FREE/BARGAIN — Romance & Discussion

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

What about the Intrigues? Always thought those were pretty popular. Those are the ones I read sometimes.

Romantic suspense is easy enough to integrate into Avon Romance or Avon Impulse. It's not about popular books but about money to run the office and business as a separate entity. Promotions and such. The reason I think Presents would stay as more as tribute or it's such a unique imprint it would create a missing gap. Intrigue is just romantic suspense so closing it or integrating the line into Avon would create no gap.

Unlike Random House or MacMillion, Harpercollins doesn't seem interested enough in promoting Category romance...I suppose that could change but with those currently at the top seem to not care much about it or maybe it's those at the top of Harlequin that seem not to care. Whoever it is Harlequin is quietly fading into the night.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

What about the Intrigues? Always thought those were pretty popular. Those are the ones I read sometimes.

Intrigue is one of their most popular category lines. If they start killing of Category imprints it'll be one of the last to go I would think. Problem is there's a lot of competition in Romantic Suspense. They may just move the more popular authors over to Avon too.

[PurpleStar]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Romantic suspense is easy enough to integrate into Avon Romance or Avon Impulse. It's not about popular books but about money to run the office and business as a separate entity. Promotions and such. The reason I think Presents would stay as more as tribute or it's such a unique imprint it would create a missing gap. Intrigue is just romantic suspense so closing it or integrating the line into Avon would create no gap.

Unlike Random House or MacMillion, Harpercollins doesn't seem interested enough in promoting Category romance...I suppose that could change but with those currently at the top seem to not care much about it or maybe it's those at the top of Harlequin that seem not to care. Whoever it is Harlequin is quietly fading into the night.

Yeah, good points. Now I think about it, they probably don't make much money off those books that are only on the shelves for a month. It would actually make sense to do away with most of them unfortunately.

[AnemicOak]

Impostor's Lure (Sharpe & Donovan Book 9) by Carla Neggers - $2.99
Amazon US | B&N | Kobo | Google | iTunes

Master of suspense and New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers delivers an exhilarating page-turner where the disappearance of a federal prosecutor launches the latest high-stakes case for FBI agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan.

Newlyweds Emma and Colin are suspicious when prosecutor Tamara McDermott is a no-show at a Boston dinner party. Matt Yankowski, head of HIT, Emma and Colin’s small, elite Boston-based team, is a friend of Tamara’s, and he needs them to find her.

In London, a woman who was supposed to meet Emma’s art-detective grandfather to talk about forgeries is discovered near death. Her husband, who stayed behind in Boston, has vanished. The couple’s connection to Tamara adds to the puzzle.

As the search for Tamara intensifies, a seemingly unrelated murder leads Emma, Colin and HIT deep into a maze of misdirection created by a clever, lethal criminal who stays one step ahead of them.

As Emma draws on her expertise in art crimes and Colin on his experience as a deep-cover agent, the investigation takes a devastating turn that tests the strengths of their families and friendships as well as their FBI colleagues as never before.

Impostor’s Lure is full of clever twists that will keep readers guessing right to the stunning conclusion!

Funnily enough I've been waiting for this to drop in price enough to use rewards points to get it (it's normally $11.99) so they put it one sale today, I buy it and there's 2500 more points I have to deal with.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Intrigue is one of their most popular category lines. If they start killing of Category imprints it'll be one of the last to go I would think. Problem is there's a lot of competition in Romantic Suspense. They may just move the more popular authors over to Avon too.

Exactly they could easily move them over to Avon Romance which is what I think will happen eventually. Carina Press is the wild card though. It doesn't exactly fit into any mold of Avon currently.

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

Yeah, good points. Now I think about it, they probably don't make much money off those books that are only on the shelves for a month. It would actually make sense to do away with most of them unfortunately.

The problem with that is less and less brick and mortar stores are carrying Harlequin monthly releases or any books for that matter. There are "many" out there that refuse to go digital with their books. So Harlequin isn't available like it once was, so it's selling less and less.

[library addict]

On the one had, they've already shouldered the expense of moving Harlequin's corporate offices to be next door to the Avon offices. And even though print sales are down in the US, that isn't necessarily the case in other countries. Plus don't forget a huge bulk of their sales are the monthly subscription boxes.

On the other hand, HarperCollins really wanted access to Harlequin's worldwide print distribution network and now they have it. So they don't seem to have a truly vested interest in the rest of the company. Having closed the Kimani line a lot will depend on how well they integrate their AOCs to the existing lines (which is something they should have done a long, long time ago).

