Sara Reyes | I'm Pissed and I'm Not Going to Take it Anymore!

Books read this week, all good for me:


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Got your attention on that title. It's been another interesting week with book discussions, perhaps because we had two great meetings back-to-back we were able to get into longer and better conversations about books. And the theme I heard the most, besides the absolutely delicious strawberry dessert made by Mindy all low-cal, was readers tired of being angry at books. Now don't despair authors, no one has said they'd hunt you down and shoot you in your sleep or anything really nutty, just an overall frustration at investing in a book and being sorely disappointed. So after reflection and there are only so many 'heated' discussions I can take, I thought perhaps we should dissect this reader dilemma.

First problem -- voice changes. What do you do when it's been a long time between books or worse, they go back and re-visit old friends and completely change their sound, ideas, and personalities? Forgiveness is divine I said and was soundly hushed.

Second problem -- character killed off Ooh, this one is generally the kiss of death to the readers I know. Kill off a youngish character at your own peril. Some club members are still irate over a death in a book at least 10 years ago. I mean, seriously, some readers bear longer grudges than the woman and her Seiko! Trust me on this one!

Third problem -- the characters are tired, the plot seemed phoned-in, we've read this before Oh, dear, what happens when it's obvious the shark was jumped a few books previously? Continue to pick up the book? Use the library? Give it a miss? Time is too short to waste and too many other books out there to read is what I think.

Fourth problem -- judging a book by the cover, but it's really crappy. You can throw a whole bunch of problems in this topic: hair, eye-color and general physique mismatch, cartoony cover and serious material, serious material and humorous content, or worse, dog / cat on cover and NO ANIMAL IN THE BOOK! Can you tell this really was a HOT button topic? I mean, who knew animals had such a following to generate feelings of betrayal if a cute dog is on the cover but not in the book. And let's not even go to dog-on-cover-cat-in-book debacles! Shudder. That was a loud discussion!

So, now, it's your turn. WHAT do you do when you feel "betrayed by a book?" Do you actually throw the book against a wall, or in the case of one reader, rip the ear buds out and bounce off the dash of car? Do you give the author another chance? Do you give the series a chance? What's YOUR solution?


Well, until next time...
Get out there and READ a book...

Sara Reyes
DFW Tea Readers Group
Join us at Readers 'n 'ritas November 13-15, 2009!

Barbara Delinsky | Writer + Businesswoman = SUCCESS!!!

Bet you think I’m here as a writer.  Well, you’re part right.  I’m also here as a businesswoman, because that’s what being a successful writer demands.  It isn’t enough to write a good book these days; it also takes running a website, being on Facebook, even Twittering (as BarbaraDelinsky).  Oh, and blogging.  Can’t forget that.  I blog on my own website, and now, here, as a guest.

Who’d a thought, way back when, that all this … peripheral stuff would matter so much?  But boy, does it.  I’m currently writing NOT MY DAUGHTER, scheduled to pub on January 5, 2010, but the book will not do as well as I want unless I continually hype it on my website, email my mailing list, write Q&As for online resources, display the cover art on Facebook, and tweak Twitter – and that’s not to mention giving speeches and signing books.  Sadly, I’ve known many writers far more talented than I am, who have stopped writing because they found all these things so daunting.

Don't stop now, read the rest of Barbara's blog...

Vanessa Kelly | WHAT IS IT ABOUT SISTERS?

What is it about the topic of sisters that causes so much controversy? My new Regency-set historical, Mastering The Marquess, is partly a story about a pair of sisters, and the life-threatening situation they confront together. Meredith, my heroine, will do anything to keep her little sister Annabel out of harm’s way—even if it means putting her own life at risk. And she does that without blaming Annabel for their predicament, or feeling resentful that she must potentially sacrifice her own chance for happiness.

Meredith’s selflessness didn’t seem odd or out of character to me, likely because I have an older sister who has always been uber-protective of her siblings. She would take on a herd of charging elephants without a second thought if it meant keeping me or my brothers safe. But to my surprise, a few readers of Mastering The Marquess expressed discomfort with Meredith’s willingness to sacrifice herself for Annabel. They thought their relationship was too perfect—that real sisters fought more, and that Meredith should, at the very least, be resentful of Annabel. That took me aback since I can count the number of times I’ve fought with my sister on one hand, with a few fingers still left over. Maybe I’ve been lucky and I just happened to win the grand prize in the sister lottery, or it could be that we’re just a pair of really irritating goody two-shoes!

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Tina Leonard | MAKING LISTS

I love lists. I am a list-maker, a list-keeper, a doodling scribe of anything on any surface. My kids have picked up a dinner napkin as we left a restaurant because I had jotted a few ideas down on the paper. Bless their hearts, they were afraid to leave behind one of Mom's Big Ideas. Lists keep me organized, make me aware of how much I get done in a day or not done as life may have it.

