Iโd hoped to put together a list of some of my favorite books from the past year
for this last column of the year. I couldnโt do it. Whittling down more than a
100 books, most of which I loved, was absolutely impossible. I will, at the end
of this column give you some authors to check out if you need help with your
gift buying.
But we have several December releases to talk about first:
Michelle Styles says
THE VIKINGโ CAPTIVE
PRINCESS is the story of an exiled Viking princess who takes her half-
sisterโs place in an enemy warriorโs bed to save her sisterโs life. โOne of my
favorite bits is doing research and finding little factoids so I was really
pleased when I learned about the gem stone iolite,โ Styles says. โIt is a
natural polarizing filter (think sun glasses!) and the Vikings used it in
navigation as a sun compass because of course if you are sailing in the land of
the Midnight Sun, there are no stars to guide you. It really fascinated me and I
made sure iolite was mentioned in the book.โ
Susan Lyons' new title,
SEX DRIVE, says it all.
โWhile Iโm not as bright as my genius heroine,โ says Lyons, โI grew up as one of
those clever kids who skipped a grade and was always younger than my classmates.
It didnโt help that I was also always the smallest in my class. Oh, and of
course I wore glasses, too. Nope, I didnโt have much of a social life โ at least
when it came to boys. So, when I created Damien for the socially and sexually
repressed Theresa, I had a fabulous time! It felt like vindication for all of us
plain-Jane smart girls.โ
Keena Kincaid has new
book out
TIES THAT
BIND. The
lead character, Aedan, was supposed to be a minor one in the first book in the
series โAnam Cara,โ but then he demanded his own story. โHe demanded I write
his story,โ Lykins says. โIโd left his reputation in tatters
and he wanted me to fix it. So I wrote his story. As a druid, one of his magical
abilities is the gift of words. He can talk anyone into anything. It wasnโt the
easiest book Iโve ever written, but I loved the challenge of taking a
self-centered character who is used to getting whatever he wants, thwarting him
at every turn, and then using the power of love to make him a better man.โ
HOTTER
AFTER MIDNIGHT is the first book in
Cynthia Edenโs Midnight
trilogy that is out in mass market paperback, and it introduces readers to Emily
Drake, the โMonster Doctorโ--a psychologist who only treats paranormal patients.
Emily must profile a paranormal killer...and protect her heart from the wolf
shifter detective leading the investigation.
Kate Douglas says
WOLF TALES 9 was written as
a result of a poll she did with her readers, asking which characters they wanted
to know more about. โI had hundreds of responses,โ she says, โand WT9 answers
their questions. As the Chanku gather in Montana to await the birth of Tia and
Lucโs first baby, they tell the stories of how they met and how they first
discovered they were Chanku. Mik and AJ, Jake and Luc, Anton and Oliverโ and the
list goes on.โ
Gina Robinson calls
SPY GAMES a romantic
suspense with spunk. โReilly Petersonโs been many things in her thirty-two
years: an athlete, a model, a sportswear executive,โ says Robinson. โHer ex-
boyfriend, however, has done a good job of making Reilly something sheโs never
beenโscared. Now Reillyโs ready to protect herself with more than her sharp
tongue. Fantasy Spy Campโs Seattle-based Urban Ops division will train her to
survive using everything from her bare hands to a submachine gun. But when she
gets an eyeful of fellow camper Van Keller, all Reilly wants is to chill out,
partner up and go deep undercover.โ
More books to check out this month:
Bonnie Edwardโs
BREATHLESS,
Patti Shenbergerโs
MISTLETOE SEDUCTIONS, and
Gina Nelsonโs
PLAY IT LOUD.
Gift Buying Ideas
The following is to help those of you who may want to buy books for family and
friends. It is in no way a complete list. Itโs an off-the-top-of-my-head list to
give you some authors to check out. In sci-fi fantasy:
A. Lee Martinez,
Jim Butcher,
Rachel Caine, (Her YAโs
are cool too),
Yasmine
Galenorn,
Cathy
Clamp and
C.T.
Adams,
Lynn Viehl;
young adult:
Rosemary
Clement Moore,
Richelle Mead,
Gena Showalter (Her paranormal romances also rock),
Alyson Noel,
P.C and Kristen Cast;
Funny romance:
Dakota
Cassidy,
Michele
Bardsley,
Linda
Wisdom,
Mark
Henry,
Candace
Havens (I hear she is really awesome); Historical romance:
Jodi Thomas,
Lorraine Heath; Paranormal
romance:
Anya Bast,
Nancy Haddock,
Carrie Vaughn; Mystery:
Wendy Lyn Watson, Annette Blair; Horror:
Joseph Nassise,
Neil Gaiman (his early
works); Romantic Suspense/Thriller:
Sandra Brown,
Lisa Jackson,
Bob Mayer; Erotic
romance:
Sasha White,
Amie Stuart; Womenโs
fiction:
Kate Austin
(Her new paranormals are awesome too),
Leanna Ellis,
Susan Wiggs,
Britta Coleman.
Well, that's it for this month, see you next year with more news...
Candy
Candy is a
nationally syndicated entertainment columnist, who has interviewed just about
every celebrity there is in Hollywood and written thousands of articles. She is
the author of the Charmed & Dangerous series including Charmed
& Ready Charmed & Dangerous, Charmed & Deadly, and Like A Charm. Her
latest book DRAGONS PREFER
BLONDES is available now!
Her non-fiction prose includes Joss
Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy, and essays in Alias Assumed: Sex, Lies
and SD-6, and Five Seasons of Angel. She's also the entertainment
critic providing the latest on TV, film and celebs for the radio station 96.3
KSCS. And she's the managing editor for FYI Television.
You can visit
Candy daily at her
blog or her website
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