I’m Celebrating The New Year with a New Book–Breakfast in Bed is Out!

After a long wait, the third book in my Domestic Gods Series hit the shelves the reviews are rolling in. Here are a few of the reviews and quotes that have come my way:

“A fun and spicy story. Robin Kaye is a fresh new voice in romance fiction.”
~Susan Donovan, New York Times bestselling author of Ain’t Too Proud to Beg

“With snappy dialogue, complex characters, and an intricate web of relationships, Kaye has created an extended family that’s both honest and enjoyable.”
~Whitney Kate Sullivan, Romantic Times Magazine – 4-Star Review

“Robin Kaye’s books are vacations for the soul. Indulge yourself.”
~Maureen Child, USA Today bestselling author of Conquering King’s Heart

“Breakfast in Bed is a fun and sexy romp from beginning to end. The characters are ones you would love to call friend.  Author Robin Kaye has a knack for reaching right into the reader’s heart and giving them a story to match their deepest desires.  Becca and Rich are perfect for each other.  The chemistry leaps off the page whenever they are together. I laughed, I cried, and I cheered them on as they frolicked their way to a happily ever after.  Bravo, Ms Kaye!”
~Lettetia Elsasser,  Affair de Coeur 4 ½  Stars

“If you’re in the mood for a light breezy read with a happy ending, but enough twists and turns to make it interesting, don’t miss this book.”
~Bellas Novella

“Breakfast in Bed is another fascinating look at the Ronaldi family and their friends that provided me with hours of enjoyment. I can’t wait to see who the next god Ms. Kaye decides to grace with their own book.
~Hibiscus, Long and Short Reviews 4 ½ Books

Here’s an excerpt of Breakfast in Bed:

Rich followed her to the kitchen and leaned against the breakfast bar, staring at her as if he could see beneath her clothes. It was unnerving, and she reminded herself of all the reasons she didn’t like him.

“I know you don’t like me much.”

Becca took a cup from the cabinet. Ah, and he was a mind reader too.

“I don’t know why, but it doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t?” Wow, he was good. Not in that way, she reminded herself. And no, she wasn’t even that curious. She poured herself coffee.

He shook his head. “It might be a good thing.”

She looked up from the cup she was filling. “How can my not liking you be a good thing?”

“I need help, and I know it might come as a shock, but most women find me attractive. That would just complicate matters.”

“Color me surprised. Since you know I don’t like you, I suppose I can give up pretending that I do.”

He nodded and smiled a sinfully sexy smile that made her hormones do the cha-cha. She stepped out of the kitchen and picked up the sheets, blanket, and pillow she’d left for him in the living room, and returned them to the closet. Anything to get away from him. The man was a threat to her equilibrium. Unfortunately, he followed. “Okay, so since I don’t have to be nice, and you’re weirdly happy about that, why don’t you just leave?”

“I have a proposition for you.”

“No.”

“No?”

“That’s the answer to your proposition.”

“Don’t you even want to know what it is?”

“Not especially, but I will listen if you promise it will get you out my door sooner.”

He smiled again, and she rolled her eyes. She just wanted to be alone already. When it came down to it, she wasn’t much of a social person. She spent most of her time alone in her studio, and she was happy to do it. She didn’t need a man or company to keep her happy.

“Gina dumped me. She said I wasn’t relationship material because I don’t cook, clean, and do my own laundry. How hard can it be? I just need a trainer.”

“A trainer?”

“Yeah, like a domestic coach. Someone to show me the ropes. So I learn whatever I have to learn to make Gina think I’m not such a bad bet.” He might as well have asked her to streak through Times Square during rush hour.

Rich picks up the gauntlet and mayhem ensues. He soon discovers that he enjoys pissing Becca off, it becomes a hobby. Before long, he’s having so much fun hanging out with Becca, he’s almost forgotten why he started this whole thing in the first place–to get his girlfriend back in time to go to a charity benefit with his boss. When Rich meets with Gina to tell her he’d changed, he realizes that he doesn’t want her in the first place, the only one he wants Becca, who still doesn’t like him. It was a good thing he had a talent for wearing her down.

