Romance differences, they make the reading world go round.
Hi Mandi – waving from New Zealand, where it’s getting pretty cold! It’s the start of winter here, and I’m snuggling up near the fire with loads of romance books.
Thanks for letting me stop by Smexy Books as part of my Invitation to Romance Blog Tour. It’s a thrill to get to be a guest at Smexy Books.
I’m half way through my tour and its fun seeing the familiar names in the comments box at each stop. For those of you who haven’t heard of my Invitation to Romance blog tour it’s not to late to join the fun.
The Book Tour Grand Prize – A $200 Amazon, or B&N Voucher, PLUS… A Book Basket of 30 ‘SIGNED by the AUTHORS’ books…
I hope you’re enjoying meeting Rheda and Rufus, my hero and heroine in Invitation to Scandal, my latest release. I’ve been talking about Rheda and Rufus a lot during the month of May, so today I thought I’d give you a glimpse of some of my other stories.
But first, like many of you, I’ve read thousands of romance books and I can’t really say I didn’t enjoy any of them. Some I loved and I mean loved, to the point I had to email the author to let her know. Others became good friends that I don’t want to part with, and some were simply read and forgotten with a satisfied smile.
Each reader has different books that are their loves. More of you will have different books that are friends, and probably some of my loves are simply your satisfied sighs and forgotten reads. That is what makes the world of romance so interesting. We all like different characters, plots and of course a writer’s voice, the way they tell a story.
Some of my love, love books are…
The Many Sins of Lord Cameron by Jennifer Ashley
Princess by Gaelen Foley
Devil’s Bride by Stephanie Laurens
The Dark Highlander by Karen Marie Moning
Lord of Fire by Gaelen Foley
The Warlord Wants Forever by Kresley Cole
Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh
As you can probably tell, I tend to love dark, tortured heroes. I love the angst of a man trying to come to grips with something in his past, and usually, he ends up facing his fear, weakness or threat, with a strong heroine at his side. I also enjoy a bit of suspense in my romances. I love the evil villain, and as such my villains are absolutely that— dastardly. They have no redeeming features at all. Because of these factors, my heroines are usually pretty intelligent and full of fight. [CLUE EIGHTEEN: THE]
However, for a change of pace I decided to write a trilogy that is slightly lighter in nature but still encompasses handsome rakes and strong heroines. I’ve tried my hand at novellas, be it long novellas, about the length of a short contemporary romance 40,000 words. I wanted the stories to be playful. My heroes are three friends who are peers of the realm, and I have them involved in a series of wagers. The books are called, To Dare the Duke of Dangerfield, To Wager the Marquis of Wovlerstone and the final book in the trilogy, to be released in early August is, To Challenge the Earl of Cravenswood.
Each story is completely different and the wagers lead each man to their soul mate, lover and of course their happy ever after. The Wicked Wagers stories are available as individual eBooks only, through Smashwords, Amazon, B&N, and Apple ibook. I will be releasing a book version containing all three stories in November 2012.
Book one in the Wicked Wagers trilogy is called, To Dare the Duke of Dangerfield and here is the blurb…
Let the Wicked Wagers Begin…
Lady Caitlin Southall’s temper has finally got the better of her. She’s challenged Harlow Telford, the Duke of Dangerfield, the most notorious rake in all of England, to a wager. She wants her house back. The one her destitute father lost to Dangerfield in a card game. But if she doesn’t win their bet, she not only loses her home, she loses her dignity and pride and damn it all, maybe her heart… For the handsome Duke has decreed, when he wins, she must spend the night in his bed.
Harlow Telford is amused by his hellion neighbor, Caitlin, or Cate to her friends, who seem to encompass everyone on earth except him. When she bursts into one of his private gatherings, he mistakes her for the entertainment. Her slap across his face sets him straight and raises the absurd desire to seduce the unconventional beauty into his bed. When she issues her daft challenge to win back her father’s pile of rubble, the terms are set. And he’ll do anything to win—except fall in love…
I hope you give Harlow and Caitlin’s story a read. If you do, let me know how you liked it.
I’m giving away a copy of INVITATION TO SCANDAL to one commenter. Simple tell me how many romance book piles you have i.e., love, great, okay, never to read again, and what is the book sitting at the top of LOVED pile that you’ve read in the last few months and will probably read over and over again for the rest of your life. My latest ‘love to read again and again’ is a contemporary by Kim Lawrence, Gianni’s Pride. I loved her story.
Also, find out how to win the INVITATION TO ROMANCE Book Tour Grand Prize of a $200 Amazon or B&N gift card plus 30+ collection of ‘signed by the author’ romance novels by visiting www.bronwenevans.com!
About Bron:
New Zealander Bronwen Evans grew up loving books. She’s always indulged her love for story-telling, and is constantly gobbling up movies, books and theatre. Her head is filled with characters and stories, particularly lovers in angst. Is it any wonder she’s a proud romance writer?
She writes both historical and contemporary sexy romances for the modern woman who likes intelligent, spirited heroines, and compassionate alpha heroes. She’s won several romance writing competitions and is a member of several writing organization, including RWA, RWNZ, and The Beau Monde.
