Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy by HelenKay Dimon **July 2007**

NEVER LET ME GO

Annie Parks came to Hawaii to gather information and settle a score, not spend time handcuffed to a sexy stranger’s bed. Okay, so this particular stranger saved her from drowning after she was pitched overboard by some goons. And he’s about six feet of hard, Hawaiian muscle and gorgeous cool that’s making forgotten parts of her say, "A-lo-ha!" She needs to stay focused, but a side dish of Kane Travers is awfully tempting.

Kauai Police Chief Kane Travers is not a vacation kind of guy. So it figures that when Internal Affairs suspended him, he’d end up rescuing a sarcastic, dishonest, extremely hot redhead who is clearly hiding something. Amnesia? Yeah, right. Kane’s got half a mind to give Miss Whoever She Is something she’ll never forget. His cop senses tell him that the lady’s in deep and needs his protection. But how can he get her to tell him anything when all he wants is to take her home and do everything?

Speaking of Brava and covers.... I love this one. There is an excerpt here... so far this seems like it is going to be a really great book. At least judging from the chapters I have read.

Ezmerelda, picks a winner…

It is me, Ezmerelda! Shannon is busy watching The Amazing Race (an hour later because of DVR magic and her inability to not watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition once they’ve introduced the family), so I have numbered everybody and bribed her husband into randomly choosing three numbers with the promise of hiding Shannon’s Doritos and thus increasing his odds of someday having a wife who is not broader in the beam than a potted palm.

And the winners are…

Devon
Cheri J
AnnalisaYou can email Shannon at shannonstacey @ gmail . com and tell her which of her books you’d like (you can see the choices here) and in which format!

Thanks Ezzy! Maybe you can sneak back in June. But really hon, we need to talk...

Lunewulf Law By Lorie O’Clare **out now** excerpt

Lunewulf Law By Lorie O'Clare

An unexpected human attack on a lunewulf pack has led to devastating losses, leaving the pack with very few single females old enough to mate. Drastic measures must be taken. Lunewulf law goes into effect, stating that every female shall have three males for her mates. If the matings aren't consummated in thirty days, the males die.

Nik Alexander knows Sophie Rousseau is his. The entire pack knows it. He's sniffed after her since high school, and now it's time to approach his pack leader and ask that Sophie be his mate. But with the new law in effect, Nik must share Sophie with two other males.

Nik is an honorable lunewulf. He won't turn away from his pack. As much as he wants to rip the throat out of his pack leader, he will respect the new law. Lukas Kade and Jonathan Abram may have Sophie, but only under Nik's terms.

Reader Advisory: This story contains a scene of menage-a-trois sex.
Publisher Note: This book was previously available as the short story Pack Law. It has been greatly expanded.

I requested this for review and it didn't dawn on me that is was an expanded version of the story that was first in Pack Law. I love the Lunewufe series so I am very interested in seeing how this holds up to the original novella as well as to see how well I like it now. (I read it a while ago.)

Lorie O'Clare was kind enough to let me repost the excerpt she sent out to her newsgroup today. (you can sign up here)

Lorie O'Clare's Books are intended for those readers 18 years old or older.
excerpt from Lunewulf Law:

Read more

Winner!! We’re just giving it away aren’t we? ;)

Alright, we have another winner! From the post here the winner is Camilla! Camilla warmed the ice cold hearts of the duckies here (har, har) and has won a copy of Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep.

By the way, Jennifer is guesting tomorrow, so isn't that lucky? We'll have some other copies to give away if you're feeling slighted. One supercool copy could be signed by Jennifer herself, so be here or those supers are gonna come and get ya.

But Camilla, contact Syb (email redwyne@redwyne.com) to get your brand new (unsigned) copy of Karma Girl given so generously by Berkley.

Winner!! Hunters: Heart and Soul

The winner is Rosie!! ~the peasants rejoice~ Rosie's comment on the post here was the contest winner.

Rosie you have won a brand new (unsigned) copy of Hunters: Heart and Soul by Shiloh Walker given to this contest generously by Berkley.

Leave a comment or email Syb (redwyne @ redwyne . com) and she'll send it to ya. Congratulations!

Review: Too Wicked To Tame by Sophie Jordan

Too Wicked to Tame by Sophie Jordan

Lady Portia Derring is on her way to Yorkshire to meet potential groom when her carriage gets stranded and she's nearly run by a horse over tramping down a muddy road for help. She's on her way to meet a wealthy man her grandmother wants her to marry since their family is destitute. The horseman is none other than her potential suitor Heath Moreton, the Earl of Moreton.

When Portia finally makes it to the estate her grandmother has sent her to she realizes that Heath is the man her grandmother sent her to meet, but she wants nothing to do with him. Portia is an avowed spinster, determined to avoid marriage because that means she has to give up her freedom to her husband, which she doesn't want to do. Heath doesn't want to get married because he doesn't want to pass on his family's madness (for he's known as one of the Mad Moretons) to any children.

Heath and Portia spar and work hard to avoid Heath's grandmother's schemes to compromise and force them to marry, as well as avoid each other.

