Reading Until Dawn Mini-Review Round-up

Over the past few months, I've read works by a number of our Reading Until Dawn authors. Just for fun, here is a round-up of all the tidbits I've included in prior editions of the Sunday Soup:

✽Following up on the Candace Blackburn feature last week, I picked up Return of the Lycan King, the first in a trilogy. Although I found it a little slow in places, I think it's a pretty good start to a new series, and I'm looking forward to the next installment. The attraction between the h/h both emotionally and physically is strong and convincing, and to me, that's the most important part of a romance.

✽In my ongoing support of the Reading Until Dawn conference, I nabbed a title by Cynthia St. Aubin called Unloveable: the Case Files of Dr. Matilda Schmidt. At just over 100 pages, it's a fast-paced farce, drawing from familiar Greek mythology characters. The humor worked for me and it was pretty sexy too, although it's a light touch and not a focus. Not a romance, but the beginning of a fun-looking series about a "paranormal psychologist." This title is currently free on Amazon, so grab it now and see for yourself. And of course, you could always come to the Reading Until Dawn conference and meet St. Aubin herself. Personally I'm hoping to see a short story sometime next year inspired by #RUDC15 shenanigans...

✽I finished Beast, a Norseton Wolves novella by Holley Trent. Really enjoyed it, and I liked the setup. I found the heroine to be pretty unusual personality-wise; she's uneducated and sort of... beaten-down at the beginning, but she jumps at the chance to be essentially a mail-order bride, and leave West Virginia for remote New Mexico. She has some behaviors you'd expect from an abused woman, but enough spark to get her own story burning, and a cheer-worthy refusal to stay down. As a prologue to a series it's just right: there's definitely some unfinished business between Anton and Christina, which left the story feeling a little unresolved but makes you want to read more in the series. For 99 cents, why not give it a whirl?

✽I have finally, FINALLY started reading Mark of the Tala, by Jeffe Kennedy and I seriously want to call in sick tomorrow so I can hide somewhere in a cushy chair and read it all the way to the end and then download the next book and read that one too. I have read and enjoyed Kennedy's erotica for quite a while now but hadn't nabbed this one. I'm enjoying it all the more for the wait.

✽My favorite read this week was Jeffe Kennedy's Under His Touch. Stop me if you've heard this before: powerful, wealthy businessman dom; young ingenue girl working in the building falls for him-- OK, I'm stopping you, because this one is different. She actively pursues him, and he doesn't abuse his economic power position, and actually has ethical pangs over the whole thing. Weird, amirite? Beautiful balance of sexual tension and "payoff" (heh) scenes, which are hot, hot, hot. Confession: I read it twice.

✽Going Under by Jeffe Kennedy. Absolutely loved the premise here and the heroine. This is an erotic romance and they do get up to some fetishy hijinks; you may want to kick the air conditioning up before you dig into this one. I sort of felt that the ending was a bit rushed and that she forgave him a bit too easily, but I really loved the tech element here. (Kennedy's inspiration was a true story that made a huge impression on me as well when it broke). You'll have to decide if a ginger-flavored Tom Hiddleston-esque hero is a plus for you.

✽Katee Robert's Protecting Fate was a total win. I've read a number of the kidnapped-for-her-own-protection tropes lately, and it's very rare that they work for me. This one was not a kidnapping, but it was still not exactly the heroine's preference. She did reluctantly agree to go along with escaping to a secure location, alone with a hunky bodyguard, and hijinks-- delightful, dirty hijinks-- ensue. This one hit all the right notes for me.

✽Fallen, by Roselynn Cannes, was a really good read. Set in a Greco-Roman alt-history world, I loved this militant heroine and the man who is a match for her. I will caution that the author does not class this a romance, and it doesn't not have an HEA. There is a pretty compelling set-up for another book, and we may eventually get there. In the meantime, I'd just call it alt-history fiction, without anything magical or supernatural to put it into fantasy territory. Perhaps similar to some of Guy Gavriel Kay's less mystical novels. Because I didn't know exactly which genre to peg it into, I did wonder where it was going at times. I tried to just be open, but it turns out I rely a lot on knowing what category something is in-- which is more a commentary on me and my ways than the book.

✽A Lush Betrayal, by Selena Laurence. I'm gearing up for RUDCon, and Laurence is a featured author. I'm going to do my best to read something from each of the authors before October. I'll do a bit more of a feature on Laurence, uh, SOON, but I'll say I did enjoy this rock & roll contemp (that might be redundant, I suppose?). The titular Betrayal, and the conflicts addressed in this book are pretty dark, but I really liked the heroine and they way she came through the Black Moment. (This one is still a freebie, check it out).

