Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Kensington
May 24, 2012 | Thursday | 5 Comments
This review was written by Katherine This story was nominated in the Best Historical Romance category. The summary: Captain Hugh McAlden is working on a top-secret mission to bring down enemy spies living in England. After seeing a young woman perform a brilliant bit of pick pocketing on the London streets, he impulsively decides to hire her to help him. The only name she'll give him is Meggs, and she refuses to tell him anything about her background or how she ended up on the streets. But as Hugh tries to unravel her secrets, he also finds her harder and…
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June 27, 2011 | Monday | 1 Comments
Chelsea S. selected this book for the RITA® Reader Challenge, which finaled in the paranormal romance category. Plot Summary: Nathan Lesperance is used to being different. He’s the first Native attorney in Vancouver, and welcome neither with white society nor his sometime tribe. Not to mention the powerful wildness he’s always felt inside him, too dangerous to set free. Then he met Astrid Bramfield and saw his like within her piercing eyes. Now, unless she helps him through the harsh terrain and the harsher unknowns of his true abilities, it could very well get him killed. Astrid has traveled this…
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May 04, 2011 | Wednesday | 27 Comments
I have a serious weakness for Laurenston’s books. They’re not the most succinct things, and this book had a few flaws that drove me batshit, but there were times I laughed out loud, and a few spare moments where I had to put the book down and guffaw. Laurenston writes some funny shit. Ahoy, ye summary, the hardest part of writing a review. Dee Ann Smith is a, by her own admission, redneck she-wolf assassin, trained by her father to be among the most lethal and frightening of the shifter killers. Ric Van Holtz is a member of the very…
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April 21, 2011 | Thursday | 14 Comments
Sad news from the romance world: author Beverly Barton passed away suddenly this morning. Barton was the author of over 55 novels published by Harlequin , Kensington, and Open Road Media. The Open Road videos of Barton are really wonderful footage, particularly the moment where she describes most Southerners as storytellers. Isn’t that the truth, ma’am. Barton was a longstanding member of the romance community known for her support and enthusiasm, grace and style. Harlequin has set up a condolence page here at their community page (Login may be required). Barton’s Facebook page has also become a memorial for fans…
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February 27, 2011 | Sunday | 9 Comments
Reader R writes: Im desperate. I am (and have been) looking for my first romance novel, the book that started it all for me. I read it in February 1987. Here’s what I remember: Pub date: 1985 - 1987, most likely 1986 Publisher: Zebra (cant remember if it has the hologram on it or not…) Era: Revolutionary War Era America (at the end the author even had a little historical note about George Washington) Heros name: Troy Heroines name: Cant remember, but she was an indetured servant They meet when he (and some other dude) come to the house/place of…
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November 18, 2010 | Thursday | 51 Comments
If you’re a Kindle customer, you can get Zoe Archer’s entire Blades of the Rose series in one ebook bundle for $9.99.
It’s also available at BN.com for the nook. Is it too much to suppose that there’s some folks at Kensington dancing around singing “Doncha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?” to the Agency publishers? I bet there’s dance footage. I bet Zoe can get it, too.
I don’t know if I can say how much that gives me giddy pants. So smart! (This also reminds me to go read Stranger, which is Catallus Graves’ story).
