Colorful Reviews - Back Again For The First Time

Dear Readers,

While the Ja(y)nes at Dear Author are working on increasing the buzz around ebooks, Solaine at Colorful Reviews caters to the ebook veterans. Of course, print books will always be the leaders of the pack, but the reality is that erotic romance stories in print are hard to come by in South Africa (that’s where I live, btw). For those of us who’ve been on the ebook bandwagon for a while now, the issues are beyond “are ebooks as good as print books.” I’d like to address the increasing prices of ebooks: at $5.95 for a 150 page book, I have to wonder if I’m getting the bang I seek for my buck. More importantly, you can’t throw an ebook at the wall, re-sell it, donate it to the the library, or even use is as fuel to stoke the fire during the cold June/July months. At $2.99 a pop, a quickie that turns out bad almost seems worth the effort (Sure glad I didn’t buy a full length novel from that author). So for the month of June, I will be reviewing quickies, shorts, heatwaves, whatever you want to call them, as long as they are $2.99 or less! Hopefully by the end of the month, I’ll have a couple more full length stories to add to my TBR pile. At the very least, I’ll know who NOT to buy full length novels from.

So, any recommendations?

Dear Readers,

The whole rabid fangirl controversy in our romance community blogosphere has given me the impetus to blog about my personal pet peeve as a reader — authors who pimp their work all over another author’s site/blog/forum. I call them “Rabid Freeloaders”. And I only have one word (two syllables) to describe these menaces to readers’ sensibilities: TACK-Y!

As a reader, what do you do when authors begin attacking you because you aren’t supportive enough? Or because you have a difference in opinion about characters?

I was once a lurker/reader at Lora Leigh and Veronica Chadwick’s forum and I had to leave after two somewhat popular B-list authors started taking over the forum with excerpts, posts and contests. In fact, the worse was when Ms. Leigh herself came out the woodworks to COMPLAIN that readers weren’t praising these author’s excerpts enough. The general sentiment was, “We provide these free excerpts for you and work hard and when we don’t get reader feedback, it makes us feel like ya’ll don’t appreciate it, so please comment if you like the excerpt.” I’m paraphrasing HUGELY, but all I could think was: “Did we just get scolded for not kissing these “guest” authors’ asses.” If I wanted to read excerpts of B-list authors I’d join their loops or blogs, but when I am on say, Emma Holly’s blog, I don’t want to read excerpts from say, Lora Leigh. No matter how much I love Ms. Leigh’s work, please believe if she started pimping herself on Emma Holly’s blog, I’d want her to fall back, too.

Now there’s a difference between highlighting an author, interviewing an author or recommending one of their stories. But these authors literally began to take over, posting all the time, even engaging in arguments with Ladies of the forum over how to write stories, after one particular author was criticized for one of her characters. While I have enough fodder for days about authors who are freeloaders, I’m just wondering which is worse — readers who are rabid fans or authors who are such rabid fans of their own work that they pimp their own stuff all over other people’s sites?

Regards, Solaine

Dear Readers,

It’s been a long time, I shouldnt’ve left you … without a good review to step to. So here goes:

I’m a member of Rhyannon Byrd and Madison Haye’s Pure Magick newsletter (who isn’t?) and saw they’ve spotlighted author Dawn Madigan. She’s already published three books at EC, yet I’d never heard of her. Then again, I left the EC yahoogroup loop a long time ago and tend to live in my own secluded reader world. I half-assed looked around to see if the ebook buzz had her name anywhere and didn’t see much of it. Ms. Madigan was one case where I’d have to do my own research.

First stop: Ms. Madigan’s site. While it had a bit of a Delilah Devlin feel to the design, I was impressed with Ms. Madigan’s skill – a medical doctor who writes and designs her own site seems cool already. After browsing her offerings, I decided to take a safe bet and purchase her new quickie over at EC, Ryality Bites. I found the excerpt the hottest of the ones posted, and a quickie is always a great way to decide if the author is one I’d enjoy.

Adjectives I’d use to describe Ryality Bites: hot, short, and well-written. Ryal is a spunky, yet vulnerable heroine who snares her hero with her sexy sweet vibes. A seasoned vampire, Ryal just happens to pick up the most infamous vampire slayer around, an equally sexy and sweet “Norse super stud” named Hayden. I think the plot of vampire and vampire slayer always makes a hot read, don’t you? While Ryal is attempting to replenish her energy, after years of no sex and months without nourishing human blood, she’s also running from the the necessarily evil super vampire, Rubeus, who is hunting her for stealing a powerful ruby from him years ago. When Hayden saves Ryal from death, they learn that their attraction runs centuries deep. Can they find everlasting love while defeating the big bad vampire?

