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I love categories. A well-written and tightly-paced cat is so difficult, especially in the new shorter format. I used to read them a lot but haven't lately. Yesterday, I spotted four authors I really enjoy with books out and counting change (argh, quarters and dimes!), I had enough to scoop them all up!
The Martinez Marriage Revenge -- Helen Bianchin (Presents)
Mind Games -- Merline Lovelace (Romantic Suspense)
Danger Signals -- Kathleen Creighton (Romantic Suspense)
Sex, Straight Up -- Kathleen O'Reilly (Blaze)
Some of the big names today started from categories--Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown, Linda Howard, Ann Stuart, Kay Hooper, Janet Evanovich, Iris Johannsen--just to name a few. Each of them contributed so much to the growth of the genre, with their unique voices. If you can get some of the older cats from the local UBS, try them. You'll see the first hints of the heros/heroines and themes in their later, bigger books.
I think I have 98 percent of all of Anne Stuart's books, all the way from the seventies. I love the way she broke the hero mold, bringing in the dark gothic anti-hero into my romances. She wasn't the first, of course (Bronte's Wuthering Heights!), but she was the first that gave me the happy endings I yearn for those poor, tortured males. And she's never sappy.
I also collect La Nora's cats, but man, those take up a lot of shelf space! I have most of the Flower Series. I also own some of her hard-to-find earliest books. I love her families--nothing like a NR family squabbling and loving scene. She's the best at cats and I wish she still writes them.
Another one whose style fits cats is Linda Howard. Not a wasted scene in her romantic suspense. I reread all her categories, especially her McKenzies. She taught me so much about balancing romance and suspense.
So many authors who have been on my to-buy category list: Donna Kaufmann, Judith Duncan, Suzanne Brockmann, Rachel Lee, Kylie Brant....If you have never read a Judith Duncan, you don't know what you're missing. A writer whose words drip emotion. Her books are keepers on my shelves.
Read any categories lately? Any authors you miss who aren't writing them any more? Share some titles?
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Post #2: Little Uber Books
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11 comments:
Cats are not high on my list of books to buy - just to borrow. But, I do have Iris Johansen's Sedhikan series. Yum!! Of course, I have *always* been into scifi & fantasy in my romance, so even when it wasn't popular and you could barely find it, I was looking for it.
Love sci-fi and fantasy;
maybe that is why I like the paranormal romance books. Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunters occupy the most space.
In the Mystery section used to have the entire The Cat Who series by Lillian Jackson Braun but got tired of it, the stories became too predictable.
I really miss Julie Garwood's historicals. She did release a new historical a couple of months ago. It was her first historical in over ten years. She has been writing romantic suspense during this time. I enjoy her contemporaries, but I absolutely love her historicals. I hope she decides to write another one soon.
Hi, Jenn -
You sweetie! Thanks for mentioning my paranormal release, MIND GAMES. I had fun with it. Hope your readers will, too.
Been a while since I've seen you, girl. I'll have to make another RWA one of these days so we can sit beside each other and dish the dirt.
Merline
Not a huge cat fan but I read Linda Winstead Jones' Raintree book and fell in love. I'll definitely be checking her out--and I'm a Linda Howard fan from way back. I love Kay Hooper so much I've collected a bunch of her old cats and gothics. Lisa Gardner used to write them too under another name!
Monique,
There were some GREAT cats, but you already know that ;-). Johansen is too suspensey now for me.
Lady Zannah,
I think you'll like some of the older categories. Lots of great names with wonderful stories!
Jane,
Did you like her new historical? I loved the Johansen historicals too. So gooood!
Squeeee! Merline!
It's been so long since I've seen you. Are you going to RWA San Fran? I've missed sitting beside you too.
AND CONGRATS ON BEING A RITA FINALIST! I enjoy all your cats, the Codename Danger books are on my keeper shelves ;-).
Amie,
The old cats are a in a class of their own, if I may say so myself. If you ever need recommendations in a certain type (RS, woowoo, sweet, darn hot) you just let me know and I'll make you a list.
Hooper's old Loveswepts were great. I have quite a few of them. As you can tell, I have MANY small uber books in my collection!
LWJ is one of later authors who are great too. Try her and Kylie Brant, another one of my favorite. The first few Fiona Brands were incomparable when it came to male voice/POV, very macho! I can go on and on.
I confess I used to be quite the anti-cat snob. But then I started seeing lots of positive reviews here in the blogosphere that really got me reading them and appreciating how good the good ones can be. Now I keep at least a dozen on my PDA at any point in time. With so many sub-genres to choose from I can read whatever suits my mood at the drop of a hat. They're great when I don't have a lot of time to curl up and sink myself into something meaty or lengthy.
I used to be a snob about reading cats until I read Howard's MacKenzies and Anne Stuart's stuff. Then, naturally, I became obsessed with getting all their books.
If you "need" to complete your Anne Stuart collection, I have duplicates (even of some of the older rarer stuff). Let me know which ones you're missing and I might have an extra. I can email you back from my nonspam home email.
Oh Ita,
Thank you! Wow, you have ALL her books? That's amazing. I don't even have my complete list anymore. I do know I'm missing the old titles with the Demon in them. I'm going to have to go online to look for a complete backlist and go play with the book collection. Sigh. You know you just gave me more ammo for procrastination, don't you? ;-)
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