Review - - You Had Me at Christmas

You Had Me at Christmas

By Karina Bliss, Stephanie Doyle, Laura Florand,

Jennifer Lohmann, and Molly O’Keefe

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: October 17, 2016
  

Anthologies of Christmas novellas have become common since the marriage of romance fiction and digital media, but there is nothing common about this anthology. It is an extraordinary collection by five talented authors of contemporary romance.

It gets off to a strong start with Karina Bliss’s “Play,” following Rise, the first novel in her Rock Solid series. Jared and Kayla Walker are high school sweethearts who married young. Kayla believes in Jared’s talent and encourages his dreams. When Jared won a spot in Zander Freedman’s resurrection of the band that made him famous with a new group of musicians, the resulting fame and all that accompanied it put a strain on the Walkers’ marriage. Having Kayla and the children join the tour was an attempt to relieve the tensions, but it backfired, putting their marriage in real jeopardy.

After the scandal surrounding Zander’s lip syncing in an appearance and the scare about the star’s throat, no one is sure what is going to happen to the band. Jared is home, making a desperate effort to repair the damage to his relationship with Kayla. She is no less committed to the relationship, but her confidence in herself and in Jared’s love for her have been undermined by her experiences on the tour. Her doubts about their future as a couple cannot be easily addressed. Christmas is approaching with all the attendant pressures of excited kids and family gatherings, and Kayla and Jared find it difficult to find time for the two of them. Can they find their way back to each other despite the difficulties?

Karina Bliss is brilliant at creating characters who hook me head and heart, and her prose is always superb. These qualities have made her one of my auto-buy authors. Rise was my top contemporary romance of 2015, even though I was initially skeptical about Zander Freedman as a hero. I have been eager for more of Jared and Kayla’s story since I turned the last page of that book. I was a bit disappointed that it was a novella, but Bliss, who first gained attention as a category author, knows how to pack a lot of story in fewer pages. “Play” was all I hoped it would be.

It is obvious that Jared and Kayla are deeply in love with one another and want to salvage their marriage, but their problems are significant. There is nothing trite about the obstacles they face. Jared is no self-destructive rocker seeking absolution for his betrayals, but fame has changed him and the way he lives his life. Bliss wisely avoids the simplistic and makes the marriage in trouble a problem that requires both partners to grow in understanding of self and one another if their reunion story is to have an HEA. The story has humor (including a very funny sex scene) and poignance, appealing kids and marital passion, and the real feel of a family preparing for Christmas. I loved it! “Play” alone is worth purchasing the anthology.

It is not necessary to have read Rise to enjoy this novella, but having read the earlier book will enhance the reading of the novella. The second novel in the series, Fall (the story of Zander’s PA Dimity Graham and Rage drummer Seth Curran), is scheduled for release in next month. I can’t wait.

~Janga

Stephanie Doyle’s “One Naughty Little Christmas” is the second story. Alone on Christmas night and counting the hours to December 26 when life will once again be filled with the demands of work, Kate McCullen passes the lonely hours with a little wine and consideration of a new app her assistant had downloaded to her phone: “a dating app specifically for people over forty. A more serious, more mature group of single people looking to find each other.”  Tentatively, Kate opens the app and, after a few misses, sees a picture of a man that intrigues her. The two connect—cyberly, emotionally, and, in a move out of character for both of them, sexually. Kate never expected that her lonely Christmas evening would end with Internet sex.

Moving the relationship from the virtual world to the real one is more complicated. Regardless of their instant connection via the dating app, Kate and John are very different, and they have their share of baggage. Both have known loss, and both know that the real is riskier, scarier than a fantasy. Can they overcome their fears and give the love they have unexpectedly found a chance?

I love the developing trend of older heroines and heroes, so I was predisposed to like this one. I found Kate, a woman who had devoted two decades to building a successful career and is now questioning if it is enough, a particularly sympathetic heroine. The cross-class romance is one of my favorite tropes, and this was an interesting take on that one. For readers who like highly sensual romances, this one has some sizzling scenes. My one complaint is the title. To me, it suggests a rom-com rather than the considerably more substantive story Doyle gives her readers.

~Janga

Jennifer Lohmann is up third with "Twelve Kisses Until Christmas." Selina Lumina's dreams of leaving her small Idaho town to pursue a career in the art world have turned to desperation with the increasingly insistent drunken attentions of her abusive stepfather. With little money left from her waitressing job at the local diner after paying for one college course per semester and many of the bills at her mother and stepfather's home and no emotional support coming from her mother, Selina sees no way out of her dilemma. Her future looks bleak...until the morning a stranger walks into the diner and offers her the chance of a lifetime.

Recently selling the app he created with his good friend for millions of dollars, twenty-five year old technology whiz kid, Marc Murcowski is determined to enjoy his new-found wealth, driving around the country, exploring out the way places and every ski run he can find. Except, it's not fulfilling him like he'd anticipated. He's bored, lonely, and can't stop thinking about the sold app that he's confident he can still make better. The only bright spot in his currently dreary life is the cute but weary - and wary - waitress in the small Idaho diner where he's stopped to eat. An impulsive decision leads him to offer her a ride to Salt Lake City where she can pursue her dreams if she'll agree to explore the out of the way tourist attractions with him along the way. The offer is strictly platonic but as they slowly come to know one another on the trip will it stay that way? And once they reach Salt Lake City, will they be willing to say good-bye or will they have found new dreams to explore together?

Selina and Marc are both young but no less complex for their ages and experience or lack thereof. Selina, in particular, is wise beyond her years, no doubt due to having to mature quickly because of her family situation.  Marc, while the elder and more successful of the two, has more maturing to do, a fact that Selina recognizes even if Marc doesn't. At least, not at first. Lohmann does a good job of keeping the characters and their journey true to their age and experience, especially with the ending which I found very satisfying. This was my first story by Jennifer Lohmann. I enjoyed her writing and plan to seek out more.

~PJ

I discovered Laura Florand earlier this year and she has quickly become one of my favorite contemporary authors. "Snow-Kissed," the fourth novella in this anthology, brilliantly showcases why all contemporary romance readers should have Ms. Florand on their reading list. This novella was previously published September 1, 2013 as the first story in Florand's Snow Queen duo.

Kai had once been a woman full of joy who was head over heels in love with her husband. She taught him how to smile, how to have fun. He was her world, as she was his, and then it all fell apart. Overcome with grief, unable to function any longer in her everyday life or find forgiveness, for either of them, Kai turned her back on Kurt and their marriage and escaped to his mother's cabin in the mountains. It had been 18 months since she walked out on their marriage and her soul was still as cold as the snow falling outside the cabin window when Kurt arrived at the cabin. She wasn't ready to see him; wasn't sure if she would ever be ready, knowing how she had ruined the love they once had.