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November 08, 2010 | Monday | 13 Comments
In case you missed my post last week, HelenKay Dimon writes wonderful dialogue. When her characters talk, I don’t doubt for a minute that they’re real. They’re funny and witty and sharp and real, and when I read her writing, that’s my favorite part. This book has some wonderful dialogue (you can read an example in that entry) and reading the exchanges between Katie and Eric was easily the best part of the book. Unfortunately, having a best part of the book also comes with a least favorite part: there’s a distinct lack of emotional conflict in this story. They…
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November 03, 2010 | Wednesday | 62 Comments
RedHeadedGirl is back, this time with a book she absolutely loved, lest you think she only reads books she hates. Lest you all think I hate everything, this is a Praise to Balance the Snark. I described this one to Sarah as “a soothing avocado mask of a book.” A Regency with a plot that is both logical and entertaining! Dialogue that feels like real people would say it! Characters that are both likeable and entertaining and NOT STUPID! It’s a Regency, so we’re in familiar territory, but dude. SOOTHING AVOCADO MASK. It also has one of my top ten…
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October 04, 2009 | Sunday | 4 Comments
From Kensington’s official press release regarding Kate Duffy’s death last weekend: To honor her memory, Kensington is planning an annual publishing event that will include many of the romance authors Kate Duffy worked with through the years, as well as provide the opportunity to develop new talent such as those who were such a rich part of her legacy. Kensington will be partnering with a charitable organization, and additional details will be announced as soon as they are available. I have hopes that this event will rock the casbah, the surrounding tri-state area, and many additional planets. As soon as…
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September 28, 2009 | Monday | 157 Comments
When I first met Kate Duffy, it was at RWA in Dallas in 2007, and I was 8.5 months pregnant. I waddled everywhere, and I was, literally, a torpedo. I gave birth 6 weeks later. Like any good pregnant lady at an RWA convention, I was in the bar when I was introduced to Kate Duffy. There was much squeeing. I was a fan of hers, and she was a fan of our site. She was drinking with one of her authors, but wanted to introduce herself and tell me how much she loved reading Smart Bitches. I was sort…
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September 18, 2009 | Friday | 27 Comments
Tris writes: I read a time travel romance years ago that I loved, but, unfortunately, I loaned it to a friend who I don’t speak to anymore and I’m hoping your readers can help me figure out the title. *I think it must have been a Kensington or Zebra book because it came in the mail *The cover is yellow or the heroine is wearing yellow. I think there are falls in the background or at least water and the heroine is straddling the hero. The hero may be wearing brown trousers. *The heroine is a bounty hunter & she…
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June 17, 2009 | Wednesday | 146 Comments
I ended up with two ARCs of Victoria Dahl’s One Week as Lovers, her August release from Kensington. (Thanks, Kensington!) Given that Dahl’s heroines are usually on the neurotic, often-stalked side, and her heroes are often a bit tortured, let’s talk damage, shall we? What’s your favorite or most enjoyed form of heroine neurosis, or hero damage? Conversely, what tortured devices make you want to throw things? Me: I’m a total sucker for forbidden attraction, when one character’s personal code, no matter how flawed that code may be, will absolutely not allow them to act on what is one hell…
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March 04, 2009 | Wednesday | 18 Comments
My understanding of historical fiction is that the audience of readers expects just about every morsel, aside from the fictional existence of the protagonists, to be verifiable or at least highly researched and therefore likely fact. Donna Russo Morin’s book is nothing if not indefatigably researched. Readers experience the entirety of Kind Louis XIV’s court, from the tightly intricate manners and expectations of deportment, which ranged from who had a chair with arms and who could sit in the presence of whom, to the behavior of the courtiers, which, if you’re at all sensitive- Well, let me start there: if…
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February 04, 2009 | Wednesday | 27 Comments
This might be one of those embed’s that US exclusive, for which I apologize to International Bitchery members. Claire Duffy from MSNBC has done a segment on Sir Kindle the Fusspot (not my Kindle, personally, but all Kindles in general), discussing how the Kindle is alluring to readers, and specifically to the book industry. Kensington’s Kate Duffy, her sister, appears in the segment talking about why the Kindle rocks for editors and publishing folks who no longer have to lug home mountains of manuscripts. I know of at least three editors in addition to Duffy who adore having an ebook…
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January 27, 2009 | Tuesday | 16 Comments
A few people emailed me to ask why I was going on such a short cruise, and it was super short. I hadn’t heard of a cruise this brief- we left Thursday at 5pm and docked and disembarked by 9am on Saturday. Really, it was brief. I felt like I’d unpacked and repacked in less than 24 hours – probably because, now that I think about it, I had. One thing that wasn’t brief? My wardrobe. I’d packed for Florida. But as I seem to be The Bringer Of Cold Weather, it was beyond chilly there. The high on Wednesday…
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