Avon and HarperCollins are not synonymous with romance the way Harlequin is. While folding the Intrigue line and others into Avon may seem an easy solution, their publishing models are not the same at all. So I think it much more likely they'd simply move their better selling authors over and drop the lines all together.

We'll know when Malle Vallik retires. If they bother to replace her or not will be a huge sign. (Which FTR I hope is not any time soon.)

[library addict]

Weekly Report:

Read:

• Hearts in Extra Time (Atlanta Skyline #3.5) by Rebecca Crowley (A-/5 stars)
• Wyoming Christmas Ransom (Carsons & Delaneys #3) by Nicole Helm (B/4 stars)

Purchased:

[Hemmi]

It's hard to find the category romances in stores around here. Target had dropped them for a bit but now they have a few again. Used to see them on the grocery store bookrack but not anymore. No idea what the Walmart has in the store as I've never been there.

Category books are what got me into the adult romances in the first place. I'd be very sad to see them go entirely. I still see tons of older ones being reissued if the author moves on to other longer books and becomes popular.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Hemmi

It's hard to find the category romances in stores around here. Target had dropped them for a bit but now they have a few again. Used to see them on the grocery store bookrack but not anymore. No idea what the Walmart has in the store as I've never been there.

The local Walmarts (Vancouver, Canada area) seem to have mostly category romances on their shrunken book shelves, most of the other categories have shrunk to near disappearance. When they first opened here, they had a decent selection of science fiction and fantasy. Last trip, they had 4 books in the hard cover section.

[AnemicOak]

Got through all of my books at Harlequin.

Had a few freebies I hadn't downloaded so got those and some older purchases that were from pre-ePub days that I redownloaded an ePub copy of just because. I noticed my bookshelf was missing a purchase from 2008 so I emailed them to see if they can re-add it to my shelf (it's a book they still currently sell).

I also noticed I have some old Mini's in my backup files that weren't on my bookshelf, but since I have old LIT copies didn't worry about it.

[Blossom]

Weekly Report:

Archangel's Prophecy by Nalini Singh (4 stars) I do not recommend reading this till the next book is out. It's sad, depressing and you wont like the ending. Hold off on this one till next year. This was not Singh's best I have many issues with it. 80% dragged and then when something finally happens it's over very quickly. That's all I can say without spoilers which I won't give. My opinion is the author had a story arc she wanted to do but not enough plot for a full novel. So she filled it up with a dragging storyline that just makes the ending worse. I''l give her a chance to redeem herself in the next book.

Forbidden Nights with a Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks (2.5 stars) Vanda's personality change in the book from previous in the series was just too much which ruin the book for me. This was my second least favorite in the series so far. I'm reading The Vampire & The Virgin now which is Robby's story.

All I want for Christmas is a Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks (3 Stars) Not really a Christmas story except at the end. Jack & Lara are great together. I really enjoyed their story but Latoya was my favorite.

As you can tell I'm hooked on the Love At Stakes series by Kerrelyn Sparks. I call them my happy Vamps.

I brought too many books. All HQs reward books and a couple Google coupons with store credit. I still have to find more books to match my codes before the 11th.

[Terisa de morgan]

A friend of me was telling me exactly the same about Nalini Singh's book, so I think I'll wait till next year. Thank you, Blossom.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

A friend of me was telling me exactly the same about Nalini Singh's book, so I think I'll wait till next year. Thank you, Blossom.

I'm over in the group for the book. It's amazing how much she is being attacked for this book. Sad. Many feel betrayed. If I can save someone the rollercoaster of this book I will. I think once the next book comes out it will all be okay. It's not as bad as Chicagoland Vampire book 4 ending but it's close. The problem is the balance of the book. No humor, No real happy times just alot of things that make you scratch your head and go what did I just read?!?. It gets really weird.

This is my favorite series of all times so one bad book isn't going to make me want to give it up. I just wished I would had waited.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Blossom

It's not as bad as Chicagoland Vampire book 4 ending but it's close.

Stopped reading those after that book. Recently thought about picking it up again, but I don't know.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Stopped reading those after that book. Recently thought about picking it up again, but I don't know.

Oh do! It's a great series. Book 5 will fix Book 4 and the series moves on and the spin off's first book is out. It's wasn't bad for a twenty year leap. I do warn you her plots become more and more outrageous as the series goes on.

Her other series The Veil is pretty good as well. I keep hoping she will let us know when the next one comes out.