RW: I Told You So

Two years ago a big name author refused to read one of my own books for a possible quote. This isn't unusual, and I didn't personally make the request, but the circumstances involved made it such an unpleasant experience that it put me off getting quotes ever since.

A week after that smackdown, an editor asked me to read an ARC of a first book in a debut series for a possible quote. Perfect opportunity for revenge! All I had to do was surrender to the dark side and say Sorry, but I'm too busy with my bestselling career to take time out to blurb your rookie in a polite fashion.

Only I couldn't, because I really liked the editor, and I wasn't too busy, and my good angel, the sadistic bitch, advised me that it would be the wrong thing to do.

I (very reluctantly) agreed to read it, and the editor immediately sent me the ARC. I took it out of the mailbox and stomped all the way back to the house with it. I let it sit on my desk for a full day. I glared at it. My bad angel wanted it to suck. My bad angel assured me that it would likely be the biggest pile of trash I'd ever read. I even started mentally rehearsing polite ways of saying to the editor "Sorry, but your rookie can't write her way out of a trick-or-treat bag."

I finally read the first page, just to see how much it was going to suck, and lost myself in it. After I devoured the book, I wrote a quote for the author that will probably end up being the best blurb I will ever write. Everyone thought I was crazy for doing that for a complete stranger, but I didn't care. This book was that special.

Several months later the rest of the reading world discovered how great the book was. My good angel started crowing, "I told you so!" and hasn't shut up since.

I still don't know who was first to endorse J.R. Ward's Dark Lover, me or Nicole Jordan, but we both did it long before the Black Dagger Brotherhood series skyrocketed into the enormous success it is today. Having our names and quotes on one of the hottest-selling novels in paranormal romance doesn't hurt, either, but we didn't do it for that reason. Which counts? Pretty much forever.

To celebrate the two-year anniversary of my first reading J.R. Ward's terrific debut, I've put together a big I Told You So box of great paranormal romance and dark fantasy reads: unsigned copies of Hunting Midnight by Emma Holly, The Blood Books Volume One (Blood Price and Blood Trail) by Tanya Huff, Night Echoes by Holly Lisle, A Taste of Crimson by Marjorie M. Liu, Nightlife by Rob Thurman, Hunters: Heart and Soul by Shiloh Walker, and Dark Lover by J.R. Ward, along with a signed copy of my novel Night Lost and some other surprises.

For a chance to win this week's goodies, in comments to this post, write a quote for your favorite author or novel (or, if you're quote-blocked, just throw your name into the hat) by midnight EST on Friday, June 8, 2007. I'll draw one name at random from everyone who participates and send the winner the entire I Told You So box of books. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.