Another review for Chancellor's Bride

BookUtopiaMom just gave The Chancellor's Bride 7 1/2 stars out of 10 over at Uniquely Pleasurable. Here's a snippet:

"Right away, the sensuality of the prose in this novel grabs the reader by the lapels and refuses to let go.....The brief prologue immerses you in both erotic and intelligent imagery, establishing a high standard for the rest of the story to meet. It continues in that vein throughout the novel, and in actuality, is probably one of its strongest assets. Even when I had questions and doubts about motivations, I could always rely on the author’s voice to compensate for it."

This is a bit of a mixed review, the kind that's extremely helpful to me, pointing out a lack of clarity regarding one character's motivations that I know has bothered a few other readers.

Just shows me that while I am certain that my characters' motivations and conflicts make sense, I need to work a little harder to convey those things to the reader, who is less well-acquainted with my world and its denizens than I am. And that I shouldn't rely so heavily on my voice to carry the reader past those points of doubt or confusion.

But I'm absolutely jazzed that despite the stated flaws, she still found it a "lush, seductive read", and would give other books by me a go. Now I just have to try to finish Collin and Harral's prequel (which will be short, I hope, though I know myself well enough to not promise that), or get another m/m(/f) to start calling to me. Because I did absolutely love writing this one.

:)

First review's in

The Chancellor's Bride scored with Katie Seely at ParaNormal Romance. Though reviews on that site tend to be brief, I'm damn happy with this bit:

"A scorching hot love triangle!"

And this bit:

"I highly recommend this book, but please remember to keep a fan handy. You're going to need it."

Heck, if that isn't enough to tempt a couple of people to enter my poor, neglected, past-its-prime pick-up line contest, I don't know what will. :D

One more Squee for 2008

AmyC has some more nice things to say about my writing, this time in a combined review of Crossing Swords and Bound by Steel. Here's a bit of what she wrote:

The depth of the relationship between Gil, Lianon and Kaela was extremely well thought out and very satisfying. The plot, the characters, their relatioships and interactions were wonderful, making both Crossing Swords and Bound by Steel highly engaging reads.

Mmmmmmm yummy, now that's good review!

Of course, now I have to get off my lazy butt and finish Chancellor's Bride. :)

An Early Christmas Squeeeeeee...

Lookie what I found!

(Actually, AmyC emailed me yesterday to give me a heads up that she was really enjoying Healer's Touch, and I've been pretty damn stoked ever since.)

Behold, yon snippet:

This was truly an erotic romance, not merely explicit scenes. With the voyeurism so prominent throughout, it plays on your senses. The book is not riddled with explitive words, but has scenes that are highly charged regarding the nature of them, rather than the blunt usage of nouns describing anatomy.

Without a doubt, I am a fan of Ms. Saell and will continue to follow her work as it's published. Her compelling prose will grip you and sink under your skin.

And this is doubly awesome since I believe Healer's Touch is the reviewer's first foray into the realm of hot girl-on-girl action in her steamy romance. I'm totally thrilled that she liked it so much, and I'm all pinned and needled over the fact that she's reading Crossing Swords as we speak.

I tell ya, there is nothing cooler than to find out someone really connected with something you wrote. If you could package that feeling, it's all I'd want under the tree this year.

Well, that and a Sony...

Warm and fuzzy, one more time...

Well, it is a week of awesome with a side of awesome sauce, because Shannon C. at The Good, the Bad, the Unread just reviewed Healer's Touch, and though she didn't love it like she loved Crossing Swords, she gave it a B+.

Here's some of what she had to say:

As Ms. Saell said in an e-mail to me, this book is essentially one long seduction. I'm not sure I would have believed anyone could actually wring that much of a story out of a prolonged seduction, Ms. Saell does so wonderfully. I loved watching Aru gradually begin to succumb to the many and varied ways Viera used to seduce him. This was one of those books where none of the sex felt gratuitous. And since Viera and Aru were already friends at the start of the story, I believed in their romance.

In addition to Aru and Viera, we get a great secondary romance between one of Aru's patients and an apothecary. Karal, said apothecary, absolutely stole the show in whatever scenes he was in, and I hope that Ms. Saell does more with him.

