Jennifer Lyon


Monday, June 1st, 2009
Do You Like Twists?

Saturday was hectic, we celebrated one of my kid’s birthdays and that required some effort on my part–baking a cake, cooking dinner, cleaning house…where are my witch powers when I need them?”

Sunday was quieter which was great for me! I needed to catch my breath.

So have you guys heard some of the talk about Linda Howard’s book DEATH ANGEL? I finished reading the book last week and it left me unsure how I felt about it. I absolutely commend Linda Howard for doing something different, and I’m glad a read the book.

The book is about a woman of questionable character who is the mistress of a drug lord. Basically, she’s a bimbo. The drug lord “gives” her to a stone cold killer for sex as payment.  The killer ends up being the hero of the book. I was totally into this story for two thirds of the way through.

Then the story takes a dramatic and shocking twist, causing first the heroine to have an epiphany that significantly changes her. When the hero finds her again, he too has a life changing epiphany. Oddly, I wasn’t quite as engaged in the last third of the book, but I did still want to finish it.

I think the book was different and interesting. While I saw that some people were angry in reviews (I read them AFTER I read the book), I personally love it when authors go for it, try something different, twist the story into a whole new surprising direction.

So have any of you read the book? What do you feel about author trying new or different stories? And finally, how was your weekend?

21 comments to “Do You Like Twists?”

  1. Margaret A. Golla
    June 1st, 2009 at 7:04 am · Link

    When authors try something new, I usually wish they would try it under a psydonym. :-) It’s all about reader expectations.
    I haven’t read the book so can’t comment on it.
    Had a MAV-Velous weekend! Finished MOGG on Friday. Kiddo finished school on the same day. Had family over to swim on Saturday–the ones heading over to France. On Sunday, saw UP and hung by the pool.
    Hubster’s back is much better thanks to a variety of meds and I’m ready to dive into my edits, EXCEPT I have the kiddo hanging around the house. Will figure out how to bribe her . . .



  2. Kira Daniels
    June 1st, 2009 at 8:37 am · Link

    I like it when authors try something new. I think the fans should be more lenient of that. Sometimes it might not be a bestseller, but I think kudos should be given for something out of the ordinary.

    I had a pretty good weekend. Played miniture golf saturday with hubby and kiddos and a grocery run. Church sunday and the standard grill out.

    Now I’m ready to hit the wordage. Well, after a blog hop and errand. ;)



  3. Erika
    June 1st, 2009 at 9:20 am · Link

    I don’t mind if an author tries something new, I’ll check it out if it’s an author I would read on a regular basis anyway. Although, here I am about to make a hypocrit out of myself, Jennifer Crusie’s next book (from what I’ve read) isn’t going to be romance. She’s writing some thriller/horror type of thing which I’m not into, so I won’t be picking that up. *sigh* Okay, I guess I’m into authors trying something new as long as they know they may lose some readers. Isn’t that terrible? We’re such a fickle bunch. ;)

    My weekend was good. Nice, relaxing. Went to the baseball game yesterday and watched the DBacks lose.



  4. Mande
    June 1st, 2009 at 10:25 am · Link

    We just read this book for our book club meeting tomorrow night! I loved the book but it was my first of her books that I had read. A friend and I were talking about it and she said that it seemed to her as if maybe she was trying to maybe try out some paranormal type romance writing.

    BTW, we just joined this book club last month and we started going because last month they read Blood Magic and it peaked our interest. I am anxiously awaiting the next book.



  5. Jenn
    June 1st, 2009 at 11:01 am · Link

    Margaret, YAY on your good weekend! You were due! Glad to hear your husband’s back is getting better.

    That’s awesome that you finished the book! I know you need to revise, but that first draft is the hardest for me.

    LOL on bribing the kid for writing time…good luck! My three boys all played together a lot so I was lucky that way.



  6. Jenn
    June 1st, 2009 at 11:07 am · Link

    Kira, sounds like a good weekend! I think a lot of readers are willing to try something new just like you. Maybe it was the packageing on the book that may have misled readers a bit.

    Good luck on hitting your work count today!



  7. Jenn
    June 1st, 2009 at 11:09 am · Link

    Erika, I don’t think you’re being fickle about Jenny Cruise. It sounds like she’s letting her readers know exactly what kind of book it is so the readers can decide if it’s for them or not. And it’s just not for you. I’m trying to do the same thing with the paranormal sereis, and that is one of the main reasons why I am writing the Wing Slayer Hunters under a pen name.

