Reading (mostly) romance books down under
A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire (October Daye, Book 2)
Toby Daye is sent by her liege, the Duke of Shadowed Hills, to the County of Tamed Lightning to check on his niece, the reigning countess. Toby thinks that this will be an easy job, but once she and her assistant Connor arrive, she finds it more complicated than that—people are dying and their souls aren’t being carried away by shades, the traditional soul bearers of the fae.
Toby has grown from the previous book, and it shows—I liked how her character didn’t remain static and bitter. She has become more stable, has found herself on more solid footing. She even has girlfriends and goes on night outs. Her situation (explained in the previous book, Rosemary and Rue) sucks but she’s learnt to deal with it better. She’s still a strong character and you can’t help but barrack for her.
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The finalists for this year’s Romance Book of the Year (R*BY) Awards have been announced. Congratulations on the finalists and good luck!
Long Romance Category
Mistletoe Magic by Sophia James
Mastered by Love by Stephanie Laurens
Temptation and Surrender by Stephanie Laurens
Wicked Little Game by Christine Wells
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It’s a mix of genres this month in the Mixed Bag, which includes Deborah Locke’s memoir—a must-read for fans of Underbelly.
Dont Bargain With The Devil by Sabrina Jeffries (School For Heiresses, Book 5)
When Lucy Seton discovers that famous magician Diego Montalvo plans to build a pleasure garden next door to Charlotte Harris’s finishing, she’s determined to thwart his plans. But he’s sneaky and charming and continually makes Lucy forget her vow to be the paragon of propriety. Diego has ulterior motives, however. He intends to return Lucy to her long-lost grandfather even if he has to kidnap her.
Don’t Bargain With The Devil is the kind of book I might have enjoyed when I was just discovering historical romance, with its over-the-top dashing hero and the heroine who tries to be a good girl but can’t help herself in the hero’s presence. But I’ve been reading historical romance for a long time, and this one didn’t stand out above the rest. I skimmed bits of it, and while Jeffries comes up with some good lines here and there, the most interesting bit about the book is the mystery of who the hero in the final book of the series will be.
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Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
Not to to be effusive or anything, but this is the book that began my love affair with Melina Marchetta’s books.
When I read fiction, regardless of genre, I automatically seek a sense of connection with the words on the page. Sometimes a scene will get me, or a character, or a turn of phrase. I long for these moments of empathy that can turn an otherwise forgettable book into a treasure in my bookshelf.
Saving Francesca gives me diamonds on every page.
Francesca Spinelli is one of thirty girls at St Sebastian’s, a previously ‘all-boys’ school that has opened its doors to girls in Year Eleven for the first time ever.’ She misses the feeling of belonging she had at her old school with her old friends:
St Sebastian’s pretends it’s co-ed by giving us our own toilet. The rest of the place is all male and I know what you’re thinking if you’re a girl. What a dream come true, right? Seven hundred and fifty boys and thirty girls?
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The short story is that Telstra gave me a free phone to play with. Here’s a summary of the first week.
You can read my full disclosure and links to related posts here.
So I’ve had the HTC Desire for over a week now, and I have to say that it almost sucks as a phone. I rarely use it for calls, and when I diverted my number to go to the HTC, I found it difficult to handle people actually calling me. I also kept accidentally calling random people.
That aside, the HTC rocks as a toy. It’s a great gadget. Not perfect—but great enough. It’s not as intuitive as I’d like it to be at times, and it suffers from menu overload, but on the whole it isn’t too bad. It does some seriously cute things that I’ll talk about later this week.
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Source: www.melinamarchetta.com
Or as I like to think of it: Meeting Melina Marchetta.
Well, maybe that’s not quite fair. This panel featured four female Australian authors reading excerpts from their books, and each of them sparked my interest in different ways.
But I can’t lie. I was there for Melina Marchetta.
Pier 4 was teeming with people when I arrived a few minutes before 10am for the session. It was a wonderful atmosphere. Attendance at Reading Muster 1 seemed fairly small, which meant I got a great seat … looking straight at Marchetta.
What? I’m a big fan!
I confess I wasn’t expecting much from this session. I’m not big on written stories being read aloud, and I’m also not convinced that authors are the best people to read their work. I’m happy to say I was wrong.
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The short story is that Telstra gave me a free phone to play with. In return, I’m going to use it, read with it and talk about it—the good and the bad.
I debated whether or not I should post my phone reviews here, and in the end I sensed enough interest in people who follow me on Twitter (or their family members!) to think that this may interest blog readers, too. I’ll explain why in a sec.
