Swag!

That was it--the word I was looking for in yesterday's post about giveaways. The books I got at RWA as swag. Never heard it before RWA but just saw it again at a site called I Love Vampire Novels. I'm definitely going to have to check it out further--and add it to my blogroll. My knights, you see, are a form of vampire--not the kind pictured here--but rather, unseelie dark faery vampires. In Scottish folklore, lots of faeries drank human blood. Mine are lamian drones--the "breeders" for an amazonian race ruled by a predatory queen.

I'm out surfing for someone to inspire my hero, Leith MacQuill. Long black hair, chiseled face, green cat-like eyes. His alter ego is a cat sith. More on that later.

Any suggestions?

The Curse of Love

The Devil's Heart by Cathy Maxwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I confess: I read this trilogy out of order. I picked this one up at Target while scanning the shelves for a Scottish historical. Had never heard of Cathy Maxwell, so I bought it completely on spec. I was pleasantly surprised. I liked the characters and story very much, especially the paranormal elements--witches, curses, disappearing cats. Of course, I write paranormal romances with witches, curses, and shapeshifting faeries, so . . .

Anyway, I finished reading this about a week before attending the national RWA conference here in Atlanta. To my delight, Cathy Maxwell was the keynote speaker! And the first book in the series, LYON'S BRIDE, was on the chairs at the luncheon. I bought book two, THE SCOTTISH WITCH (and had it signed), from Cathy herself at the booksigning event.

I've now read all three and loved them all. So, really glad I picked up this book! I think Cathy does an excellent job of giving her characters motivation and depth. Thanks, Cathy, for an entertaining read.

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Clans, Castles, and Clashing Swords

The Warrior by Margaret Mallory
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay, here's the story on this one. While at my first RWA national conference (my first writer's conference ever, actually), I stumbled into the literacy book signing event after killing a little time in the bar across the way . . . and basically just walked around feeling totally overwhelmed. There were so many authors, so many books! Where to begin? So, I just started walking around, talking to people who weren't otherwise engaged--and one of those people was Margaret Mallory. I'm all about Scotland and like historicals, tho', admittedly, I've read only a handful in the genre. Most of my logged reading has been with Diana Gabaldon. No half-naked men with glistening chests on the cover. I read what wins the Pulitzer or the National Book Award. Anyway, I bought Mallory's book (which she very kindly signed for me) and took it home with a mountain of others both purchased and acquired by what was called ... booty? Scat? No, something else. Dang. Can't remember now. Free stuff, basically. Giveaways. RWA was fabulous. Gave me a whole new respect for the romance genre and turned me on to lots of wonderful people who happen to write books (or authors who happen to be great people--whatever floats your boat).

So, getting to the point. I just finished THE WARRIOR and really, really liked it. The characters were quite lovely, the sexual tension good and tense, the sex pretty hot, and the plot a nail-biting adventure. Can you ask for more than that in an escapist read? I never groaned, rolled my eyes, or threw the book across the room once. Praise indeed--despite the bare chested lad on the cover. And, to the publisher's credit, this photo actually resembled the romantic hero!

Bottom line: I enjoyed the book, would recommend it to others who enjoy Scottish historicals, and would definitely read something else by Margaret Mallory.

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