Sarah and Jane talk with Kati D about the books that brought her to review for DearAuthor, and what books she finds totally crackalicious. We talk about her disappointments with series that she has loved, the frequency of the word “Babe” in some works, and what she's looking forward to.
Plus, after the music at the end, there's an outtake of Jane and I discussing our microphone problems.
Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:
Don't miss Christina Lee's brand new ebook BEFORE YOU BREAK, a beautiful and emotional New Adult romance about a bad boy on the edge—and the girl who’s about to fall hard.
A college baseball star isn't supposed to have skeletons in his closet. But Daniel Quinn is hiding a guilty past so dark he refuses to let anyone get close. Except there's something about gorgeous, studious Ella Abrams that goes beyond the electric attraction between them–something that makes him want to open up.
Ella has suffered enough heartache and guilt to fill one of her psychology textbooks, but she keeps that part of herself hidden behind a bubbly exterior. Until she receives an anonymous call while working a suicide helpline and the voice on the other end touches something inside of her that she can't ignore.
Soon Ella and Quinn's physical connection heats up, even as their deep and revealing hotline talks intensify. But by the time Ella realizes that her seductive jock and her sensitive caller are the same guy, it might be too late to save him–or to stop herself from falling too far…
Before You Break is on sale wherever ebooks are sold.
Our music in each episode is provided by Sassy Outwater, who is most excellent. This podcast features a song by Three Mile Stone titled “Snug in the Blanket.” You can find out more about Three Mile Stone at their website or on iTunes.
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Thanks for all the great recommendations. I am guilty of being susceptible to the Kristin Ashley crack, and am thrilled that her next one is reported to be good! I have not read any Jaci Burton, but I probably won’t anytime soon – the Kindle versions are $10.99! Ouch. Are they really that good, or is half of that price going to pay for the very attractive abs on the covers?
Hope Flames is $4.78 on Amazon.
Oh, Sarah, I thoroughly enjoyed this podcast and the last one, too. I check your site several times a day to see what new book deals are posted. As I read most of my books on my iPad, it is also a great way to try out an author’s work, sometimes at a greatly reduced price, to see if I will like it. (I do wish Amazon & iTunes Canada would price match Amazon/iTunes US). However, it stills gives me lots of new authors to try. It is good to hear reviewers say why they did or didn’t like a particular book/author even though I know books, like music, can be subjective. Anyway, keep up the great work and keep those podcasts coming.
Thank you so much.
Great conversation ladies. Thanks for making my time on the treadmill fly by, while I listened in.
First, Joe Travis gets a book! Holy honeyed Texas accent Batman. I’m dying here. Smooth-talking Stranger is a one of my regular rereads too.
Second, KA. I can’t even say. I’ve read 5 or 6 of her mountain man/motorcycle man books—always careful to skip the more trigger-inducing ones (Knight for instance). But this past January I was in a serious reading funk. DNF-ing every new book (coz they sucked eggs or coz they were so derivative) and even my rereads weren’t holding my interest, soooo I picked up Golden Dynasty. And it broke me. Like completely. I finished it. Because, and you guys nailed this in the podcast about her, no matter how much you want to, quitting on her heroines and heroes is damn difficult. But, nope that’s it for me. She officially broke something permanently in me. I can’t take another one of her alpha asshole heroes, and I can’t take her heroines who end up settling into their throw-back pretty don’t-you-worry-your-female-brain-over-anything lives and end the novels APOLOGIZING to the asshole for taking so long to concede their brains and accepting their rightful place at his feet slash up on a pedestal (same difference).
Third, moving on from the devastation and awfulness of a really bad reading experience. (Hmmm podcast theme for the future?) That’s what I’ve been trying to do since mid-January. And I think Jenn Bennett’s Bitter Spirits finally did it for me. That and rereading the entire Guild Hunter series because I needed a female voice in my head that wasn’t going to let me down, and Elena is such a favorite of mine. She doesn’t flinch from facing hard truths or emotional scars.She doesn’t look to others to fix her or solve her problems.
First off, I love the podcasts, and I love to hear about what everyone’s reading.
Today’s topic is rather timely for me because I picked up Law Man by Kristen Ashley about two weeks ago, and… oh boy… I should have done my research first. (There were a bunch of rave reviews on Amazon, but, well… they just raved.) Frankly, I hated it. HATED IT (quite possibly with the burning intensity of a thousand fiery suns).
It’s been a while since I’ve disliked a “hero” this much, but I could NOT stand Mitch. He was such a controlling, condescending alpha-hole, I wanted to hit him with a brick (and hit him with that brick a LOT). Almost every encounter he had with the heroine was positively cringe-worthy. She had some serious self-esteem issues (she grew up very poor with an alcoholic, verbally abusive mother), so she had a tendency to say things about herself that were pretty screwed up. So what did the hero do almost every time Mara opened her mouth? Well, he’d interrupt her, get angry at her, and tell her that she had her head up her butt. Then he’d laugh it off and grab her and grope her until she shut up. (He had some Major Grabby Hands going on for a virtual stranger.) After about the 3rd or 4th time that happened, I thought to myself: why hasn’t she kneed this jerk in the nuts yet? Oh yeah… because she’s used to being abused, and because he’s the “hero.” (And yes, I literally had to keep reminding myself that Mitch was the hero.)
Seriously, though. That man set my Creep Meter on high alert. All I kept thinking was: what happens when the heroine doesn’t amuse him anymore? What happens when she grows a backbone, or disagrees with him, or struggles against him? I couldn’t warm to the story at ALL because I thought the male lead had future wife beater / potential rapist written all over him. (Did I mention that I wanted to hit him with a brick… repeatedly?)
There was a super sappy epilogue at the end of the book, but I wasn’t buying it.
So yeah, Kristen Ashley—not for me.
Excellent job on the podcast! I needed some direction on something new to read and boy, did I get it 🙂
The first Kristen Ashley book I read was Golden Dynasty (which struck me as good Game of Thrones fanfiction starring Daenerys and Khal Drogo clones) but I really liked it. It’s funny because I don’t think that book is the first in that series (maybe the one with the Nordic princess?) but she did a great job of keeping the world and the characters consistent while not doing the very subtle worldbuilding.
Thanks again for the recommendations!
Thank you so very much for your podcasts. I listen to them while hiking with my dog & thoroughly enjoy them! Kristen Ashley is definitely a comfort reread for me. I now need to follow Kati on Twitter because she is my book sister. I haven’t read everything she recommended but enough to know that I will read whatever she recommends. Thanks for all you & Jane do. So appreciate all your hard work. Love the podcasts!!!
*Waves* Hi Kati! 🙂 I loved hearing about your favorite books, and of course, Sarah and Jane, thank you for another awesome podcast!
I couldn’t agree more about Nora Roberts’ books; she does have a talent for writing the characters’ career into the story! For example, my all time favorite series from her (the Born In Trilogy). I loved reading about Maggie and her art. I enjoyed Shannon’s books (Murphy!). But Brianna’s story was soo soo good. From the first time I read it (I was all of 12 at the time . . . ), I decided that I was going to fly to Ireland, buy a cozy inn and turn it into my own B&B. And of course I’d easily handle homemade food and fresh baked bread and the whole nine yards every day because Brianna could do it! And of course I’d stumble upon my own Grayson. *swoons* Every time I go back and read this trilogy, Brianna’s book especially, I get that urge all over again. I don’t think any author can do that like Nora can!
Enjoy,
TBQ