Day 16 (10 days to Smugglivus and counting)
Who: Victoria Dahl, writer of Historical and Contemporary romance novels. Victoria Dahl has an unique style and her characters, specially the female ones are not the usual run-of-the-mill heroines and they are all the better for that. She has written so far, two historical novels – To Tempt a Scotsman and A Rake’s Guide to Pleasure and one contemporary, Talk me Down.
Recent Work: A Rake’s Guide to Pleasure – released earlier this year . The book was a complete surprise and became one of Ana’s favourite reads of 2008. You can check our review here. To follow Victoria’s own style in her 2008 listing below: this is the best book you haven’t read yet – and she is giving away one copy for one lucky winner (details below) .
Victoria is releasing her first contemporary, Talk me Down, on January 1st and Ana cannot wait to read it. Especially after the very positive reviews that Dear Author and The Smart Bitches, published yesterday (they are also running a contest, giving away a few copies of the book. Follow the links above to find out more).
Ladies and gentlemen: Victoria Dahl and her 2008′s experiences:
__________
Victoria:
Let me open with a confession. I’ve been an awful, awful reader this year. It’s shameful, how few books I’ve read. I have three books and three novellas coming out in 2009, so that might give you a clue as to how I’ve been spending my time. There’s also been a lot of snacking. And non-leg-shaving days.
In fact, I’ve been so busy that I have only a vague recollection of the books I HAVE managed to read. I had to go back and review my old blog posts to jog my memory. So I can’t really give you a “best of 2008” book. There wasn’t much of a competition. But I couldn’t resist the chance to blog with The Book Smugglers, so I’ve come up with some ragged categories that may or may not have to do with romance novels. I hope you don’t mind! Here we go:
Best Book Packaging: Red by Jordan Summers. I’m still in the middle of reading it, so I can only tell you that it’s a great, fast-paced, bloody story so far, but the packaging is unbelievable! The cover art is gorgeous and compelling and one of the reasons I bought the book (in addition to the reviews I’ve read.) But what I didn’t realize when I bought it was that when you turn over the book, the edges of the pages are dyed… you guessed it… red! How cool is that? Somebody made a great decision in the marketing department.
Best Non-Romance Book by a Romance Writer: Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris. If you love the Sookie Stackhouse series, try the Harper Connelly series! Not as romantic, but just as good if you’re in the mood for a change.
Best Book You Haven’t Read Yet: Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols. Jennifer is my critique partner, so I got to read it a year ago. But I swear I’m not being partial when I tell you this book is fantastic. Emotional, funny and surprisingly sexy for a young adult romance (without crossing the line, imho.) It’s for high school age, and I don’t normally read YA, but I LOVED this book and devoured it in about twenty-four hours. It’ll be out in March with MTV books. Prepare yourself!
Best Erotic Romance: A Mermaid’s Kiss by Joey Hill. I want to acknowledge this book for being totally erotic and totally romantic at the same time. There is some intense sex that may be too squicky for some of you. (Check out online reviews for details.) But the book is also beautifully lush and wonderfully sweet, and it made me cry! Also, the hero calls the heroine “little one” a lot. Some people hate this kind of thing. Me? I’ve been 5’ 7” and curvy since junior high. I’d pay good money to hear that whispered in my ear, but it looks like my best bet is reading about it in a book.
Best Romantic Hero You’ve Never Heard Of: Jax on Sons of Anarchy (FX channel).. I shouldn’t even be calling him a hero, honestly. He’s a murderer. He sleeps around with skanky women. His hair needs a good washing. Oh, and he’s the second in command of a motorcycle gang. Despite all this, he is honestly adorable. Flirtatious and gentlemanly. Cute. Sexy. Tortured by the road he’s taken in life. Sympathetic to others’ feelings. This is amazing characterization, ladies, and I’m fascinated!
And my Biggest Disappointment That Has Absolutely Nothing to Do with Books: Burger King’s apple fries. When I saw a commercial about these I almost fell out of my chair. “Apple fries!” I sobbed to my husband. “Apple fries!!!” At Legoland they have these amazing fried apples that are only sold at one stand. Granny Smith apples are sliced into french fry shape and deep fried, then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. They’re served with a sweet cream dipping sauce. *drool* So simple. So damn delicious! And now they were here! In my hometown!
As soon as it hit eleven a.m. I raced the twenty minutes across town to my nearest Burger King. I didn’t want fast food, but it was lunch time, so I ordered a meal and *drum roll* the miracle of apple fries. Before I even unwrapped the burger, I cracked open the box of apple fries… and stared in horror. You know what they are? Apples. Cut into the shape of fries. That’s it. No deep fry. No cinnamon sugar. No sweet cream dipping sauce. Raw apples. Unbelievable. I still yell at the TV every time I see the commercial. Wow, thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
I hope you’ve all had a wonderful 2008, and may your 2009 be even better!!!
____________
Thank you Victoria, and good luck with your new book!
TO WIN A COPY OF A RAKE’S GUIDE TO PLEASURE, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST. CONTEST RUNS UNTIL SATURDAY MIDNIGHT (PACIFIC TIME) AND THE WINNER WILL BE RAMDOMLY PICKED ON SUNDAY.