Stay tuned for a few more reviews and features between now and the conference, only NINE DAYS away!  I think my feelings about this conference can best be described by THE DUDE:

　

Sunday Soup - September 27

In The Soup This Week... Roselynn Cannes, Josie Kerr, Barbara Bretton and Jeffe Kennedy.

Soup Dish:  on my mind
✽So I need to apologize for the lack of Reading Until Dawn features over the past couple of weeks.  It turns out that authors sometimes have deadlines that are more important than mine, if you can imagine that.  With the con less than 2 weeks away (!!) I'll be wrapping up the features pretty soon, and we should see the conclusion of the two amazing stories in progress.  Stay tuned!

✽September is always a busy month around here.  It's back to school, and two of our family of four have birthdays, and we have end-of-summer projects to get completed.  Seattle has had a record-breaking warm and dry summer, and I've been very glad to see the return of cooler, damper weather.  It's great for reading.

✽I've been a little off social media lately -- what's the buzz?

What I'm reading
✽Fallen, by Roselynn Cannes, was a really good read. Set in a Greco-Roman alt-history world, I loved this militant heroine and the man who is a match for her.  I will caution that the author does not class this a romance, and it doesn't not have an HEA. There is a pretty compelling set-up for another book, and we may eventually get there. In the meantime, I'd just call it alt-history fiction, without anything magical or supernatural to put it into fantasy territory. Perhaps similar to some of Guy Gavriel Kay's less mystical novels. Because I didn't know exactly which genre to peg it into, I did wonder where it was going at times.  I tried to just be open, but it turns out I rely a lot on knowing what category something is in-- which is more a commentary on me and my ways than the book.

✽A Bad Bit Nice, by Josie Kerr. Full disclosure, I've been "internet friends" with this author for a ridiculous number of years, so I was REALLY excited when she published this, her first romance.  The heroine is a 40-something, tattooed IT professional with a foul mouth and a soft heart (I relate), and the hero... oh my, the hero.  He's everything you'd want in a hero.  Tender, gorgeous, creative, protective, understanding; he's the still-waters-run-deep type.  If you like Penny Watson, I think you might like this. If I have a criticism, I'd say there's a lot going on in this story, and maybe didn't need quite as many of those extrinsic plot points.  But I liked the characters and the romance quite a lot.

✽Shore Lights, by Barbara Bretton. An angsty contemporary with a TON of women's-fiction type family drama.  Not bad at all.  There is an HEA, but there is also a second book that starts with wedding planning.  I read the first chapter or so and kind of didn't want to know the rest. Perhaps a theme with me, I think I just didn't like the break in my comfy familiar pattern.

✽I have finally, FINALLY started reading Mark of the Tala, by Jeffe Kennedy and I seriously want to call in sick tomorrow so I can hide somewhere in a cushy chair and read it all the way to the end and then download the next book and read that one too.  I have read an enjoyed Kennedy's erotica for quite a while now but hadn't nabbed this one. I'm enjoying it all the more for the wait.

Attention Seattle!

View image | gettyimages.com

There's a lot of book-lovin' things going on around here in the next few weeks!

LitFic
If you lean toward the hipster/lit (litster?) side of book events, check out LitFic's September 23rd event at the Rendezvous.  They come around quarterly, so if you miss this one, you should pencil in December 9 and watch the site for details.

UF and Sci-Fi
The University Bookstore always has tons of author and other bookish events, in both their Seattle and Bellevue locations.  A few that are catching my eye in October are Jim Butcher, Greg Bear and Ann Leckie, and Laura Ann Gilman.


Romance
The annual Greater Seattle RWA conference will be held in Bellevue from October 16 through the 18th.  Since I'm not actually an author, I don't attend the conference, but I am really looking forward to the reader appreciation event on the 17th this year.  They're changing it up from the usual big giant book signing.  I'm not sure what exactly to expect but it sounds like fun.

Urban Fantasy
While not Seattle proper, in nearby (ish) Port Townsend, if witchy books are your thing, you can "Meet The Witches," an event that includes an historic tour, food, readings and signings, and even a séance.

The authors Cindy Stark, Tiffinie Helmer, Kerrigan Byrne and Cynthia St. Aubin invite you to celebrate the release of their second collaborative novel, Which Witch Is Wicked the thrilling sequel to The Witches of Port Townsend to be released October, 2015! In the novel, four identical sisters are prophesied to hold the fate of the entire world in their powerful hands.

Conference Madness!
But mainly, of course, I am COMPLETELY wound up for Reading Until Dawn, which isn't actually in Seattle. 

