[REVIEW] Tropical Sin – Lexxie Couper

Lexxie Couper
Tropical Sin (part of the Bandicoot Cove anthology, along with novellas by Vivian Arend & Jess Dee) [eBook only]
Samhain (US: 6th September 2011)
Buy (US)

A common problem in romance fiction is that the main drama/conflict/problem/plot actually doesn’t feature IN the book, but much earlier.

In other words, the authors are writing the wrong stories. Their ideas for the right stories are evident, yet these gems don’t get the spotlight, instead hidden away within the space of a few pages of a way less interesting tale.

Reading Chapter Eight, hopefully you, too, will prefer a story featuring Derek Schulze than anyone else. His may not have a happy ending, but it’s bloody fascinating and emotional.

But since Derek doesn’t get a proper novella – he gets just those few pages, and they were more about Nick – dedicated to him, this serious note in Tropical Sin kind of feels chucked in.

[REVIEW] Triple Dare – Lexxie Couper

Lexxie Couper
Triple Dare (from the Red Hot Winter anthology, which includes other novellas by Jess Dee & Delilah Devlin)
Samhain (US: 4th January 2011)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

I would’ve given this four stars had it not been for that epilogue. So the novella’s downgraded to three.

It’s perfectly fine to give a character a life-threatening, inoperable illness. It makes ménage fiction less fantasy and more realistic. Adds some seriousness to the fun. All good.

But in the epilogue, you can’t just say the character’s in remission. If you’re going to have someone dying in earlier chapters, they should actually die – don’t pull a “just kidding” move. Because it seems like the inoperable illness is just thrown in for plot. The story would be fine if two characters marry, and have fond thoughts of their dear dead friend.

Or you can just say it’s not entirely inoperable. That still makes the story serious without pulling a “sucked in” move, and it ends reasonably happily.

So Triple Dare has a good idea, but the execution really pisses me off. Inoperable illness is inoperable for a reason. Don’t tell us something can’t be done when it actually does get done by the time the epilogue comes around.

Then again, I’ve never been an epilogue fan. I want a realistic ending, which is not necessarily a happy one.

January Through June 2011 Reads – Star Ratings

Books I read in January through June this year. Separated into star ratings, then listed by order in which I read them. All up at GoodReads. Some reviews here on my WordPress. Does not include books that I didn’t finish, because I’ve deleted them from my catalogue, and likely my memory.

Let me know if you decide to read or not to read them, based on my ratings. Because yes, I am that egocentric 😉

5 STARS: Rage (Jackie Morse Kessler), American Vampire (Jennifer Armintrout), Project 17 (Laurie Faria Stolarz), The Gathering (Kelley Armstrong), The Repossession Mambo/Repo Men (Eric Garcia), Moongazer (Marianne Mancusi), Wither (Lauren DeStefano), Girl Hero (Carrie Jones)

4 STARS: Outside In (Maria V. Snyder), Stocking Full of Coal (Amanda Feral), The Walled Garden (Michele Lang), The Shadow Runners (Liz Maverick), The Vespertine (Saundra Mitchell), Linger (Maggie Stiefvater), Dark Life (Kat Falls), Demonized (Naomi Clark), The Reckoning (Kelley Armstrong), Midnight Alley (Rachel Caine), Feast of Fools (Rachel Caine), Lord of Misrule (Rachel Caine), Carpe Corpus (Rachel Caine), Fade Out (Rachel Caine), Coming Home (P. D. Martin), Kiss of Death (Rachel Caine), XVI (Julia Karr), Ghost Town (Rachel Caine), The Girl in the Steel Corset (Kady Cross), Matched (Ally Condie), Uninvited (Amanda Marrone), The Bradbury Report (Steven Polansky), Uninvited (Justine Musk), Exile (Rebecca Lim), Helper12 (Jack Blaine), Darkness Becomes Her (Kelly Keaton)

3 STARS: Jealousy (Lili St. Crow), Among the Betrayed (Margaret Peterson Haddix), Among the Barons (Margaret Peterson Haddix), Becoming (Kelley Armstrong), Shadow Days (Andrea Cremer), Day of Fire (Kathleen Nance), Dreaming Anastasia (Joy Preble), Things Bogans Like, Beyond Heaving Bosoms (Sarah Wendell & Candy Tan), Fugitives (Alexander Gordon Smith), The Power of Two (Patti O’Shea), Coming Undone (Lauren Dane), In the Arms of Stone Angels (Jordan Dane), The Iron Witch (Karen Mahoney), Damaged (Yolanda Sfetsos), Falling Freestyle (Vivian Arend), Jeweled (Anya Bast), Thyla (Kate Gordon), It Takes a Village Idiot and I Married One (Alex Borstein & Cherry Chevapravatdumrong), Burn Bright (Marianne de Pierres), A Touch Mortal (Leah Clifford), Night and Chaos (Naomi Clark), Savage Transformation (Lexxie Couper), The Official Illustrated Guide (Stephenie Meyer), Exit Strategy (Kelley Armstrong), Made to Be Broken (Kelley Armstrong), You Are So Undead to Me (Stacey Jay), Hereafter (Tara Hudson), Relentless (Lauren Dane), The Scarlet Empress (Susan Grant), Close Encounters (Katherine Allred), Perfect Cover (Jennifer Lynn Barnes), Killer Spirit (Jennifer Lynn Barnes), West End (Laura Van Wormer), Moon Sworn (Keri Arthur)