Kurt had never stopped loving Kai during the long months they were apart. He knew he hadn't been there for her in the way she needed when her world fell apart but he didn't know what else he could have done. She retreated into her grief and guilt to a place he couldn't reach, didn't fully understand. When they are snowed in at the cabin, Kurt knows it could be his last chance to break through the wall she's erected around her heart, heal the rift in their marriage, and rediscover the joy they once shared.

In "Snow-Kissed," Laura Florand has created an exquisitely written, heart-wrenching tale of love, loss, grief, hope, forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation. It's one of the best, if not the best, second-chance love stories I've ever read. I was held spellbound by the imagery, the language, the fragility of these characters, the deep anger and feelings of helplessness, the tenuous hope as they cautiously reach out to one another, the gentle care and sensuous desire. The intimacy and emotional depth of this story is incredible. I didn't so much read it as I absorbed it at a gut level. It was as if I knew these characters, knew their pain, their anguish, and ached with them. In my opinion, "Snow-Kissed" is as close to perfection as a story can get. It has my highest recommendation.

A couple words of caution...
You probably don't want to read this novella on a crowded airplane (yes, I did and it wasn't pretty) and I strongly encourage you to have a full pack of tissues handy before you begin. There's a reason "Snow-Kissed" was voted Biggest Tearjerker of the Year in the annual AAR reader poll.

~PJ

Molly O’Keefe’s “Christmas Eve: A Love Story” concludes the collection. This is a reissue; the novella was briefly available in Sweet Talk, the limited edition collection released in May 2015 by Brenda Novak's Online Auction for Diabetes Research.

Trina Crawford and Dean McKenzie grew up on neighboring spreads in Dusk Falls, Wyoming. Best friends, they spent every Christmas Eve at the annual Christmas party thrown by Dean’s wealthy parents. Part of the tradition was the playing of Christmas carols by Trina on piano and Dean on guitar. That tradition, along with the Crawfords presence at the party, ended when Roy Crawford and Eugene McKenzie clashed over the ownership of a piece of land at the boundary of their properties, but even feuding fathers could not stop Trina and Dean’s friendship. Dean was there on the Christmas Eve when Trina’s mother left Dusk Falls forever, leaving Trina with her silent, drunken father. Dean understood Trina’s determination to escape Dusk Falls and her father. He too had plans to leave the town and the father he could never please.

The ties of friendship stretched but never broke as Trina left for college and law school and Dean studied land management in Laramie. If they each dreamed that there was more than friendship between them, the time never seemed right to speak of those dreams—not until as adults they found themselves back in Dusk Falls. But their idyll and their friendship were shattered by a double betrayal. It will take a Christmas Eve miracle of forgiveness to bring true reunion and an HEA.

Molly O’Keefe’s newest novels have been erotic romance, not a subgenre I read, so I loved this reread of a story that is a combination of sweetness and substance and characters so real I wanted to give them a hug. Friends-to-lovers and reunion stories are my favorite tropes, and this novella is a bit of both. I don’t rank this one quite as highly as O’Keefe’s Rita-winning Christmas novella “The Christmas Eve Promise” (2009), one of my perennial Christmas rereads, but it is a wonderful story and a sigh-worthy end to this excellent anthology.

~Janga

Have you read any of the authors in this anthology?

Do you enjoy Christmas themed romances? Do you like them light and comedic or deeply emotional?

Two randomly chosen people leaving a comment on today's post will receive an e-book copy of You Had Me at Christmas. (winner's choice of epub or mobi format)

Review - - Never Been Kissed

Never Been Kissed

By Molly O’Keefe

Publisher: Bantam

Release Date: July 1, 2014

Ashley Montgomery, daughter of a wealthy Georgia politician, is a good girl. She has a good mind, a good heart, and a record of good deeds, but she is also proof that bad things happen to good people. Unlike her brother, she has refused to follow the party line and live the life her mother has mapped out for her. While in Africa doing humanitarian work, she and an English friend and co-worker are kidnapped and held for ransom by Somali pirates. A fantasy figure from her adolescence arrives to rescue her twice, once from the pirates and a second time from her mother and the sensational-hungry media. A battered Ashley is about to discover that a rough-edged knight with an armored heart may be a bigger threat than the one from which he rescued her.

Brody Baxter doesn’t hesitate when Harrison Montgomery asks him to rescue Ashley. It may have been ten years since he was fired as a bodyguard for the powerful Montgomery family, but Brody has not forgotten the lovely, idealistic Ashley. His plan is to rescue her from the pirates and disappear from her life again, but when Ashley’s New York apartment proves to be no sanctuary from determined reporters or from a manipulative mother willing to make political capital of her vulnerable daughter, he takes her to his hometown, tiny Bishop, Arkansas, where he thinks she will be safe in a bare-bones apartment above his brother’s bar.

Half Filipino-half African American, Brody learned early in life that people he loved died or abandoned him emotionally. He has managed to preserve his emotional distance ever since. Even his relationship with his adoptive family is a guarded one. Ashley may stir his protective instincts and his libido, but Brody is confident that he can avoid any messy emotional entanglements. Readers will not be surprised when his daunting defenses prove to be no match for the potent combination of desire and love.

Molly O’Keefe has been on my favorite authors list since I first encountered her Notorious O’Neills back in 2010. She has a knack for creating damaged characters whose only hope for healing lies in giving and accepting love, a truth that strikes fear to their hearts. This knack is on display again in the second book of her Boys of Bishop series, following Wild Child.

I am not a big fan of the conventional alpha hero, but I have a soft spot for the snarling loner with a hidden core of tenderness and vulnerability. I loved watching Brody fight to maintain the walls he had so carefully shored against invasion and knowing it was a battle he had to lose in order to win. My one disappointment with the story is that the ways race complicates things is not more fully explored. Brody is a mixed race child adopted by a white couple, and he is a mixed race man in love with a white woman. Certainly these facts don’t create the tension that they once did, but in the small-town South racism is still alive and well, even though it may be a largely covert variety in 2014.

But the one issue did not spoil my appreciation of the book. O’Keefe does so many things well. She gives her readers a sizzling romance, but it is also a romance that develops in credible and emotionally satisfying ways. Her characters are always presented with rich contexts, and Brody and Ashley are no exception. Ashley’s relationship with her family and Brody’s relationship with his father and brother add interest and substance to their story. The secondary romance is a delight and a perfect balance for Brody and Ashley’s darker story.

If you like imperfect characters who confront real issues and earn their HEA by learning and growing, I highly recommend this book. The third book in the series, Between the Sheets, will be released July 29.
Any month that begins and ends with a Molly O’Keefe book has to be a great one. And Ashley’s brother Harrison gets his story in late November. I’m practically hyperventilating I’m so eager to read that one.

