So it’s time for the Jinx reviews to start trickling in. Here’s what Romantic Times magazine had to say about the book in the September issue, courtesy reviewer Susan Mobley:

This addition to Estep’s superhero series is packed with action, humor, romance, a touch of sorrow and just plain fun. The main characters are a delight, especially the hero, and the familiar faces from previous stories will have those who haven’t read them wanting to dig them up. 

Summary: Life with superheroes is not all it’s made out to be, especially if your superpower is luck, and not always the good kind. Bella Bulluci is worried that her luck will jinx the opening of a museum exhibit, Whimsical Wonders, that she is in charge of.

And, of course, something goes wrong. Someone attempts to steal the star sapphire that’s the centerpiece of the exhibit, and Bella is kidnapped — or perhaps rescued — by the mysterious Debonair, a teleporting art thief. As Bella gets to know him, she discovers his true identity and enlists his aid in trapping the thieves who, being ubervillains, will once again attempt to steal the sapphire. (Berkley SENSATION, Sep., 320 pp., $7.99) HOT. 4 stars.

Thanks for the great review, Susan! I’ve also gotten links to some other reviews, which I need to post here on the blog. I’ll try to get to it soon. In the meantime, I’m doing the happy dance over this one. 

if all these Olympic athletes really eat fried chicken sandwiches from McDonald’s and drink massive amounts of Coke. Because I’ve seen tons of commercials the past week were they do just that.

Even I feel my arteries hardening when I eat McDonald’s or chug down a Coke. So would an Olympic athlete, whose body is a freakishly fit temple, really pollute his buff physique with grease and carbonated beverages?

Somehow, I doubt it …

In between reading and watching the Olympics this weekend, I actually got some book stuff done and finished my second draft of Assassin 2.

And it’s a really good second draft. Much better than my normal craptastic second draft. Around 100,000 words, and it probably only needs some minor polishing and tweaking before I send it to my agent for her perusal.

After the long, painful, writing quagmire Assassin 1 has been, this book went really quickly. (I started it around the first of July.) It was one of the easiest books I’ve written in a while. Wheezley claims it’s because I already built the world/characters in Assassin 1. He might be right. I also think it’s because I got all excited and fired up after the revisions I did for Assassin 1 and wanted to keep going.

And because I’m completely anal and always like to go ahead and write the second book in a series, even if the first one hasn’t sold yet. Seriously, folks. I’m that deepy disturbed.

Anyway, I’m going to play hooky the rest of the week. Read. Watch the Olympics. And do some lighter stuff like clean off my desk and update the Web site a bit. In the meantime, I thought I’d share the first few paragraphs from Assassin 2. Hope you enjoy!

“Freeze! Nobody move! This is a robbery!”

Wow. Three cliches in a row. Somebody was seriously lacking in the imagination department.

But the shouted cliches scared someone, who squeaked out a small scream. I sighed. Screams were always bad for business. Which meant I couldn’t ingore the trouble that had just walked into my restaurant — or deal with it the quick, violent way I would have preferred to. A silverstone knife through the heart is enough to stop most trouble in its tracks. Permanently.

So I pulled my gray gaze up from the oversized paperback copy of “The Odyssey” that I’d been reading to see what all the fuss was about.

Like it? Loathe it? Share in the comments.

Finished The Unhandsome Prince by John Moore. I’ve read some of Moore’s light-hearted fantasies before, so when I saw this one at the used bookstore, I snatched it up.

In this book, Caroline, a very determined peasant girl, has spent weeks systematically catching frogs and kissing them in hopes of returning a handsome prince to his original form (he was enchanted by an angry sorceress). She finally succeeds and ends up with Hal, who’s everything a prince should be — except handsome. Hal’s cute, but not cute enough for Caroline, so the two of them go to Hal’s kingdom so she can meet his brothers, who are much more handsome than he is. Also accompanying them is Emily, a magical apprentice who has a thing for Hal. Along the way, the trio meets Rapunzel and Rumplestiltskin, among other folks. There are sword fights, riots, and a wheel that can spin hair into gold.

Moore writes what I would consider to be fairy tale spoofs. He takes common fairy tales and myths and turns them on their head, and The Unhandsome Prince is no different. The humor is very wry and tongue-in-cheek. Moore doesn’t take himself too seriously, which is something I always appreciate.

If you’re looking for a light, fun, quick read, you’ll probably enjoy this one or one of Moore’s other books, like A Fate Worse Than Dragons. I did. Thumbs up.

Up next: Atlantis Awakening by Alyssa Day.

Books in my TBR pile: About 14.

A thought: On a side note, it is just me or are several of the Ace Books usually shorter than those published by other fantasy lines? This one was less than 300 pages. I believe Patricia Briggs is one of their authors too, and her books are usually right at 300 pages or a little less. I’m wondering if the line’s word count is only 90,000 words instead of 100,000. Anyone know?

The awesome Jackie Kessler and her character Jezebel have interviewed yours truly and Bella Bulluci, star of Jinx, the third Bigtime novel (due out Sept. 2). You can check out the interview here.

Thanks so much Jackie!