2 STARS: Defiance (Lili St. Crow)

Support an Australian Author

It’s Australia Day, but now’s as good a time as any to support an Australian author, even if you’re international. Here are the books by Australian authors on my wishlist – perhaps they’re on yours, too:

Keri Arthur: Darkness Unbound Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Lexxie Couper: Savage Transformation Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Sara Creasy: Children of Scarabaeus Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Erica Hayes: Blood Cursed Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Rebecca Lim: Exile Buy (UK) Buy (Worldwide)
Yolanda Sfetsos: Damaged Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Guest-Blogging at Down Under Divas

The Down Under Divas invited me to guest-blog; said I could write about anything romance. You and I both know that I prefer romance as a sub-plot rather than the main event, and the Divas knew that, too. Yet, they liked my mini-essay enough to share it with their blog readers. So if you’d like to read about my favourite couple (or maybe just to be in the running to win Lexxie Couper’s Spaceport eBooks), stop by here. You have less than 24 hours until Lexxie selects a contest winner, but my essay will remain there for days after 🙂

And if you’d like me to guest-blog for you, my Inbox is open to suggestion. I don’t give away prizes, though; I can only offer my words 😉

September 2010 Releases

Done with August 2010 Releases? Here are the September 2010 Releases. To see further into the publishing future, check Reading Wishlist.

14 New Covers

Holly Black: Red Glove Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Lexxie Couper: Savage Transformation
Bree Despain: The Lost Saint Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Lauren DeStefano: Wither Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Kelly Keaton: Darkness Becomes Her Buy (US) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Richelle Mead: Last Sacrifice Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Yvonne Navarro: Highborn Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Michelle Rowen: Nightshade Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Carrie Ryan: The Dark and Hollow Places Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Rachel Vincent: My Soul to Take Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Rachel Vincent: My Soul to Save Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Rachel Vincent: My Soul to Keep Buy (US) Buy (CA)
Brenna Yovanoff: The Replacement Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

June 2010 Releases

Done with May 2010 Releases? Here are June 2010 Releases. To look further into the future, check Reading Wishlist.

[PROMO] Vivian Arend’s CLAIMING DERRYN & Lexxie Couper’s TIMELESS WRAITH

Looking for something to warm up your winter, or celebrate the summer heat Down Under? Vivian Arend and Lexxie Couper are spanning the globe to bring you two stories that are sure to make you sweat. Viv and Lexxie are both members of International Heat, and while their stories are not connected in any way, they happen to have drawn the same release day at Ellora’s Cave. What better reason to get together to celebrate?

Viv:

I’m very excited to be able to have Claiming Derryn available to you. This is my first futuristic novella, my first m/m/f, and my first release from Ellora’s Cave. Claiming Derryn is about three friends – and lovers during their days at the Space Institute – who were suddenly separated. Now rejoined in the midst of a rebel uprising, the lines between the good guys and the bad are extremely blurred. Surviving the situation is the goal, even as they find love. Oh, and if you’ve ever seen Star Trek‘s “The Trouble with Tribbles” you’ll understand when I say the “sharysa” are my salute to Star Trek.

It’s a hot, wild ride through the galaxy. Be prepared for a passion that’s out of this world.

Lexxie:

There must be something seriously wrong with me. I love writing stories that are dark and twisted, quite disturbing and full of wild dangerous sex. Enter Timeless Wrath. I wrote Timeless Wrath years ago and it was previously released as a novella called Deadly Sins: Anger. It won numerous awards (including the JERR Silver Star Award) but remained unknown to the reading public. However Evron and Ricki’s tale DEMANDED to be heard and, after quite a lot of rewrites, my most erotic book to date comes to you from Ellora’s Cave.

Timeless Wrath has just about everything you’d expect in a Lexxie Couper book – lots of explosive sex, tormented heroes, lots of wild sex, a villain that’ll scare the pants right off you, lots of passionate sex and a love story fated by the Highest of Powers. (Oh, and lots of sex. Did I mention that?)