If you want a sneak peek at the first chapter of Breakfast in Bed, Romeo, Romeo, or Too Hot to Handle, they’re on my website at www.RobinKayeWrites.com along with the Domestic Gods Top Ten List, reviews, and a calendar of my blog tour. I’ll be giving away a copy of Breakfast in Bed to a lucky commenter with this and every blog through the month of January, so stop by and say hi for your chance to win.

Because I’m such a book nerd, half the folks on my Christmas list get books. The other half get bookstore gift certificates.

To make the gift certs more personal, I try and include some kind of handmade bookmark. One year when I had way too much time on my hands I dried flowers and pressed them between sheets of vellum, and another time I made homemade paper from denim jeans. Most years my bookmarks are far less ambitious: inspirational quotes, snapshots of my kids or travels, lists of fave books — all cropped with decorative scissors and tied with a festive ribbon.

This year my bookmarks featured my all-time favorite recipe, Buttermilk Crusted Blackberry Cobbler (see comments section for the recipe). I printed the recipe on kraft paper and attached a short raffia ribbon with blackberry beads tied on the ends. From-the-heart, simple and sa-weet.

And speaking of sweet treats, this week the 007s are serving up a bundle of books and other goodies. See Barb’s post on Dec. 18 for a list of all the treats we’ll be giving to one fantabulously lucky blog reader. For your chance to win, email nobodywritesitbetter@yahoo.com and tell us the Super Secret Santa Code (Hint: It’s what Santa says when he laughs).  Gail Fuller will announce the lucky winner on Christmas Day! Good luck!

Now for our question: What was the last book you gave someone as a gift and why? Or…what book do you want for Christmas? Or…what’s your must have sweet treat around the holidays? Joy & Peace to all!

Around the time my children became teenagers, I told them the only reason I didn’t staple their lips shut — or worse — smother them in their sleep, was because I wanted grandchildren someday.

As of last spring, my 32-year-old son­ (yes, I conceived him when I was just six years old) had been married for nine years with no progeny, and my still-single 27-year-old daughter had been torturing me for eons, saying she wasn’t sure she wanted children (she now admits this was purely to push my buttons).

I wondered if—after listening to me threaten their existence throughout their adolescence—my kids possibly feared for their lives.  So I promised, if either of them was inspired to procreate, I wouldn’t bump them off after they reproduced.  Now, I can finally shout it to the world.  I’m a Grammy!

My grandson, Samuel Reason (I think they’re hoping for a sensible child) Kellogg, was born at 10:31 a.m. on Friday, December 18th, weighing 7 lbs. 14 ozs. and measuring 21 1/2 inches.  Here he is (RIGHT) at only 5 minutes old.  He doesn’t like those bad bright lights! He enjoyed his first bath even less.

An hour later (LEFT) our Santa Baby was sleeping peacefully after filling his belly. I made that little Santa hat for him)

I love kids, and family is the number one priority in my life.  I loved being a mother, so it’s no surprise my favorite novels are stories featuring children and teenagers, or that I’m inspired to write books about family relationships.

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a big market for hearth and home stories outside of category romance (part of the reason I’m still unpublished). And the shorter length of series books and the strict parameters of tone and content limit the scope and subplots of those books.  However, things may be looking up.  I just read in a Publishers Weekly article that there may be a resurgence in contemporary romances, so perhaps that will include some single title home and family stories.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/index.asp?layout=talkbackCommentsFull&talk_back_header_id=6633494&articleid=CA6707062

One of the things I enjoy this time of year is most of the Christmas stories and anthologies have family relationship themes.  It makes me wish the single title publishers would print more of them all year round.  In the last two or three years, it seems the only contemporary single title romances editors will buy involve paranormal elements or murders.

For some strange reason, publishers and producers think if a subgenre becomes popular it’s the only thing they should produce.  For example, when was the last time you saw a Western on TV?  All we get on the boob tube are detectives, doctors, or psychics.  This all-or-nothing mentality is tantamount to the restaurant industry saying, “People love steak and lobster so let’s forget about serving any vegetables.”

