The Romance Reviews

The Romance Reviews

Saturday 30 April 2011

Ambrosia Goodness from Violette Dubrinsky



I freakin' love Violette Dubrinsky. I felt pretty much so touched by angels when she replied to me on a website thread, which made reading this story a 'with serious pleasure' on the to do pile.

Fallen is the tale of god of Death, Thanatos [totally dibsing by the way] who gets on the wrong side of Aphrodite. For Thanatos' rejection of her, she wrecks a devastating revenge on him. It's partly his own fault, he's far too sexy for his own good. His punishment is to live a mortal life. No powers, no sexy little hand maidens, no ambrosia. After a hundred years of human life, he has the extraordinary chance to beg reprieve from Zeus, King of the Gods at the Monster Ball.

Simone Randall is a journalist who is lucky enough to get a much coveted invitation to the event of the year, the Monster Ball. Hot dress? Check. Journalistic nose twitching? Check. Insanely hot, burn-my-panties-off-me-with-a-look god in the guise of a man to show her there is more to life than work and her cat? Check, check and check.

I adore Greek mythology and this story was sensual, sexy and clever going so much further than surface lust of two people meeting but two people meant for one another in the literal sense of the word. The prose was fluid and evocative in a way that just made me feel every touch, every kiss, every little taste. Any story that has a girl bringing a god to his knees is one that needs to be in your life. Go forth and indulge.


Tuesday 26 April 2011

Distractions


Easter was fabulous! I got to see a really good friend in Yorkshire and chill and eat rubbish I'm not normally allowed to eat (mmm Jaffa Cakes....) And I got to do this as well! I held a mo' fo' snake people!! Yes, it is tiny and it was like holding a pink snake belt that moved by itself... but as the girl who did a hundred meter dash back into her house when she even thought about a snake coming near her in Ghana, I like to think I've done rather well.

Anyways, I need to get back to the muse, Hank. We're sexing up sham immigration marriages tonight. Sometimes the old day job is rather useful. Yes, Hank I'm getting back to it. Soz.

Wednesday 20 April 2011

A piece of cake

I tend to get carried away. You should know this. Windows is 80,000 words. So when I was asked to take on the Tag You're Writ! Challenge and write a short story featuring cake, my immediate response was 'I don't do short'. But I went to a friend's wedding, had wine, had cake, danced a lot to Haddaway's What Is Love and came home filled to the brim with romance, and love and... well cake. And I came up with this




https://beautifultroublepublishing.com/xcart/An-Old-Cake-Tale-EBOOK.html

Okay, it's not short short but for me, this is like running a marathon! So there we are! A bite sized piece of Billy for a quick sexy little read. Let me know what you think!

Thursday 14 April 2011

A Special Occasion - And Not Just Me Reading


I love anything that challenges my rather old fashioned perspective, so it was with glee that I dived into Thirteen's A Special Occasion.

Regina is blissfully married to a worshipful, giving, strong black man Clayton, and keeping to the first rule of a good marriage, Clayton is on his way to making sure his wife has the most incredible birthday. With a particular little gift that you can't wrap. Well you could if you put a bow somewhere choice...

This story presents (ha - witty little moi) the dilemmas that comes with the much desired, ethical minefield that is the menage but treats the subject with a romantic, lyrical delicacy, a lightness of literary touch which lets you float into a world without making you try to decipher absolutely everything that could go wrong with such a scenario. It's sexy, it's escapist and more importantly respectful.

While this subject isn't really my bag, I do believe everyone should free their minds and give this a read, if nothing else, just to witness a dedicated husband giving his wife everything she could possibly dream of and more. And why the devil shouldn't he?!



Tuesday 12 April 2011

Writing High

I tried to explain to my mum what writing is like for me. I took out for dinner as a belated Mother's day present (minus the chocolates, wine and caramelised nuts she got on the Sunday). While she was making contented cow faces at the foie gras she had chosen without blinking at the price, I made an analogy. "So when you do gardening, you feel satisfied with what you've done don't you? You feel you've achieved something, right?
"Not that you people appreciate," came the mumbled reply.
"Well, mother, it's like that for me when I write. It's never work. It's my gardening. I feel better when I do it. You know when I get cranky and moody and irritable and there isn't enough peach tea to make me communicate with anyone? It's because I haven't written anything."
She gave me a strange look. "Is that healthy?"
Good point, ma. I don't know if it is, but maybe being able to craft people and events to the backdrop of where I live just makes me do a bum heavy dance around my room. I came up with a line yesterday which actually made me laugh out loud. I told my brother, the test of a great funny, who snorted and said, 'Good one Billy.'
So I'm feeling on my game right now. On the radio show a few weeks ago, I told Jayha that if it ever came to the point where I was just writing because it was a matter of doing and not feeling, I'd have to stop writing altogether. I doubt it will happen, because quite frankly, it's a cheap and easy way of betting bonanza-ed.
I know. I need to go out more... But you know, if I substituted writing for any drug I'd be in trouble. I mean, Jayha showed me a cover and said, 'Write me a story for this'. Protesting and squealing about how many other stories I had to concentrate, ideas started to swirl around in my head, goddammit! They are brewing now, to the point where I actually wrote a whole scene for it and I've named all my characters. All of them. It's Jayha's fault. That's my new default response. 'The Scottish guy did it' will also be appropriate in all other lines of defence. Whatcha think? Is writing like crack?

Thursday 7 April 2011

More Blog Talk

I am loving these radio shows! Have you listened to all of them?

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/beautifultroublepublishing

If you were able to join in on my little chat (aka Billy laughs like a maniac for two hours) thank you so much for joining us. It was hilarious.

What we're also going to try and do is sort out a chat for all of you who've read Windows and want to get into the whys and the wheres and the who the hells. I shall keep you posted. Now, apparently I'm to be chained to my laptop so back to the grind stone.

Saturday 2 April 2011

Blabbing on Blog Talk Radio

Busy busy busy! I'm doing this interview with Jayha tonight 7 - 9 EST which is 11pm - 1am in the morning my time! You can ask me anything! (Make it about six packs!)

London Calling Interview with Author Billy London 02/04/2011 - BeautifulTroublePublishing Internet Radio Blog Talk Radio