~Janga

Hi, Everybody!  PJ here!  I'm hijacking Janga's review to tell you about a special giveaway we have that includes Never Been Kissed.  Random House is giving away three books in a special promotion that spotlights authors Molly O'Keefe and Virna DePaul.  All you have to do to be eligible is leave a comment on this post and have an U.S. address.  We will randomly choose three winners from the comments left today through July 28th. Each winner will receive one of the books listed below.  (We will choose which book goes to which winner.) Good luck, everyone!

Never Been Kissed
by Molly O'Keefe
Publisher: Bantam
Release Date: July 1, 2014

As the daughter of a wealthy politician, Ashley Montgomery has had enough of her parents’ expectations for her future and is going her own way, volunteering to work at a refugee camp in Africa. But her act of charity turns dangerous when she takes a boat trip and is abducted by Somali pirates. Enter Brody Baxter, who was a bodyguard for the Montgomery family ten years ago and doesn’t think twice about coming to Ashley’s rescue. Handsome and tough, Brody has always done what needed to be done. So he swoops in, saves Ashley, and brings her to a place where she can rest and recuperate without the glare of the press and her demanding family: Brody’s small hometown of Bishop, Arkansas. But Ashley soon realizes that she’s not the only one in need of healing.
 
Holed up with Ashley in a tiny apartment over his brother’s bar in Bishop, Brody is tempted and torn in ways he never anticipated. Beautiful Ashley, vibrant despite her ordeal, fearless enough to love him beyond his wall of self-punishment, is now determined to save him. But with a little faith and a lot of love, they just may find happiness in each others’ arms.

Awakened 
by Virna DePaul
Publisher: Bantam
Release Date: July 1, 2014

Ex-soldier Barrett Miles had no idea that vampires were real—until Belladonna recruits her to serve as a covert agent and infiltrate a murderous sex ring run by the most depraved of immortals, those who feed on the purity and blood of innocents. Their latest victim: a young girl whom Barrett promised to protect. She will be sold—unless Barrett can find her first. Forced to team up with her former lover, Nick Maltese, an undercover sniper, Barrett is caught between fulfilling her personal mission and shielding her heart from the man who betrayed her.
 
Nick’s hunting a new breed of vampires and harboring a terrible secret when Barrett finds him. Soon a seething underworld of strange desires threatens to engulf them all. Can he save the girl and reclaim Barrett’s heart? Nick knows he has only one chance to prove himself to her as the hunt begins—and their love forces them to embrace the darkest places in their souls.

Between the Sheets
By Molly O'Keefe
Publisher: Bantam
Release Date: July 29, 2014

After years of running, Wyatt Svenson has now parked himself in Bishop, Arkansas, trying to do the right thing and parent a son he didn’t even know he had until recently. Over six feet tall and packed with muscles and power, Ty likes to get his hands dirty, fixing his motorcycle at night and keeping his mind away from the mistakes he’s made. Then his pretty neighbor shows up on his driveway, doesn’t bother to introduce herself, and complains about the noise. First impression? She should loosen up. Funny that she turns out to be his son’s elementary school art teacher—and the only one willing to help his troubled boy. Ty needs her. In more ways than one.
 
Though Shelby Monroe is safe in her structured life, she is drawn to Ty’s bad-boy edge and rugged sexuality. What if she just lets it all go: her worries about her mother, her fear of heartbreak, and her tight self control? What if she grabs Ty and takes a ride on the wild side? “What if” becomes reality—intense, exhilarating . . . and addictive. But Ty wants more than a secret affair. He wants it all with Shelby. But will she take a chance and open her heart? Ty is determined to convince Shelby to take the biggest risk of her life: on him.

 

Today's Special - - Molly O'Keefe

Today, we welcome Molly O'Keefe back to The Romance Dish. It's always cause for celebration when Molly has a new book out. This time around it's WILD CHILD, first in her new The Boys of Bishop series (read Janga's review here). 

Please give Molly a warm welcome!

The Art of the Glom

As I write this post, it's a rainy Sunday after a really busy week and I can hear my kids gloming a show on Netflix called Kick Buttowski. There's a chance this show has the most annoying theme song ever. But last night, with a glass of wine and the TV to myself, I finished my own glom of Sons of Anarchy, Season One.  Until two in the morning!

I recently discovered Sarah McLean's historical romances - glom.

Thea Harrison's Dragon series - glom.

I've stayed up late, woken up early, taken the book to the park, because I NEEDED TO FINISH THE BOOK, all so I could start the next one.

Gloms are little mini-addictions.

And while the adrenaline thrill and satisfaction of starting and finishing an entire television season, or a series of books in a week is nothing to sneeze at, I wonder how much we're missing when we do that? How many little subplots and moments are read and immediately forgotten because it's two in the morning and frankly, we're just skimming to the end so we can see what the cliffhanger is for the next book?

I love Meljean Brook's Iron Seas series, because whenever a new book comes out, I re-read the first books as a refresher course on the world. And with every re-read, I feel or think something new. That's its own kind of thrill. 

So, what about you? Are you a glomer? What was the last glom you went on? Or are you a read it/watch it as they come out kind of person?

To feed your next glom - I will give away one copy of Can't Buy Me Love - the first book in the Crooked Creek series and WILD CHILD the first book in my new series; The Boys Of Bishop, to one lucky winner.

If you're interested in finding out more about my new series THE BOYS OF BISHOP and WILD CHILD which is being released Oct. 30 come find me at www.molly-okeefe.com or on facebook https://www.facebook.com/MollyOKeefeBooks?ref=hl

Perfect for readers of Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Rachel Gibson, this sizzling romance tells the story of a sexy small-town mayor and a notorious “bad girl,” who discover that home really is where the heart is.

Monica Appleby is a woman with a reputation. Once she was America’s teenage “Wild Child,” with her own reality TV show. Now she’s a successful author coming home to Bishop, Arkansas, to pen the juicy follow-up to her tell-all autobiography. Problem is, the hottest man in town wants her gone. Mayor Jackson Davies is trying to convince a cookie giant to move its headquarters to his crumbling community, and Monica’s presence is just too . . . unwholesome for business. But the desire in his eyes sends a very different message:Stay, at least for a while.

Jackson needs this cookie deal to go through. His town is dying and this may be its last shot. Monica is a distraction proving too sweet, too inviting—and completely beyond his control. With every kiss he can taste her loneliness, her regrets, and her longing. Soon their uncontrollable attraction is causing all kinds of drama. But when two lost hearts take a surprise detour onto the bumpy road of unexpected love, it can only lead someplace wonderful.