Publishers are crying that books sales have fallen off.  Wouldn’t you think they’d realize more diversity might boost sales?

How about you?  Are you  in the mood to read more big contemporary romances with family dynamic subplots that don’t include vampires, ghosts, or dead bodies?  Or are you one of those readers who still can’t get enough of ghoulish novels?  There’s no judgment here.  Everyone is entitled to their taste.  Do you think readers’ preference is directly proportional to what’s being published today?

Don’t forget to enter the Super Secret Santa Giveaway and get some great reading material.  For your chance to win, just email nobodywritesitbetter@yahoo.com and tell us the Super Secret Santa Code (Hint: It’s what Santa says when he laughs).  Gail Fuller will announce the lucky winner on Christmas Day!

There are many, many books published each year that are wonderful stories, beautifully written, but which have either bad or just average covers, ones that are unfortunately forgettable or overlooked by bookstore patrons who are browsing, looking for something on the shelves to reach out and grab them. Then there are the covers that are so beautiful they could be framed as works of art. These appear in all genres, but I’ve particularly noticed them in young adult in the past couple of years.

Paranormal YA lends itself to gorgeous, otherworldly covers such as these.

Rachel Hawthorne’s Dark Guardians series has covers that showcase the beautiful heroines.

The historical YA series Luxe by Anna Godberson is distinctive for its lushness, glamour and cohesive tone from cover to cover.

Have you all seen any covers lately that were so beautiful you had to pick them up and see what the book was about? Do you think eye-catching covers lead to more sales by the authors?

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of time travel. The Time Traveler’s Wife is one of my favorite books from the last decade, and a lot of my teenaged fantasies involved me introducing a boy from the 50’s to the ways of the modern world. I blame that on Happy Days. But I never thought I’d attempt to write in that genre until I got the chance to contribute a short story for THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF TIME TRAVEL ROMANCE.

I love a good “modern girl falls for a Regency era Duke or Highland Warrior story” as much as the next gal, but I wanted to try something different. Something a little darker.

Around the time I got the chance to submit this story, I’d been watching Life on Mars on TV, and loved the idea of someone being trapped in the wrong time but no one believing them. And of course I loved the heartbreakingly romantic notion from The Time Traveler’s Wife of meeting someone you love when they’re not at the right age, and/or don’t remember you’ve already met.  I also concede that my story, in hindsight, has similarities to Groundhog Day, although I didn’t notice them until a beta reader pointed it out. (And other than the repeating date thing… well, not much similarity.)

But from somewhere in all that confluence of influences sprang the idea for “Lost and Found”, the story of Jake who, angry and upset at his father’s death and the whole world, takes a tab of acid in Central Park on April 17, 1967 and then proceeds to wake up every day in the same place, on the same date, in the same clothes, just in a different year, leaping forward and backward in time every day he wakes. By the time he meets the heroine Kara, for the second time in 2009, he has given up on the hope of ever ending his torturous leaps through time. But, of course, the story’s a romance, so it all turns out well in the end.

Today is the official release date for this anthology, which in addition to my story, includes 19 great authors’ stories, including Gwyn Cready who won the RITA® for best paranormal romance last year. I’m thrilled to have been included, even though they spelled my name “many more” on the cover. At least they got my initials correct. Actually, on this image of the cover, I’m not even there as “many more”, but it is on the actual book. I promise.

To celebrate my first ever release, I’m giving away a copy of THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF TIME TRAVEL ROMANCE to one random commenter! I’ll announce the winner this Saturday — to give everyone a few days to enter.

If you could travel through time, when would you most want to go?

Someone made the mistake of giving me a platform on Thanksgiving.

I love turkey.

I fell in love with my first turkey at age 10. Oh I’d eaten plenty of them before that, but that was the year I got to pull the wishbone and my pull ended up with the largest part, thus my wish would come true. If you don’t know the legend of the wishbone you can read it here. 