I also love bestseller lists, especially when one of my books or a friend's book makes its way onto the hallowed spaces. Recently, my four-book series, The Morgan Men, was fortunate enough to make a few lists, one book being first on the eharlequin.com list, and another staying on same list for about eighteen days in various spots. Throw in a Waldenbooks/Borders list for three weeks in a row for my March book—culminating in the #2 spot in the third week!--and I began to ponder the scattered good fortune in the universe. (Remember, I am a student of listing—I try to figure out these random occurrences, whether or not I can find an answer being irrelevant). Greater minds than mine have written about the quirky fate in making bestseller lists, but my house is on the market so I have time to scattershoot while I'm scrubbing floors and cleaning out shrub beds.

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Jennifer Lewis | The Siren Call Of The Series

Hardcastle Progeny


Jennifer Lewis' books

My new book out this month, The Heir’s Scandalous Affair, is the third in my Hardcastle Progeny series for Silhouette Desire. This is my first author-generated series, and I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to carry my characters through three different books. It was quite a challenge because each book had to stand completely alone, so you could pick it up without ever having read—or even heard of—the other two. I also wanted them to mesh together so you could read all three as part of one overarching story about the Hardcastle family. As a reader I enjoying seeing characters from previous books and learning what they’re up to now, and I know from experience that I’m not the only one.

Soon after my first book The Boss’s Demand, came out in July 2007, I started getting emails asking if I planned to write books for the two brothers of my hero, Elan. I wrote back that I honestly wasn’t sure. I’d always wanted to create stories for all three brothers, but I wrote that book before I sold and publishers aren’t always wild about the idea of buying several linked books from an untested author. After all, what if the first one is a big flop???

I can now boldly state that one of the hero’s brothers will be coming out some time in 2010, since I’ve just finished penning his story. I will have published seven or eight other books in between, so I apologize for the wait! It was a lot of fun revisiting Sara and Elan from my first book, and given the passage of time it should be no surprise that they now have two children.

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Leigh Greenwood | Series, Series, Series

I didn’t set out to write series. I fell into it by accident. I was watching the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with my younger son about twenty years ago. We didn’t pay much attention. He was eight and preferred trying to wrestle his father to watching a musical even though it was his idea to watch the movie together. (Since he’s never watched a musical before or since, Providence’s hand must have been at work.) After it was over, I thought that seven brothers looking for wives would make a good idea for a series, never dreaming it would turn out to be an idea for me. Sometime later, I realized I had a group of brothers in my head. I didn’t know where they’d come from or why they were there, but they were remarkably well defined. A little bemused, I asked my agent what I should do about them. She suggested that I write a proposal, let her send it out, and see that happened. Thus was born the Seven Brides series.

A John Wayne movie, The Cowboys, gave me the idea for my The Cowboys series. He recruited schoolboys to help with a cattle drive. My idea was to have a school teacher looking for homes for orphan boys nobody wanted and a rancher in need of cowhands to help with a cattle drive. She could provide the love and sense of belonging they didn’t know how to accept while he provided the safety and sense of purpose they needed. I just had to figure out a way to get them together. It took thirteen books, but I finally helped each boy find the love and family he’d always wanted.

Click here to read the rest of Lee's blog or to comment.

Sandi Shilhanek | Readers are Discerning, or Buying a Book By Its Cover

Saturday the DFW Tea Readers were invited into the home of local author Dakota Cassidy for a truly delicious barbecue instead of our usual monthly tea. As always the conversation was lively, diverse, and I found myself trying to decide which conversation I truly wanted to follow.

However, the one the got my attention was the discussion about book covers. What type of book cover is best? What type of book cover makes you pick up a book to investigate further? What type of book cover makes you think "no way am I reading this book," and you don’t pick it up to check the back cover blurb. Then came the question I think most authors dread most, "how do you feel when the hero/heroine on the front looks one way, but the hero/heroine in the book is described totally differently."

To be honest I think I do judge a book somewhat by its cover. If the cover appeals to me I’m more likely to pick it up to see the back cover blurb. However, if the cover really annoys me I’m also liable to pick it up to see what deserved such a bad (in my opinion) cover. I would say that there’s an equal chance that both books will end up in my TBR.

I also have to be honest and say that I don’t pay much attention to the cover once I get the book home. I use a protective cover when I read, so if there’s a discrepancy between the hero/heroine’s description and the cover I might not notice that.

Curious minds want to know what you think about covers? Do you have favorite ones? Do you have ones you despise, but bought the book anyway because of the author? What happens when those discrepancies appear? Spill it all!

Until next week happy page turning.

Sandi Shilhanek

DFW Tea Readers
Readers 'n 'ritas... celebrating literary obsessions

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