We’re getting toward the end of the year and the holiday season is in full swing. It’s a time for wishes and miracles. So let’s make some wishes - I’m talking strictly as a reader for the moment.
If you could have drinks with any author, who would it be and what would you want to know?
Romance Novel TV is on partial hiatus. Maria and Marisa are currently reviewing for Barnes and Noble at B&N.com’s Heart to Heart blog. Our reviews are featured every Monday and Thursday.
You can also see more articles on books and romance by Marisa at Heroes and Heartbreakers and Maria at her website where she talks about television and production.
We frequently post segments of our B&N reviews here, as well as reviews of new books we’ve read not featured on B&N. At present, we’re not producing any new videos, but we do have plans to resume in the future.
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PJ
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 11:37 am:
Anna Campbell and I’d want to know if she remembered to bring the Tim Tams.
katiebabs
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 12:13 pm:
Stephen King so he can give me advice on writing since he has over 30 years of it.
Marisa
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 1:16 pm:
Ooh, Katiebabs- I’d love to go to dinner with you and Stephen.
I’ve been lucky enough to meet so many of my favorite authors and each experience has been wonderful. Right now I’d really like to meet Christine Feehan and Catherine Anderson.
orannia
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 2:38 pm:
Maria – it’s only Monday and you’ve asked a stumper
Hmmmm…..I’ve narrowed it down to three! Nalini Singh, Linda Howard and…Mercedes Lackey. I finished reading the latest Valdemar book last night and….WOW! I was so worried that I wouldn’t feel the same about the Valdemar books that I did in my teens and twenties. I’m so glad that I do 
The thing I’ve noticed about really, really good books…is that when you get near the end you almost feel sad…like you’ve lost something. Or maybe that’s just me?
Oh, and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
PJ
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 2:51 pm:
The thing I’ve noticed about really, really good books…is that when you get near the end you almost feel sad…like you’ve lost something. Or maybe that’s just me?
I feel the same way. It’s like a really good friend is moving away but the nice thing about books is that you can visit them anytime you want!
PJ
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 2:58 pm:
I’ve been fortunate to meet many of my favorite authors and they are all lovely people. Of those I haven’t yet met the ones at the top of the list are Lisa Kleypas, Anna Campbell (with or without Tim Tams), Kathy Caskie and Christine Wells.
Maria Lokken
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 3:21 pm:
Orianna – I’m so with you on that. Once I’ve finished a terrific book it is so hard to get over it and move on.
I know PJ and Marisa and Kati have a lot of their favorites that they re-read. However, I am notorious for never re-reading a book. I don’t know why, I just don’t. However, there’s been a lot of talk lately about the Outlander series which I read years and years ago. I’m seriously thinking about picking it up again (Gasps from the crowd). I know – I know – I should never say ‘never’.
Marisa
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 4:23 pm:
I know exactly how you feel – ending a good book is so hard – but as PJ says re-visiting them later is always a joy.
GASP – Maria, re-read a book? PJ did you hear that? Maria you loved Jamie and Claire so much I bet you would enjoy re-reading it. I’ve got a copy at my house if you’re interested.
heidenkind
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 4:32 pm:
Are we talking strickly living authors? Well, I’d like to meet Anna Campbell because she seems awesome
, and I’d like to ask her if she’s ever going to write a straight-up Gothic horror novel. Hmm, I’d also like to meet Jade Lee and ask her if there really was a Taoist sect in China that tried to acheive immortality through sex. And I’d like meet Gaelen Foley and beg her give me any information on her new series.
ann
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 4:52 pm:
For me it would have to be either Nora Roberts, Janet Evanovich or Cassie Edwards. I love all of their books. I don’t know exactly what I would say though.
orannia
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 4:56 pm:
I’m glad I’m not the only one
I couldn’t believe how flat I felt after finishing Mine to Possess…for some reason that is the book that really sticks in my mind this year. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved it!