The next turkey I fell in love with I married. I got up at 3 am on Thanksgiving day to prepare our first Thanksgiving meal. I discovered the bird (20 pounds) only took 4 hours. (I went back to bed) All those years my mother got up in the middle of the night to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. To this day I am still confused.

Today I will have officially prepared …wait, I can’t tell you how many turkeys I’ve made, you’d do the math wouldn’t you?

Let’s just say more than forty and less than seventy.

That’s a lot of turkeys I have loved. All those turkey dinners were made from scratch: stuffing, potatoes, pies, breads, yada, yada, yada.

After all those turkeys the lightbulb has finally gone off. 

I’d rather be writing!

Here’s the plan for today:

Up at 8: Work on WIP (writer lingo for my work-in-progress) until ….

10 am: Throw the bird in oven. Take Marie Callender’s pie assortment out of freezer to thaw in fridge.

10:15 am -1:30:  Work on WIP.

1:30 pm: Microwave instant mashed potatoes (4 minutes),  Zap the Reser’s green bean casserole, and mashed sweet potatoes. Throw jars of gravy in saucepan (heat on low).  Prepare Stovetop stuffing. Keep family member’s busy making tossed salad and opening cans of black olives and jellied cranberries.

2 pm: Remove turkey and slice. Toss rolls in oven. Set table. Pour generous glass of very nice Washington State wine.

2:15: Eat with the family.

2:30: Throw dishes in dishwasher, leftovers in fridge. Insert DVD- Die Hard 17 for family to watch on the couch.

2:30 - 9 pm: Work on WIP

THE END

Happy Thanksgiving!

The life of a writer ain’t glamorous, that’s for sure. I know—insert my childrens’ eye-rolls here along with their snarky comment. “Call the Waaambulance!”

My next release, Breakfast in Bed was set to launch December first, so I’ve been frantically writing blogs for a month-long tour that was supposed to end the same day my next book, As Good as He Gets, is due on my editor’s desk. Needless to say, I was feeling a little stressed. It didn’t help matters when I received an email from my editor breaking the news that there was something wrong with the shipment of Breakfast in Bed. (Pause and take a deep breath, it’s just a couple of bumps right?) It seems that the red foil on the cover was sticking more to people’s hands than to the books. The entire shipment had to be sent back and reprinted. The new shipment is scheduled to hit the warehouse on the same day they were supposed to have hit the shelves. It’s a long and bumpy road we writers travel…

Luckily, most of the blog tour was rescheduled for a January launch. So, for everyone who is looking forward to buying Breakfast in Bed, it’s just gonna be a little late. The good thing is the reviews I’ve seen so far have been amazing. It received a 4-star review in Romantic Times Magazine, and a 5-Heart, Reviewers Top-Pick from Night Owl Romance.

I know there are always bumps in the road and you have to make due. So what’s the problem? I’m glad you asked. I expect the bumps, but what I didn’t expect was the huge pot holes I might encounter like the barrage of ugly and hurtful comments about writing romance I received in the last week.

Sure, I’ve heard other writers talk about how authors of romantic fiction get no respect, and I’ve heard my share of “When are you going to start writing real books?” I usually hit them with facts about romantic fiction sales, as well as the intelligent and well-educated women who write and read the genre. This last week I had one woman tell me she read my book and was surprised that it had a plot. That one rolled off my back. The next one was when I was waiting for Twinkle Toes to get dressed after dance so we could leave. One of the other dance moms asked how the book was going and the lady sitting next to me said “Oh you wrote Romeo, Romeo. I read it.” I thanked her and said that I hoped she enjoyed it. She gave me a funny look and said, “I usually don’t read those books, but it was cute.” I just smiled and said “Thanks, I think.” But Friday the 13th, I was left speechless. And for those who know me, speechless is not a state with which I’m familiar. It was a first.

I was at my daughter’s middle school to see her accept her entrée into the Honor Society. Yay! For me, it was a proud moment. For my youngest, it was all about the doughnuts the kids received after they shook the principal’s hand and were given their certificate of achievement and the highly coveted bumper sticker. After wearing her doughnut, and my taking three, count them, three napkins to clean her face off, she left the cafeteria with napkin lint covering her smiling, chubby face.

