Category Archives: books

Nov17

Arabella Stokes

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Arabella is a friend of mine.  We were in Books a Million today for a NaNoWriMo lunch time write in. There were only four of us there from the group. We all made some progress and as Arabella packed her bag to go back to her office, she checked her email on her phone and she started waving her phone in my face and hyperventilating.  Then she tossed me the phone and jumped up and started darting about the cafe area of the store and saying “oh my God, oh my God.”  By the time she could get the words out, I had read the email – she got a contract with Champagne Books for her Regency romance novel entitled Proof of Love. This is her first completed novel and she is so excited. I’m proud of her and proud that we were able to pry her off the ceiling for her to go back to work. We did a group hug and attracted a lot of attention in the store.   It was fun.

I couldn’t let her leave BAM without reminding her that she had about half of the second book in the series written and she better get on that.  LOL!

Oct31

PIMPS AND HOS- A Short Story

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Just got the email that my short story, Pimps and Hos, is available for order. It’s part of an anthology called Dreamspell Mysteries, Vol. 1. 

My story is a murder mystery that takes place in a bar that’s having a themed costume party. That theme is Pimps and Hos.  It was a fun story to write and I hope people like it.  The order page has an excerpt if you care to read it.  http://www.allromanceebooks.com:80/product-dreamspellmysteryvolume1-477918-152.html  

This anthology is published by L&L Dreamspell, a great small publisher that puts out a lot of good books. I’m thrilled to be a part of their family of authors in even such a small way.

http://www.lldreamspell.com/DreamspellMysteryVol1.htm

Oct31

Proof By Seduction by Courtney Milan

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Proof by Seduction by Courtney Milan was a pretty good read. I like a story that makes me weep in a few spots and Courtney succeeded in two places for me in this story.  This was her first book and she did an excellent job. I quite enjoyed both the hero and the heroine. The hero was very much someone that I could fall for. The intelligence he displayed was sexy. He’s a scientist.  I love a smart man.  Way to go on this story, Courtney- it was a home run.

One thing about this story that hit home for me was that I need to give up any thought I have to write for HQN. My friend, Cynthia Eden, has told me that I do not have the voice for Harlequin and this book brought that home to me.  That’s not a bad thing. I really like my voice and I’m ok with not having the voice that Harlequin wants. It’s just different and that’s all right by me. I’m happy with where I’m going with my stories.  I have 7 sold short stories under this name and I have 2 shorts and 2 novels under my pen name- I learned I need to forget targeting Harlequin. I initially  hit there as I thought I couldn’t write an 80,000 word book but I’ve done 2 over 80,000 and one at 75,000 so I think I’ll do all right.

Anyway, back to Proof by Seduction– I recommend it. Read it, enjoy it, love it.

Oct24

John Sandford Does It Again

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Just rewarded myself for finishing my WIP and submitting it to an agent and a publishing house by reading the latest in the Prey series of books by John Sandford. This one is called Storm Prey and is the 20th in the series. The best thing about this one was that we got Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers both in this one. I love both of these characters.  I was thrilled when Sandford started to write novels with Virgil as the protagonist, but I do like them together. They play off each other in a witty manner which sometimes makes me laugh out loud.

One thing that I catch in all of these books released in the last few years is a passage where someone is either called by the wrong name or the wrong character is in the “said” tag (see bottom page 213). It’s weird. Almost like the Amish custom of making a mistake on the quilts they sew because only God is perfect. Is John Sandford a member of the Amish sect?  I would guess not based on the language his books contain (which fits cops and works for the type books he writes). The real question is why doesn’t his copy editor catch it?

I love these books and this one was no different. It has a great plot, a good group of cops, bad guys that are believeable and lots of fast paced action.  There were a couple of deaths that bothered me in this one, but I recommend the read. Enjoy these and if you haven’t read any of them, start. You won’t regret it.

Oct16

Deadly Promises

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Treated myself to a read today since I needed a bit of a break. I love the BAD Agency books by Dianna Love and Sherrilyn Kenyon so I bought this book of novellas since one of the stories was a BAD Agency story. It was great. Just like always, these two ladies nailed it. They just go from strength to strength.

I was happy to discover two new authors I hadn’t read. I guess that’s a reason for publishers to put out such books. The other two writers are Cindy Gerard and Laura Griffin.  Both have hot law enforcement types as the heros.  One has an agency called Black Ops, Inc. but the hero in the story was CIA and the other had a Navy Seal as the hero.  I recommend you pick up this book and enjoy three great stories.