Next on Smugglivus: Kim Lenox
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28 Responses to Countdown to Smugglivus – Victoria Dahl
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Hi Victoria~
Talk Me Down sounds great and has been added to my must buy list!
I have to agree with you on Jax, too. I don’t know what it is, but even before I even started really watching the show there was something about him that pulled me in. You just gotta love him, I guess.
Vicki, thanks so much for the shout out! And your story about apple fries is sad, but look on the bright side: it’s good to retain a little optimistic naivete at Christmastime.
Swinging through to slap down my comment!
This is an author whose work I’ve seen around and would enjoy trying out. Thanks for yet another great giveaway op!
Hi Victoria. Good to see you here. I loved To Tempt A Scotsman.
What a great post Victoria! I am always on the look out for more unknown reads.
Hee. That purple love couple look like a pair of the catwalk models on ‘Project Runway’ who got tired of waiting for the designers to choose their cloth at the fabric store and decided to unroll a flamboyant bolt to get more comfortable.
I have the sprout for contemporary up on my blog!
HI Victoria,
I have to admit to not reading any of your books yes, but I read the excerpt for Talk Me Down yesterday and loved it! I’ve suggested it to my library for purchase and am keeping my fingers crossed. All the best with its release and with the release of your other books in 2009!
BTW – am not so sure about apple fries…
A new author for me have to check her out!
Victoria, I like your choices for this year. Being another female on the tall side (5’9″ for me), hearing ‘little one’ would be nice, so I look forward to reading it in Joey Hill’s book. Your comment on the marketing for Red is right on as well. Someone really had it together. I love the way that book looks.
Thanks for the comments, folks.
I love Victoria’s apple fries story. Something similar happened to me recently. Back in Brazil, Macdonald’s have these golden crusty deep fried banana cinnamonny pie thingy that I LOVE. I was recently in Paris and lo and behold they had a photo of something that looked exactly like that but with PINEAPLES. I happen to LOVE pineapples: and I ordered it. Shit, it was just that: pineapple. Like, raw. In a similar packaging but without the deep fried fattening goodness. Now, it is Macdonald’s people, if I wanted something HEALTHY I would NOT go there. I was disheartened.
M. Ah, we are back to talking about the dreadful covers. Yes, I agree with this one, not my favourite either. And it is funny and just goes to show that really, we cannot judge a book by the cover. 3 books that I absolutely loved this year that had covers I did not like, titles I thought were not all that, and that had the “hey look at me, I am cheap” sign in the cover but which ended up being some of THE BEST I read this year: Lord Sin, A Rake’s Guide to Pleasure and What a Scoundrel Wants.
Congratulatons on your new book and on the good reviews.
Thanks so much, everyone! If you haven’t tried my books, I hope you’ll consider it. As Ana pointed out, I’m a cheap date!!! *g*
And good luck in the giveaway.
Oh. Me. Pick me.
This book has been sooo recommended to me (AND Talk Me Down, which is next on the list.)
Me!!
(waves wildly from the back row)
Hi Victoria,
Sons of Anarchy is my guilty pleasure and I adore Jax!
I remember having the Legoland apples fries while the kids played at the Hideaway. YUM. Sorry the BK ones weren’t what you were expecting.
What a cool interview. Love the contest, count me in.
Funny post Victoria! I’m sorry about the apple fries and I’m also glad that your were able to get that off your chest, whew!
I’d love a chance to try out Victoria’s work so ladies, please enter me for the giveaway.
Merry Christmas,
VampFanGirl
I've read the reviews of Talk Me Down on SB & DA's sites and have added it to my reading list. Soon as that book is available, I'm getting it.:D
I’ve heard good things about A Rake’s Guide to Pleasure and would definitely love the opportunity to try it.
Oh, I keep hearing such great things about Victoria’s books! All of a sudden. And this confirms it. Sign me up.
Why is your sprout so much bigger than mine?
I'm so happy to know I'm not alone in my Jax lust. I'm glad I confessed here! And Leslie, I'm also glad to know that I can share my Legoland apple fry memories with someone else. *g*
And Carolyn Jean, this >>Why is your sprout so much bigger than mine?<< sounds so wrong!!!
Whomever said, “Truth in advertisement” ought to be shot. Srsly.
*waving to Ms Dahl* Best of luck with the new release!
I love to hear what other people are reading and why. Thanks.
Good luck on the new release. Sounds like a great book. Would love to read it.
ayancey[at]dishmail[dot]net
Victoria, your historicals and this latest contemporary all sound like good reads. Congrats on the great reviews. Thanks for the chance to win one of your books!
Hi Victoria, I’ve read your historicals and now looks like I need to get your contemp too from what I’ve been seeing around. Too bad about the apple fries, but then what can you expect with fast food.
I have several of Victoria’s books in my mountain. I will have to excavate them.
Hi Victoria! Haven’t read any of your books yet, but they sound really good, and love the reviews at Dear author and sb.
The contest is closed now, thanks folks!