The eighth graders piled in so I got my things together to leave when a woman I used to see at the gym arrived. I’m tempted to call her by name, but I won’t because I’m not quite that mean. She asked why I hadn’t been to the gym. So I explained about my crazy life—home schooling Twinkle Toes, driving three hours a day, yada, yada, yada. Then she asked if I was still writing. Since I’m always prepared—I’m married to an ex-boy scout, after all—I whip out my beautiful bookmark, which has all three of my book covers on it. Surprised, she said, “You have three books out?” I nodded and told her I was working on my fourth. By this time, most of the 8^th grade had come in and their proud parents surrounded us. Gym Woman waves to everyone in the vicinity, and let me tell you, the place was packed, and at the top of her voice she says, “Robin writes trashy romances. I mean filthy, smutty, trashy romances.”

KLUNK – There went the front axel. I was now the center of attention, and I didn’t know what the heck to say. Then she asked why I didn’t get a real job, like teaching English. Thank God another woman who had a functioning brain stopped and asked me for one of my bookmarks. I handed her one. The wonderful woman looked at it, “You wrote Romeo, Romeo?” I nodded, still speechless. “Didn’t Romeo, Romeo win several awards?” By this time, I found my voice and said, “Yes, it did.” That’s when she turned to Gym Woman and smiled. “It’s so nice to meet an award winning author. I can’t wait for her next book.”

I’m sure that woman will be sainted in the near future. I thanked her and noticed that Gym Woman was nowhere to be found. I spent the rest of the day stewing about Gym Woman and I’ve realized something. While it felt like I hit a huge pot hole, I realized it was really only one more bump in the road. There will always be those who try to knock people down, but as a very good friend of mine said “They can’t knock you down unless you’re up there in the first place.” I got a lot of writing done that day just to spite Gym Woman. I wrote a fabulous fight scene and pictured her face the whole time I was doing it.

Sometimes the bumps in the road can be more than just a pain in the ass. They can cause emotions. You can decide whether you are going to let those bumps lead to something positive or allow them to defeat and damage you like a pot hole might your car. How you choose to look at them is entirely up to you. If I didn’t have a book due, I may have cleaned my whole house. That’s what I used to do whenever I got a mad-on. Anger is a very powerful motivator, as long as you use it for your own good. You can let things eat at you and fester, or you can turn all that power and emotion into something wonderful. In my case, it was a fight scene and believe me, it was one of the most satisfying fight scenes I’ve ever written.

So how do you handle your bumps in the road?

The current year is quickly coming to a close. (Thank, God.  As many of you know, 2009 was not particularly good to me.) Therefore, not much time is left to keep our annual resolutions or reach our yearly goals.  Too often we establish objectives for ourselves, and then the moment we experience a setback or realize we can’t clear the bar we’ve set for ourselves, many of us throw our hands up in total defeat.  I tend to be a perfectionist, so this is especially true for me.  We frequently quit striving despite that we might experience at least a partial success if we would just forge ahead.

My resolution back in January 2009 was to lose 50 pounds, and my professional goal was to write one new book.  Anyone who’s acquainted with me can tell you I haven’t lost a pound, and if anything, I’ve gained a few. (or at least I hope it was only a few)  And other than receiving a fifth nomination for the Golden Heart (the entry for which I actually submitted in December 2008), I also accomplished very little writing-wise this year.  So I may seem like the last person who should address the topic of resolutions and goals.

In reality, my reign as the 2009 poster child for what NOT to do if you want to meet your commitments to yourself has made me an expert on the subject.  Here’s my personal checklist of what NOT to do.

• Don’t allow your health or physical condition to deteriorate.  Doctors visits, tests, and medical procedures not only chew up a lot of precious writing time, but they also leave an individual too distracted to concentrate fully, thereby interrupting one’s creative process. The sedentary act of reading or writing leaves us highly susceptible to illness and weight gain and, in the end, too tired to accomplish much.  It’s important that we make a concerted effort to get enough exercise and eat a healthy diet. (Yes, I know this is beginning to sound like a love letter to myself.)