In about 55 pages, Ms. Madigan makes a believer out of me! The chemistry between these two is scorching and Ms. Madigan does a great job of writing both Hayden and Ryal’s sides of the story. I love to get inside the hero’s mind as well as the heroine, since I think it makes the story a bit more realistic and it endears me to both main characters. Ryality Bites is full of witty moments and steamy, believable sex scenes that will have you wondering what else Ms. Madigan can do in a full length story. I recommend Ryality Bites and for $2.99 you can’t go wrong with this quick story.

Happy Reading, Solaine

Dear Readers,

I started reviewing for the free books. I won’t lie. When most avid readers (of modest financial earnings) come to a point where they realize that risky buys can become regretted decisions, reviewing seems to address all issues involved. What’s better than getting free books that may or may not be entertaining? If they bomb, you can perform your duty to fellow readers and warn them to save their $5 to $10. All parties end up happy. Or do they? My time in the reviewing world has revealed a different reality.

Point blank, authors expect positive reviews, publishers expect positive reviews, and reviewing websites expect positive reviews. Of the many reviewing sites I’ve worked at, I’ve yet to hear a power-that-be encourage their reviewers to write more critical, substantial and harsher reviews. Naively, I’ve always wondered why more critical reviews are discouraged; as a reader, I want someone to wade through the ebook crap for me! As a reviewer, I know that writers/publishers use their free copies to barter with review sites. Want banner advertisements? Want more free books? Want a gateway into other areas of paid promotion? Churn out 4 and 5 ratings. Yes, the occasional 3 is sprinkled in to maintain “authenticity”, yet when approximately 80% of the reviews I read are above a 3, I’ve got to ask: can ALL those books really be worth buying?

Now, before anyone admonishes me for a reductive interpretation of reviews, I’ll eliminate the author/promotional element of reviews and skip to the major issue at hand - readers who believe that reviewing actually helps out fellow readers will quickly become disenchanted in their volunteer service. Why? Mainly, most readers barely glance at reviews let alone invest their purchases on them. Most readers pick their new authors, books, and publishers on personal recommendations or lucky chances.

Word of mouth is the most powerful promotional tool any seller can use, and authors would do well to start a newsletter to promote through their readers. Reviews are cute for the website, taglines or to brag about, but the reality is that most readers couldn’t give half a cent what a review says about a book. Most reviewers barely read reviews; as a reviewer I began to read reviews in order to critique their style. More hardcore readers understand the game that author/publisher sponsored review sites play. (Let’s not fool ourselves that there are erotic review sites out there with the “reader’s” interests in mind. They, too, pander to the most popular publishers and authors.)

Yet, while not a writer for profits myself, I can understand the frustration and hurt that comes from a seemingly harsh, unsatisfactory review from a fickle reader. Author friends complain to me that the ratings don’t correspond with the comments or the summary is not accurate. Did the reader just skim? Probably. With so many writers pumping out short, flimsy stories that are shamefully published, it follows that review sites are pressured to get out these automated 3-5 thumbs up ratings with the same haphazard focus.

For this reviewer, the tediousness of reviewing has begun to impact the joy of ebook reading. Or maybe, the frequency of reviewing has revealed the many horrible published stories. Either way, what I wouldn’t give for a site that tells it like it is, with no holds barred and allows readers to really give critical, articulate reviews of these ridiculous books. Rather than quit reviewing, I’ve decided to fill this void and write what I’d like to read.
I hope someone, somewhere out there in the blogging world, feels me and finds the strength to continue reviewing or reading after reading some Colorful reviews.

Sincerely, Solaine

Dear Ms. Havlir,

I’ll keep this short and sour.

The title for your new release at EC has been mislabeled. I’d rename it: Predictable. I knew the plot before the end of the first chapter, and I have to admit, I continued reading it because I wanted to see how steamy the sex scenes could get. My verdict: they were pretty steamy! However, I found your dialogue trite, your characters one dimensional and your plot uninventive. I know you can do better.

Here is the general plot as I interpreted it:

Synopsis: Boy and girl meet, instant attraction, quick marriage, quicker divorce spurred by girl catching boy in a passionate embrace with another woman, long separation, snowstorm brings boy and girl back together again, boy and girl live happily ever after.

