Fortunately...

...You guys are wonderful readers and friends and don't mind authors going AWOL from time to time as needed.

Yeah, lots going on I won't bore you with, but the travelling and distractions from the writing that have also been putting the no-go on blogging have netted some great times (RWA Nationals was a blast, and I'm off to teach at The University of Georgia this weekend) and a chance to immerse my muse in some fabulous reading.

The times I've been en-route and haven't been able to (read, had the engergy to) power up the laptop were filled with catching up on my favorite authors, and there's lots more new releases to come in August (once the Potter mania has died down). So, to keep you with me (in spirit, even if you can't chill in the airport or hotel with me), I'll be posting reviews from time to time...while I continue to give away great Romantic Times Conference goodies...and, you know, chat about whatever motivational things happen to weigh on my mind while I'm at it, because who doesn't need a high-five every now and then.

So, look for more giveaway pics below, the names of some new winners (congrats and send me your snail mail addies and give me a week to pony express your prizes to you)...but first...fortunately...

I received The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes (http://www.unfortunatemissfortunes.com/homepage.php) in the mail a few weeks back--Jenni Crusie was asking for active bloggers who'd like to review her latest collaboration and I was lucky enough to be one of the 100 or so sites picked.

Reading any of my excerpts, you might guess that romantic comedy isn't the innate gift that fuels my creativity. I try not to depress folks too much, and there's alwas a touch of smart ass in what I do...but I'm an angsty girl at heart and while I make it work, you might want to have a few tissues handy when you read my stories... that said, my hat's off to authors who have the wit and intelligence and vision to tell emotionally compelling, accessable stories while making the reader laugh her ass off at the same time.

And let me just say...the Jennifer Crusie, Eileen Dreyer and Anne Stuart collab accomplishes this and then some. This won't be a "spoiler" review, because I want to you head out today--sprint, actually--to your nearest bookbuying place and snag your own copy. Consider this a "reading this will fix whatever ails ya' " review. Because the three separate but intertwined stories that make up this collaboration are, as the cover suggests, magical.

Open the book to any page, do it, and you'll immediately fall into the light and energy these authors spun into their characters--three magical sisters who can't control their powers or their hearts or the men their future happiness depends on. Dee (Dryer), Lizzie (Stuart) and Mare (Crusie) are independent, loyal and quirky young women whose misfiring powers are becoming too obvious to hide, even in the all things paranormal-friendly town of Salem's Fork. Throw in an evil Aunt, Xan (Crusie, also, I suspect) , who want's to strip them of their powers and isn't above using the men of the sisters' dreams to get the job done, and you can imagine how quickly The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes takes off and leaves you breathless with all you want to know.

The first few scenes knock you off balance (intentionally, I suspect, because the sisters' magical dilemmas are like nothing you and I could imagine) as you try to absorb the images and backstory being sprinkled in from three different points of view. You might find yourself backtracking a bit to be sure you've caught everything. But you won't mind, not really, not when Dryer's painting a delightful image of what it must be like to transform into an owl and be hovering on top of a wardrobe lusting after the hunky guy below while you hope against hope that you don't shift back to human form (possibly in the guise of the guy's naked mother, which is what you tend to turn into every time the sexual tensions heats up with any man) before you get a chance to fly away--seriously, not kidding, and somehow she makes it work...one of the funniest scenes in the book...

The action and comedy and hot relationships surrounding the sisters' fight to keep their secrets, their powers, and eventually their men are reason enough to buy this book and reread it until you catch every nuance. But do it for another reason--these are master storytellers who know how to play your emotions and show you what you're capable of feeling if you were in these characters' shoes. This is at its heart a story of three sisters trying to find themselves and still hold on to the only family they have left. Endearing. Real. These women fight for each other. They're the kind of people we'd like to be, and their committment to one another is the true magic that holds their intertwining stories together.

I suspect the authors bonded quite deeply as they wrote and rewrote and rewrote the countless times it must have taken to pull a project like this off. Boggles the mind how they managed to so seemlessly knit their work together into a cohesive story. But they stuck together and fortunately made it work--don't miss your chance to see just how fabulous a job they did. Now go buy the book--do it!!!

Oh, and I'm tagging fellow author and Crusie fan Tanya Micahels (another goddess at writing comedy that touches your soul while tickling your funny bone)--check out her blog, where she'll be posting her own review any day now: http://www.tanyamichaels.blogspot.com/

Okay--'nough of the raving about my latest read...

Winners from the comments left for the last post:

Flip--who posted at 4:59 pm and

Lifeasamama--who posted at 8:18 am

Send me your snail mail addies, folks--RT goodies coming your way!!!!

What about the rest of the stuff, you ask??? There were great tote bags from TOR at this year's conference (I snagged several for you guys) and the ususal book giveaways you drool over at every RT...gotta get rid of all of it...any takers out there??? Leave a comment to be in the drawing (there's lots o' stuff, including the goodies in the last post's pics, so don't give up)--if blogger won't let you log in (grrrr), leave your thoughts anon with your name in the post.

Later!!! ;o)