New Releases & Upcoming Books for the TBR - Nalini Singh

On November the 3rd, I have not one but two releases.

Blaze of Memory continues the Psy/Changeling series and it’s set in the world of the Forgotten - Psy who rebelled rather than embrace Silence (a protocol that erases emotion). A hundred years after their defection, the Forgotten are finding strange new abilities in their population. But, along with those gifts…come deadly costs.

Then, we have the mass market release of the An Enchanted Season anthology, which features my novella, “Beat of Temptation.”

I hope you enjoy both! The links will take you to the backcover blurbs, as well as to full chapter excerpts.

Now, onto today’s topic – all the other great books coming out in the next few months that I’m looking forward to. Here are just a few of the things on my list in no particular order.

Patricia Briggs – Silver Borne
Jayne Castle – Midnight Crystal
Anne Bishop – Shalador’s Lady
JD Robb – Fantasy in Death & Kindred In Death
Julie James – Something About You
Lora Leigh – Lion’s Heat

I could keep going, but I’ll force myself to stop there! So, what’re you all looking forward to?

Everyone who leaves a comment in the next 24 hours goes into the draw to win a copy of the Must Love Hellhounds anthology, which features “Angels’ Judgment,” a novella set in my Guild Hunter universe.

Nalini

http://www.nalinisingh.com/

Imperfect Heroes - Nalini Singh

I’m delighted to have a chance to visit with you all again. Thank you to Lee for inviting me! I wanted to choose a topic for today that would be fun, interesting, and most of all spur discussion. So I thought...how about men?!

Men are always fun to discuss (and if there are any men reading this, I mean that in the best possible way – read on to see). As romance readers, we all have a distinct liking for the male of the species. However, I think that there’s sometimes a perception that romance-novel men are all the same – perfect beings no real man could ever measure up to.

I don’t agree. Here’s my theory – in most romances, we see the hero through the heroine’s eyes. Of course her man is going to be perfect to her. And through her, we fall in love with him, too. I’m not saying we don’t have a certain fantasy element in our heroic archetypes – that would be plain disingenuous – but I think there’s a far wider variety of men in romance than is readily apparent.

Here are some examples of imperfect heroes from books on my shelves:

Kristin Hannah’s “Once in Every Life” has a hero so traumatized by war, he doesn’t even trust himself around his children. He is, in fact, so distrustful of himself, that he takes all the abuse his wife heaps on him. Some call him mad. But to our heroine, he is extraordinary, the man she loves and needs.

Elizabeth Hoyt’s “The Raven Prince” has a hero pockmarked by scars, and with a terrible temper to boot. He’s definitely imperfect in some very visible ways. And yet again, he’s the perfect hero for the heroine.

Christine Feehan’s “Dark Desire” has a hero who’s survived horrible torture, but who is more animal than human as a result. Most women would run far and fast if they ever came in contact with Jacques. But we trust in him...because the heroine trusts in him.

Pamela Morsi’s “Simple Jess” has a hero who is quite literally, simple. But again, he is the heroine’s perfect love, the one man who fits her like no one else.

I belive the most memorable heroes are the ones with flaws, whether they be emotional or physical, or even mental. No woman wants a perfect man, because no woman is perfect herself. As romance readers, I think we feel the same way about our heroes. We want a man who lives life, and if he gets a little marked up by it, so be it.

So, what do you think? Agree with me? Disagree? Have any favorite examples of imperfect heroes?

All comments go into a draw to win a signed copy of a book from my backlist, (not including Mine to Possess, cause I don’t have my author copies yet). And talking about prizes, I have this competition running on my blog where you can go into the draw to win a $50 Amazon voucher plus a cute prize pack. It closes Saturday, so enter before it’s too late.

Nalini

http://www.nalinisingh.com/

Novellas on my mind - Nalini Singh

I’ve got novellas on my mind. Two reasons for this – my very first novella just came out in the An Enchanted Season anthology; and I’m writing a second one at this very moment.

When I was first asked to write a novella, I thought about the ones I’d read in the past and why the ones that worked for me did so. Here are two factors that immediately jumped out at me.

1. Characters I care about: This is something that’s important in every book I read, but in novellas an author has a shorter time-period to get me cheering for the hero and heroine. So if you’re going to write an unsympathetic hero or heroine, as I reader, I want to be clued in early that this person isn’t as bad as they appear.

2. A complete story: Very important. Even if it’s part of a series, I want a beginning, a middle and an end. A sense of resolution is necessary because often, when I pick up a novella collection, it’s because I don’t have time to read a full book, but want that full book feeling of satisfaction.

So those are two things that I try to keep in mind while working on my novellas. Do you agree with my points? Think I need to add something to the list? And have you read any good novellas lately? What made the story work so well for you?

# Everyone who leaves a comment in the next twenty-four hours goes into the draw to win a copy of An Enchanted Season.

And last, but definitely not least, I want to thank Lee for inviting me to come play on her blog!

Nalini Singh has travelled as far afield as the deserts of China and the temples of Japan. However, it is the journey of the imagination that fascinates her the most. Currently writing the next book in her bestselling Psy/Changeling series—about a race with no emotions, and the sensual changelings who challenge their perfect Silence—she can be found via her website or hanging out at her blog.