Conflict: Girl has bitter mother who has brainwashed her into believing that all men are lying cheaters and girl’s marriage is doomed because boy will cheat on her.

Boy’s response to conflict: Get mad at girl for not believing him, vow never to see girl again because if “she loves him she’d believe him”, make pithy and immature remarks to girl about her naivete and mistrust of him and thereby consent to a divorce.

How boy and girl overcome conflict: Boy fucks girl’s brains out while they are secluded in a cabin during a snowstorm. Girl then realizes that she made a rash decision in divorcing boy, and they live HEA.

It’s clear what makes this story erotic. Your sex scenes are good, and your characters’ chemistry is palpable. In fact, their quirky sex fetishes make them more interesting in bed than out of. However, I’m still looking for the romantic part of this story.

I was confused at how a newlywed couple, so passionately in love and lust that they rushed into a passionate marriage, wouldn’t sit down and begin to talk about a very tricky situation. They both ran, and a snow storm brought them back together again? I understand that many stories are fantasies, but this one seemed more like a contemporary novel to me. In contemporaries I expect some reality-like scenarios.

For instance, I had hoped that your hero would actually fight for the heroine instead of implying that she’s a ditsy bitch who can’t see beyond her childish insecurities. I have to admit that I agreed with him 100%, the quick way that Maddie was able to cut Gavin to the side was annoying and made it harder to sympathize with her, but I’m not the one who loved her and couldn’t imagine my life without her, Gavin is. And as her loving husband, it wouldn’t have killed him to show a little bit of romance before giving up. In fact, I wrote him off as a prick after he punished her by eating her out and stopping before she climaxed. For shame!

I haven’t given up on your titles, Ms. Havlir because I actually like your style of writing sex scenes. I’m just saying that I like a little romance with my erotic.

Regards, Solaine

Dear Readers,

Ann Vremont, one of my favorite authors because of her colorful writing, has a very neat site up called The Reluctant Nude: Celebrating Plus Size Beauty. Nearly each month, she sponsors a Book Of The Month contest where you can nominate and vote for selected stories that you enjoy.

Prizes include a GC to Amazon.com, and a pdf version of Eva Gale’s steamy debut 101 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Go give the site a peek, support democracy and vote!

Regards, Solaine

Dear Ms. Hill,

Mirror of My Soul took me on a powerful emotional journey. I’d read Ice Queen and anxiously awaited the sequel. I was not disappointed.

Marguerite is a strong character, one who knows how to take care of herself, and she does so often and loudly. She’s my kind of heroine – fierce and honest. Marguerite is forthright about all her feelings – even the ones that embarrass her. If she needs space, she’ll take it. If she’s uncomfortable with affection, she’s quick to tell someone to leave her the fuck alone. She is the master of her own domain, the captain of her ship, and Tyler rocks her world because he is just as viscerally honest with his emotions. Tyler’s determination to share in Marguerite’s world is just as fierce as her determination to remain alone.

What follows is a passionate battle, one where Tyler and Marguerite are getting to know each other in ways that will shock them both. The beauty of their discoveries is the love that grows with each new secret revealed. They meet each other head strong and work to accelerate each other’s self-actualization through acceptance. Tyler and Marguerite bring out the best in each other because they allow each other to be weak, and in that process they give each other strength. They are each other’s important half.

Ms Hill, you have taught me a very important lesson. As adults, we only become more adept at hiding our childhood scars and insecurities. It is through a blessed union with another who dares to love us more than we love ourselves that gives us the strength to move from our childlike spaces of hiding, into an adult world of overcoming.

I do not expect many erotic romance novels, especially ebooks, to be full of literary depth or to leave a lasting impression. Many are fluffy tales, a quick candy fix that I enjoy to leisurely pass the time or take a break from life responsibilities. Mirror of My Soul goes beyond a superficial “Romantica” read and is a rare gem among erotic romances both in print and ebook. It engages all senses, providing more than a quick stroke story. It is sexy and passionate written with the seductive quality of a poet’s voice. Your beautiful way with words, impressive plot and evocative characters managed to reach inside my heart and draw out tears of redemption and healing. In your story you managed to take us full circle, showing us the most evil and beautiful of humankind. Thank you for sharing your vision and talent in Mirror of My Soul.

Sincerely, Solaine