There are few books that I’ve read that are more romantic than LOVE BEGINS IN WINTER by Simon Van Booy, a collection of short stories that is the equivalent of spending a weekend in Paris.

In one story, a French cellist runs into a woman who has a habit of collecting acorns. In another, a man’s narrow, repressed life is suddenly opened up by the discovery that he has a long-lost daughter living a continent away.

Since there are only five stories, I won’t reveal any more--but rest assured that they take you on a journey around the world, from Las Vegas to Rome to Ireland to Stockholm, and place becomes a character that you fall in love with.

What is the most romantic place you’ve ever been?

Romance Radio Event TODAY (11/19)!

CAPTIVE OF SIN author Anna Campbell

CAPTIVE OF SIN is about two tortured souls who, despite the odds, find a once-in-a-lifetime love.

Join us at 5 PM EST, and let's talk about love against all obstacles, alpha male issues, and the merits of good old-fashioned romance with one of everyone's favorite authors!

Listen on Romance Radio or call in LIVE (347) 826-9686.

Nine years ago, Lynne Hinton wrote a book called FRIENDSHIP CAKE that quickly became a national bestseller. It told the story of five women in a small town in North Carolina who help each other overcome life’s adversities through conversation, friendship, and plenty of good food.

Two books in the series later (HOPE SPRINGS and FOREVER FRIENDS), the ladies are back for the holiday season in CHRISTMAS CAKE.

Some things have changed for them--one has moved to New Mexico to run a women’s shelter, another finds that her cancer has returned--but other things, like their friendship, remain steadfast.

In addition to its wonderful portrayal of female friendship, what I love about this book are the cake recipes. Just reading the table of contents makes my mouth water: Ambrosia Cake, Apple Dabble Cake, Peaches and Cream Cake, Red Velvet Cake, Old-Fashioned Yellow Cake with Caramel Icing, Lemon Lavender Pound Cake...

What is your favorite cake recipe?

Where are the top female authors?

The controversy started at the end of last month, when Publishers Weekly put out their list of The Top Ten Books Of 2009--and not one female author made the list.

As everyone knows, there are more female readers than male and more female buyers of books than male buyers. It’s no coincidence that the romance genre is one of the few markets that has actually done well in this past year of economic decline.

Women are also more likely to form book clubs, make recommendations to their friends, and provide the kind of word-of-mouth that is so valuable in prolonging a book’s shelf life.

So, why are women routinely left out of the yearly Top Ten lists? Is it because of the age-old belief that books concerning “women’s issues” (i.e., family, relationships, love, romance) are somehow less important than the topics male authors might write about? Is there some kind of cultural and gender bias at work here?

Lizzie Skurnick, author of SHELF DISCOVERY, makes a good point here [HERE] that books by women are often considered to be “small” and “domestic” and books by men to be “large” and “universal,” regardless of how competently written they are.

What do you think, should critics actively work toward greater diversity on their lists? And, what books by female authors do you think should be on the list of The Top Ten books of the year?

Everyone should take a trip over to The Season Blog today. They have up an INCREDIBLE retrospective of Avon Romance covers.


Also, I think it's only appropriate to take a moment to give a gigantic THANK YOU to our Art Director, Tom, without whom our heroes and heroines would be ugly, naked, and sitting in front of a blank wall. Thank You, Tom, for never ever disappointing and making us all fans first and editors second.

What's your favorite romance cover of all time? Is it the classic Shanna with those red, red flowers? Or is it loin-cloth clad Fabio with his luscious blond locks on the old Johanna Lindsey covers?

We spent a lot of time yesterday thinking about the brave men and women who have taken their lives into their hands to protect not only Americans, but kindred souls across the globe.

People want to help in little ways--sending letters, beanie babies...even toaster pastries!...to show love and support to the members of our armed forces. We asked ourselves, "well, what can *we* do?"

Well, we know that soldiers love books and paperbacks are great diversion in war zones. So, please, comment on this post and tell us about your service man or woman. We're hoping to pick a bunch and to send boxes of books (we hear that APO addresses are easiest if we want packages to get through and we need to send to a specific person, as opposed to a battalion or unit). We're all book lovers--and firmly believe that good books help us see troubled times through.

Also, if you are interested in helping out, here are some good sites that support veterans and active servicemen and servicewomen: www.paulmalmont.com/warrior-library and www.soldiersangels.org

For your own information, here are some handy guidelines on how you could best go about sending books to soldiers.

Thanks to our fantastic armed forces for all they do!

If you haven't read TRUE CONFESSIONS by Rachel Gibson, I really wish you would. Here are the Top Five reasons why I love this book:

1) It contains the great opening lines: "There were two universal truths in Gospel, Idaho. First, God had done His best work when He'd created the Sawtooth Wilderness Area. And except for the unfortunate incident of '95, Gospel had always been heaven on earth. Second--a truth just as adamantly believed as the first--every sin known to heaven and earth was California's fault."

2) Every chapter opens with a "headline" that could be ripped from the Weekly World News. For example, MAN SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUSTS or MICROPHONE DETECTS SOUND OF BREAKING HEART. I miss the Weekly World News and am a little obsessed about spontaneous combustion.

3) There is a toilet tossing contest in the book.

4) The heroine, who is from California, drives a car with the license plate MZBHAVN.

5) The hero is a sheriff who's way sexier than Andy Taylor. Way.

I'm also curious about what you think of the cover. We went in a different direction for this edition of TRUE CONFESSIONS, and I'd really love to hear some opinions.