Romance
Just in time for Valentine's Day, I am
bringing you a Spotlight on Romance. These independently published books
provide readers with a variety of romantic experiences. From the wildly
popular genre of "romantic comedy" to the more traditional "historical romance"
and the up-and-coming "paranormal romance," there is something for everyone
here. Funny, inspiring, and sometimes tragic -- love is in the air.
Dear
Jane Letters by Amanda Hamm
Dear Jane Letters is a light-hearted look into the life
of Raina Lane, author of a local advice column titled Dear Jane. Raina has a
close family who loves and entertains her at every encounter. She lives with her
best friend, Vicki, who is about to get married and is anxious to see Raina
paired up as well. She looks for romance between Raina and just about anyone
with whom they come into contact, including a blind date and the old friend who
has recently reentered Raina's life. Despite her roommate's constant vigilance,
when Raina does find love, it still catches her by surprise.
Amanda Hamm was born and raised in a small town in northern Ohio where
her father is currently serving as Mayor. She now lives in North Carolina with
her husband and two young children. She is a stay-at-home mom and doesn't have
nearly enough time to devote to writing.
Reviews:
"Chick Lit you can share with your daughter ..." ~ CatholicMom.com
"Dear Jane Letters is a funny and upbeat look at dating. Smooth dialogue and
lots of fun moments throughout. If it were a movie, I'd describe it as a
romantic comedy ..." ~ Amazon Customer Review
Visit the author's blog to learn
more about Dear Jane Letters and the author's other works.
Waiting for Spring by R.J. Keller
Tess Dyer's divorce is final. She trudges out of one small Maine
town and into an even smaller one. There she meets twenty-five-year-old Brian
LaChance. He is struggling to keep Rachel, the sister he raised, from becoming
another victim of the drug problem that infests their impoverished town. Brian
is immediately drawn to Tess’s quirky, outspoken nature, and to the beauty he
sees in the haunting pictures she paints. Her own initial attraction to him is
purely physical; just a warm, young body to help her mask the pain. Soon,
though, she comes to admire his kindness and strength, and reluctantly allows
herself to fall in love with him. But the fear of losing it is always there.
R.J. Keller is a
writer from Central Maine, where she lives happily with
her husband, two kids, and the family cat. A passionate
enthusiast of independent films, she worked as a
correspondent for the I’m Not There movie
support site and is currently the Features Administrator
of the Movie Fanatic website.
Reviews:
"Like Jennifer Weiner's
Cannie (Good in Bed) or Elinor Lipman's April (Then She
Found Me), Tess is a gutsy everywoman readers will cheer
for." ~ Amazon Customer Reviews
"It’s not a
showy fantasy or clever comedy or groundbreaking
genre-maker — but it accomplishes something even better.
It shows you a main character, and unfolding group of
secondary characters, that live and breathe and...touch
the reader’s heart and mind." ~ Web Fiction Guide
Learn more or read an
excerpt at the
author's website.
Second Chance by Joy Collins
Mothers, fathers, children, wives, husbands-everyone deserves a second
chance, don't they?
Or do they? Sara Weber has always felt she was married to two
people-her husband and his ex-wife. Suddenly her world-and her
marriage-is turned upside down when his ex demands money for their
college-age daughter. Her husband's response? He wants his daughter to
move across the country to Arizona, live with him and Sara and attend
the local university. As if this weren't enough stress, Sara's mother is
becoming more senile and Sara has to help her sister place her only
living parent in a nursing home. When Sara's stepdaughter is in a car
accident, the ex swoops in and attempts to re-kindle a relationship with
Sara's husband. Devastated, Sara turns to the last person she ever
thought could help her-her own stepmother.
Second Chance is the
story of one woman's marriage and how she learns that understanding and
forgiveness are the keys to a second chance at love.
Joy Collins
and her husband John share their Arizona home with two dogs and three
cats. She is a registered nurse and holds a degree in Business
Administration. Joy divides her time between her busy legal nurse
consulting business and writing and is already working on her second
novel.