Guest Review - - Wild Child

Wild Child

By Molly O’Keefe

Publisher: Random House/Bantam

Release Date: October 29, 2013

  

Jackson Davies left law school seven years ago after his parents were killed in an automobile accident and returned to Bishop, Arkansas, to make a home for his eleven-year-old sister in the Big House, the family home where generations of Davies descendants have lived. He serves as the mayor of Bishop, a job his father held before him. Bishop, like a lot of small towns, has been hit hard by the recession, especially in the years since the okra-processing plant closed. The town is on the verge of bankruptcy and will soon be forced to make some tough choices between public services. Jackson is committed to finding a way to save Bishop. If he can do that, then when his sister leaves for college in a year, Jackson can leave too and reclaim the life he lost with all its opportunities for exploration and self-indulgence.

Monica Appleby is returning to Bishop, a town she barely remembers, for the first time since she left it when she was six. Monica has lived all over the world, but it is little Bishop that haunts her. It was the site of her mother’s putting a bullet through Monica’s father in self-defense. The author of a little known book about rock-star groupies and of Wild Child, a bestselling memoir about her own experiences as an out-of-control teenager immersed in a world of drugs, sex, and rock music, Monica plans to write a book about her father’s death. To do so, she must interview the citizens of Bishop who remember details Monica never knew and perhaps awaken memories that she has buried deeply.

Jackson learns of a contest in which small towns compete to become the home of Maybream Crackers new factory. He sees it as a way to save Bishop and free him, and he is determined to do everything he can to present Bishop as a wholesome, forward thinking, family friendly town-- perfect as the factory site. The last thing he needs is the scandalous Monica back in town probing memories and raking up the darkest moment in the town’s past. The clash between Jackson and Monica is inevitable, but the powerful chemistry between them catches them both by surprise. Even more surprising is that these two people who appear to be opposites are so much alike beneath the public personae they have created. But letting people inside carefully constructed barriers is risky and scary and messy. Monica and Jackson must find the courage to truly know themselves and to allow themselves to be fully known if they are to have a chance to find their “perfectly imperfect” future together.

Molly O’Keefe manages to use light moments to balance the darkness and to include plenty of sizzle for readers for whom that is a primary consideration, but what she does best is create imperfect, memorable characters. Not just Jackson and Monica but all the minor characters as well harbor secrets that their public faces do not reveal. They all struggle with the gap between who they are and what other people expect them to be. Underlying the internal and external conflicts is the idea that people can lose themselves when they are too caught up in being what others expect them to be.

O’Keefe’s insistence that there are no perfect characters extends beyond the fictional characters to touch the reader. Most readers will feel a visceral connection to Monica who is trying to prove that she is better than the past that most people use as a basis for judging her or to Jackson who is so caught up in fixing everyone and solving their problems that he can’t see himself clearly. They will recognize the inescapable truth O’Keefe conveys: human beings are quick to apply labels to each other, but we are all too complicated and messy and contradictory to be contained by a convenient tag.

Some novels I read are merely entertainment. Rarer are those that make me think hard thoughts and push me to examine my own life. Wild Child did that. I live in a small town, I practice a faith that teaches me to love and not to judge, but I found myself wondering how I would react if a reformed wild child became part of my community. If you appreciate books that combine moments that evoke genuine laughter with those that touch darker emotions and cause you to look at the real world you inhabit with a new perspective, I highly recommend this book.

Wild Child is the first in a new series. I have no idea what’s next, although I searched for hints. The repressed schoolteacher Shelby and the brooding Brody are the secondary characters I find most intriguing, but the first book is rich with possibilities for further stories. One thing is certain: whatever Molly O’Keefe writes, I’ll be reading it. I love those flawed characters!

~Janga
http://justjanga.blogspot.com

Guest Review - - Crazy Thing Called Love

Crazy Thing Called Love

By Molly O’Keefe

Publisher: Bantam

Release Date: January 29, 2013

Maddy Baumgarten and Billy Wilkins grew up together. They lived in the same neighborhood, they attended the same schools, they were high school sweethearts. At eighteen and twenty, crazy in love, they got married. Two years later, in a storm of anger, hurt, fear, and regret, their marriage crashed. For fourteen years, they have moved in different worlds.

During these years Maddy completed a journalism degree and earned a position as host of a morning television show. She buried Maddy Baumgarten and Maddy Wilkins in the past that she does her best to erase from memory. The present belongs to Madelyn Cornish, a thin and elegant Dallas celebrity, who has ambitions for a network TV job. Billy, who was just beginning to build a reputation in the NHL when Maddy divorced him, has been in the Stanley Cup playoffs seven times and has become a celebrated hockey star. Fame and fortune have not eased the rage that is his constant companion, one that has led him into one fight too many. A changing game with growing concern about concussed players, a new team where he feels light years older than the rookies, and a gentleman coach who wants Billy to be a leader rather than a brawler have made the career that defines Billy Wilkins less certain than he believed.  

Something shifted in Billy three months ago when he saw Maddy at the opening night party for the Crooked Creek Spa (Can’t Hurry Love). He dares to believe he sees something of his Maddy in the polished beauty he watches on the TV screen, but when Maddy refuses to take his calls, he’s at the point of giving up. Then, his agent calls with an offer for Billy to be the subject of a multi-part makeover on a morning show. Billy is in the process of telling his agent what the show can do with its offer when he learns that the show is Dallas AM, hosted by Madelyn Cornish, and he agrees to what he feels sure will be humiliation because it will allow him to see Maddy again.

Madelyn is terrified of resurrecting the past. She uses all her power to prevent Billy’s appearance, but she loses the battle. Billy’s presence proves just as devastating as she feared. Her efforts to maintain her distance prove futile as first her body and soon her heart prove as susceptible to Billy as ever. But when their past resurfaces in unexpected ways, even love may not be enough to persuade Maddy to risk the illusion of safety her new identity has given her.

Molly O'Keefe does it again. She's written yet another book that grabs me by the heart and pulls me into the story and makes me fall in love with characters I can't forget. Reunion stories are my favorites, and I was already a little bit in love with Billy. Thus, it's hardly surprising that this is my favorite of a trilogy in which I loved all three books.

Like the characters that preceded them in the Crooked Creek series, Maddy and Billy are messy, complex characters scarred by their pasts. Some of the scars cover wounds that are still infecting the present. Billy’s scarred face, a visible reminder of his violent childhood, is a metaphor for the psychic wounds those childhood experiences inflicted. Maddy’s wounds are from emotional rather than physical violence. She casts herself as Billy’s defender from an early age. Her focus is on seeing Billy succeed not only in hockey but in becoming the man she believes him to be. When Billy’s desire to belong in the world where his talent has taken him leads him to betray her belief in him and, by extension, in them, she is devastated. She feels that she has lost not only Billy but also her very self.