 

However, I am going to be taking a little bit of Seattle with me to the conference, in the form of a prize basket full of Seattle goodies.  If you are a Seattle author, and you would like to get a little exposure to this all-genre crowd of SUPER READER SUPER FANS, and help a good cause at the same time, then this is the deal for you:

Donate books and/or swag to the Seattle raffle basket, and I offer to you in thanks a promo spot here on Alpha Heroes in the form of your choice:  promo/press release, cover reveal, guest post, or review; to be scheduled at a mutually convenient time (I'm pretty flexible).

This is kind of a big deal for me to offer because I rarely do pure promo.  But I'm having fun with this whole thing and the featured blogger gig has me stepping out of my comfort zone a little anyway.  The baskets will be raffled with proceeds going to The Wild Animal Sanctuary, considered one of the top animal welfare organizations in the world.

If you would like to participate, please contact me at nicola327@hotmail.com.  I would like to have all items received by the end of September.  Thank you so much!

Reading Until Dawn Featured Author: Danica Favorite

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE... 
of the Reading Until Dawn Con author features here at Alpha Heroes.  

The features continue! As a Featured Blogger (ahem) for the Reading Until Dawn conference, it is my pleasure and my sacred responsibility to showcase the delightful authors that will be hanging out and playing embarrassing SUPER FUN AND AWESOME games with us in October.  We're not doing panels.  We're not doing pitches. We're seriously not doing serious. We WILL be doing games.

If you've read Alpha Heroes for very long, you know I'm not too into author interviews. I'm not very good at them, to be honest. So just pretend this is a game instead of an interview.  I gave my authors a Mad Libs^TM style questionnaire, and here are the results!  (note: truthiness is optional... these are fiction writers after all!)

Please welcome Danica Favorite:

waits for applause from crowd to die down....

Hi Nicola, thanks for taking the time to stalk me through cyberspace and hunt me down when all other methods of contact were failing you. Just for that, we should go for cupcakes sometime. Since this is my first introduction to Nicola and her blog, I’m going to go a little long here.  I’m Danica Favorite, and I write inspirational historical romance for Love Inspired Historical. Hey! Keep reading! I know a lot of the stuff I’m seeing here is a little sexier, um, okay, a lot sexier, but I have a lot of moments of really good, intense, um, longing… yes, we’ll call it longing. Uh, yeah… so anyway… I’m one of those readers who reads just about anything, and I hope you’ll all enjoy checking out something on the other end of the spectrum. I’m a little biased, but I think I write pretty good books. And if not, I’m still a really fun person who loves cupcakes, so let’s just all have a cupcake and it’ll all be good! But if cupcakes aren’t enough to entice you, go visit my website at www.danicafavorite.com and have a look at my chickens. Everyone loves chickens, right?

OK, so here we go!

1. No one ever beats me at the game of __um, nothing, actually. See answer below____. (sad trombone sound here)

2. Please fill in these blanks: "When I was a kid, and they were picking teams for sportball, I was usually:
a) picked right away
b) not picked right away 
c) one of the captains  

yeah, sorry. I promise to do my best if we’re on the same team for a con game! I think everyone who attends RUD con is a winner, so it’s all good. Team Danica for the Awesome! (And cupcakes! Are cupcakes on the menu?) - looks like we need to make sure that they are!

Later in life, I found myself __praying I never get sent to prison because I’ll end up being the um, rhymes with witch, to some crazy lady named Big Bertha__, and I think it was all because of how the sportball teams were picked.  Hey, whatever keeps you on the straight and narrow, right?

3. The most embarrassing/hilarious game I ever participated in was _potato gun wars _.  Everyone was laughing at _.the fact that my husband’s gun blew up instead of shooting the potato.   I swear I will never hear anything about a potato gun without thinking of JR Ward's scene between Butch and Vishous...   

4. In an alternate universe, I am George R. R. Martin, only my fabulously successful 700-page epic book is titled "Game of _Awesome_." it is about _a mild-mannered but deeply awesome inspirational romance writer who got sick of losing at all the games and finally found the gumption to take over the world and become its benevolent, but occasionally fond of blowing random stuff up (sorry about your house), dictator (slightly autobiographical)_  Hey, did I mention there are cupcakes at my house?  all the time? You don't want to blow up the cupcakes, do you? (Note to self: buy cupcake mix at Costco)  

5. Once,  __My husband__ suggested that we __we buy a house in the mountains__, and I could only respond, GAME. ON.  Then what happened? Well, I’m glad you asked. Because we are living the dream, baby, living the dream. When we aren’t chasing bears out of our kitchen, mice out of the rafters, and ants out of my bed. I wish I’d just made that stuff up, but no. That’s actually my life. Right now. In case you’re wondering, we named the bear Humphrey, and yes, I do have photographic evidence. Which reminds me. I need to go make sure my back door is locked. Well, that sounds pretty exciting!