The only complaint I had was the boneheaded thing one of the heroines in one of the stories did. I almost decided to stop reading when she made that move because it seemed as if the writer put the heroine in a dangerous situation in a manipulative way. The heroine was written as a very intelligent person and this move was out of character in my opinion. She was safe and then interfered in an operation where she had no business being. I didn’t think the author was true to the character she’d created. I was disappointed in that part of the story.

Sep28

“Ghost Night”

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Started Ghost Night by Heather Graham on Sunday.  So far so good. I do like the way she writes. Very captivating. This is another of the Bone Island Trilogy. I have read them in the wrong order and that’s ok, too.  I know what happens to Bartholomew but I’m cool with that. LOL!

I won’t read any tonight or probably the rest of the week- inspiration has struck on the current WIP and I gotta type, type, type. I’m only posting here since I realized I’d had this blog on ignore the last fews days- since the short story writing fest on Saturday, the 25th. 

Have not heard from the two publishers that I have shorts out on submission. I think they’re both cute stories. One has a deadline of the 30th  of Sept. and the other of Oct 1.  I am hopeful for yeses on both.  One is a Thanksgiving mystery and the other is a ghost story.  Tis the season.

Sep20

The Summoning – Part Two

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Got delayed in finishing reading this one.  Had to go out of town to a conference  and had no time to read.  I know I was recommending this book when I first posted that I was reading it. I was throughly enjoying it.  And now I’m mad.

I take back my recommendation of this book. Don’t get me wrong, the writing is excellent and the story line is intriguing – that I like.  What makes me mad as a snake is that it is NOT a complete book.  The book ends in the middle of the action. IN. THE. MiDDLE. OF. THE. ACTION.  You have to buy the next book in the series to even get a conclusion to this book.  Reminds me of the middle movie of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. That was what I call a “bridge” movie- you HAD to see movie # 3 to find out the end of movie #2.  I, for one, refused and I still haven’t seen it.

I have to think that this is a marketing ploy to get people to buy the second book. I won’t do it. I refuse. I hate to be manipulated and that is exactly how I feel right now. Manipulated in a very bad way. When I buy a book, I want a conclusion. Now,  don’t get me wrong, I want to be intrigued enough to buy a second in a series to see what happens next but I don’t want to be forced to buy a second book to get any conclusion at all.

There was also one scene near the end where I found myself hoping the author hadn’t gone for the cliché I’d expected to happen all along. I was proud that she hadn’t done it and then in the last 30 pages, she did.  Bummer.  Hated that she gave in to that impulse. Based on the creativiity in the earlier part of the book, I expected better of her.

So, even though I’ll probably get blasted for this. I have to say it – Don’t buy  it- Just say no.

Sep13

The Summoning

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The Summoning is a Young Adult novel by Kelley Armstrong.  I got it at RWA National conference in Orlando. I started it last night when I was too tired to work anymore on edits on my own manuscript.  I read a bit more at lunch today. I am enjoying the heck out of it. Very lightly written even though it’s categorized as horror. The protagonist is a 15 year old girl who sees ghosts AND they see her.

She freaks out at school when she sees a dead janitor and is taken to a group home for teens with “issues”- she is told she is schizophrenic and that almost freaks her out as  much as seeing ghosts.

Something  is amiss at this group home- I’ve just gotten past the part where one of the residents is taken away and something happens to her. Will be interesting to see where this goes. 

So far, I’m hooked.

Sep9

Pippi Longstocking is Wicked Cool

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I loved this book as a child. I was always an independent person and I loved that Pippi took care of herself as well as her friends. I just thought she had an awesome life.

I think this book was good for girls to read- I was a child in the 1960s and even though these stories were written in the 1940s, I think this book spoke to young girls of my generation because of the changing role of women in the 60s- women were moving more into the work place and becoming independent at a greater rate then ever before. Pippi helped us see we could be strong when needed and soft as well. AND besides, she had a lot of fun- roller skating in the house was wicked cool!

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Aug31

The “Call” that was an Email

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I got the elusive “call” today – except, turns out, it was an email. A totally unexpected, out of the blue, email that made my day– nay– made my week! 

I’m pretty excited about it.  A publisher actually wants to publish one of my books. Now, mind you, I’m still thrilled about the anthologies I’m in because it means a lot to me that editors like my work. I will still send in some short stories because I love writing short. I like stories where I can hold it all in my head at once. 

But this is the next step on the rung. I’m just glad to be taking a step to the next level.  Check out my pen name’s blog for more info: http://jillianchantal.wordpress.com/