O’Keefe both operates within the conventions of romance and undermines those conventions. The chemistry between Maddy and Billy is so powerful that not even betrayal and a separation of well over a decade can diminish it. Sex scenes provide not merely the almost mandatory sizzle of current romance fiction but also a means of revealing the emotional vulnerabilities of the protagonists. And Maddy and Billy’s story gives lie to one of the great myths of romance. Love does not conquer all, at least not until it is accompanied by self-knowledge, self-acceptance and forgiveness. If I were creating a sound track for this novel, I’d include Roy Orbison’s version of Boudleaux Bryant’s “Love Hurts” as a recurring theme: “Love hurts and scars. / Love wounds and mars / anyone not tough or strong enough / to take a lot of pain.”

Secondary characters add dimension and complications to the central story. Readers who share my series addiction will enjoy seeing Luc and Tara Jean from the first book, but their appearance is purposeful rather than pandering to readers. They serve to give context to Billy’s character. In the same way, Ruth, an intriguing character in her own right, reveals Maddy’s isolation and loneliness. The children, Becky and Charlie, heartbreakingly real, play a vital role.

When I reviewed Can’t Buy Me Love, the first Crooked Creek book, I referred to a quotation I found thematic: “We’re more than our mistakes. . . . More than our pasts. We can be more than the things we let define us.” Although the words do not appear in Crazy Thing Called Love, the truth they embody resounds throughout this book, and indeed, throughout the entire series.

Recently I’ve heard some complaints about the lack of tough, flawed, credibly 21^st-century characters in contemporary romance. It’s clear those readers haven’t discovered the books of Molly O’Keefe. Her Crooked Creek books are among the most courageous and complex romances I’ve ever read. I highly recommend this book. It ensured that I started my Best of 2013 list early.

Addendum: I have it straight from Ms. O’Keefe that while Crazy Thing Called Love officially ends the series, there’s a possibility that Ruth will get her HEA—perhaps in a novella. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

~Janga
http://justjanga.blogspot.com

September Harlequin Roundup!

by Anna Campbell

It's a while since I did a Harlequin roundup (just checked, going back to January this year!), so I thought I'd share a couple of recent discoveries that are still available through the online sellers and as e-books.

I'd like to start with a book that was a bit of a revelation, May 2012 SuperRomance THE LONG SHOT by Ellen Hartman . I actually hadn't heard of Ellen until our wonderful RITA-winning Bandita Beth Andrews invited her to be a guest on the Romance Bandits. Here's a link to the interview: http://romancebandits.com/ellen-hartman/

 Ellen was such fun that I thought I'd give her book a go - I've found a lot of favorite authors because they've come across really well in social media. Well, what a great read - highly recommended!

This is one of those books about returning to your beginnings and this time, doing it right. Baseball star Deacon Fallon goes back to his home town after his retirement from the Major Leagues, determined to establish a life for himself and for his younger brother. Through a series of funny mishaps, he ends up coaching the girls' basketball team at the local high school and finds sparks striking with gutsy, clever teacher Julia Bradley. But it's not all comedy - Deacon has a big secret that he knows makes him unworthy of Julia.

This is one of those wonderful books where you stand up, cheering for all the characters. You cheer for Deacon summoning up the courage to share the shame that has blighted his life. You cheer Julia who won't bow down to the sexist attitudes of the good old boys in this small town and even more dangerously, won't let Deacon run and hide from what is obviously true love. And you cheer for the boys and girls at the high school who discover some important life lessons through the basketball season.

This book has everything. It's funny. It's touching. It's inspiring. I've already got my order in for Ellen's next book (September 2012), OUT OF BOUNDS, featuring Wes, Deacon's brother.

My second recommendation is another SuperRomance. I think this is such a great line - you get a really meaty, emotional read and the longer length allows writers to explore subplots and secondary characters more than is possible in the shorter categories (I love them too but for different reasons!).

I've reviewed Molly O'Keefe's books before on the Romance Dish. She's a wonderful writer who tells a darn good story.

She's now writing single title books - here's a link to Janga's five star review of Molly's June release CAN'T BUY ME LOVE: http://www.theromancedish.com/2012/06/review-cant-buy-me-love.html But my most recent Molly O'Keefe is the follow-up to her February 2011 book, HIS WIFE FOR ONE NIGHT. UNEXPECTED FAMILY (June 2012) is another story about going back to your origins and facing your demons. Is it just that these stories appeal to me or is this a popular theme in Supers? Interesting question!

Rodeo superstar Jeremiah Stone returns to the family ranch in the California hills with his three nephews after the death of his sister and her husband. Jeremiah isn't coping with becoming a father, and he refuses to face his repressed anger over giving up a life he loves to take over responsibilities that he feels ill-equipped to handle. He's a good man but he's failing at the monumental tasks he's set himself - and he doesn't know where to turn for help. At this difficult point in his life, the last thing he needs is a rekindled relationship with beautiful and fiery Lucy Alatore who is back home licking her wounds after her Los Angeles business fails.

Again, this is a book where you want to stand up and cheer for the characters. The people in this book are facing big issues and their responses are heart-wrenching. Not to mention that this story has all the wonderful signature MO'K sensuality and sizzle and tension. Again, highly recommended.

My final book in this roundup has nothing to do with people returning to small towns where they grew up. Or even with sports stars coming to terms with life after the spotlight (although the hero of this one is a martial arts expert so perhaps that's not entirely accurate!).

Jeannie Lin won the 2009 Golden Heart for best historical manuscript for her debut BUTTERFLY SWORDS (currently burning a spot in my TBR pile). I bought THE DRAGON AND THE PEARL, the first book of hers that I've read, after someone quoted a beautiful passage about a bamboo forest on a blog that I did for the Romance Bandits about setting. And I'm so glad I did!

In her Harlequin Historical THE DRAGON AND THE PEARL (September 2011), Jeannie sweeps you away to the exotic and dangerous world of 8th century China, a place of warlords and emperors and concubines. Against this glittering, vivid background, Jeannie tells the story of reluctant concubine Ling Suyin and powerful, mysterious warlord Li Tao. It's dramatic, compelling and breathtakingly romantic - and the love scenes are as steamy as a freshly cooked dim sum.

These two characters are wary, worldly and know that the slightest wrong move could mean their death. I kept thinking of the old joke about how porcupines make love. VERY carefully! The sexual tension flares to white hot as these two circle each other, not sure if they should trust, but drawn irresistibly to the other person in spite of the risk.