Last week, Telstra selected me to be one of their 25 ‘social reviewers’. We were given a new Telstra HTC Desire to play with, test, break and otherwise treat it as a customer might normally use the phone.
To be honest, when I entered the contest, I didn’t even know what was so great
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Because ARRA members just wanna have fun. (And read!)
The Awards dinner was excellent. I’d never heard of Cello’s Restaurant before, but it’s a beautiful venue—although the lifts are a challenge if you’re the least bit claustrophobic. High ceilings, chandeliers, and even a grand piano to the side—it’s just reeked of old world romance.
If you follow us on Twitter, you’ll know that Tracey O’Hara issued a challenge that eventually resulted in a call for a bling off at the Australian Romance Readers Awards dinner. And do you know what I love most about my fellow ARRA members? They said, Bring it!
You can see photos of the bling off here and here. (I’m missing a lot of blinged out people, though, so let me know if you have any more links!)
Sadly, I got carried away and left my outfit shopping so late I turned up to dinner, well, quite UNfashionably late. Others also suffered for the sake of bling and leather, with stories of shoes superglued to the kitchen floor, the case of the killer heels, and last-minute
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Anna Campbell took out the top prize in last night’s Australian Romance Readers Awards, held last night at Cello’s Restaurant in Sydney.
Campbell was voted Favourite Australian Romance Author of 2009 and also won Favourite Historical Romance for her fourth novel, Captive of Sin.
The night was a bonanza of wins for Australian authors, with Paula Roe, Kandy Shepherd and Bronwyn Parry taking the prizes in their categories.
Roe won Favourite Short Category Romance for The Magnate’s Baby Promise. Shepherd won Favourite Contemporary Romance for Love is a Four-Legged Word. Parry won Favourite Romantic Suspense for Dark Country.
New Zealand author Nalini Singh, who was also the guest speaker for the event, won Favourite Continuing Romance Series for her Psy-Changeling books and Favourite Sci-fi, Fantasy or Futuristic Romance for Angel’s Blood.
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The Prince of Midnight by Laura Kinsale
Wandergurl gives everybody’s favourite author a second chance, in an attempt to fulfil Kat’s dream of finding the perfect Laura Kinsale novel for her. No such luck.
Lady Leigh Stachan’s family was killed by a crazy cult leader, driving her to travel all the way to France dressed as a boy to find the legendary S.T. Maitland, once known as the Prince of Midnight, to train her so she can avenge her family. S.T. Maitland has spent the past few years keeping to his eccentric self in backwater country France, with his pet wolf, hiding a few ailments of his own. He falls in love with Leigh and decides to help her in her quest.
This is a second chance romance for me. Second chance in the sense that Laura Kinsale never worked for me before, but I promised I would give her another try. AnimeJune (Gossamer Obsessions) and I made a deal: I would give Kinsale a second try if she did the same for Nalini Singh.
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(The Blood of Eden, Book 1) A compelling read, given Julie Kagawa’s brilliant writing and ability to create characters we can sympathise with, but it offers nothing new in terms of the vampire mythos.
(The Christies, Book 1) A second chance romance filled with adventure and set in a South African diamond mine. Not your conventional romance.
Despite some poignant moments, too many inconsistent elements may prevent you from fully enjoying the story. Best enjoyed as part of the series in which it belongs.
Starts off beautifully, but sizzling chemistry can’t save a couple that feels like they won’t last six months, let alone a lifetime.
This book takes risks and touches on issues not often found in the romance genre, but the lack of chemistry between an unsympathetic heroine and a hero who doesn’t seem ready for a long-term commitment make this one a DNF for me.
Humour, tragedy, realism and, of course, a happy beginning—this memoir has it all. I don’t know why I didn’t read this sooner.
A dramatic story with moments that will break your heart. Unfortunately, the hero’s emotional catharsis is rushed and the the resolution doesn’t match the story’s earlier promise.
Tohr’s book hearkens back to the earlier books in the BDB series. It’s not without its faults, but in true J. R. Ward fashion, when she pulls out the angst, it’s very, very good.
A beautifully written story—the sheikh romance for readers who hate sheikh romances. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read in the Mills & Boon Sexy line.
Skim through the beginning, because when this book gets good, it’s, oh, so very good. Alexei and Maisy may reflect the traditional alpha male and ingénue pairing in category romance, but they don’t always behave as expected. And that’s a good thing.
Special thanks to BOOKSELLER+PUBLISHER for keeping us abreast of what's going on in the Australian book industry, and particularly to Tim Coronel, who patiently explains to us the intricacies of book publishing in plain Tweet-lish.
Website| Twitter | Tim Coronel
