If it’s of interest to anyone, I actually re-edited most of the content before I transferred it over. Ember is now minus a few typos and a bit of awkward phrasing. I’ll be uploading the new PDF version to the site, and the Kindle and Nook versions to their appropriate retail outlets soon. My news page is also up to date.  It includes pre-order links to the Agony/Ecstasy anthology* Actually, I just killed my news page. It was okay, but I wanted more. Now it’s a mess, and I have to go to sleep. I’ll fix it tomorrow

News:
Superfabulous and awesomely talented author Sherry Thomas (her debut novel, Private Arrangements is in my TFE – Top 5, Evah), interviewed me for her blog about fairy tales, badass heroines, and what I’m writing next.

Reviews:
Lynn Spencer at AAR (All About Romance) blog gave Cat’s Tale a “Desert-Island Keeper” Review.

…Bettie Sharpe’s novella Cat’s Tale ended up being wonderful. This inspired retelling of Puss in Boots is definitely a Desert Island Keeper read for me.

DearAuthor.com posted not one, but two dueling reviews of Cat’s Tale here. A few choice excerpts:

All in all, Cat’s Tale: A Fairly Tale Retold is a charming novella that made me hope for more stories in the same vein. Beauty and the Beast, anyone? My grade for this one is a high B+.

– Jennie

It occurs to me that many readers probably aren’t going to like Catriona much. She’s selfish, shallow, spoilt, ruthless, and, occasionally, downright mean. But I liked her. In fact, I think Catriona is the cornerstone and foundation of this book. She’s the one driving it, both as a character and as a narrator. I was rather charmed and delighted by her bad behavior. I appreciated it. I’m tired of these heroines who can’t wait to crawl up on the cross and crucify themselves for the most asinine of reasons. It is rather relieving to read about a heroine is does the exact opposite.  Catriona makes this book. Like Scarlett O’Hara and her own namesake, she always lands on her feet. She’s the one who drives the story…overall, this is solid book, an enjoyable and engaging read. B-

– Lazaraspaste

 

The blog, Escape by Fiction gave Cat’s Tale 4 of 5 Stars

I like this retelling of Puss in Boots. It’s humorous, easy to read and wicked hot! Cat is a selfish, lying, manipulator…Cat’s character grows a lot in the story and so does Julian. The chemistry and affection Cat and Julian feel for each other is sweet and passionate. I look forward to more fairytale retellings from Bettie Sharpe.

And on those fine notes, I end my post and return to my current work in progress. Want to know what it is and what it’s about? Check out that interview on Sherry’s blog. Good night.

Wonderful post! So insightful and well-put. In the future, instead of trying to explain my motivations for writing difficult and/or unlikable heroines, I’m just going to link here.

Plenty of people out there are loved and they do not deserve to be. And plenty of people who deserve to be loved, aren’t.

This. This, exactly. And to add to it, the amazing, wonderful thing about love is that true love sees flaws and loves not despite, but because of those flaws. Love is diverse, love stories should be, too. There is no universal standard of lovability. The very qualities that make me hate a person could be the reason someone else is head-over-heels in love–and I think that’s awesome.

I know quite a few very nice men who are married to very mean women. For a long time I wondered what they saw in each other, until I realized that perhaps each saw in the other qualities that they, themselves, lacked. The reason those men are so nice is because they don’t have to be mean. Their wives are the ones who demand better seating in restaurants, and tell people talking in movies to shut the hell up, and bitch out people who don’t treat their husband right.

As cheesy as the phrase “you complete me” is, if we’re lucky, that’s just what we get when we love–we are complete. Not completely good, but whole and functioning and happy. And when I get to the end of a romance novel, that’s the way I want to see the hero and heroine–not shagging from sunrise to sunrise, not having scads of babies or fostering deserving orphans, just happy, whole, and better than they were before.

The prompt: I wanna see a girl tell a guy what she wants. Sexy, zany, crazy, whatever. I wanna see her pipe up and ask for her heart’s desire.

The word count: 400.

The prize: $50 gift certificate from Amazon.

The deadline: 15 May.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: This contest is one of my favorite writing exercises, ever. The word limit, the deadline, the faint whiff of competition–all these things combine to get the creative juices flowing. I’ve gotten two novellas out of entries I wrote for Bam’s contest. One was Like a Thief and the other–you may be hearing about it soon… Point is, it’s a lot of fun, and if you haven’t entered before, don’t be afraid.

And if you’re not the writing type (oh, come on, you know you really are!) you can have fun just reading the entries. I love how a bunch of writers can take the same prompt and produce so many different stories.

So, go forth and enter!