Awaken Me Darkly: I enjoyed Showalter's The Pleasure Slave. I was excited about this one when she first mentioned it on her site. The first Mia Snow: Alien Huntress book. I've seen blurbs that say that it has a kick-ass heroine and is similar to Alias, Buffy, and Anita Blake. I know that the "kick-ass heroine" is "in" right now and doesn't always apply where it is used, and I have my reservations about the comparisons used, but I have high hopes for this one.
June 1st
Beyond the Pale: This is a new author and I don't know much about the book, but I think it looks really interesting. I know I've mentioned it her before, but it's going to be out pretty soon, and I really, really like the cover.
June 7th
Love Underground: Don't care for the cover, but I love books based on or about myths, particulary Greek. And the Persephone/Hades story is one of my favorites. Fields will be a new author for me, but since it's a MMPB, I can't pass it up.
July 5th
Heart of the Dragon: Another Gena Showalter book. I know putting a couple of her books on her makes me look a little like a fangirl, but she comes up with some interesting and unique ideas. When I read a blurb for one of her books, I can see that she is actively interesting in bringing freshness to romance and in telling a story that is different from the hundred other books coming out each month. And hey, a heroine with a tattoo -- that's cool.
Sept. 1st
Kick Ass: Another anthology, clearly trying to capitalize on the knew affection for kick-ass heroines. Two authors who I enjoy are included here -- Davidson and Knight (like Showalter, trying new things for romance). Ford will be new to me, and Shayne is hit-and-miss.
Sept. 6th
The Master: I have really enjoyed Jackson's Wildside romances. I voted for The Traveler as my favorite romance of 2003 at AAR's annual survey.
Sept. 30th
Hot Spell: An anthology with a great linup of writers. Emma Holly is always great. I am pretty sure this is the first book from a new York publisher for Ellora's Cave regulars Leigh and Walker. And it has a novella by Meljean Brook. I really enjoy her blog and am looking forward to this one.
Nov. 1st
The Royal Pain: I thought The Royal Treatment was cute. Some people have said online that Davidson's voice wears a little after a while. I am not a huge fan of humorous books, so I knew going in that I couldn't read her books back to back or I would get tired of them. I give myself a few weeks and a few other books in between and I have really enjoyed them.
Oct/Nov 2005
7 comments:
I'm seconding all of these! (I feel squiggy seconding mine, but, what the hey *g*)
I guess MJD's is going back more toward the romantica-type story with TRP; I'm looking forward to it. I thought Treatment was fun, and I'm such a sucker for Alternate Reality (and set in Alaska? I'm there). I'm also loving all of these anthologies -- I know some authors have different capabilities when it comes to full length stories/novellas, but finding new voices is always good, as is itty bitty tastes of favorites. Jacey Ford is new to me as well. It promises to be a great summer/fall for reading.
...Although I just have to add: does anyone else think of singing "Darkwing Duck--Let's get dangerous!" when they see "The Darkwing Chronicles"?
*laugh* I did think that when I put that cover up at my blog a while ago. "Dark-wing ... LET'S GET DAN-gur-ees!"
Crap, Beverly, I'm drooling here. I'm not bothered about MJD's books [went off her books completely last year], but KICK ASS, HOT SPELL, BEYOND THE PALE? Gimme.
I'm a bit wary of AWAKEN ME DARKLY and HEART OF THE DRAGON because I couldn't get into her earlier books. Maybe this time round those two are different? I hope so because I seriously love those two covers.
Alicia Fields's LOVE UNDGROUND [is that? That's what it says on the cover, right?] doesn't interest me. Mythology drives me nuts. Even though I love that dorky 1970s film CLASH OF THE TITANS. :D
P.S. Could you tell me little more about Emily Devenport's LARISSA and Kristine Kathryn Rusch's THE DISAPPEARED, please?
FWIW, I loved Emma Bull's WAR FOR THE OAKS and Amelia Atwater-Rhodes's IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT. :) Have you read Annette Curtis Klause's BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE?
Oh! I just read a review of that one, too -- um...I think PC Cast GODDESS OF LIGHT? I like PC Cast, but I haven't picked her up lately.
Goddess of Spring involved the Hades/Persephone one. I liked it. I have Goddess of Light but haven't read it yet.
I'm not too keen on Melanie Jackson. I liked the first book in this series okay, but she lost me on the second, if I remember right. Or maybe it was the first. I like MJD, but I need to be in the right mood.
AMD should be coming any minute and hopefulyl I'll get to read it this weekend and see if it's any good. I have her other books, but haven't read them yet.
cw -- I tend to like the mythology stories that are retellings of the traditional stories or that are complete re-imaginings of the characters. If they are Mary Sue stories like the one you described, I tend not to like them as much.
Meljean -- I didn't think of Darkwing Duck! I used to love that show when I was a kid, so I should have thought of it.
Oh, and I was drawn to The Royal Treatment because of the Alaska setting as well. I have a whole collection of fiction and non-fiction set in Alaska, Antarctica, the Himalayas, etc.
Maili -- I didn't even notice that mistake on the cover -- that's so awful, I hope it isn't printed like that, terrible for the author.
I read Blood and Chocolate and really enjoyed it as well. It is on my keeper shelf. Did you know a movie is on the way? It is already listed on IMDB.com. I have found a number of YA books over the years that I have liked, and even more since I started working at the library.
I've been meaning to do a "why these are my favorites" post, so I will try to get to it soon.
I liked The Disappeared by Rusch for a number of reasons. It is the first in her Retrieval Artists series which is a mix of Mystery and Sci-Fi and it has believable, round characters. It is about a couple of detectives who investigates crimes with one thing in common – all involved people who have purposely “disappeared” to avoid intergalactic trials. It is a great mystery story and deals with an interesting issue – the differences in law and the definition of justice among different cultures. Issues and themes such as this are part of what draw me so much to SciFi.
Larissa is out of print, so you may have a harder time finding it. I think all of Devenport’s books are out of print. Larissa is a true kick-ass heroine. And she’s black, despite the cover art, which I also liked. SciFi is usually pretty good about having multi-cultural characters. Larissa grows up on a mining planet, where life is pretty hard and she learns how to fight with a knife. The story isn’t so much about any one thing so much as it is a story of how she survives in a world that is harsh and where some humans are oppressed by others (a race relations story in disguise, also common in SciFi). There is a lot of violence and sex in this book, and makes me think it would be what you’d see from Quentin Tarrantino if he wrote SciFi.
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