I should warn you though. Timeless Wrath isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s violent, at times scary and has been known to cause nightmares…and wicked, wet dreams 😉

Vivian Arend
Claiming Derryn (eBook)
Ellora’s Cave (US: 10th February 2010)
Buy
When a trade negotiation goes wrong, Melina Davenport is sure she’ll end up either a causality of war or a sex slave. Discovering one of her missing partners, Trev, is the new leader of the rebels who have captured her adds insult to injury. And what the hell does he think he’s doing, ripping her clothes away and touching her in front of the Derryn rebels? She was so going to kick his ass. But when her former lover whisks her away to a reunion with their third, Davis – now captain of the notorious outlaw vessel Nottingham – she has to decide if she wants to join her two lovers in their important but less-than-legal activities. Time is running out. The authorities are hunting them, the rebels are bomb crazy and the local fauna is reproducing at an astonishing rate aboard their vessel. If they don’t find a solution soon, they can kiss the universe goodbye.

Lexxie Couper
Timeless Wrath (eBook)
Ellora’s Cave (US: 10th February 2010)
Buy
Beatrice “Rickie” Sullivan is every man’s fantasy. Drop-dead gorgeous, she exudes a sensuality none can ignore. More than just a stunning face and body, she’s intelligent, kind, gentle…and madly, inexplicably in love with Evron, a man she’s known mere hours. Evron McKenzie is troubled, struggling with undeniable anger that scorches though his veins. And the irrational feeling he is someone else, something more. Someone rich, powerful…someone to fear. But in Rickie’s arms, Evron may have finally found his place in the world. At last he is at peace. So who is the seductive redhead who invades Evron’s dreams? Why does she urge him to touch a mysterious sculpture – a sculpture that seems to radiate death and sin? How can she make him hornier than he’s ever been in his life with just a look, and at the same time turn his anger into bloody, murderous rage? And, more frighteningly, why can’t he resist her?

[GUEST BLOG] Why Tara Kleinfelter Loves Digital Publishing

Today we have a guest blog by Tara Kleinfelter, an editor at Samhain Publishing, Ltd. She loves digital publishing, and if eReaders weren’t so expensive and if geographical restrictions didn’t inconvenience me, I’d probably love it that much, too 😉

WHY I LOVE DIGITAL PUBLISHING by Tara Kleinfelter, Editor at Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

As an editor for Samhain, I’ve learned so much about the world of digital publishing. I am a huge advocate and supporter of digital publishing, and I have the best job in the world.

Here are some of the reasons why I love digital publishing so much.

1. Green is the thing right now. Everyone wants to save the world, save energy, save the whales, save the polar bears…you get it. Well, one of the top things on that list is saving trees. And eBooks do a great job of that. Try this on for size… Did you know that 40% of printed books are pulped? Yeah, you heard that right. Next time you walk into Barnes & Noble or Borders, take a lot around and imagine almost half of the books in there being trashed/recycled. Yeah, that’s pretty staggering.

2. In the majority of cases, digital books are cheaper than paper books. Now, I don’t know about you, but the amount of money I’ve spent, and continue to spend, on books is pretty high. I think I could probably pay off the mortgage on our house. =P With digital, there are less production costs, so the cost of the book doesn’t have to be as high to make up for those costs.

3. Ah, the space-saving abilities. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had to buy bookshelf after bookshelf in order to have space for the ton of books I buy. And trust me, it’s a ton. They’re overflowing everywhere, and thank God I have a husband who is understanding and doesn’t mind it. Because to be honest, if I had to choose one of the other, it’d be a pretty tight race between the hubby and the books. =) But with digital books, it’s not an issue at all. And if you don’t want to buy an external hard drive to keep them on so they don’t take up space on your computer, Google Documents works great for storing them, so long as they are a compatible format. I tend to go with PDFs, so Google Docs works great for me.

4. Digital publishers can take more chances with what they contract. In the case of the New York publishing houses, they have to be very careful with what they pick up. They have to choose stories they think really have a chance at selling very well. With us, we can take more chances. We don’t have to choose stories that we know will make us a ton of money. We can choose a really good story with a non-traditional storyline that may not be as widely accepted as most. We can choose something because we love it, and hope that everyone else loves it as much as we do. A perfect example of this is Butterfly Tattoo by Deidre Knight. Traditional publishing houses didn’t want it, but it’s become a well-known, much-loved story. All because an editor took a chance on a story she loved.

Here are some links for Samhain books that were first published in eBook, but have since been published in print:

Kaye Chambers & Taryn Blackthorne: On the Prowl (Anthology)
Lexxie Couper: Savage Retribution; Death, the Vamp and His Brother
Jess Dee: Only Tyler
Deidre Knight: Butterfly Tattoo