I’ve been reading a book called Flip the Switch (a guide to resetting the metabolism) by Robert K Cooper, PhD.  He recommends eating six to eight snacks throughout the day (every two to three hours), rather than consuming meals, to keep the metabolism constantly stoked.  Cooper also advocates drinking a gallon of ICE water throughout the day; a) to flush toxins from your body and b) because drinking cold liquids forces your system to work harder to maintain its normal body temperature.

The book also claims we should avoid sitting for more than 30 minutes at any one time.  (Ooops, there goes my alarm to run downstairs to have my 4 oz. container of low fat yogurt, a glass of ice water, and a bathroom break.) BRB

Okay, I’m back.  I know getting up every 30 minutes is a little extreme and too structured to get much accomplished.  Just about the time I get into the zone writing, it’s time to get up again.  So I’m compromising and setting my timer for every 45 minutes and running up and down the stairs twice (with an ice water and bathroom break between trips and a snack if it’s time) and heading right back to whatever I was doing.

Cooper maintains that constantly moving throughout the day keeps the basal metabolic rate consistently high, whereas a standard 30-60 minute hour workout only gives a boost for a few hours.  (That’s not to say one shouldn’t also do strength training to build muscle.)  So that’s what I’m trying to do.  I’ll let you know how it works.

• Don’t allow yourself get to become too distracted by yahoo loops, blogs, e-mail, research, and the Internet in general.  To remedy this, I’m trying to limit myself to one hour a day to read and respond to message boards, blogs, and e-mail.  Again, I’m using a timer.  I’ll also let you know how that works out.

• Don’t plan more than two vacations a year.  I hate to discourage anyone from getting away and enjoying life.  However, I have to list this because it was one of the big reasons I accomplished so little this year.  By the end of 2009, my total getaways will add up to SIX. (I know, poor me.  Boo-hoo, I had to go away six times!) The problem was I spent so much time planning, researching, and booking reservations for rental cars, flights, hotels, shows, restaurants, and attractions I feel like an amateur travel agent.  And don’t get me started on how much time I spent packing and unpacking or how eating in restaurants on six vacations did nothing to help me keep my resolution to lose weight.

• Don’t let yourself get too involved in socializing and partying. (I’m writing this after spending three solid weeks concentrating on planning my daughter-in-law’s baby shower.)  Inasmuch as I highly recommend entering the Golden Heart, I must also warn about the big pitfall that comes with it if you’re a finalist–you make so many wonderful new friends it’s difficult not to get caught up in spending a lot of your usual writing time with them.  Not to mention, all that partying also did nothing to reduce my waistline.

• Don’t find excuses not to work at your goal EVERY day.  Even if you only have enough time to write one sentence or do a tiny bit toward your objective (like climb an extra flight of stairs), do it.  Any idiot knows that if you consistently focus on your goals, you’re more likely to achieve them.  Once you get started doing whatever it is you need to do, you’ll find it’s easy to continue.

Do you see a common thread in this message?  The solution to reaching our objectives and keeping resolutions can be summed up in one word.  DISCIPLINE.   At the same time, we also shouldn’t expect the impossible from ourselves.

Everyone’s life is different, and, therefore, everyone’s list of DOs and DON’Ts vary.  An effective motivational program should only include objectives that are actually attainable and place YOU in control of whether you succeed.  Setting goals that you have little or no control over is pointless and a surefire recipe for failure. Set your targets at a challenging level but not so high that success will be impossible to achieve.

There goes that dang alarm again.  Gotta run!

Before I go, what are some of the obstacles in your way, and what do you need to put at the top of your “Things Not to Do If You Want to Reach Your Goals” list?

I’m also blogging at http://www.rubyslipperedsisterhood.com today, so stop over and say hi.

My debut novel, According to Jane (Kensington, October 2009), has been out for just over a month, and I’m sure this will come as no surprise when I say I’ve found the whole process to be quite a learning experience.