I love stories like this - the stakes are so high and when the characters fall in love, they fall like a ton of bricks. Big happy sigh when I closed this one up - and then I rushed straight to the book depository to order Jeannie's other two Chinese romances, BUTTERFLY SWORDS (October 2010 - a prequel to this one) and MY FAIR CONCUBINE (June 2012 - what a fun title!). Again, highly recommended.

So have you read any of these authors? Do you like romances about people going home and making sense of it all at last? Have you read any good Harlequins lately? I'm always looking for recommendations.

Review - - Can't Buy Me Love

Can't Buy Me Love

By Molly O’Keefe

Publisher: Bantam

Release Date: June 26, 2012

Tara Jean Sweet is a woman with a past, a troubled past that she’s been trying to outrun for four years. But a new name is not enough to let her escape her past. Not even the payoff wealthy Lyle Baker promises if she plays the role of his sexy, gold-digging fiancé convincingly enough to bring his estranged children back to his Crooked Creek Ranch is enough. The plan works, but there is no deathbed reconciliation scene. His children shed no tears when Lyle Baker dies. The old man may have left Tara forty percent of Baker Leather, but with his son as CEO, staying at Crooked Creek may be more dangerous than the demon voice in Tara’s head or the blue-eyed threat from her past because Luc Baker makes her want to be better than the trailer-trash, con artist Tara knows she is.

Luc Baker has spent twenty years in the National Hockey League. His career has given him wealth greater than that of the father he hates, fame as the league’s celebrated Ice Man, and scar tissue on his frontal lobe that could make retirement mandatory. At thirty-seven, Luc is terrified by the idea of life without hockey. The career that was supposed to prove to Lyle Baker the stuff his son was made of has become the definition of who Luc is. Without hockey, he fears he is nothing. When Luc returns to Crooked Creek, he does so only for his sister, and he returns filled with anger, bitterly resentful that coming back makes him feel like the scared kid he once was, and spoiling for a fight. Tara Jean Sweet is the perfect target for his animosity. Too bad he can’t stop wondering how she’d feel in his arms.

Can’t Buy Me Love sounds like a cute, clever contemporary romance.  The deceptiveness of that impression seems appropriate since deceptive appearances is one of the novel’s motifs. The title seems to be amusing pop culture word play, but it is far more. Tara seems to be engaged to Lyle Baker, but she isn’t. Luc thinks she’s a shallow slut out for all she can get, but she isn’t. Tara thinks he’s a spoiled celebrity who can’t be bothered with his aging father, but he isn’t. There is humor in the book, but there is no froth. Tara and Luc are characters shaped by their abusive pasts that have left them damaged in ways that adulthood and success have not healed. Strong chemistry and captive hearts cannot make them whole and healthy enough to accept themselves as people of value who deserve to be loved. The damage is not limited to the principal characters. Luc’s sister Victoria is filled with self-hatred and unable to define herself apart from a man. Eli Turnbull, the ranch foreman, is consumed with bitterness that the land that belonged to his family for generations is now Baker land.

Near the end of the novel, Victoria voices a truth all the characters must learn: “We’re more than our mistakes. . . . More than our pasts. We can be more than the things we let define us.” Once Tara and Luc accept this truth, they can accept their flawed selves and open their hearts to receive the love that is waiting for them. These sentences are thematic not only for Can’t Buy Me Love but also for Molly O’Keefe’s work generally. It is a theme that was present, if less directly articulated, in The Temptation of Savannah O’Neill, the first O’Keefe book I read, a theme I found throughout the backlist I then glommed, and one that resonates in her newest work of category fiction, Unexpected Family.  

Can’t Buy Me Love is a single-title debut worth celebrating. Molly O’Keefe tells a great story that evokes laughter and tears, and she does something more. She reminds her readers of a truth we all need to learn. I highly recommend this book.


~Janga
justjanga.blogspot.com

Molly O'Keefe Winner

Many thanks to all of you who stopped by for the two-way interview between Molly O'Keefe and Janga.  We hope you enjoyed the experience as much as we did!  The winner of an ARC of Molly's first single title novel, CAN'T BUY ME LOVE is:

AMY VALENTINI

Congratulations, Amy!  Please send us an email at theromancedish (at) gmail (dot) com and we'll put you in contact with Molly.  Remember, CAN'T BUY ME LOVE is a July 2012 release so ARCs won't be available for a few months yet but you'll get one of the first!

One for me...One for you. Questions, that is!

BREAKING NEWS: 
Between Molly's computer virus and human virus and my crazy work schedule and leaky senior memory, neither of us said anything about possible giveaways when we were planning this interview. So.... Sorry this is late but Molly has very generously offered an ARC of her first single-title book, CAN'T BUY ME LOVE to one randomly selected person who leaves a comment on today's blog. The book is a July release so ARCs won't be available for a few months yet but, as soon as Molly receives them, a copy will be winging its way to today's winner! Thanks, Molly!
~PJ

Janga and I met online several years ago and quickly discovered that we share a similar taste in the romances we enjoy reading.   When I find a new author (or book) to love, she's one of the first people I share the news with and she's placed more than a few authors on my "must buy" list with her enthusiastic recommendations over the years.  One of those authors is Molly O'Keefe.  I had the pleasure of meeting Molly this past summer at the RWA National Conference in New York City.  We struck up a conversation in the bar (you meet the most amazing people in the bars at RWA conferences!) and while we were chatting, I had one of those "lightbulb" moments.  Wouldn't it be great, I thought, if Janga (a dedicated fan of Molly's writing) could interview her for The Romance Dish?  I pitched the idea to Molly and she was on board immediately...but with a delicious twist.  Turns out Molly is a fan of Janga's and, while she was enthusiastic about the idea of being interviewed, she also wanted the opportunity to pose some questions of her own.  What a great idea!  I loved it!  Now, I just had to sell the idea of being interviewed to Janga.  Happily, she agreed - with only minimal begging on my part - and what follows is the wonderful end result of one reader interviewing -and being interview by - one of her favorite authors.  Enjoy! 

JANGA:   I started reading your books with the Notorious O’Neills and then eagerly glommed your backlist. I noted that the sense of family that I found appealing in the O’Neill books is characteristic of your work generally. Is this something you’re consciously creating or has it just happened?

MOLLY:  I cut my romance reading teeth on Elizabeth Lowell and Judith McNaught historicals and I LOVED the family connections. As a reader that family relationship was a very close second to the romance. So, when I started writing I didn't even think about it - the family dynamic was just there. The more books I write the more conscious I am of it because I don't want to over do it, or repeat myself. My mother - who is lovely - gets a little frustrated with all the bad moms in my books, but bad moms are fun reading, aren't they? They certainly are fun writing.

