On Writing

NOTE FROM JEN: This post has some spoilers. Stop reading now if you don’t want to know what happens in this book. 

I’m currently reading Demon Angel by Meljean Brook. I’ll post an official review when I finish it (hopefully sometime next week). It’s a paranormal romance that focuses on Hugh and Lilith. Hugh is a Guardian (an angel-like creature sworn to protect men), while Lilith is a halfling demon (sworn to tempt and punish men). So, you can see why they’re at odds.

But Meljean does something in her book that I don’t recall any other romance author doing (SPOILER ALERT) — she has Hugh kill Lilith. He kills her! Dead. Shoves a long sword through her heart and buries her. And he thinks that she’s really dead. Not mostly dead. Really, truly, forever dead. Dead-dead.

I can’t remember this ever happening in any other romance that I’ve read. Oh sure, the hero will off the heroine so he can turn her into a vampire/werewolf/goddess, and they can be together forever. But he only kills her with the intention of bringing her back. Not Hugh. He kills Lilith to set her free.

And it shocked me. Especially since it was only around page 100. (Yeah, yeah, deep down, I figured that Lilith would get resurrected some way. But still, he killed her).

This is the first time in a long time that a romance has shocked me. And I started to wonder … why? Why is it so shocking? Because heroes don’t do things like that? Please. People drop like flies in Lee Child’s books. I don’t have a problem with his hero killing people. Heck, I expect him to dispatch bad guys in interesting ways.

I think it’s because the book is a romance, and I expect the hero to be, well, romantic. Shoving a sword through his beloved’s chest isn’t the typical definition of romantic. I wouldn’t be rushing to forgive a guy who killed me, no matter how much I loved him. But it made me want to read on to see how Meljean pulls off the rest of the book. And that’s what books should do — make you want to see how it all ends.

More to come later.

What about you? What’s the most shocking thing you’ve ever read in a romance (or any other book)? Inquiring minds want to know …

Karma Girl just got reviewed in the May issue of Romantic Times … and got a 4-star rating! Who-hoo! (The highest rating the magazine gives is 4 1/2 stars).

Here’s what Jill M. Smith, the reviewer, said:

Secret identities and superpowers take on a delightful and humorous new twist in Estep’s exciting debut, written in the first person. Fun and sexy, Estep’s caper demonstrates how revenge can backfire. Here’s hoping for more Bigtime adventures from this impressive talent.

Wow! She liked it! Three sentences’ worth of like!

Needless to say, I’m having an excellent day. 😎

So, I’m surfing some of the romance blogs I frequent, and I came across this post over at Magical Musings talking about what makes an ideal book — complete with the cover for Karma Girl.

I sent an ARC of the book to Edie Ramer, one of the MM bloggers, and she wrote me back to tell me how much she liked it. But putting it with a blog about the ideal book? Wow. That’s a tremendous compliment.

I got a good review in Publishers Weekly and some kick-ass cover blurbs from other authors, like MaryJanice Davidson and Erin McCarthy. But I’m most anxious to see what readers think about Karma Girl. Will they like it? Love it? Hate it? Think it’s the worst thing that’s ever gotten published?

I know I’m going to get some bad reviews. Every author does (unless you’re J.R. Ward who seems to get universal acclaim). But one person liked my book — enough to recommend it to other people. That makes me smile. Makes me feel proud. Makes me feel downright giddy. It’s the reason I wrote Karma Girl in the first place – to entertain someone with my wacky world of superheroes and villains. 

So, even if every other reviewer in the known universe rips me a new one for writing such drivel, I know I made at least one person happy. And the glow from that won’t fade for a long, long time.

How do you cope while you wait for the reader reviews to come in? Inquiring minds want to know …