home.

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The Bride of Casa Dracula

Copyright © 2008 Marta Acosta

Published by Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group

WEDDING BLISS AMISS

Milagro De Los Santos is having serious problems planning her wedding to fabulous Oswald Grant, M.D. Her future in-laws loathe her, her dog just died, and Oswald’s family has a genetic anomaly that makes them crave blood. Then her extravagant best friend hijacks the role of wedding coordinator, and the secretive Vampire Council assigns conniving Cornelia Ducharme to guide the couple through the ancient vampire marriage rituals.

To top it all off, Milagro’s career is on the skids. She’s reduced to ghost-writing the memoirs of a loony little man who claims to be a shapeshifter. And why does Cornelia’s decadent, way too attractive brother, Ian, always show up whenever Milagro is away from Oswald? When a series of accidents interferes with wedding plans, Oswald worries that Milagro is cracking under the pressure. Is she just paranoid, or is a hidden enemy trying to make sure Milagro doesn’t wed the undead?

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Now for current releases that I’ve bought, and have on the top of my To Be Read pile. The first one I will be talking about, the much acclaimed and looked for novel by Karen Marie Moning is Faefever. I haven’t had the chance to read it since I bought it, but it's on the top of my TBR pile and I’m really looking forward to reading it, because I've heard so much about it all over the Internet. I have heard good and bad things about it that have me really excited and curious about reading the book. I won’t mention them here, but I will say that you should visit Karen Marie Moning’s MySpace, blog and forum if you want to find out more about the gossip and reviews about the book.

The second current release that I’ve bought, and have on the top of my TBR pile is the third book in Linda Lael Miller’s Stone Creek series. The Rustler is a book that I really look forward to reading soon because it is written by the amazing romance author Linda Lael Miller. She is known for her western historical romances, and I have been trying to buy as many of her books as I can because she is such a great writer who makes her characters come to life when I read her books. I read the first two books in her Stone Creek series and loved them both, so reading this book is going to be such a treat.

Enjoy!

Current releases by NYT best-selling romance authors:

Faefever

Copyright © 2008 Karen Marie Moning

Published by Delacorte Press

He calls me his Queen of the Night. I’d die for him. I’d kill for him, too. When MacKayla Lane receives a torn page from her dead sister’s journal, she is stunned by Alina’s desperate words. And now MacKayla knows that her sister’s killer is close. But evil is closer. And suddenly the sidhe-seer is on the hunt: For answers. For revenge. And for an ancient book of dark magic so evil, it corrupts anyone who touches it.

Mac’s quest for the Sinsar Dubh takes her into the mean, shape-shifting streets of Dublin, with a suspicious triangle of alliance with V’lane, an insatiable Fae prince of lethally erotic tastes, and Jericho Barrons, a man of primal desires and untold secrets, Mac is soon locked in a battle for her body, mind, and soul.

As All Hallows’ Eve approaches and the city descends into chaos, as a shocking truth about the Dark Book is uncovered, not even Mac can prevent a deadly race of immortals from shattering the walls between worlds—with devastating consequences...

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The Rustler

Copyright © 2008 Linda Lael Miller

Published by Harlequin

Where does an outlaw go when he’s ready to turn straight? For Wyatt Yarbro, reformed rustler and train robber, Stone Creek is his place of redemption. And lovely Sarah Tamlin is the perfect angel to help him clean up his act...

But Sarah keeps a dark secret behind her prim and proper façade, even as her heart is lost to charming, sexy Wyatt. When a vengeful enemy prepares to unleash havoc on the peaceful town, Wyatt and Sarah will discover that they can’t hide from the past. To win the fight, they must believe in something they never trusted before—the hope of tomorrow.

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The following three novels are upcoming releases that I have been looking forward to for a long time and I can’t wait for them to come out. The first book is a unique volume that gives you behind-the-scenes look into J.R. Ward’s amazing Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and it even includes a brand-new, never before published short story starring Zsadist and Bella. This is one novel that I don’t plan to miss and I recommend all BDB fans to save to pocket change so you can go out and buy this great book when it comes out. I have a feeling that it might get sold out before the end of the first day it’s out.

The second book, by Katie MacAlister is the second book in her new Silver Dragons series, which is kind of a spinoff of her Aisling Grey, Guardian series where all the dragon septs have been mentioned and talked about. I like the leader of the Silver Dragons because he is such a good friend to Aisling in her novel and he is finally getting a mate after so many years looking for one. His dragon sept is said to have been cursed with extinction because they’ve not been blessed with new mated couples and children.

The third book is written by Janet Chapman, an author that I have come to really enjoy since I stumbled upon some of her amazing books. This book is the first of her Sinclair Brothers series which I have to say sounds very intriguing and I know that it will be a good read because Mr. Chapman hasn’t let me down with an uninteresting novel. I love her series, which she has written three, and this is her fourth series to date. I love her novels because they are all set in Maine, which is an amazing place that I would like to visit one day, because Ms. Chapman is from Maine and so she writes about what she knows.

Okay I’ve rambled enough about what I think about the books. Let’s get to what the books are about. So here they are.

October releases by NYT best-selling romance authors:

The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider’s Guide

Copyright © 2008 J.R. Ward/Jessica Bird

Published by Signet Eclipse

Release Date: October 7, 2008

From #1 New York Times bestselling author J.R. Ward comes a once-in-a-lifetime event: A unique volume that delivers a behind-the-scenes look at Ward’s “to die for”* Black Dagger Brotherhood series—and a brand-new, never before published short story starring Zsadist and Bella...

Prepare to enter the dark passionate world of The Black Dagger Brotherhood and get up close and personal with each one of the Brothers...

You’ll find insider information on the Brotherhood, their dossiers, stats and special gifts. You’ll read interviews with your favorite characters, including a heartbreaking one with Tohrment and Wellsie, conducted three weeks before she was killed by lessers. You’ll encounter deleted scenes—accompanied by the whys behind the cuts—in addition to exciting material from the J.R. Ward message boards and the answers to questions posed by readers about the series. You’ll learn what it’s like for J.R. Ward to write each installment of the series, and in a fascinating twist, you’ll read an interview with the author—conducted by the Brothers. For the first time ever, you’ll get an original short story about Zsadist and Bella and see the miracle of their daughter Nalla's birth and the depth of their love for each other. Also, you’ll get a sneak peek at the much anticipated next book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Revenge’s story.

This is a compendium no Black Dagger Brotherhood fan should miss...and an insider’s guide that will seduce you as powerfully as the sexy band of Brothers and the “ferociously popular” world they live in...

* * *

Up in Smoke

Copyright © 2008 Katie MacAlister/Marthe Arends

Published by Penguin Group USA

Release Date: October 7, 2008

Though May Northcott's heart belongs to Gabriel Tauhou, leader of the silver dragons, being stuck in Abaddon has significantly cooled down her love life—especially since a demon lord is trying to woo her. So far, May has resisted his efforts, but it's getting increasingly harder to thwart disaster.So May is shocked when Gabriel encourages her to give in to the demon prince. But her fire-breathing boyfriend has an ulterior motive. Since May was created in the mortal world, her surrender would give her master access to that world, where he would lose most of his powers.

It looks as though May will have to barter to gain her freedom and fulfill her destiny by Gabriel's side. But will a deal with the devil make life heaven or hell?

* * *

Man Must Marry, The

Copyright © 2008 Janet Chapman

Published by Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group

Release Date: October 28, 2008

Sam Sinclair's millionaire grandfather has left a will that gives the family shipping company to whichever grandson marries Willa Kent. Willa and Sam team up to find some loophole in the will, but as Sam crews Willa's yacht en route to Maine, his grandfather's offbeat scheme grows more and more appealing. Willa is smart, beautiful...and has a wild streak that sends them both soaring. But Willa isn't about to let Sam into her heart until she knows his true motives. If the man is going to marry for money, he must fall in love with her first.