This just in…

Romance Writers of America’s 28th Annual National Conference is about to kick off in California. Authors, readers, publishers, agents, just to name a few, will be gathering in the city by the bay, San Francisco, starting today, July 30, through Sunday, August 2, at the Marriott Hotel at Union Square.

~ The Annual Conference is a four-day event filled with educational workshops, career enhancement, and community involvement.

~ Wednesday, July 30, is the Literacy Signing where a list of who’s who of authors will be signing books, the proceeds of which will go to ProLiteracy Worldwide. This event is open to the public and is scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Yerba Buena Ballroom.

~ Victoria Alexander will be the Keynote Speaker and Connie Brockway is the speaker for the Awards Lucheon. Suzanne Brockmann wraps up the conference as emcee for the 2008 RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony.

~ Lisa Kleypas, Lisa Jackson, Jayne Ann Krentz, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Barbara Samuel, and Jane Porter will deliver other keynote addresses during the conference.

~ Some interactive news at the conference this year – two radio shows are slated to stream live on the web, featuring some of the very best authors in paranormal romance and historical romance with the Ladies of the Night Blog Talk Radio Show, and you’re encouraged to participate.

~ Wednesday, July 30, 8 – 9 PM PDT, 11 pm – 12 am EDT will be a night of romance and the supernatural, featuring: Jocelyn Drake, Kerrelyn Sparks, Kathryn Smith, Melissa Marr, Terri Garey, Jeaniene Frost and an introduction by Kim Harrison. You can call in and chat at (347) 826-9686 or just listen in. Or you can just listen on the web. Send an email to avoncontest@harpercollins.com if have any questions you’d like answered by one of the authors.

~ There will also be Historical Romance Radio, a discussion of all things historical romance. For any questions, send an email to avoncontest@harpercollins.co.

~ More than 100 workshops are being offered on a variety of subjects from leadership development for authors to choosing new clients for publishers.

~ Career-focused romance writers will be networking with fellow writers and have interaction with editors, agents, publishers, booksellers, and other romance publishing industry professionals.

Consider yourself flashed.

Alicia’s review of Sizzle and Burn (The Arcane Society, Book 3) by Jayne Ann Krentz
Paranormal romance released by Putnam on 15 Jan 08

I decided to review Sizzle and Burn in preparation for the release of The Third Circle (Arcane 4) March 25th. I’m a big JAK fan but with so many great older titles out there, I wasn’t up to date with her new ones.

Just in case you don’t know, Jayne Ann Krentz is also Amanda Quick. Krentz is the pseudonym she uses for her contemporary titles. Quick is the one she uses for her historicals. In the Arcane Society series she is including both past and present, so the books aren’t actually listed under the same author name. These books can stand alone just fine. If you read them in order you do get the history of the society and a cohesive underlying plot but, really, feel free to buy the new one first and then catch up.

Raine is a psychic who hears things by touching objects. Her experience with others with psychic gifts if pretty much limited to her aunt who suffered mentally and herself. She has had loving people she could depend on, though, and is a strong, well adjusted woman. She has helped solve crimes for years. She has a good feeling of her own self-worth.

Zack is also a psychic. He sees things instead of hearing but his gift is similar enough to Raine’s to give them common ground. He, though, has been raised in the Arcane Society. He has been surrounded, all his life, by people with gifts. He has had training on using his talent and has had the support of friends and family like himself. He has never been an outcast nor has he been afraid his gift driving him insane.

Zack and Raine’s romance starts with a bang. One thing I like about JAK is that her characters rarely wallow in exaggerated self doubt or self pity. This book is no exception. The description mentions that Raine had a recent failed relationship, and she did. It was pretty bad but she gets over it. She’s ok. She’s more than ok, in fact, she has a cocky confidence that Zack loves and so do I.

There are two suspense plots going in this story but it felt natural. She has a history of crime investigation and her gift lends itself to discovering violent crimes. It’s not far-fetched that she gets caught in another one. The Arcane Society’s arch enemy also has something going on. That’s a given. The book flowed well and never felt rushed or crowded.

With good characters, good dialogue, strong tension and a fun plot this book never disappointed. A perfect comfort read. If you haven’t tried JAK this is ok to try first (though, to me, it doesn’t touch Trust Me, Deep Waters or Absolutely Positively). I’m waiting -IMpatiently- for the next book, Arcane 4 – The Third Circle, which will be released April 22 by Putnam under Amanda Quick.

Grade: B+

Book summary:

     When Raine Tallentyre made the mistake of revealing her paranormal abilities, her most recent romantic relationship came to a hasty end. Her Aunt Vella, a gifted but troubled soul, had told her years ago to keep her talents a secret. And now that poor Aunt Vella—her last blood relative—has died, Raine has resigned herself to a lonely life.

     But when she journeys to Shelbyville, Washington, to clear out Aunt Vella’s house, Raine’s highly developed sensitivity leads her to a horrifying discovery: a young woman bound and terrified in a basement storage locker. The victim has survived, but the culprit is still on the loose. Without warning, a new man enters Raine’s life—investigator Zack Jones. Surprisingly, Zack isn’t repelled by her powers: in fact, he has them himself. While Raine hears voices, Zack sees visions and within hours of their meeting, Raine experiences an intense, thrilling intimacy—mental, emotional, and physical—she never dared to expect.

     There’s one complication, however: Zack Jones is working for the Arcane Society. This secret organization, dedicated to the study of paranormal phenomena, shattered Raine’s family with an act of betrayal long ago, and she’s not about to trust them now. But as a killer makes her his target, and a cabal of psychic criminals known as Nightshade operates in the shadows surrounding them, Raine and Zack must rely not only on their powerful abilities but on each other . . .

     Read an excerpt.

Hey it is almost V Day…. there is a nice article in a paper regarding romance. Some interesting quotes from Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Jayne Ann Krentz and Lisa Plumley

‘Love really does conquer all’

I am not sure I completely agree with SEP on her feelings regarding the word but I think this is a great quote:

“They might call them trashy books to my face once, but they don’t do it twice,” Phillips says. “Very little riles me about things I hear about the genre, but that one does.

“Saying they’re trashy books is basically attacking all the things women hold dear… family, love community… It’s an insult to the millions of women who read romance.”