Bronwen loves hearing from avid romance readers at romance@bronwenevans.com You can keep up with Bronwen’s news by visiting her website www.bronwenevans.com
To enter to win Invitation to Scandal, answer Bronwen’s question above. Open to all through May 30th.
Nalini Singh’s Archangel series is at the top of y love it pile. Just found these last year and have read several times.
Kristan Higgins “The Next Best Thing”. I’ve read it 3 Xs so far. I enjoyed your blog & will put your books on my list to read. Thanks!
There are so many in my love it pile. It would be a toss up between Julie Garwood, Nalini Singh, and Christine Feehan. A recent book I know I am going to read over and over is The Witness by Nora Roberts.
my books have taken over my house, my husband, and daughter both read, my daughter can speed read. we have quite a collection betwseen us. i have loved too many books in different genres to say what my absolute favorite is, i just fall in love with whoever im reading at the time. i recently read angela castles tiger mine and really loved it, so thats on my top at the moment. i also had some other really good books on the kindle, which including passion awakened by jeccia lee, gabrielle bisset blood betrayed and doyna lynne rise and fallen.
Truthfully, there are too many books to count. I love Georgette Heyer – These Old Shades holds a special place as it was the first one of hers I read. Other favorite rereads would include books by Nora Roberts, Linda Howard, Julie Garwood, Judith McNaught nad Sharon Sala – and the list goes on!
The top of my love it and will read again and again is my whole pile of Jude Deveraux books. Since getting my kindle I am discovering many new(to me) authors like yourself. I am english and have lived in Spain for 24 years so have found it hard to get English books.
I have a favorite books pile that is so huge I’ve transferred it into a plastic tote; I have a discard pile of books to be donated; and finally, a huge TBR pile.
I have so many favorite books that I read more than once, but a particular favorite is Almost Heaven by Judith McNaught. Ms. McNaught writes wonderful, witty dialogue with lots of angst. Other favorite authors are Sherry Thomas, Julie James and Julia Quinn.
Good morning
It’s 7.00am on Tuesday morning here in NZ. Thanks for giving me some more wonderful books to read. I love hearing other people’s favorite books.
I’ve just read The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst and loved it!
I have a TBR basket, a donation pile, and a favorites bookshelf. My favorites to re-read are Shelly Laurenston’s pack series, Jennifer Crusie (Agnes and the Hitman), and Nalini Singh’s Slave to Sensation. Love them!
This was a difficult question. I have books in drawers, books on top of my dressing table, and as I’m in post-move mode, hundreds of hundreds of books yet to be unpacked from boxes. Picking one book – one author – was so hard! But I’m going to say Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis. (Or at least that’s today’s answer – grins).
I love discovering authors that live in the same country, first Nalini now you! I have so many favourites I don’t think I can name them all. Julie Garwood, JD Robb, Lisa Kleypas, Nalini are but a few.
A lot of my piles are inside my iPad! This helps on clutter, but I still have stacks from the library and work (I am an elementary school librarian). I love my Karen Moning books best but have Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris sitting on top of my current stack.
I have a few piles. Those are great books on the list.
My all time favorite series to read and reread and reread is the The Trap Trilogy, by Tracy Anne Warren, but then again I could always read The Cynster Series or The Bastion Club or The Black Cobra Quartet over and over again. I just can’t get enough of these series………LOVE THEM :)
My booklists include
To Be Read
Currently Reading
Started But Never Gonna Finish
Started to Reconsider Finishing
Books I Want to Own
Start To Finish Later
The last book I read that curled my toes and landed on my Books I Want to Own is Julia London’s The Courtesan’s Scandal.
I don’t really have a pile. I love historical romance and I haven’t found one that I didn’t like and hope I never would. I’m just a sucker for romance so I guess every single one I read is amazing. Two of my most favorite authors are DeeAnne Gist and Nora Roberts.
I love all of these books. The Cynster series is one of my all time favorites. I’ve been away this afternoon playing bridge with my mum. We came fourth so not a bad way to spend a cold, winters afternoon.
I must admit I love my new Kindle so I can create shelves within the Kindle and keep my books really organised.
Do you keep shelves in your kindle?
I’ve been glomming Megan Hart’s SPICE novels; I recommend Broken (my #1 rec) and Dirty. The story of Elle, the heroine in Dirty, continues sequentially in Broken where she’s a secondary character and in the “Reason Enough” short story where she’s the main character again. I sort of wish that the story of the protagonists in Broken would continue in other forms.
Wow, I have book piles all over the place. My hubs thought that buying me a Kindle would eliminate the piles. He was wrong ;). I don’t separate them. If I don’t like them I get rid of them otherwise they’re all liked/loved. I don’t tend to re-read books either. My TBR is just to large. At the top of my love right now is Joan Swan’s FEVER. What an excellent read!
Thank you.
Gosh, I have a huge keepers pile that I re-read over and over again. I can’t tell you how often I re-read Gaelen Foley or Nicole Jordan. There are books I love reading again and I still enjoy them. Some I re-read and I can’t even remember reading it the first time my pile has got so big.
