This just in…

There’s a variety of men in kilts from Sourcebooks authors just waiting for you!

~ Through July 18, 2011, these Highlanders are on sale for $.99 at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

~ Awaken the Highland Warrior by Anita Clenney (Nook format)

~ Highland Hellcat by Mary Wine (Nook format)

~ The Highlander’s Sword by Amanda Forester (Nook format)

~ Wild Highland Magic by Kendra Leigh Castle (Nook format)

~ Highland Rebel by Judith James (Nook format)

~ Don’t tarry, there’s only four more days left!

Consider yourself flashed.

Kristie J‘s review of The Libertine’s Kiss by Judith James
Historical romance released by HQN 1 Aug 10

Have you ever read a book that affected you so deeply, when another book by the same author comes out you are afraid to read it? You’re afraid that the book couldn’t possibly come close to the previous book?

This was the case with Judith James’s Libertine’s Kiss. I was so blown away when I read Broken Wing, I was almost afraid to read Libertine’s Kiss when Sybil sent it to me. After just holding it for a number of days, though, I figured I’d better start reading. I mean, that is why she sent it; for a review.

I loved it, absolutely loved it. The book starts out with our hero, William, on the run from Cromwell’s troops when he comes across a cottage where Elizabeth saves him. After a night spent in each other’s arms, William leaves the next morning with the promise to help Elizabeth should she ever need it, though he doesn’t give her his name, so she thinks she will never be able to take him up on it.

But that act of kindness costs Elizabeth dearly as everything is taken away from her when it’s discovered she helped this friend of King Charles. And something else William doesn’t know. Elizabeth is in reality the only friend he had as a very young man when they were on opposite sides of the pending civil war. Elizabeth has loved him all these years.

Fast forward now and Cromwell’s son has given up his power, Charles is now King of England, and the Restoration is in full gear. For those who don’t know their history that well, this was a time of decadence, debauchery, and licentiousness and William is a major player. When Elizabeth comes to court to try and gain her land back, William recognizes her as the young woman who saved his life and is determined to help her gain entry into the King’s inner circle.

When you read a Judith James book, you don’t just get a romance. You get a wonderful, intriguing lesson in history. A number of times while reading this book, I took the time to look deeper into the times, the King and the Earl of Rochester, who the author based the character of William on, with a few differences since Rochester’s life ended sadly and much too soon, and this is a romance. And what a romance it is too.

Young William had such a tragic childhood that he really needed the optimism and naïveté that Elizabeth offered him. Their previous relationship is told in flashbacks as they deal with their growing love for each other as adults. William has led such a life of wantonness that he doesn’t think he can commit to a life with just Elizabeth and she demands nothing less. He does help her attract the attention of the king and the king is also attracted to Elizabeth. Add in a jealous mistress of both men and it seems there is no way these two lovers can find their way to each other.

Ms. James’ writing is lush and rich and she fully draws you into the heartache of her characters. The reader feels what her characters feel. And I can’t express how much I love the setting of this book. In a genre that feels so much the same, a love story set in Restoration England is just so damn refreshing and Ms. James makes the time come alive as much as the characters.

In some ways this is a better written book than Broken Wing. She keeps improving with each book. While I didn’t have the immediate need to right away reread Libertine’s Kiss the way I did with Broken Wing, there is no question that I will read it again and again and again.

Grade: A+

Abandoned by his cavalier father at a young age, William de Veres grew up knowing precious little happiness. But William has put the past firmly behind him and as a military hero and noted rake, he rises fast in the ranks of the hedonistic Restoration court. Though not before he is forced to seek shelter from a charming young Puritan woman…

The civil wars have cost the once-high-spirited Elizabeth Walters her best friend and her father, leaving her unprotected and alone. She flees an unwanted marriage, seeking safe haven, but what she finds is something she never expected. When her kindness and her beauty bring her to the attention of William, and then the king, she will have a choice to make. After all, can a notorious libertine really be capable of love?

