Whatcha Readin' Wednesday

After accidentally watching the movie last week, I decided I really must read Something Borrowed, by Emily Giffin.


About halfway through, I'm pleasantly surprised. The movie deviated quite a bit, and that's okay in this case. Same basic premise, but that's about it. I do have to wonder if it would've made publication in today's market, though... this book is majorly introspection and flashback--of the first 100 pages, probably less than 25 were "current action". It's well written though, and Giffin does a nice job of making us sympathize with the heroine, Rachel--who is doing something we'd normally abhor--namely, her best friend's fiancee.


Anyway. I should be ready for a full review on it next week.


Am slacking so hard on the NaNo project.


Happy humpday.


Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

The Un-retchables.

Remember how some guys you went to school with were so annoying/full of themselves/yucky in general, the thought of them as, well... guys made you want to make retching noises? But sometimes those guys grow into not-so-retchish men.

Which is just what happens for the heroine in today's new release--and I love this premise. (I've gotta confess to be a bit biased, since I edited the story, but still...)

The book's title is Rachel Dahlrumple (yeah, what a mouthful--imagine the hassles that poor chick got from yucko boys back in the day, right?). And in Rachel's case, the guy grew up to be a most unretchable cop.

Her husband's death is just the beginning of her marital woes.

Rachel's humiliation over the discovery of her late husband's affairs turns to fear when one of his mistresses sends her a poisoned bouquet. But finding the source of the killer flowers is only one step on her path to solving the mystery her husband left behind.

Deputy Dan Weston is with Rachel when the bouquet arrives, and he's at her side as she deals with so many of the secrets that come to light after her husband's death. Dan has carried a torch for Rachel since puberty and he's not going to let her dead husband's vindictive girlfriends or his psychotic mother come between them now. But that means finding out who is sending snakes and poisoned posies before one kills Rachel.

EXCERPT

I looked up at Dan’s expression. All teasing gone. Cop mode.

“I’m a simple person, Deputy Weston. Steady and calm. Boring. I don’t offend anyone, and no one gives me trouble. Unless you’re talking about Jose Delgado, who is three weeks late with the last book he checked out.”

“I don’t think Jose wrote this.” Scowling, he turned the card so I could read it through the clear plastic.

Black, block letters, innocuous enough, aside from the message. Ah, yes, the kicker.

Let him go. We want to be together. Start divorce proceedings. Or better yet, end your pitiful life. Your choice. For now.

Dan’s gaze was glued to my face, which first felt hot, then cold. My head swam and my breathing wheezed in and out, as ragged as my stuttering heartbeat.

That bastard. The low down, scheming, rotten, lying, slimy, vile, despicable…

“Care to revise your statement?”

A few quick blinks brought the deputy back into focus, though I could feel the airways in my lungs constricting.

“I know who’s going to die, and isn’t going to be me,” I whispered. “Chinese water torture is too good for him. Splinter those bamboo chopsticks--the minute he gets home, they’re going under his fingernails.” I’d learned a few things from my father’s stories of ’Nam. And of course, by reading about the war. After all, I was a librarian. I’d read nearly every book on the shelves. Maybe I’d do a search on torture techniques.

The tanned face near mine blanched. “Easy going, ma’am.”

Right. I wasn’t known for saying such things. I wasn’t known for saying much.

“Well?” I demanded. My fragile world had just vaporized before my eyes and it was far too soon to see what might be left. If anything. The only future visible looked like a rapidly expanding black hole.

Someone wanted me dead. But who? My husband? His girlfriend? Divorce loomed ahead like a huge gaping maw. I wanted to wail, gnash my teeth, and obliterate something, anything. Of course, I was Rachel the Mouse, so I did my best to hide the violent urges building inside. Rachel the Meek never, ever, let loose with her most primitive emotions. She hid them deep, keeping a calm, submissive, accepting face turned toward the world at large.

“What would you do?”

For the first time I could remember in our long history, Dan looked directly, and very deeply, into my eyes. The sympathy, sincerity, and concern on his face hit me. Already overwhelmed from too many emotions boiling in my heart and head, I had no defense or response for his reply, or the way he ever-so-lightly caressed my cheek with the back of his fingers.

“Since I’m not the kind of idiot your husband is, Rachel, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to screw around on the most amazing woman anywhere. Were I the lucky one to have you, I wouldn’t leave you alone long enough for you to ever feel abandoned.”

Aside from asthma and allergy, I was a healthy woman. I’d never, ever, once fainted in my life. But the shocks to my system that night hit too hard. A poisonous gift, a nasty note, knowledge I didn’t want of my husband’s cheating ways, and a gorgeous, younger man, telling me he considered me amazing… The zing I felt in my tummy from his touch did me in.

Black waves engulfing me, limbs losing strength, I slowly collapsed, Dan catching me at the last moment of consciousness. Like any nineteenth-century heiress worth her crumpets and tea, I fainted right into his arms.

Rachel Dahlrumple releases today, and is available wherever ebooks are sold, but will be 30% off this week at the Lyrical Press store.

May your Monday be most livable.

Piper Denna

Romance is sexy!

Going places

Today I'm the featured author for Friday Freebies giving away a copy of A Fireman for Christmas.


Also, I posted the monthly Acquisitions list on the Lyrical Press Blog.


Other than that, I'm putting my nose to the grindstone, trying to make something usable out of my very first manuscript. (and shrink it from 178k words to around 85k)


Happy Friday.


Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Whatcha Readin' Wednesday

I just finished Victoria Dahl's Lead Me On. It's 3rd in a series (trilogy? I didn't notice any more single women in the story who needed married off, except for a 91 year old granny, and I don't think we'd want to go there just yet) about Aspen and her fictional town of Tumble Creek. Incidentally, I have read the first book in the series, Talk Me Down, but somehow missed reading #2. (Harry Potter is the only series I've ever read in order. It's a syndrome I suffer from.)


Anyway... Cute story. I love the bad-boy attraction factor (bad boys are made FOR good girls, right?). The characters' motivations are totally understandable--Jane has quite a past she's determined to keep under wraps, and Chase doesn't want her to know he's privvy to it. The characters themselves didn't resonate quite as much as those in Talk Me Down--seriously, I think of those characters often, especially Molly. But overall, I'd say Lead Me On is a Nice Bang for Your Entertainment Buck. Well worth your time and money, but probably not something you'll re-read. Pass it on to someone who’ll enjoy it and keep the author on your radar.


Next on the Reader: How to Write Hot Sex: Tips from Multi-Published Erotic Romance Authors. So far I'm into the 3rd essay, and they've all been very good. (One of the authors I edit for--LK Below--is a contributor.)


Happy reading!


Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Because I love these two...

I love Booth and Brennan on Bones... and in anticipation (read: hype) of this week's season premiere, the Bones Powers That Be created a music video showing some great Booth & Brennan moments.


And because this blog is about romance, after all...



Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!