Read this book

A writer of my acquaintance has just published a book.

Cause for celebration in itself, but this book is something special in its genre (Romance) and it's a great thrill to see the reading world awaken to this fact. It has so far received several glowing reviews, but one of the best is offered by the smart ladies who live here:

Knock that oiled chest-baring ab-master off the cover, and substitute something more professional and perhaps boring, and I promise you, linguistics students could study this narrative as a representative work on how to
accurately portray the differences in languages and dialects without actually
USING those dialects. English poses as French, as German (which is its cousin
anyway), and as variations of itself, and the depth of talent in just that part
of this novel alone is astonishing. Seriously, I haven’t even gotten to the plot
part yet and I’m ready to build a shrine to Bourne just for her prose.

This is not Jo's first novel, but it is the first one published in many years. And it marks the beginning of what's going to be an amazing career. I see many awards and much success in her future. Jo, simply put, is a marvelous writer. She's a master of dialogue, of subtlety and wit, of voice and characterization and language. Of course, I knew that about her already, having been acquainted with her for a number of years on Compuserve Books & Writers, and having once belonged to the same critique group and been on the receiving end of some sage advice. I have a file filled with Jo quotes, squirreled away because they're pithy and elegant and because she just has this way of phrasing things that pokes a gentle finger right into the solar plexus of the issue.

What I didn't know (never having read a complete book by her) was whether she could tell a good story, but after having snarfed down The Spymaster's Lady in record time, I'm here to say it's a darn good book, and you should read it, even if you don't normally read Romance.

I myself am not a particular fan of the genre; I have maybe a dozen novels on my shelf that I consider Romance "keepers" and most of them are written by Laura Kinsale. Until now.

The Spymaster's Lady won't be lonely long. The next Joanna Bourne novel is due out in July. I personally can't wait.

Oh, and if you'd like to win a signed copy of The Spymaster's Lady, contest here.