    Glad your weekend was relaxing.



  8. Jenn
    June 1st, 2009 at 11:11 am · Link

    Hi Mande, thank you! I’m thrilled that you enjoyed BLOOD MAGIC!

    What I liked about DEATH ANGEL is that I’m still thinking about it. I’d love to hear what your book club thinks about it!



  9. Silver James
    June 1st, 2009 at 3:11 pm · Link

    *eyes TBR pile warily* I’ll add this one to the “Eventually” list. I don’t mind a writer stretching her talents. Jennifer Apodaca and Jen Lyon are both kick-@$$ authors! Leslie Kelly/Leslie Parrish just did this, too — going from sexy, funny romance to dark thriller romance. Me? I write different subgenres and kid about being a cross-genre dresser.

    Weekend? There was a weekend? Uhm…I know I did something… Is it time for appeltinis yet?



  10. Jenn
    June 1st, 2009 at 4:07 pm · Link

    Silver, you worked all weekend, huh? And thank you for the nice comments on both Jens :-) I know you write across genres, you have a storyteller voice that is unlimited!

    And yes it’s Appletinin time! Let’s pour! Although I will be working late since I have page proofs that I can’t ignore much longer. But I bet the proof will look better after a few Appletinis!



  11. Quilt Lady
    June 1st, 2009 at 4:11 pm · Link

    I haven’t read the book and haven’t picked one up for over a week!

    I need your witch powers, my weekend sucked. We found a water leak from our icemaker which damaged the kitchen floor, so right now we are taring out the floor and fixing it. My house is a dirty mess and I have half of a new kitchen floor. Please send your witch powers my way!



  12. Jenn
    June 1st, 2009 at 5:31 pm · Link

    Quilt Lady, you really do need witch powers, and some good luck! How long until the mess is finished?



  13. Silver James
    June 1st, 2009 at 5:44 pm · Link

    Awwww, Jen…. *blush* That’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever said about my work.

    And yes! Appletinis! Stat!

    Poor Quilt Lady! Maybe Erika will send the flying monkeys to help with the clean-up. I’ll brew up a spell to help with the cleaning! In the meantime, here. Have an appletini. It’ll help. Promise!



  14. Jenn
    June 1st, 2009 at 8:26 pm · Link

    Silver, it’s true :-)

    Appletinis are up…come and get ’em!



  15. Quilt Lady
    June 1st, 2009 at 10:37 pm · Link

    Yes I need appletini’s myself, lots of them. Hubby is very slow at these things and we are doing the work ourself. He was laid off work this past week but didn’t get if finished. I may try my hand at using a skill saw and put down some of the floor myself tomorrow. I did some cleaning today, couldn’t stand it.



  16. Lorena
    June 2nd, 2009 at 12:08 pm · Link

    Jen, I read Death Angel a couple of weeks ago–first, I’ll admit that I read Howard’s books sporadically. I don’t always like them. I don’t always like the characters. Usually I like the plots :)

    Death Angel…was interesting. I don’t want to spoil it by mentioning some of the details that I’ve also seen in some of her other books (I’m guessing they were the part people were complaining about, being somewhat, um, not suspense oriented?), and which I thought took the book in a strange direction. For me, though, it worked. It wasn’t something COMPLETELY different from what she’d written before, but enough to make you say “huh?”



  17. Jenn
    June 2nd, 2009 at 8:12 pm · Link

    Quilt Lady, your husband was laid off from work? That’s terrible! And you have to deal with the leak and all the damage on top of it? You need a massive dose of good luck!



  18. Jenn
    June 2nd, 2009 at 8:16 pm · Link

    Lorena, Hmm, I haven’t read her past couple books, so I can only guess that maybe she has a redemption theme going on? At least DEATH ANGEl has gotten readers ralking, and that’s always good!



  19. Mande
    June 3rd, 2009 at 3:56 pm · Link

    Well the overall feeling last night at our book club was that we all liked it. That was the first of her books that I had read but I will definitely be looking for more of her books.



  20. Jenn
    June 3rd, 2009 at 5:44 pm · Link

    Mande, that’s great to know, thanks for telling me! I think I’m going to have to read a couple fo hers that I missed. One of my favorites (and older one) of hers is MR PERFECT.



  21. Mande
    June 4th, 2009 at 8:44 am · Link

    That one was mentioned as there were a few people at the meeting that were fans of hers but hadn’t read that book.



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