The Amazing Jill Shalvis, Author Extraordinaire!

At least I think she is amazing and I'll tell you why....
Every so often an author come along who is both talented and personable.
One whose writing combines all the elements of a good story. Relationships, humor, strong primary characters, memorable secondary characters and engaging storylines.
To me Jill is an author of that caliber. But don't just take my word for it. Read any one of her books. She is one of my auto-buy authors...yes, she is that good!

And may I suggest you come visit her newly designed web-site and hang out on her highly entertaining blog when Jill share snippets of life as a glamorous, jet-setting member of the beautiful people. For daily updates, click here
http://jillshalvis.com

One of my personal favorites so far is "Aussie Rules." And I just found out, Aussie Rules has been nominated for a RITA!! Go Jill!! I'm not good at book reviews, so let me quote what Harriet Klausner had to say:

Melanie "Mel" Anderson manages more than just the North Beach Airport in California; she helps her employees and her business partner with their scrambled lives. To Mel this is her family though she misses her surrogate mother the airport owner Sally, who disappeared a few years ago.

Australian Bo Black owns the deed to the airport and plans to take control of it. He wants to find his father's missing plane and regain what should have been his except Sally conned his dad when they briefly married. However, his plan goes awry as he needs a revision because all he wants to do is sleep with the enemy who to his amazement he loves; even more shocking is Mel reciprocates Bo's deepest regard while everyone else thinks they make strange bedfellows while wondering if it is AUSSIE RULES or Yankee control.

The key to this fun contemporary filled with eccentric characters is the background North Beach Airport seems normal so anchors the delightful story line from veering to far from the tarmac. The war between Mel and Bo is fought on several fronts elating the audience as they skirmish in the skies, on the ground, and in the bedroom. Though the climax seems to gentle of a landing for such a zany soaring tale, Jill Shalvis rules with this fine battle of the sexes.


Her latest, which is on the top of my TBR pile is "Smart and Sexy". This is the first of a three book series featuring Noah, Shayne, and Brody, running an exclusive air charter service named Sky High Air.

Smart and Sexy is Noah Fisher's story. Again, not my words:

Noah Fisher has worked for months to make Sky High the most prestigious charter airline in California. He’s long overdue for a break - something involving ski slopes, cold beers, and hot ski bunny babes, not necessarily in that order. The itinerary doesn’t include being hijacked by Bailey Sinclair, gorgeous widow of one of Sky High’s wealthiest (ex-) clients. But here they are, and being crammed in a cockpit with the scared, stubborn, unbelievably sexy former model he’s been fantasizing about invokes Superman tendencies that could get Noah in serious trouble.

Bailey is desperate to find the stash of money hidden by her conniving, thieving late husband - before the bad guys he owed find her. It’s a long shot, but nothing compared to the gamble she’s taking by being so close to Noah. Every minute in his company has Bailey thinking about doing crazy, reckless things like touching, grabbing, kissing… Suddenly, seat-of-your-pants seems like the only way to fly.

I know you want more, so click here for an excert:

http://jillshalvis.com/excerpts#excerpt12
So now that you know about the fabulous Jill Shalvis, go forth and purchase!! Smart and Sexy will be a good start, but once you have read Jill's entertaining brand of story-telling I know you will on a back-list hunt for the rest of her titles!

You know the old saying, "If it's not broke, don't fix it?" Thats kind of how I feel about authors who develop a huge following for a series they are writing. When they first hit the scene, all their releases are paperback, (i.e. affordable). Once the PTB discover they have a cash cow on their hands, new releases are all hardback. And unless I can coerce my local librarian into purchasing the HB, I have to
beg, borrow, or steal until the PB release comes out. (Luckily she likes me and knows I have good taste in reading material)
Do you know how much I hate that? Unfortunately, when it comes to books, I am an instant gratification kinda gal. And until I get my hands on that book, I feel like I am missing something.
Like there was a party and I was the only loser that was not invited. *sigh*
Welp, it looks like another of m auto-buy authors has been thrown on to that bandwagon.
And don't get me wrong, I am extremely happy for Ms. Harrison (can I call you Kim? I feel like I know you.... :) ) The general population equates HB to credibility, which in turn means better visibility, better promotion by your publisher, increased revenue and better book sales. (or at least I assume so, I'm no publishing insider!)
That being said, anybody want to lend me Kim Harrison's newest, "For a Few Demons More"? It releases on 03/20/2007 and if it is as good as her previous installments, we are in for a treat.
Now where did I put the number to my library?

This is a new-to-me author and I am spreading the word!
Also see my myspace blog for the same meme.

http://blog.myspace.com/angie_lah

The VISIONS OF HEAT meme
1. Which psychic power would you most like to possess?
The power to read minds. Although my spawn swear I already posses that ability.Being an empath would probably be ok, though. Running around reading minds all the time sounds like it might be exhausting.

2. If you could see the future, what would you like to see?
Do my spawn ever learn to make a bed or put away laundry?

3. Imagine you woke up one day and could shapeshift - what would you shift into?
One of my dachshunds..Think about it. Sleep all day. Get taken on walks. Have tennis balls thrown for you when you wanted. Get cool doggie treats and yummy dog food (of which I only eat the little tan squares and bone shaped pieces, leaving the big, brown round pieces untouched) I can think of worse ways to spend a day....

4. What kind of a paranormal creature would you invite over for dinner if there were no limits on who you could ask?
I already have dinner with two teenaged boys every night. Any paranormal creature would be an improvement.

5. Which future innovation do you wish would hurry up and get here already? i.e. flying cars, a transporter, computers with artificial intelligence, an auto chef?
Auto chef sound cool. Then my spawn would stop complaining that there is nothing to eat in the house.

This meme was begun by Nalini Singh to get the word out about her next book, Visions of Heat http://www.nalinisingh.com/visions (releasing March 6). Want to play, too, and enter to win a $50 Amazon voucher plus an ARC? Click here http://nalinisingh.blogspot.com/2007/02/visions-of-heat-meme.html for details.