Our topic at the SFF Seven this week concerns the benefits of working with an agent - or, for those of us without agents - times we've wondered if an agent would be helpful or why we choose not to have one.
I don’t have an agent, I’ve
never wanted an agent, I don’t need an agent for what I do, which is to
independently publish my own books. As I’ve said before in this space, if I was
offered a movie deal or a big contract by a traditional publishing house, THEN
I might seek out an agent. The other SFF’ers have written useful tips and
thoughts on the topic this week so I refer you to their posts!
Which leaves me with blank
space. Hmmm.
I’ve been wanting to write a
post about some fun books I read recently, none of which are scifi romance or
fantasy or paranormal. Yes, true confession, I read a LOT of other genres!
I was tempted to try
Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze
because it has a “Groundhog Day” element of the same day repeating itself over
and over as the heroine tries to fix her life. I enjoy that trope a lot and so
even though I’m not much of a contemporary romance reader, I decided to try
this one. I very much enjoyed the book and off I went to explore her backlist
for more romances. Of the ones I tried, I loved Jack and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, which was terrific and fun. I wasn’t
quite as excited by Twice in a Blue Moon.
I had a very hard time setting aside what had happened to the two main
characters in the past and accepting their HEA together. Up to that point I
pretty much was enjoying the book though. I think my favorite was The Honey Don’t List, mostly because of
its glimpses behind the scenes of a totally fictional (wink wink) reality TV
show were so much fun and I did totally buy into the HEA for everyone here.
Fortunately for me, I have more of this author’s books yet to read. I do love a
big backlist!
I kept seeing people rave on twitter about Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade and I decided to try it, based on the intriguing hook which reads in part: “…set in the world of fanfiction, in which a devoted fan goes on an unexpected date with her celebrity crush, who’s secretly posting fanfiction of his own.” Wow, five stars for this one, loved it. The heroine was wonderful, the situation was fraught but highly enjoyable and I read it in one sitting, then re-read it. Now I’m working my way through her backlist, which is sadly a short one so far. I just read Teach Me and 40-Love, both of which were excellent.
Mixed in on my recent
reading list were some post-apocalyptic and dystopian scifi novels and one
thriller, none of which excited me enough to recommend them here. One book I
basically DNF’ed although I did skim to the end because I was mildly interested
in why the villain was doing what they did. Life is too short for me to keep
reading a book which has lost my interest. But I always figure that’s my
personal experience with the book and it may be much more someone else’s cup of
tea.
To finish this post on a
positive note, a big shout out to Kris Michaels and her romantic suspense series
Kings of Guardian and the related Guardian Defenders. I positively devour those
books and have been on a re-reading binge of some of my favorites to hold me
over until the next one, Promises, releases
on December first. I think the story I enjoy the most is Jewel, about one of the sisters in the sprawling extended family of
security experts. I love the heroine’s quirky character, the way she has to
think things through, and of course the deadly and smart man assigned to keep
her safe. Lycos was actually the first
one I ever read in either series, about a deadly assassin suddenly saddled with
a woman and her son to safeguard, in a remote mountain site and remains high on
my list of favorites to re-read. I’m probably going to try her Hope City
series, about police detectives, although that’s really outside my normal
reading parameters. I’m not much for crime stories even with romance but we’ll
see.
I’m eagerly awaiting Under A Winter Sky: A Midwinter Anthology, which releases next week and has a new story from our fellow SFF member Jeffe Kennedy. I’m a HUUUGE Jeffe fan and I'm sure the other stories in the collection will be fun reads as well..
I also have no less than
three Regency Christmas anthologies lined up on the kindle, waiting for a cozy
evening when I’m just in the right mood to immerse myself…
Happy reading to you – I’d
better get back to working on my own next book!