My top of loved book are Tempt Me at Twilight and Devil in Winter (Lisa Kleypas). I like the way she writes the story.
Thanks for the blogpost, you are a new to me author, and I really like your blurbs. I don’t have piles of how much I liked a book, my books are sorted by author. Some of the best books I have read (and tried to make everyone I know read/buy): Suzanne Enoch – A beginner’s guide to rakes and Annette Blair – Bedeviled Angel and Christine Feehan – Water Bound.
A couple of favorites of mine are also by Lisa Kleypas. “Mine till Midnight” and “Seduce me at Sunrise”. I will eventually end up reading them again, once I get through my TBR pile. I also loved “Invitation To Ruin” and will read that again too.
No need to enter me into this contest, as I’ve already won “Invitation to Scandal”.
I have a huge TBR pile. I have those that are by authors I’ve read & enjoyed before and then there are the authors I haven’t read. I don’t generally plan on re-reading many books cause there are just too many out there that I haven’t read yet. But I recently found a box of books I had put aside many years ago, including my Barbara Cartland collection, so I plan on reading thru them again.
Wasn’t Barbara Cartland an amazing woman? What a life she led. I’d love to read her books again.
Thanks for a great post and giveaway! You’ve described it perfectly. The *luvd*, the liked, and the meh pile for me :) I read so much, in so many genres, that I’m afraid that I’ve gotten a bit jaded and books don’t snap out at me as much any more. So I tend to keep all my piles and I’ll try and reread at least one more time to see if it’s better the 2nd go. My fav book is usually the book I’ve just read, so that would be In the Company of Witches by Joey W. Hill. That book was fantastic. Dark and morally ambiguous hero w/ super powers and a woman who is 1/2 succubus. And it was a spell binding (ha, no pun intended) and riveting story! I recommend it to everyone!
I have so many genres in my book piles. I have all my books in plastic containers. I love reading all different types of books especially romance. My favorite series is the Twilight series. Please enter me in contest. I would love to read your books.
I have reread PRIDE & PREJUDICE many times! I’ve been thinking of rereading WHEN BEAUTY TAMED THE BEAST by Eloisa James and LORD OF SCOUNDRELS by Loretta Chase this summer. Thanks for the giveaway!
I loved When Beauty Tamed the Beast. I’ve just got my copy back from my sister so I will have to read it again. Elosia James is coming to New Zealand for our RWNZ annual conference in August. I can’t wait to meet her.
Your wager series sounds cute. =)
I just finished a fantasy romance series that I loved so much I had to go buy the set new, Chronicles of the Warlands. Fell in love with Kier, can’t let him go so on the keep pile he goes.
I have my absolute loves, must buy them new so I can stick my nose in the pages and inhale. Then the ones that are really good and will reread but they can be used. The the good pile, those I enjoy but may not read again so I pawn them off on my friends =)
I’ve never heard of the seris so I shall have to go and check it out. Although, I have to say I’m not really a first person fan in any book. I’m too nosey. I want to be inside every main character’s head.
I have the keep forever, the OMG why?, the like it so I will tell other people/read more from the author. At the top of my pile is Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon, pretty much all Lisa Kleypas and everything Karen Marie Moning.
I’ve got books everywhere too! I’ve got books I’ve read and should get rid of (but they are still here!), books I’ve loved and want to keep close, and a huge TBR pile.
The last book I’ve really loved was “Wicked Games” by Jill Myles. I’ve got her Succubus books in my TBR pile. I also really enjoyed reading “Stolen Fury” by Elisabeth Naughton. I thought it was very original and I think I’m going to read other books by her soon!
Thank you for the giveaway and for the reading advice. “Devil’s Bride” was already in my TBR pile and I love Karen Marie Moning and Kresley Cole too.
Bronwen –
Sorry to be checking in late again – I’m still playing “catch-up”!
My husband and I don’t have book “piles” but instead we have two bookcases that flank the fireplace in our family room along with small free standing bookcases in our bedroom, living room and two in our kitchen (one for cookbooks and one for books to be read). When books still manage to overflow the available space years ago we had to set a new rule so the books now are limited to only books we love and will read again! No books are ever thrown away and instead we donate them to our small town library, to the local Senior Center, friends, family or to the local women’s shelter. Since we also have children’s book for when our grandchildren visit we also donate any
they have out grown.
My favorite book that is always a must re-read is the first historical romance I ever read back in High School – Don Quixote by Cervantes. Back in the 1600’s Cervantes changed the focus of narrow literary concepts and is considered the best literary work ever written and even inspired the art of Picasso. To me Cervantes was the first historical romance author and laid the foundation for the literature of today.
Ahem…we won’t discuss how many piles there are in my house…let’s just say that my husband was startled to go into a room that he doesn’t usually enter and exclaimed…”they’ve multiplied in here too!” Nora Roberts, Stephanie Laurens, Maya Banks, Joey Hill, Mary Balogh, Sabrina Jeffries, … the list goes on for a long time (-: