Love Bites by Lynsay Sands (Argeneau Vampire, Book 2)

This guest review is courtesy of Buttercup, a self-confessed Lynsay Sands fan.

The story begins rather bleakly in a morgue where our hero, Etienne Argeneau, is lying on a metal table about to be examined by our heroine, coroner Rachel Garrett. She is feeling a little puzzled at her attraction for the good looking, but dead, guy. She feels even more puzzled when the corpse starts talking to her.

Etienne is not in fact dead—he is a vampire with a bullet in his chest. Unfortunately for Rachel, whoever killed Etienne follows him to the morgue and she is caught in the crossfire, and is mortally wounded. Etienne wakes up just in time and saves Rachel from death by biting her. This turns out to be a great sacrifice on Etienne’s part as vampires are bound by law to turn only one human in his lifetime, an honour usually reserved for a possible mate. He brings Rachel home and takes care of her while she is transitioning, and takes a softly, slowly approach in introducing Rachel to the world of vampires. Sometimes with hilarious results… (more)

It’s not often we get romance author signings, let alone two at the same time, so when Tracey O’Hara and Erica Hayes did a signing at Intrigue Bookstore in Canberra last month, Kate Cuthbert generously offered to do a recap for Book Thingo.

Kate is a reader, writer, reviewer, twitter-er, blogger, and starter of readers’ groups, all devoted (mainly) to romance novels. You can read her Romance Buzz newsletters at Booktopia, check out her sadly-neglected website, email her, or follow her (@katydidinoz).

Here’s a hint: showing up first thing for a signing means you get a couple of extra minutes to hang out with the authors. Of course, you’re up first thing for a signing, but as Intrigue’s sponsoring of brand new Aussie authors Tracey O’Hara and Erica Hayes started at 11am, it wasn’t that hard to pull myself out of bed. Plus I’d read both Night’s Cold Kiss and Shadowfae, loved them, and really wanted signed copies for myself. (more)

Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin

When I realised I couldn’t, in good faith, review this book—the reasons for which are outlined below—I asked my friend Gutsy if she’d be interested in reading it. Gutsy and I share a love of beautifully written fantasy novels. She’s the only person to whom I’ve ever lent my Patricia A. McKillip hardbacks. Gutsy is currently doing her PhD in Children’s Literature.

Anyone who’s read The Aeneid would have learned that Vergil had considered it an unfinished work. Ursula K. Le Guin spun that concept into her version of the events that led to the founding of Rome and moved beyond Vergil’s ending, beginning from an ending she herself imagined of what had become of the heroes of The Aeneid after the war had been won.

Lavinia, princess of Latium, tells us the story of how she came to be promised to a foreign hero causing a war to be fought in her name. We walk with her through the forests of an Italy far removed from even the ancient Rome we are familiar with, from the innocence of her girlhood to the burdens and joys of an awakened womanhood and to her days as the mother of Rome. (more)

Today’s post is our first ever guest post at Book Thingo, written by Keira, who runs Love Romance Passion, a romance book review blog for readers by readers. She’s been reading romance since she was a teenager and began blogging about romance so she could share her passion for her favourite genre. She loves reading paranormal, Regency, historical America, and highlander most of all, and completely adores blind and wounded heroes.

Kat asked me to tell her about my top 10 books from September (so far anyway) to go with the Books Alive 2009 Reading Challenge. These books are not all romance—some are young adult—but they’re all new to me.

1–5. Artemis Fowl (Books One, Two, Three, Four, Five)

Listening Library and Random House are my heroes. Love Nathaniel Parker’s voice. He’s so amazing. The story fairly leaps out of the speakers. Book 5 shows a hint of future romance as Artemis hits puberty, but it’s not a main feature of the series at all.

6. Lucky in Love by Carolyn Brown

Very funny contemporary Western romance. I loved the phrases and sayings (more)