Reviews:
"A familiar tale about a woman in a second marriage with a man whose
ex-wife is a real pain. I immediately felt sorry for Sara, the
protagonist, because of the insults she has to endure and the
interruptions she suffers in her otherwise satisfying life. As Sara
says, her husband ...didn't just have the baggage from a previous
marriage, but ...steamer trunk loads full of crap leftover from
his life with Mona." ~ ReaderViews.com
"Joy Collins shows a depth of maturity rarely found in a writer's
first novel. She takes the reader through a tightly interwoven set of
circumstances, defining and delineating the psychodramas as they unfold.
The show-don't-tell compositional style is never boring and the editing
is as taut as the strings on a violin." ~ iUniverse Book Reviews
Learn more about this book and Joy Collins' "Fiction for Today's
Woman" at the
author's website.
Mozart's Wife
by Juliet Waldron
Giddy sugarplum or calculating bitch? Mozart's
biographers show disdain for his Konstanze. Mozart's wife aroused strong
feelings among her contemporaries: for example, her inlaws despised her. Her
husband's Viennese friends eagerly gossiped about her as well. Nonetheless,
Mozart's letters attest both to his affection for Konstanze and to their
powerful sexual bond. She bore six children while presiding over the unstable
household of the world's first superstar. As a widow, Konstanze paid off his
debts, provided for their children, and relentlessly mythologized the life of
her brilliant husband. Why, then, did she never bother to mark her illustrious
husband's grave?
By the
time Juliet Waldron was twenty-one, she had lived in twenty-one places,
including Cornwall, England and Barbados in the West Indies, where she attended
school. A lifelong passion for history led to twelve novels. "Mozart's Wife" was
a 2000 Frankfurt nominee. At the 2001 Virginia Festival of the Book, "Mozart's
Wife" won the First Independent eBook Award.
Reviews:
"Based on original sources, including family letters and scholarly biographies,
Mozart's Wife is a fascinating work of historical fiction, an
entertaining and sometimes erotic look at a remarkable woman who earned the
lifelong love of one of history's most remarkable men.” ~ Book Page
"Juliet Waldron brings Constanze and her wayward genius of a spouse to vivid
life. She avoids the pitfall of the biographical novelist by refusing to make
one or the other of them a villain, and her insights into character are
extraordinary." ~ Blue Iris Journal
"Mozart's Wife
is a consuming piece that reminds us that all humans, regardless of talent or
skill, are within the boundaries of fault and outside the lines of
perfection." ~ Library Reviews
Awards:
Fiction Winner of the First
Independent eBook Awards, 2001
Visit the author's website
for more information on this and other historical fiction novels by Juliet
Waldron.
Love and Brimstone by Lesli Richardson
Anastazia "Taz" Proctor finds out that destiny really sucks. Literally.
She's a highly-paid and well-known "fixer," a cool, aloof, carefully
controlled lawyer - and has earned her "Ice Queen" nickname. When she takes
a dream job working for handsome millionaire Matthias Hawthorne, life as she
knows it changes forever. He's cute, he's rich, and he has a 1968 Mustang.
What could be better than that? But after an attempt on her life, Hawthorne
is forced to reveal the truth about his identity...and hers. With her life
in danger, Taz must learn to put aside her anger at Matthias for years of
deception and accept the truth about her past – and her future.
Lesli Richardson is a freelance writer and novelist who lives in
southwest Florida with her husband and son. She is the author of "Love and
Brimstone" out from Aimira Press as well as four books coming in 2009 from
Lyrical Press, Inc. and two from Siren-BookStrand.
Reviews:
" Not your traditional
vampire romance ... loved the new spin Ms. Richardson creates in her story!"
~ Dark Angel Reviews
"Lesli Richardson has taken the vampire myths that we all know to a very
different level. No more fangs, coffins, or hiding from the sun. This is
definitely a skillfully spun story about some new age vamps." ~
Paranormal Romance Reviews
Awards:
Paranormal Romance Top Pick August 2008
Learn
more about this book at the
author's blog or purchase the e-book from
Amira Press.
Dear Heart, How Like You This? by Wendy
J. Dunn
May, 1536. The poet Sir Thomas Wyatt, released from imprisonment
in the Tower of London, is in his father's custody. From almost the beginning of
his life, Tom has loved his cousin Anne Boleyn, content to sit at her feet while
she sang her love songs to another, if doing so gave him just a moment in her
company. Now he is heartsick and despairing, having witnessed her juridical
'murder' by Henry VIII. Only wanting to escape from the recent memories now
rending his heart, Tom recounts his story, a story which narrates too the tragic
tale of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII.