Read an excerpt.

Besides it being a chance for me to catch up with my online buds, I enjoy the annual RWA conference because it gives me a chance to put my ear to the nearest wall and catch the latest buzz. This year I once again roomed with KristieJ from Ramblings On Romance. Kristie has spent the better part of the last year promoting the heck out of Broken Wing by Judith James and berating badgering coaxing her fellow members of Romance Blog Land to read the book that she so fell in love with. The result? Kristie has almost 30 bloggers listed on her sidebar of those of us who have read the book.

It was while we were at RWA in Washington D.C. that Kristie had the opportunity to chat with some people from Sourcebooks, the publisher that will be publishing Judith James second novel, Highland Rebel, in September. They told Kristie that Broken Wing was the highest selling title in Medallion Press history. At this point Kristie hasn’t had this confirmed with the folks over at Medallion, but why would Sourcebooks make something like that up? The answer is, they wouldn’t.

There was a brouhaha several months back involving an interview an editor and VP from Harpercollins Avon did over at All About Romance essentially dismissing the value of online promotion and bloggers. My response to this was that if Avon was waiting for the day when a blogger was going to be solely responsible for “making” a book, they’d be waiting a long time. Listen, I’m a librarian. I can tell you in no uncertain terms that there are two ways to “make” a book. 1) The publisher’s PR department puts in a lot of long hours and 2) Oprah picks it for her book club.

This naturally brought up a lot of discussion on how “important” reader bloggers are and how much “traffic” we get.

Horse hooey

The minute reader bloggers begin losing sight of what their purpose is, and why they got into the game to begin with, is when they start feeding a corporate machine. Most of us started blogging for one reason, and one reason only. We wanted to connect with other readers who loved the romance genre as much as we do. I started blogging because 1) I like to hear myself talk and 2) there was no one in my real life who I could talk books with. Yep, that’s right. The librarian didn’t have a soul to talk to about romance novels. No joke. I was a drowning woman. I was desperate. So I went to the web.

Kristie has never lost sight of this. I also know that she’ll never think that she was the sole reason that Broken Wing sold well for Medallion. Hey, the pretty good review the book got in Publisher’s Weekly didn’t exactly hurt matters. No, Kristie didn’t “make” that book – but she did jump start what most authors and publishers kill for.

Word of mouth.

Kristie got close to 30 bloggers to read that book. And some of them loved it as much as she did. They blogged about the book. They told friends who aren’t online about the book. And then those friends told other friends.

Do I think bloggers can “make” books? Not entirely. But they can build momentum. Broken Wing is the best example we have so far. It helps that it was from a smaller publisher, who doesn’t have the same sort of name recognition as say, Random House or Harpercollins. It also helps tremendously that it was KristieJ promoting the hell out of that book. Why? Because I’m not sure any other blogger could have done what she did.

People read and like Kristie’s blog for one reason – because Kristie is the one blogging. She’s a genuine person with a genuine “voice.” She’s “regular people.” That’s attractive as hell to a whole lot of readers. When they read Kristie’s blog it’s like meeting their best friend for coffee. So when she got really excited over a debut author’s book for a small publisher? The people who read and like her blog listened. Hey, people read and like my blog too – but I can say for certain that me loving a book and giving it a glowing review doesn’t have the same impact. Why? Because Kristie turned promoting Broken Wing into an event.

I think as the online romance community continues to grow, and new social media platforms come to the forefront, there will be more opportunity to observe what impact bloggers and readers have on the publishing industry at large. Reader bloggers can be a valuable promotional tool for authors and publishers if utilized the right way. It worked in this instance because Kristie loves Broken Wing, she is genuine about that love, and it showed through in her blog posts about it. The moment reader bloggers try to morph themselves into publicity machines is when we fail. It won’t be genuine anymore and it will be really blatantly obvious to people reading our blogs. We all got into this game because we love books, we love reading, and we love the romance genre with an unflinching loyalty. We should all take a page from Kristie’s book and remember that.