There are the obvious things a newly published author encounters for the first time, such as ads/promotions, book signings, being asked to give “meet the author” presentations or writing workshops, and the wild-n-wacky world of book reviews and Amazon.com ratings. But it’s the more subtle, unexpected delights that have sparked the greatest intrigued for me this past month and kept me up way past my bedtime, Googling my name and book title… It’s been a kind of writer’s dessert tray: This opportunity to eavesdrop online (and, occasionally, in person) on discussions about The Author’s Intentions in Writing the Story.

Does anyone remember that scene from the film “Back to School” when Rodney Dangerfield’s character (a businessman/dad who’s trying out the college scene with his teenage son) has to write a paper for a college English class — specifically, on the novels of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.? Being a man with more extensive financial resources than your typical undergrad, Dangerfield soon hires a string of professionals to help him with his schoolwork, and he gets Vonnegut himself (in a hilarious cameo appearance) to do that assignment. But when Dangerfield turns in the essay, his English professor is unimpressed. She fails him on it, knowing he didn’t write the paper, and adds, “I’ll tell you something else, whoever did write it doesn’t know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut!”

I laughed at that scene, but I found myself wondering how often I’d gotten it wrong with authors I’ve read — attributing intentions to them that they never had. I’ve frequently wished for a chance to have a conversation with my favorite author, Jane Austen, so I could ask her about particular passages from her novels and hear the real reasons behind some of her narrative choices. On some of my online loops, there’s been much speculation as to what Jane meant by one sentence or another. Devoted readers have attempted to interpret sections of her novels, and they argue their viewpoints with vigor. But, while we may be amongst Jane’s biggest fans, none of us were privy to her creative process. There remains a delightful veil of mystery surrounding some of her authorial objectives, so scholars will always have much to debate about her work.

But, here’s the really funny thing I learned in the last several weeks: Even if Jane were around today and could tell us in great detail why she used a specific allusion or a certain storytelling motif, there would be some people who wouldn’t believe her!

Since my book has been released, I’ve had the rare thrill of coming upon online book reviews written with passionate responses to elements in my novel. It’s been fascinating to get to read varying points of view on my main character’s motivations, discover what readers think works or doesn’t in my plot structure, see comparisons of my secondary characters to persons real or fictional, and get predicitons about what happens after the novel ends, etc.

Only, sometimes, I find myself credited with having writerly intentions that I, uh…didn’t actually intend. At all. Never was this more apparent than in this recent phone call from Someone:

“You have a very interesting lead character,” Someone told me, “considering she’s insane.”

“What?!” I said, laughing because I was certain Someone was joking.

“Well, Ellie, your heroine — she hears voices, right?”

“Y-Yes…but that’s the twist in the premise. The hook of the story. My book is not a study on insanity. It’s a novel about a woman who has the ghost of Jane Austen in her head giving her dating advice.”

“Exactly,” Someone shot back — and not jokingly. “She’s hearing voices and making life decisions based on the answers. She’s clearly crazy. And I think it’s very brave of you to examine that.”

“Wha– No! I wasn’t being brave, I was being whimsical. This is a playful element in the book, not a literal one. A what-if kind of thing. Readers just need to suspend disbelief on this single point.”

“It’s okay, Marilyn. Relax. I really like the story just the way it is. I’ve already read it twice.”

“I — um, thanks, but listen — you should know my main character does NOT need psychiatric treatment. She’s just a normal young woman with this one little paranormal problem…”

“So, you’re saying she isn’t schizophrenic?”

“Right!”

“Only she is. One of the common symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia is when a patient suffers from hallucinatory voices that threaten or give commands.”

“Okay, but I’m telling you that’s not what I was intending for her when I wrote this…”

While I’ll admit to having been a little freaked out by this conversation (all one-and-a-half hours of it — yes, really), it did drive home the point that what authors write and deliver to the world of literature is not always what’s received. Once a book is “out there,” it no longer belongs just to the writer to interpret. Knowing this, I’m already anticipating the next such conversation with Someone (or Someone’s spouse), which may well focus on the Jane Austen side of the ghost-human relationship:

“So, your book starts out in the fall, just after Halloween, huh?”

“Yeah,” I’d say.

