I’ve been feeling a bit out of sorts with the romance market recently, so I’ve kept to the authors I enjoy and lines like the Harlequin category romances that I tend to enjoy. I write and read paranormal romance, but more and more, the ones I’ve been reading have gone into action/adventure and that’s not [...]

I can’t say that 2011 was a classic reading year for me. So many train wrecks and meh books. But I read a lot, and even in a good year I’ll have something to celebrate. Sooo, here we go.

Here it is, my best read books in 2011.  Some of these still stand out in my mind and were easy to decide on, and others I really had to think about. Out of so many books, it was hard to decide, so I picked the ones which are worthy of the keeper shelf.

This is the second year in a row I’ve not been able to decide which of two terrific books should be my No. 1. So I have a tie once again. Last year it was two fantasies that made the top spot. This year one of those authors has maintained her position, but she’s now [...]

It’s that time of year, faithful reader – and let me pause to say how much I appreciate you…even if no one else reads my silliness, I take comfort in the fact that the two of us do – time to list my favorite reads of 2011. These are books I read and that were [...]

I have to start by wishing my US friends a happy Thanksgiving. I keep being asked if we celebrate it in the UK, and yes, in a way, we do – getting rid of a troublesome and difficult to administer colony with no obvious assets, other than somewhere to send the criminals and a nice [...]

I’ve been testing quite a few recently, so I thought I’d show you how I got on. These are the free ones, because a) I’m a cheapskate and b) Why pay for something when you can get it legitimately for free?

More and more I’m seeing authors who are confronted with readers saying “this is wrong,” reply, “it’s only fiction,” which they seem to think means they can make up anything they want to.

New Kindles have been announced. In brief, they’re the Fire tablet, at $199, the Touch 3G at £139, the Touch at $99 and the basic Kindle at $89. The last three will all have advertisements as screensavers. There will be advertisement-free versions for a little extra.

It was 9 a.m. and I’d just got back from the school run. I booted up my computer – the house computer – which was in the hall and logged on. Because of the time difference, my friend Kathy was online and I contacted her via yahoo messenger. Kathy lives in Florida. I had the [...]

Does an ARC guarantee a review? I get a lot of the books I review from Netgalley. Others I buy myself. Very occasionally, I might get one from the author, but that doesn’t happen often. If I buy the book myself, I choose whether to review it or not. When I get the ARC for [...]

I’ve been good. I’ve been really, really good because some of the people I know and care about are involved in this. But here we go, foot in mouth. Again.

Interesting times afoot. Dennis Potter must be smiling from heaven.

One of the accusations frequently leveled at romance books is the amount of tropes we have. Things like secret babies and big misunderstandings. They crop up all over the place, but I’m not totally against them, because when they’re used properly they concentrate the reader on what matters most – the characters involved. In fact, [...]

I read an article today by an a guest on an agent blog that I follow. She said that writers should find their “voice” and their writing identity and stick with it. A well-written article that gave the accepted facts about writing for major publishers.