Sandy M’s review of Broken Wing by Judith James
Historical Romance published by Medallion Press 1 Nov 08

Every now and again a story comes along that pulls at your heart, wrings emotion out of you until nothing is left, defies you to hope for that happily ever after that you take for granted in every romance book you pick up. This is definitely one of those books for me. The fact that this is Ms. James’ debut book makes it all the more special.

The beginning of the book gives us Gabriel realizing his life is about to get worse than it’s ever been. The one person who is his friend in the horrible world Gabriel has grown up in is about to return to his family.  He has protected James for the last five years, something that has kept Gabriel living.  Gabriel has been thoroughly tutored in the art of sex.  He is more than capable of pleasuring a woman or a man.  He is highly valuable to the brothel he’s been in nearly all his life. Too many times his hope over the years has been crushed, so now with the prospect of not even having James in his life, the world is a very dim place for Gabriel.

Until he meets Lady Sarah Munroe and Ross, the Earl of Huntington, James’ siblings. They offer him more hope than he’s ever had in his life. To repay him for befriending their brother, for bearing any punishments that were to be given to the child, for keeping his innocence intact, they offer Gabriel a place in their home as a companion to James. Grasping onto that lifeline, Gabriel leaves the hell of his existence behind. It takes some getting used to, not expecting people to take from him at every turn, but eventually Gabe finds peace.  He also learns how to love, all with the help of Sarah.  Her tenderness and her love saves him even from himself.

Once their love is declared, Gabriel is determined to take care of Sarah with money made with his own hands.  What he has learned since leaving the brothel is privateering on the high seas, so he heads out one last time to make his fortune so he and his love can be together forever. Of course, we know that isn’t going to happen any time soon, Gabriel has to go through so much more before total happiness is his.  I found myself thinking over and over again when is this man going to get a break. When he is lost at sea, he ends up in the hands of a man from his past, and this is what nearly breaks the hero my heart has gone out to since the first page of the book.

I love Sarah’s character because she never condemns Gabriel for what has been done to him, as a lot of people have.  He is always afraid to tell her that next horror of his life, but when he does he never receives recriminations from her. He gets nothing but understanding, love, and tenderness, something he doesn’t know what do to with in the beginning. But he’s a man who craves such things and he latches on to both Sarah and her loving ways to find the happiness in life others take for granted.

This is a wonderfully written book. Your heart will break, then soar, break again, and then wonder if it will ever soar again during this story. I did want to scream at Gabriel during the second half of the book when he seemed to give up too quickly, but I simply couldn’t because not only of what he’d been through, but also because of how he sees himself, which without Sarah, is something he doesn’t see very clearly.  Ms. James has given us a beautiful romance and love story with characters who will stay in your heart for a long time to come.

Grade: A+

Summary:

Abandoned as a child and raised in a brothel, Gabriel St. Croix has never known tenderness, friendship or affection. Although fluent in sex, he knows nothing of love. Lost and alone inside a nightmare world, all he’s ever wanted was companionship and a place to belong. Hiding physical and emotional scars behind an icy façade, his only relationship is with a young boy he has spent the last five years protecting from the brutal reality of their environment. But all that is about to change. The boy’s family has found him, and they are coming to take him home.

Sarah Munroe blames herself for her brother’s disappearance. When he’s located, safe and unharmed despite where he as been living. Sarah vows to help the man who rescued and protected him in any way she can. With loving patience she helps Gabriel face his demons and teaches him to trust in friendship and love. But when the past catches up with him, Gabriel must face it on his own.

Becoming a mercenary, pirate and a professional gambler, Gabriel travels to London, France, and the Barbary Coast in a desperate attempt to find Sarah again and all he knows of love. On the way, however, he will discover the most dangerous journey, and the greatest gamble of all, is within the darkest reaches of his own heart.

Read an excerpt.