JANGA:  Writing bad moms must be fun. They seem to be popular with romance writers. For me, reading is foremost about the characters, and I fell in love with yours. Who is your favorite of your characters? Who was the hardest to write? The most fun?

MOLLY:  I was just having this conversation with another writer. Sometimes I can just slip into a character's skin and it's effortless and joyful. Some characters resist and fight and are a mystery all the way through. The good characters have been: Sam and JD from The Son Between Them Savannah from The Temptation of Savannah O'Neill Mia from His Wife For One Night Tara Jean from Can't Buy Me Love Eli from Can't Hurry Love and in the Superromance I'm writing right now, Jeremiah Stone, the hero of Unexpected Family The worst have been Ian and Jennifer from The Story Between Them - they did not get a long - AT ALL. Carter from The Scandal and Carter O'Neill Lucy from Unexpected Family.

JANGA:    Oh, I loved Sam and JD—theirs is a really different romance. And Savannah is a great character! From the beginning of your career, you have written series. I’m a series addict and understand the appeal from a reader’s perspective. What is the appeal of writing a series?

MOLLY:  I think I like writing series because I love to read them. Getting that overarching plot that ties the three books together is such a fun puzzle that when it works out - it's exhilarating. When it doesn't...uh oh. But I also like seeing little glimpses of couples after their HEA. It creates a real sense of the author's world - I always dreamed I could step into those Judith McNaught historicals and meet all of those characters. I think readers like that. I know I do.

JANGA:    So do I. There was a lively discussion about this at Heroes and Heartbreakers last week. To quote Shakespeare out of context, “what’s past is prologue,” and the Dishes and dishettes are always interested in the prologues of our favorite authors. When did you start writing? What is your “call story”?

MOLLY:  I've always wanted to write Romance novels. And I started right out of college - not that I ever finished any of those books. But once I did start finishing and submitting I actually sold my second book. I was living in California and working as a substitute teacher. When the editor called she wasn't aware of the time change and it was six am. I thought she was a principal asking me to come sub at her school and I kept saying "I have a job today, sorry." Finally, after about the third time the penny dropped and freaking out ensued.

JANGA:   LOL I can sympathize with that 6:00 a. m. response. What’s your favorite part of the writing process?

MOLLY:  Those little moments I never see coming. Writing the Mitchells Of Riverview Inn series, it was only supposed to be two books. But then I had this lightning bolt about a secret third brother. One of the best moment of my writing life.

JANGA:    I love those moments too—“the given lines,” as a French Symboliste poet called them. What authors have influenced your writing? What authors do you like to read?

MOLLY:  My three favorite romances are Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, The Shadow and The Star by Laura Kinsale and Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward. I have those books in my head every time I sit down to write - it's maddening.

JANGA:    Dream a Little Dream is my favourite SEP too. Can’t Buy Me Love (June 26, 2012) will be your first single-title romance. How was writing it different from writing category romance? Will you continue to write categories? (I hope so. I’m a big Super fan.)

MOLLY:  Can't Buy Me Love and its sequel Can't Hurry Love were total dreams to write. They're longer and a bit more complicated - way way way hotter, which is a total surprise. It was fun figuring out which envelopes I could push and which needed to stay the same. Sometimes it felt like I was learning a whole new skill set and other times it felt like I'd been writing single title all along. I loved it.

JANGA:   Is there anything you can share with us about Can’t Buy Me Love? What's sure to make us fall in love with the newest Molly O'Keefe book?

MOLLY:  Did I mention it's hot? Because it is. It's also very emotional. Lots of secrets and drama. Family angst and it's hot. Oh, and the hero plays hockey.

JANGA:  Secrets, family angst, hotness—I love it already. Can you tell us what comes next after Can’t Buy Me Love?

MOLLY:  Can't Hurry Love comes out in July and the third book in the Crooked Creek Series comes out in November - This Can't Be Love.

JANGA:  Is there a genre other than romance or a subgenre within romance that you still dream of writing in?

MOLLY:  Actually, no. I love to read historical romance, and paranormal romance and YA is very exciting right now. But my heart belongs to Contemporary.

JANGA:  Good to know! I’m in favour of more contemporary romance. Did your recent trip to New Zealand give you ideas for new books?

MOLLY:  What a trip! We were there in part for the World Cup of Rugby - and those guys are total hero material... I fell in love many many times. I think I'll be doing more sports heros.




JANGA:   A quick five is always a fun way to end.

Are you a lark or an owl?
I used to be an owl but children put an end to that!!

Coffee or tea?
Coffee and far too much of it.

Mountains or beach?
Mountains - I really love to hike. Though we had some amazing moments on beaches in New Zealand...ah...too hard...can't choose.

City slicker or country mouse?
I grew up in the country and moved to the city - so a little bit of both. But it would be very hard to give up the excitement and convenience of my city. I can get Sushi delivered! How do you give that up?

Last minute holiday shopper or finished by September?
Last minute - my dad and I used to do all our shopping on Christmas Eve. We gave a lot of very bad gifts!

Now it's Molly's turn to ask the questions!


MOLLY:  When did you start reading romance? Do you remember the ones that first got you hooked? Do you still read any of the authors you started with?

JANGA:  I started reading romance the summer I turned ten when my mother turned me loose with her books. I read Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and stacks of Agatha Christie mysteries and Emilie Loring and Grace Livingston Hill romances that summer. I’ve been reading a mix of literary fiction and popular romance, and mystery ever since. But I think I was already hooked on romance from reading Louisa May Alcott, L. M. Montgomery, Maud Hart Lovelace, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. I’ve certainly reread Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice many times. The Loring books seem a bit dated now, although I occasionally reread one. I find the Hill books too preachy. But there are authors like Mary Balogh, Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, and Nora Roberts whom I started reading later but early in their careers and still read today—more than twenty years after I first read them. I love the lasting impression those first romance novels have.


MOLLY:  Have you always been a romance advocate?

JANGA:  I’ve always read romance, but my advocacy is fairly recent. From college on, I was a closet reader. Romance fiction was mocked by my English professors and most of my English major friends. One friend in grad school, upon finding out I read romance novels, declared “They’ll rot your brain.” Reading romance was also viewed as a betrayal of feminism. The wider acceptance of romance fiction within academia has developed since Pam Regis’s A Natural History of Romance.

MOLLY:  The snobbery is wide-spread, particularly among people who have never even read a romance novel. And on the feminism note: one thing I love about your reviews is how thoughtful they are - how they seem to tie into a part of womanhood, or community or family that is larger than the book - is that why you read romance? To feel in touch with those things - or to think about those things?

JANGA:  I don’t think I read consciously for those things, at least not on a first reading when it’s the characters who make or break the book for me. But I do like making connections—part of my INFP (Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving) personality—and my training encourages me to be analytical when I write about books. At the analytical stage, considering contexts is one of the delights of reading.