“And there’s a ghost in it. That one dead English author — Austen. Cool how you put those two things together.”

“Austen’s role as a ghost in the story doesn’t have anything to do with Halloween or its aftermath.”

“Sure it does! Look, you wrote on the very first page that it was ‘midweek, early November’ when Jane made her first comment. So, she had to have escaped from the Spirit World on All Hallow’s Eve, or on All Saints Day at the very latest. That’s obvious.”

Rubbing my forehead. “Trust me, there’s no connection.”

“No, Marilyn. I think you’re wrong…”

**If you could sit down over dinner/drinks/dessert and have a conversation with an author or two (living or dead) about their work, who would you ask to join you??**

First things first. I have to congratulate fellow NWIB blogger and friend Robin Kaye for winning the Golden Leaf in the Single Title category for her book, ROMEO ROMEO! Congrats, Robin. I’m so thrilled for you!!

Robin’s hot book cover got me thinking about covers in general. I think most readers are aware of the fact authors have little to no say in the covers publishers design for their books. If we’re lucky, like Robin, we get nice, sexy art that reflects not only what we write, but the characters and stories we’ve created. I’ve been lucky. My first three books have had great covers, and I love each of them for different reasons.

When I got the cover art for STOLEN FURY, I think I screamed. First book, awesome cover. I loved the mix of mystery/suspense in the red bottom half, and the sexy couple embracing on top. I also love covers where you don’t get a full face shot because often the cover models look so different from the way I envision the characters in my head, I don’t want the cover to contradict that. Then I got the cover for STOLEN HEAT, and again, I loved it. It has the Egyptian feel I wanted, and although you can see the faces of the couple on top, the guy looks EXACTLY the way I envisioned Pete when I was writing the book. Two for two. I was on a roll. And then I got the cover for STOLEN SEDUCTION. My first reaction was split. I love the bottom tropical scene. The book is set primarily in Florida, so it works well. But while the couple on top conveys the sexy feel I love about the book, the models don’t look at all the way I envisioned those characters when writing. (Although interestingly enough, most people who see all three covers together like the one for STOLEN SEDUCTION the best, so go figure.) The more I’ve looked at this cover, the more I like it, and it’s become one of my favorites. Overall, when I step back and look at these book covers together, I’m very happy. They go together. You get the feeling these books are sexy romantic suspense reads, which is exactly what they are.

But what do you do when you see a cover that either doesn’t fit the book or doesn’t grab your attention? As a reader, do you pick it up? Or do you pass it by? And who’s to say what makes up a “good” cover anyway?

Last week there was a discussion over at Border’s True Romance blog about romance covers. Specifically, Sue Grimshaw wanted to know if romance readers prefer male covers, female covers, male/female covers or none of the above. Here are a few examples of each:

Male only romance covers:

Female only romance covers:

Male/female covers:

And then, of course, there are the no-people covers:

I have to say, these are all gorgeous covers for different reasons. I like them all. But which ones draw me the most? Either the male covers (I am a heterosexual woman after all) or the male/female covers. All three of the female covers are striking and totally fit the books, but I might not have read them if I hadn’t known the authors or if friends hadn’t recommended these books. (And I’m glad I did read them because I would have missed out on some awesome books otherwise!) But for some reason I’m just not as drawn to female-only covers as I am ones that have men on them. As for the no people covers? These three are also beautiful, but I didn’t read these books because of the cover art. I read them because of the authors’ names. Would I have picked them up if they were covers for no-name authors? I honestly don’t know.

I have a new paranormal series starting in May, and I’ve been very curious what the cover art will look like for those books. Last week my editor sent me the cover for the first book, MARKED:

Obviously, this one goes in the all male section. Am I happy? Uh, yeah. I love this cover, especially since these books are a little hotter than my romantic suspenses. But I totally didn’t expect it. Am I glad it’s the cover style *I* prefer? Absolutely. That’s just a bonus as far as I’m concerned.

How about you? What kind of covers get you looking, especially for new-to-you authors? Which covers do you not like at all, and which ones do you prefer most?