Sunday, September 6, 2009

Melinda Hammond's/Sarah Malloy's TBR



Melinda Hammond/Sarah Malloy whose latest book, THE WICKED BARON, was out in August has kindly shared her TBR pile with us.






Like many writers, I can never find enough time for everything I want to read. When I am working I avoid reading my own genre (historical romance or historical romantic adventure) because I do not want to influence my style. I also find myself dipping into a number of factual books for research. Therefore the TBR pile beside my bed never gets any smaller.

Some books have been on my TBR list for years, and I do, truly, wish to read them: when the time is right, when I have time to concentrate on them and when I am in the right mood. However, when I really began to think about my list I realised that the pile has not changed very much because Other Books keep getting in the way.





So I have decided to come clean about my TBR list. Every now and again I find a book that I want to read, or I think I should read, and it goes on the TBR pile. Most of these books are some form of self-improvement – Dostoyevsky and Zola because they are "literature", Fermat's Last Theorem because everyone else in my family seems more interested in science than in romantic fiction; Jung, well, writers need to know about psychology and The Power of Influence is something I should have read years ago when I began working in business. I really, really want20to read Simon Schama because I love his writing style, but this is such a big, thick, tome……………..

So below is a picture of some of the books I have actually read in the last twelve months!
You will see that with the exception of Venetia Murray's non-fiction about the Regency, these titles are very much in the "light reading" vein, but I have thoroughly enjoyed them all. I have bought and enjoyed all the Harry Potter series (even without the excuse of buying them for the children); Georgette Heyer is my comfort read, and whenever I am feeling in need of a little pampering I find myself turning back to her and choosing one from the full set that hides at the back of my bookcase. The top three on this pile are all written by colleagues in the RNA. I picked them up out of curiosity but I am so glad I did, because they were all of them devoured and enjoyed almost in one sitting.




Of course there are other books that get in the way, too – the Harlequin Mills & Boon historicals that I have to read (to check out the opposition, naturally!) and the Katie Fforde books that I buy as soon as they are published (she really doesn't write quickly enough for me!) but I think these pictures sum up pretty well my good intentions, and my true reading habits!

And one day I really will get down to reading the Schama………

Melinda Hammond/Sarah Mallory
http://www.melindahammond.com/
http://www.sarahmallory.com/

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

September Releases



First and foremost....LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT







Mira
Trade Paperback
£12.99
Anthology of short stories by members of the RNA to celebrate 50 golden years of romance.

http://rnaanthology.blogspot.com/







Imogen Howson - Heart of the Volcano
Samhain Publishing
15th September Ebook $3.50 (£2.75)
Caught between love and duty, lava-shifter and fire-priestess Aera must make an impossible choice.
http://imogenhowson.blogspot.com/
http://www.imogenhowson.com/
























Elizabeth Chadwick - THE GREATEST KNIGHT
Sourcebooks Landmark Publication
1st September Paperback and e-bookCost $14.99
The unsung story of Queen Eleanor's champion. William Marshal. The greatest knight of the Middle Ages







Dilly Court - THE COCKNEY ANGEL
Random House - Arrow BooksPubliction
24 September 2009
Paperback £5.99
Irene Angel's father, a gambler consorting with notorious East End gansters, taught her to fear and distrust the police, but when Inspector Edward Kent becomes involved, she finds her loyalties divided.



Sheila Newberry - SEVEN POUNDS OF POTATOES PLEASE (Memoir)
Dales
15th September
When we move to the Crossroads Stores in an idyllic-seeming west country village, we make a special delivery on our first Christmas Day. An oilskin bag snakes through the letterbox as we sit down to ourfestive dinner. A note reads: Seven Pounds of Potatoes Please. (My daughter's had a baby.)




Kate Hardy - TEMPORARY BOSS, PERMANENT MISTRESS
Mills & Boon
18 September £3.19
Artist thaws her temporary boss's heart under the Northern Lights.

















Amanda Grange -MR DARCY, VAMPYRE
Sourcebooks
1st September £7.99
A paranormal sequel to Pride and Prejudice













Louise Allen -THE PIRATICAL MISS RAVENHURST
Harlequin Mills & Boon
September £3.79
In the last of the Those Scandalous Ravenhurst series Clemence Ravenhurst runs away to sea and into the arms of the nastiest pirate crew sailing the Caribbean - or perhaps they aren't all as villainous as they look at first sight...













Nicola Cornick - KIDNAPPED
Harlequin Mills & Boon Single Titles
18th September
Trade Paperback £6.99
A romantic Scottish tale inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel












Kate Walker - KEPT FOR HER BABY
Mills & Boon Modern Romance
4th September £3.19
Desperation drove Lucy to leave her husband and baby son. Now she's hoping for a second chance but will Ricardo ever trust her - and can Lucy learn to trust herself?





















Liz Fielding -CHRISTMAS ANGEL FOR THE BILLIONAIRE
Mills & Boon
Library Edition Hard Back £12.99
Will the nation's sweetheart find love under the Christmas tree?















Liz Fielding - DANGEROUS FLIRTATION
Linford Romance Library
September- Softback Large Print £8.99
Rosalind thought she had her life all mapped out until Jack Drayton gave her a birthday present she'd never forget.






















Tatiana March - SECRETS OF THE PAST
The Wild Rose Press
4 September Ebook and POD ebook $ 6.00, print $ 13.99
Woman on the run falls for a recluse with a deadly past.























Susanna Kearsley -THE SHADOWY HORSES
Allison & Busby
September 7-£7.99
Verity Grey is thrilled to be asked to join the archaeological team uncovering an ancient Roman campsite in the Scottish borders, but as soon as she arrives, she senses danger in the air.




Julie Cohen and Kathy Love (B.H. Dark) - CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
Samhain Publishing
1 August $8.00
The story of what happens when space aliens with strange ideas about human sexuality, and no clue about human love, abduct four Earthlings to help them form an intergalactic porn empire.
http://bhdark.blogspot.com/


Judy Astley - OTHER PEOPLE'S HUSBANDS
Black Swan
24th September £6.99.



Sara's mother told her that she shouldn't marry Conrad - that the twenty-five-year age gap between them would tell in the end. The end is now (apparently) approaching fast. Conrad, a famous painter, has decided that it would be good to die before he gets seriously old and so spends his time sorting out his chaotic life. Sara, teaching art at a local college, finds that she has plenty of male company - other people's husbands, ones she tells Conrad all about, who are just good friends to her. But there's one she, somehow, doesn't get round to mentioning...






Christina Courtenay - MARRY IN HASTE
Magna Large Print (Dales Print)
1 September (15 September on Amazon) Large Print (soft cover)Cost: £11.99
He married her, but could he trust her? It's not until his new bride is threatened that the viscount admits his true feelings for her."

















Nicola Cornick - THE UNDOING OF A LADY
Harlequin HQN Books
1st August $7.99 or £5.97
The lady of the manor exercises her droit de seigneur!





SHORT STORIES

Sheila Norton - Thursday's Child
Woman's Weekly Publication
8 September
Everyone had warned Claire that Jamie would never stop travelling. Was she mad to keep waiting for him?