MOLLY:  It is a delight! I love trying to pull apart the books that really work for me and figuring out the magic. Usually I just end up sucked into the story again. How has the explosion of the romance reading on line community impacted the way you read?

JANGA:  It’s increased my TBR stack a hundred fold. I do significantly less rereading now than I used to because I never catch up with the new books awaiting me. It’s also made me a more adventurous reader. I’ve read subgenres that I would never have tried when I was reading in isolation. Most significantly, it has given me an awareness of being part of a community that values reading romance. Some of my closest friends now are people who were first reading buddies whom I met because we read the same writers and joined in conversations about their books.

MOLLY:  Has it changed the way you review or present yourself on social networking sites (good reads, facebook etc…) or how you view other authors, reviewers etc???

JANGA:  Hmm. I’m not sure. It was the intelligence and camaraderie of the online romance community that gave me the courage to identify myself openly as a romance reader. Without that honesty, I’d never have become a reviewer, a blogger, a tweeter; I’d never have seen myself as a reader with things to say about romance fiction that were worthy of an audience. Squawk Radio and the Eloisa James/Julia Quinn bulletin board (both now defunct) are where I developed an online identity.

MOLLY:  How has your career as a teacher impacted the way you look at books and review them?

JANGA:  There’s a scene in Eloisa James’s soon-to-be-released novel, The Duke Is Mine, where the heroine explains the meaning of a poem to the hero and then explains what would be lost if the poem were different. I connected with that scene so strongly because it was such a teacherly moment. That desire to say, “Oh, look at this! How wonderful! This is what it means. This is why it has to be exactly this” is certainly something that shaped me as a teacher and shapes me as a reviewer. Maybe that’s why I prefer reviewing books I love and keeping silent about those I dislike.


MOLLY:  "This is why it has to be exactly this" - I love that! I prefer telling the world about books I love, too. Spreading the joy is so much more fun than spreading the pain. What is your favorite thing about romance novels?

JANGA:  The happy endings. Life is messy and often filled with pain and disillusionment. I love spending time in a world where love always redeems the rogues, heals the broken, and finds “the we of me” for the lonely—and one where women deserve and attain happiness and self-fulfillment.

MOLLY:  What is your least favorite thing?

JANGA:  The covers. I am not a fan of clinch covers. I dislike having to hide them from the younger grands. I’m also not crazy about buzzword titles.

MOLLY:  The covers are a double-edged sword that's for sure. Are you also writing romance? If so what genre?

JANGA:  I am. I’ve written one book and have partial mss. of two others in a contemporary trilogy with a Southern setting. And I’m excited about a new idea that surfaced just this week inspired by a picture on a web site.

MOLLY:  Oh! New inspiration - one of the best parts of writing. Enjoy it! If you could step inside one romance novel, or one world created by an author - whose would it be???

JANGA:  That’s a toughie. If I were strictly a short-term observer, I think I’d choose Jo Beverley’s Malloren world. I’d love to see Rothgar. If I were visiting the world of the book as Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next does, I’d go with a contemporary. I have to have my mod cons. Maybe Kathleen Gilles Seidel’s Till the Stars Fall or Ruth Wind’s (Barbara Samuel) In the Midnight Rain or Mary Jo Putney’s The Spiral Path. I’d love to have dinner and a long conversation with any of those characters.

MOLLY:  It would be hard to forgo showering to see Rothgar! You say one of your favorite books is Anne of Green Gables (I'm an Emily of New Moon girl myself) - what do you love about that book?  As a book for girls and about girls what do you think its lasting influence is on girls?

JANGA:  This question is a timely one since I’m working on a blog post on Anne. She is such a flawed endearing mix of insecurity, intelligence, imagination, honesty, and a huge, loving heart. Mark Twain called her “the dearest and most lovable child in fiction since the immortal Alice.” I’d cut the comparison from Twain’s comment. I find her far dearer and more lovable than Alice. Without getting bogged down in the terminology of literary criticism, I think Anne’s continued appeal can be attributed to her combination of femininity and feminism. She’s a girly girl who has a BFF, longs for puffed sleeves, wishes her hair were a different color, and imagines herself “an enchanted princess shut up in a lonely tower with a handsome knight riding to [her] rescue on a coal-black steed." She’s also independent, assertive, and a usurper of the power of naming, a power usually reserved for males. She signals girls that it’s good, even empowering, to be all those things.

MOLLY:  I can't wait to read that post! I worry sometimes that the books I loved as a girl will disappear under the new wave of modern YA fiction - which is amazing stuff. But still I hope there is room for Laura Ingalls and Anne and Emily. Describe your perfect reader day…

JANGA:  The sound of rain against the window, my favorite chair and a cozy throw, hot chocolate with marshmallows, a stack of historical and contemporary romances (a mix of new books and comfort rereads), no phones or doorbells ringing, and a long stretch of hours to do nothing but read. Or substitute lazy day on a bench by the river with wild azaleas blooming, a spring breeze stirring the pine trees, a thermos of sweet iced tea, and a bag of the same books.



MOLLY:  I like your lightening round - so I'm going to copy yours.

Lark or night owl?
Night owl. I wake up as late as possible, an eyelash at a time.

Coffee or tea?
Tea. I’m Southern. We’re given sweet tea in our baby bottles.

Mountains or beach?
Mountains, every time. With a big lake to add the water element.

City slicker or country mouse?
Country mouse who likes visiting the city—but briefly.

Last minute holiday shopper or finished by September?
I finish my shopping on Christmas Eve.

**********

Molly and Janga, thank you both for giving us this fascinating "behind the scenes" glimpse into your lives.  We truly appreciate all the time and effort that went into these interviews!

Readers, if you could interview, and be interviewed by, the person of your choice, who would you choose and why?  Do you have any questions for Molly or Janga?  Post them in the comments.  They'll be dropping by throughout the day!

Molly O'Keefe is the RITA© Award Winning author of more than fifteen category romances.  Her first single-title romance, CAN'T BUY ME LOVE will be released June 2012 and will be followed by CAN'T HURRY LOVE in July 2012.  For more information about Molly, visit her website  like her Facebook page, visit the Harlequin Superromance blog and like the Harlequin Superromance Facebook page. 

Many of you know Janga as a guest reviewer here at The Romance Dish and proprietor of her blog, Just Janga.  She's a retired literature (emphasis on Southern Literature) teacher who, in addition to being a freelance writer, is also an occasional guest blogger at Heroes and Heartbreakers and hard at work on a contemporary romance manuscript of her own.  Follow her on Twitter @janga724. 






~PJ