I do have Bound by Steel, which is the third book in this series, on my TBR, and I will definitely be revisiting this world again soon. Fans of fantasy romance should pick up this series. The characters are great, the world-building is subtle but well-done, and the plots are interesting!

I am totally jazzed. Especially since the book is probably almost half sex, and she didn't think any of it was gratuitous. Wahoo!

Another review...

No, not for one of my books, but a review I wrote for this blammo book:

It's up at Loving Venus- Loving Mars, go check it out!

Smokin Hot Sex

Blogging buddy and fellow girl-on-girl aficionada, Madame Butterfly, has just reviewed Bound by Steel, and has lots of nice things to say about it.

Snippet:

That said, Kirsten Saell writes some of the most smokin hot sex out there and I had to keep the fire extinguisher next me in case my eBookwise spontaneously combusted. Whoa!

As usual, for me anyway, Kirsten Saell’s gritty, bawdy, colorful way of writing is so entertaining in itself, and that made this book so much fun to read even outside of the story. Her writing and story telling seems to be maturing with each book and I hope there is a third Emissaries of Belthalas because I’m totally addicted.

Guess I better get writing. :D

Well, it Doesn't Rain....

...it pours. Of course, when it's pouring good reviews, you won't find me whining about the weather, let me tell you.

Ciar Cullen, who recently started reviewing books on her blog, just posted a "two thumbs up" review of Crossing Swords today, and she has plenty of nice things to say. She actually called my writing "superb". I am seriously blushing here.

Snippet:

If you've read fantasy, then you've read a tavern scene, with grime, a fireplace, floozies and quirky characters aplenty. What could have been really cliche is dead on here. The setting reminded me of the film Gangs of New York, or Oliver Twist. Am I comparing the description to Dickens? Gosh, guess I am. That's a first.

The first chapter is so good, ending with such a bang and a twist, you're totally hooked. Gil is a great hero and Lianon is a very, very sympathetic heroine. Their motivations ring true, their actions makes sense.

I am so jazzed that I've managed to impress two avid fantasy readers in as many days. It's also really cool to be compared to Dickens, whom I totally love. (Although personally, I think if Dickens had included a public blowjob in all his books, his work would have been even more popular, LOL.)

Now all I need is that one bad review so I can feel like a real writer. Any takers? LOL

Neither Bad, nor Unread

Shannon C. at The Good, the Bad, the Unread has posted her review of Crossing Swords and apparently, it was good. An "A", in fact.

Behold, a snippet:

In short, Ms. Saell writes exactly the kind of book there needs to be more of, one that is both empowering and sexy. And she accomplishes more in a short novel than others can manage in an epic doorstopper. Yes, I'll be following this series, and I recommend it to anyone who likes well-written fantasy romance or romance with subversive elements.

I couldn't be more pleased.

That is all.

A Couple of Things...

Okay, as those of you who are paying attention will have noticed, I've made some progress on The Chancellor's Bride. Unfortunately, I totally cancelled out that progress (and then some) by increasing my initial estimate from 50k when complete to 70k. During the course of writing Bound by Steel and this latest WIP, I've come to the irksome realization that when you have three people involved in a romance, the book is just going to be longer. On the bright side, it's also going to have more sex scenes, yay!



Also, I just finished writing my first ever book review. Check it out.

Permission to Squeeeeeee?

My first review for Healer's Touch--from Madame Butterfly--is in, and I couldn't be more pleased. Here's a snippet or two:

Healer’s Touch is a deliciously arousing and touching story of love and healing. Full of yummy sex and characters who’ll steal your heart, this story sucks you in and doesn’t let go. It will break your heart at times and melt it at others, but by the end you'll be feeling warm and fuzzy all over. Over at Samhain it’s a “red hot,” but for me it was more like experiencing a super nova.

Super nova? Dang!!

Kirsten Saell’s prose, which is very graphic, amusing and raunchy at times, also expresses a very deep intimacy between the characters such that I needed a break here and there while reading it, feeling almost as if I was interfering in something very personal somehow.

Awwww...

There's nothing better than having someone read what you wrote, and just totally "get" every single thing you tried to convey. You can read the whole review over at Madame Butterfly's.

And here I was feeling all anticlamactic with the post-release day blahs. This just made my day!

:)