Ok, so here's the big problem with this book: porphyria aka the Maddness of King George III. That's the madness that the Moreton's are supposed to pass along to their children. Heath is afraid of passing this disease on to his children because his father and younger brother apparently went mad from the disease. The disease porphyria wasn't named until 50 years after the action in the book takes place, which sounds to me like the early years of Victoria's reign. There are references to the "king's disease" and it wasn't theorized that George III had porphyria until the 1960s. Read more on the links above if you want more information.

Oh, he's also afraid of love, but that's a different kettle of fish.

Portia is a spoiled, selfish bluestocking and she really doesn't have very many good traits until too late. She whines about her mother leaving her and her family never caring about what she wants, but she doesn't speak up for herself. Heath is an autocratic, arrogant jerk who believes all women are the same and rules his family with an iron fist. How these two fall in love is a miracle.

Then there's the two scheming grandmothers who really don't care for the wishes of their grandchildren, just the securing of wealth and maintaining social status. There wasn't really a likable character in the whole book, and the leads took way too long to show their redeeming characteristics. At least they get a tongue-lashing and come around to get a HEA, but it doesn't ring true because of the characters faults.

Grade: D- (I would have given it an F, but Portia and Heath do have that one redeeming characteristic that saves them, even if it is way too late in the book.)

Sandra Schwab: The most important thing is that nothing happens to the books!

Thanks so much for having me, Sybil! -- Like probably most or even all of you, I love books. I always did and, I guess, I always will. I’ve got way too many books -- bookshelves are crammed into all available corners of my flat, while piles of books grow on several flat surfaces like chairs, my bedside table or my chest of drawers.

And since I love books, it’s only appropriate that my characters should love books, too. Especially Cissy, the heroine of Castle of the Wolf, my May release, reads a lot in the course of the novel. In addition, I gave her several characteristics of my own, most notably her love for fairy tales and the way she packs her travel chest: "Cissy carefully wrapt one of her tea dresses around her copy of the LYRICAL BALLADS so the leather-bound volume would not come to harm in the travel chest during her journey." In other words, the most important thing is that nothing happens to the books!

And imagine Cissy’s delight when she finds out that the library in the gloomy old castle she has inherited is well-stocked and full of interesting books: given the general fairy tale theme of CASTLE, she reads texts from the era of German Romanticism for the most part of the novel, that is, texts with fantastic or fairy tale elements. Thus, she is bemused by E.T.A. Hoffmann’s tale of Murr, the tomcat with literary aspirations, or rather, with Murr’s fictional autobiography which is interspersed with another story, namely the biography of the musicmaster Kreisler. Another Hoffman tale, "Nutcracker and Mouseking" (on which the ballet NUTCRACKER was later based), inspires her to get a Christmas tree for the castle (much to hero’s annoyance!). But there are also other books to be found in the Wolfenbach library, among them a copy of the German edition of Terry Pratchett’s MEN AT ARMS. Anachronistic? Absolutely! *g*

As you can see I had a lot of fun with books in Castle of the Wolf! And, of course, I hope you’ll have a lot of fun with those books and stories, too.

Lover Unbound by JR Ward **Sept 25, 2007** with cover

Lover Unbound by JR Ward

For those of you that frequent her den of brotherhood aka message board have no doubt already seen this. To answer Rosie's question from a few days ago... I think one reason I am lucky enough to have so many great authors do posts, guest days and interviews is because I am overly anal about their privacy, about what I post and respecting their wishes regarding their content. Ok and I can't remember shit, so I err on the side of caution. In fact I have a big scary post with lots of questions about this to put up one day soon.

JR Ward is a touch under deadline with a never ending book (personally I think she is enjoying letting V beat up on her ;)). But I was able to snag permission to post the cover and she did confirm the book has been moved up a week. I also think there will be some changes to the cover as in shading and darkness and such - Oh My!

I wasn't able to get a clear understanding of what line the book is in now. I will check with the publisher on Monday if nothing else... (Penguin is one of the publishers I just can't understand why books go where - another post) Still Onyx...

But it does look like the first three books were published under Signet Eclipse and Lover Revealed under Onyx. As I had understood, Lover Unbound was the first book with another line (still with Penguin)... most likely JR Ward is wondering what kind of crack I am smoking. But really that isn't anything new, so all is well with the world. Or maybe they switched her again?

Who knows... either way that means you get V 7 days earlier than she first thought. And makes me the rightest because I had thought this book was coming out in September and had moved it when I was corrected. My name isn't Sybil for nuthing ;).

Castle of the Wolf by Sandra Schwab **May 2007**

Castle of the Wolf by Sandra Schwab

Celia Fussell’s father is dead, and she reduced to the status of a poor relation in the house of her brother, the new baron, and his shrewish wife. A life of misery looms ahead.

But, no. There is hope. Deep in the Black Forest, in the Great Duchy of Baden, stands Celia’s inheritance. Among fir trees so dark they almost look black The Castle of Wolfenbach rises. It is a fortress of solitude, of secrets, of old wounds and older mysteries. But it is hers. And only one thing stands in her way: its former master, the hermit, the enigma…the man she is obliged to marry.

You can read an excerpt here and Dear Author has a review up here.

This is one of the many I hope to get a review up for soon.

Just Stop and Take a Second

SONG: U + UR Hand from I'm Not Dead by Pink (plays music when it opens)

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