Wendy J. Dunn is an Australian
writer obsessed by Tudor History. The author of the award-winning novel
Dear Heart, How Like You This?,
Wendy is currently working on a trilogy based on the
life of Katherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII.
Reviews:
"Thomas Wyatt, cousin of Anne, is haunted by the shortened life
of his true affection, and he carries his love for her beyond her death
inscribing a brief portrait of a historical event and the times." ~ Writers
Notes Magazine
"I had to keep telling myself that
it is a work of fiction, but it didn't feel like fiction to me." ~ T. Wyatt,
descendent of Sir Thomas Wyatt
Awards:
2003 Glyph Award for Best Adult Fiction
Learn more about Australian author Wendy J. Dunn and her work at
the author's website.
Searching for Pemberley by Mary Simonsen
While visiting Montclair, an 18th Century Georgian country house located in the
Peak District of Derbyshire, England, Maggie Joyce, a 22-year old American
living in postwar London, is told that the former residents of the mansion were the inspiration for the characters in
Jane Austen's masterpiece, Pride & Prejudice, and that Montclair is the novel's Pemberley. During her visit to the nearby
village, Maggie meets Beth and Jack Crowell, both of whom have ties to Montclair, and
who know if the legends associated with the house are
true. While exploring the truth behind the romance of Darcy and Elizabeth,
Maggie is drawn into the love story of the Crowells, who married in the midst of
the horrors of World War I, as well as her own love story with Rob McAllister,
an American who flew on bombing missions over Germany during World War II, and
who has returned to England for his own deeply personal reasons. Searching
for Pemberley is a story of lovers who bridge class differences in Regency
England, but it is also speaks to love and loss in postwar England.
In writing this book, Mary Simonsen has combined her love of
Jane Austen's novels with her other interests, specifically, the history of
Regency England, The Great War and World War II. Through her main character,
Maggie Joyce, she was also able to write about Minooka, Pennsylvania, a town in
the Pocono Mountains, where her parents grew up during the Depression.
Reviews:
"[The author's] deeper understanding of Austen's characters, meticulous
knowledge of World War II and Regency England histories make this book a
resounding success." ~ Roundtable Reviews
"A well written and informative story. History, romance and even a little
mystery all combined in one wonderful book. Five stars." ~ Best Seller World
"The most remarkable aspect of PR is Simonsen's ability to take multiple stories
from completely different time periods and fuse them into a cohesive whole."~
Curled Up With a Good Book
Learn more about Pemberley Remembered and the history behind it at the
author's website.
The Proviso by Moriah Jovan
Knox Hilliard's uncle killed his father to marry his mother and gain control of
the family's Fortune 100 company. Knox is set to inherit the company on his 40th
birthday, provided he has a wife and an heir, but he never really wanted it in
the first place. Now, after his bride is murdered on their wedding day and his
backup bride poses such a threat to their uncle that he's tried to kill
her--twice--Knox refuses to fulfill The Proviso at all. Then he meets a
woman he may not be able to resist long enough to keep her safe.
Moriah Jovan is the author of The Proviso. Since before Moriah can
remember, she wrote stories in her head to put herself to sleep at night.
Unfortunately, they grew like kudzu and took over her neural pathways until,
around age fourteen, she had to start putting them on paper before they choked
out everything else. She’s been writing ever since, with the exception of a
five-year sagging middle—er, uh, hiatus—during which a lot of stuff happened.
The trouble started when she woke up one morning with the solution to a plot
problem that had plagued her since 1995 ...
Reviews:
"Any story about religion, money, politics and sex is about entanglements,
complications, lies, deceit, manipulation, good and evil - and this The
Proviso delivers in spades while delving into the human side of the main
characters." ~ JulieW8.com
"I had never read a romance book like this one before; one that mixed Mormonism,
Libertarianism, politics, Wall Street, and love ..." ~ SamQWordPress.com
Read more buzz about this book and view a book trailer at the
author's website.
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