‘Blurb a buddy’ is this week’s theme.
I don’t do book blurbs. I’m also not a reviewer. I do,
however, spend a LOT of time talking about science fiction romance and
attempting to share my love for the genre with a wider audience, to entice
readers to give it a try (and oh, by the way, if they’d like to read one of my
scifi romances some day, that’d be very cool!)
In pursuit of this goal, I interview authors for USA Today
Happy Ever After blog, I write a bi-weekly column for Amazing Stories Magazine
blog on SFR and I do 3-4 mini reviews of current SFR novels for the Love in
Panels platform once a month. I also run a weekly post on my own blog of new
releases in SFR, fantasy romance and paranormal romance.
So, having said all that, let me share with you the last
three books I highlighted over at Love in Panels (link
to the full column):
Cyborg by Miranda
Martin: “When an author can get me to read a book based on a trope I’m not
overly fond of – in this case amnesia – and I stay riveted to the pages,
reading the story in one sitting and loving it, I’m thrilled…”
Dark Cure by
Cynthia Sax: “I’ve been a fan of USA Today Best Selling author Cynthia Sax’s
Dark Refuge scifi romance series since the beginning (and loved her sizzling
cyborgs before that). I’ve also been one of those readers pestering her to tell
the story of Gisella, the Refuge’s chief medic…”
York by Laurann
Dohner: “A series which has been
percolating along nicely is …The Vorge Crew, about the individuals on a pretty
unique interstellar ambassador’s ship, and the human women they interact with,
and of course fall in love with. I’ve been a fan of Dohner’s for a long time
and I’m happy to report that this new series is fun. York, the third
installment, takes a nice turn…”
For Amazing Stories Magazine most recently I shared the SFR
winter holiday new releases…
And on USA Today Happy Ever After, I interviewed
the four authors of the Seasons of
Sorcery (I cover fantasy romance sometimes!) because I so loved all of the
stories…which of course included our Jeffe Kennedy’s The Dragons of Summer. Here’s how I began the column: “I love
reading anthologies! I enjoy reading shorter works by favorite authors, set in
worlds they’ve established in series, as well as discovering new-to-me authors
included in the selections. A new fantasy romance collection, Seasons of
Sorcery, from four amazing authors — Jeffe Kennedy, Jennifer Estep, Grace
Draven, Amanda Bouchet — fulfilled my reading desires in high style…”
My most recent hard
SF recommendation over at Amazing Stories was The Rising Tide, a generation ship novel by J. Scott Coatsworth…
For the most part, I’m not recommending all the new
releases in my
weekly blog post on my personal Wordpress site. I’m reporting that ‘here they
are!’ and if I do have a specific input because I’ve read a book or loved the
series, or a blogger/reviewer/reader I respect has recommended a book to me, I’ll
add that note.
I curate the list to a certain extent because no one human
person can possibly list ALL the new releases in 3 genres every week so I do
pick and choose. I give weight to previous reviews, of the book and/or of the
author, if any, especially when there are repeated mentions of quality issues. But
I include books that might not be to my personal taste in every respect – I just
can’t get into reverse harem for example, but I respect that many readers do
enjoy the subgenre and so I happily include those new releases. I’m not a huge
steampunk fan either but I’m thrilled to find a new one to bring to the readers. I
have fun compiling the list, seeing all the new books, relishing the covers,
observing the trends…
And that's me, talking about other people's books pretty much all the time when I'm not writing my own! Happy reading, folks!
