Reading (mostly) romance books down under
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. (more)
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. (more)
The 2009 Australian Romance Readers Award dinner is on this Saturday at Cello Restaurant in Sydney.
Today is the last day for registrations, so if you’ve let it ’til the last minute or are on the fence about coming along—make sure you register today. Click here for details and a list of finalists.
The guest speaker is Nalini Singh, but there will be many other authors coming along to the dinner. It’s a great way to have a chat with some of your favourites!
Are you coming along? If so, let me know in the comments. It’d be great to catch up with Book Thingo readers.
Romance Writers of Australia has announced the author signing at this year’s conference in Coogee. The book signing is jointly organised by ARRA and will be held at (more)
Meridian by Amber Kizer (Fenestra, Book 1)
The beginning shows promise, but the plot is heavy-handed and it’s frustrating that so many aspects remain unknown by the end of the book.
From the day she was born Meridian Sozu seemed to be surrounded by death. On her sixteenth birthday she’s suddenly wrenched from her family with instructions to seek out her great-aunt, her namesake who Meridian has never met.
The beginning of the story is intriguing, but there’s something inexplicable about the way Meridian’s family fails to prepare her for her destiny, especially knowing that she’d have to leave when she turns sixteen and her special power comes to fruition.
Meridian is told that she’s a Fenestra, a conduit for the dying to get to the afterlife. She’s pursued by the Aternocti, who ‘carry souls to the lightless place’. Her aunt is 106 years old and Meridian must master her power so she can help her aunt transition to her afterlife. (more)
Lover Mine by J. R. Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 8)
With this latest instalment in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, J. R. Ward returns to form and delivers a story packed with action and emotion. The crack is back.
This was the make-or-break BDB book for me. After the disappointment—at times downright disaster—of the previous three books, I was prepared to give this series one last chance.
I’m so glad I did.
Gone are the random new H-words and awful brand name dropping on every other page. Indeed, there’s nary a ‘messie me’ to be found in Lover Mine.
Yes, the BDB slang still veers towards dagginess, question marks are still missing in action, and Ward makes some utterly ridiculous word choices—in some cases inventing new words that made my eyes twitch—but on the whole the editing is a lot tighter and the prose much improved from even the earliest Black Dagger Brotherhood books. (more)
In anticipation of the release of Lover Mine by J. R. Ward, Decadence has updated the Black Dagger Brotherhood cheat sheets. The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Lover Mine is out in hardback (US) and will be released in paperback (UK, Australia) tomorrow. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here.
Tohr is different from the other vampires in that there was no hint of a tortured past. He was promised to Wellesandra and was fortunate enough to have bonded with her. Sheer luck that the one female he would want above all others happened to be the one he was honour-bound to mate.
Tohr showed his love by doing small, practical things to show he was thinking of his shellan, such as making sure her truck had snow chains. He was very respectful of her (more)
In anticipation of the release of Lover Mine by J. R. Ward, Decadence has updated the Black Dagger Brotherhood cheat sheets. The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Lover Mine is out in hardback (US) and will be released in paperback (UK, Australia) tomorrow. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here.
If the series can be said to have a central character, it would be Darius/John Matthew, as he has been instrumental in bringing together the Brotherhood and bringing their shellans into their world.
Several centuries ago, Darius was trained in the same warrior camp that V grew up in, and by leaving behind his diary, he unknowingly eased V’s isolation and later (more)
In anticipation of the release of Lover Mine by J. R. Ward, Decadence has updated the Black Dagger Brotherhood cheat sheets. The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Lover Mine is out in hardback (US) and will be released in paperback (UK, Australia) on May 6. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here.
A lot of Rehvenge’s life is secret. Only a few people know that he is half symphath and that he is Bella’s half-brother—most believe that they share a father.
(Interestingly enough, in the mandatory sehclusion motion that Marissa quashed, Bella was identified as ‘blooded daughter of the Princeps Rempoon’, while the excerpt of Lover Avenged in the Insider’s Guide identifies Rehvenge as ‘son of Dragor’ in his medical file, but Ward insists that not even Bella knows they have different fathers. (more)
In anticipation of the release of Lover Mine by J. R. Ward, Decadence has updated the Black Dagger Brotherhood cheat sheets. The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Lover Mine is out in hardback (US) and will be released in paperback (UK, Australia) on May 6. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here.
Vampires believe that the birth of a healthy son is a blessing. They also believe it’s possible to have too many blessings and that misfortune will follow to compensate for the extra prosperity. The warrior Ahgony’s household celebrated the birth of his son Zsadist, but were spooked when Phury was also born. Sure enough, the firstborn was stolen in the middle of the night by his nursemaid and the household never recovered.
Ahgony searched for his son and became depressed and turned to drink. (more)
In anticipation of the release of Lover Mine by J. R. Ward, Decadence has updated the Black Dagger Brotherhood cheat sheets. The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Lover Mine is out in hardback (US) and will be released in paperback (UK, Australia) on May 6. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here.
V. My personal fave. I could just rave about how beautiful he is, with his diamond hard heart, absolutely incredible intelligence (not to mention smart mouth), dominant sexuality and uncompromising masculinity, but that wouldn’t get us anywhere except teaching me yet again that my keyboard is not drool-proof (picture Homer Simpson around any non-vegetable based food). So to avoid another costly lesson, I’ll try to just stick to the facts.
Vishous is the direct, biological son of the Scribe Virgin, which has been (more)
(Parasol Protectorate, Book 3) After the cliffhanger that was Changeless, the latest instalment in the Parasol Protectorate series brings us back to romance territory.
A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire (October Daye #2), White Star by Beth Vaughan (Palins Sequence #2), In Arabian Nights by Tahir Shah, The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell by Mark Kurlansky,
Don’t Bargain With The Devil by Sabrina Jeffries (School For Heiresses #5), The Girl She Used To Be by David Cristofano, Watching the Detectives by Deborah Locke, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments #1)
Not to to be effusive or anything, but this is the book that began my love affair with Melina Marchetta’s books.
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.
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
