Some Bookish Questions

I have another deadline coming up February 13, and my mind is so caught up in my research for those essays that I came up empty when I tried to write a blog for today. So I’m recycling a post from last year with new questions, which, of course, means new answers from me and, I hope, from you. To encourage you to join the conversation, I’ll give a copy of my answer to questions 2, 3, 4, or 5 (winner’s choice of book and format--print or Kindle) to one randomly selected commenter.

The Definition:

This post is a meme. “Meme,” alternately pronounced to rhyme with “cream” or as the first syllable in “memory,” has been defined in various ways. The definition I like best is “an idea that, like a gene, can replicate and evolve.” I’ve seen variations on the web of the reader’s game (the idea), and I copied (replicated) it, adapting it for my interests and purpose (evolution). Incidentally, I prefer the second pronunciation because the memes I like best are inevitably questions that require me to use my memory.

The Questions:

1. What are you reading currently?
2. What was the best book you read last month?
3. What new romance author impressed you most in 2011?
4. What romance novel from 2011 have you recommended to other readers most often?
5. What romance novel are you most looking forward to reading this month?

My Answers:

1.     I’m reading an ARC of Molly O’Keefe’s first single title romance, Can't Buy Me Love. Lucky me! (It has a hockey star hero.) It’s a June release. Look for my review at The Romance Dish then.

2.     That’s a toughie. I read some great books in January. Among those with January 2012 pub dates, I’d say Bride by Mistake by Anne Gracie. I’m a Devil Riders fan and have been eager for Luke’s story. I loved the differences in this book—setting and H/H meeting and the familiar—characters whom I found totally engaging and Gracie’s usial mix of the poignant and the humorous.

3.      Stefanie Sloane. I’m impressed with anyone who has three books--The Devil in Disguise, The Angel in My Arms, and The Sinner Who Seduced Me--out in her freshman year as published author. When the books offer intelligent, interesting characters and terrific love stories, I’m sold. She also has three books scheduled for release this year. Amazing!

4.     This one is a toss-up among my top reads of 2011—a three-way tie: The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne, The Duke Is Mine by Eloisa James, and What I Did for a Duke by Julie Anne Long. They are very different books, but they have in common excellent writing, characters who captured my mind and my heart, and stories so compelling that I've reread them all already and expect to do so again.

5.     Another toss-up—and the authors share a last name, although they spell it differently. I am eager to read Jo Beverley’s A Scandalous Countess, another Malloren World book, and I am really excited about The House on Butterfly Way by Elizabeth Bevarly. It’s been way too long since we had a new single title from her.

So what are your bookish answers? I’m eager to read them too.

Congratulations to Cathy P, the Randomizer’s pick to receive a copy of How To Dance with a Duke by Manda Collins! Cathy, please email me at jangarho at gmail dot com, and I’ll get your book to you ASAP.