6. Would you like to play the 5-words game? Sure! Yay!

The 5-words game rules:

The fabulous E.D. Walker challenges you to use the following 5 words in a piece of flash fiction, as long or short as you wish. Don't overthink it :-)

Then, give 5 words for the next victim, er, interviewee to use.  They will have the option to build on your piece or do a stand-alone.

Your words are: scooter, kiosk, zucchini, fan, dinosaur

Meet Belle, P1 from Roselynn Cannes
And THEN this happened, P2 from Katee Robert
Followed by hijinks..., P3 from Aaron Ritchey
A Twist! P4 from ED Walker

And now, Part 5!

The stranger yelped, drawing the attention of the proprietor of a nearby kiosk. A fine time for someone to notice that something might be amiss in the market. Belle shook her head. They don’t notice an explosion, but the man’s whining over a little bite suddenly has everyone on alert. She glanced over at him. Okay, maybe it wasn’t such a little bite after all. She’d feel guilty over the blood gushing from his wound, but at this point, she knew she only had a minute, if not seconds, to get away before they sent others.

“Do you need some help?” The man in charge of the kiosk, wearing a zucchini green t-shirt with the face of a dinosaur with an all-too happy grin, approached.

Salvation.

Ordinarily, Belle wasn’t a fan of members of the Order of the Reptile. They talked incessantly of things that were hopelessly boring, but she’d been told that in bind, they’d help her. She glanced back at the stall where he’d been hawking his wares- flimsy cast-offs that people wouldn’t pay good money for, except to support the reptilian cause. But… one item caught her eye.

“Is that your scooter?”

He looked at her like she’d just told him his dinosaur was stupid. Belle sighed. The man she’d bit moaned and started staggering to his feet. She did not have time for this. Quickly, she murmured the secret phrase that was supposed to get the cooperation of Order members.

The man cursed, but nodded, then handed her his keys.

Finally! Something was going her way!

Order of the Reptile? I smell a spinoff series!

Thanks so much, Danica!  Can't wait to have a cupcake with you in Denver!

=====================================

Are you registered for Reading Until Dawn Con? 

If not, why not?! Join us for fun, games, snacks and possibly pants-optional dancing.  

Register here, and see you there!

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Sunday Soup - September 13

In The Soup This Week... Kelly Moran, Barbara Bretton, and KJ Charles

Soup Dish:  on my mind
✽I'm not sure this actually rated as a kerfuffle, but a woman on Twitter sent around the text of an emailed review request she got, that just really made me angry.  KJ Charles had a great response. I cannot believe the author in question had the nerve to tell bloggers that including a line similar to "I received a free book from the author in exchange for an honest review" is a "turn-off" and shouldn't be done.  Although, strictly speaking, since she was only offering the book for a positive review, I guess you could say that "in exchange for an honest review" is not actually true.  Hmmph.  If there are any newbie blogger/reviewers out there reading, please never fall for bullshit like that, and please refuse any review request that is framed that way.

✽I really enjoyed this article over at Heroes and Heartbreakers by Kelly Moran, about how characters behave as therapists to other characters sometimes, or how authors and readers might also do that.  It's an interesting take on how to execute a character arc. Makes me want to pick up something that she's written.

✽I'm incredibly tempted to try to read my way through all 101 of these Best Romances.  Hmmm.  Very very tempted.

✽Also, National Book Festival happened in Washington DC, and I completely missed it.  Apparently this is the first year they've had anything about romance.  It sounds like they had a lot of interesting bookish things across the board. And Buzz Aldrin! wow!  

What I'm reading
✽Over the last two weeks, the book that consumed most of my reading attention was The Desert and the Blade, by SM Stirling. It's part of a long-running post-apocalyptic fantasy series.  The series itself kind of waxes and wanes and meanders quite a bit, but every September I look forward to a little visit to this world.  This particular book grabbed me pretty hard and I might actually do a full review.

✽I finished the Kim Harrison short story I mentioned, "Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" from the Holidays are Hell anthology, which was quite nice.  It was interesting to see Rachel as a teenager, still struggling with the debilitating illness which informed her character and character arc throughout the series.

✽Currently reading Barbara Bretton's Shore Lights, which I picked up as an Amazon freebie (still free as of this writing).  Very emotional, and equal parts "women's fiction" to the romance: the mother-daughter relationship features as prominently as the romance, all set to the background of two close-knit, colorful, gossipy extended families. Enjoying it so far, but it's way up there on the divorcee-where-did-I-go-wrong angst scale.

That's it for today -- what are you reading? anything exceptional?