RW: Wild Rides

I enjoy reading well-written romantica and erotica. I wouldn't be an Emma Holly and Alison Kent fan if I didn't. When this kind of fiction is done right, it transcends the coy purple-headed prosiness or the mechanical insert slot A into tab B stories we see so often in this category.

You won't find any turgid throbbing manroots or unlikely robotic positions in Lush by Sasha White. What you will discover is a trilogy of interconnected stories about three couples who find and explore each other, body and soul. Yes, the stories are explicit, so be warned: this is hands-on, right there, in-your-face erotica. It's beautifully written, but it never apologizes for the content by masking it with a lot of idiot euphemisms.

What I enjoy about Sasha White's storytelling is the combination of playfulness and soulfulness. This book, like all her work, is both fun and touching. Very few writers in this category can pull off something like that; Sasha White is already an expert at it. It's going to be very interesting to see where she goes from here.

As always, you don't have to take my word for it. In comments to this post, name your favorite romantic food (or, if you don't think food is romantic, just throw your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Friday, May 11, 2007. I'll draw five names at random from everyone who participates, and send the winners an unsigned copy of Lush by Sasha White and a surprise. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Home front news: you people have certainly been busy. Four days after its release, Night Lost hit the Borders Group Inc. romance mass market bestseller list at #1 for week ending 5/5/07. My editor tells me the book also debuted at #4 on Barnes & Nobles' romance BSL list, and #17 on their overall mass market BSL list.

I've got thirty-seven books in print, but none of them have ever made it to #1 on any list. Not a place I ever expected to be, frankly, so I have nothing prepared or rehearsed. To the buyers and booksellers of Borders Group, Inc., who have been incredibly generous with their support of Night Lost, and to all of you who went out and spent your hard-earned money to buy the book, may I simply say: thank you.

Oh, and if you see a nice little old lady circling the earth sometime today, that would be my mom.