And I’m a definite re-reader. It’s just that I haven’t read The Last Herald Mage books (Mercedes Lackey) for about 5 years, and they are the books I think of when I’m at the bottom of the deepest, darkest pit…. The books that pull me back out. Hmmmm. I just worry that if I re-read them I won’t enjoy them as much, and that may taint the memory. Maybe I should try though…
Oh, and can I add Lisa Kleypas to my list please? I just want to thank her (effusively) for writing Blue-Eyed Devil
Anna Campbell
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 5:24 pm:
Hey, looks like I’m going to have a great party at my house! Champagne, brandy alexanders, margaritas! Tim Tams! Hey, PJ, I’ll bring the TTs if you bring the chocolate turtles. Hey, thanks, Heidenkind!
Actually I love writing romance and I love a happy ending so I think the gothic touch will keep going but still within the romantic context. Oh, no, does that mean you don’t want to meet me now I’ve answered your question? NOOOOOOO!
I get that mourning feeling at the end of a really great book too. Usually I’ve really rushed to finish it and then I’m sorry. I AM a re-reader though, so I will go back to it. Then after I finish a really good book, I wander around like a lost sheep for a week or so because nothing I pick up is THAT book. Do you know what I mean?
Anna Campbell
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 5:25 pm:
Oh, and here’s my namedropping session for today, I’ve met the gorgeous Lisa Kleypas and she even lent me her powder compact. How cool is that? I haven’t washed my face since. And would you believe it was on my way into the RNTV interview at Dallas where I met the Ms and the lovely Kim Castillo? Spooky, huh? Like we’re all connected on a web or something!
heidenkind
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 5:48 pm:
Anna–lol No, I’ll think of another question to ask you. Especially if champagne and chocolate turtles are involved.
I love to re-read books, though I rarely get a chance to because I have so much to read through. *Sigh.* Lately I’ve really been wanting to re-read Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart.
Anna Campbell
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 5:56 pm:
Heidenkind, I think we’ve talked about this before but I was a HUGE Mary Stewart fan when I was a teenager. I should re-read her and revisit those great stories. Champagne and chocolate turtles – if we can coax PJ along – are just the thing!
Stacy ~
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 7:00 pm:
I have been lucky enough to meet Anna @ RWA – and at the Bella breakfast. I’m the quiet, invisible type, so having Anna around is a joy – she’s hilarious. And a pleasure to meet
I would say Lisa Kleypas and Judith McNaught, since these two, along with Brockmann, are my 3 all-time favorite authors. I’ve been lucky enough to meet Suz, and she’s very down-to-earth and friendly. I don’t really care what we talk about, just chatting over drinks would be a lot of fun.
Alaleh
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 8:53 pm:
I would meet Karen Marie Moning and JR ward. I need to talk to Karen to see if JZB and mac are going to end up together. and I would want to be tohrment’s mate. Is it too much for a girl to ask? I could also give them some direction not that they need it at all but it would be fun.
PJ
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 9:28 pm:
Anna, I’ll bring the turtles!
I haven’t read Mary Stewart in years. She and Victoria Holt were my introduction to romance books and I glommed every book by them that I could get my hands on.
Anna Campbell
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 10:40 pm:
PJ, I remember that delicious thrill I used to get out of the Victoria Holts! I read every one too! Did you read the one where the heroine marries a German prince – was it Night of the Seventh Moon? Just lurved that one! I noticed they’re reissuing Mistress of Mellyn – be interesting to see how that goes. Hey, Stacy, mwah to you! Wasn’t the Bella breakfast fun?
Kati
on Dec 21st, 2008
@ 10:43 pm:
You know, I’m bound and determined to meet Lisa Kleypas at RWA this year. And I’m afraid I might have a little “moment” when I meet her. I hear that she’s the loveliest person ever, and I’m sure, given that she’s a Southern woman, she’ll forgive my scene. But I’m pretty sure there’s going to be one. Possibly a little squeak, and a hug for her from a strange woman.
Hey, those are the breaks, and the price of me being a fan.
Anna Campbell
on Dec 22nd, 2008
@ 1:03 am:
Kati, I think she’s used to it! What struck me was how incredibly gracious she was – a real credit to the industry!
Chicki Brown
on Dec 22nd, 2008
@ 7:35 am:
For me it would be J.R. Ward hands down. I’m fascinated with how that woman’s mind works!
Laura
on Dec 22nd, 2008
@ 8:49 am:
I would have to say Judith McNaught. She is the first romance author that I read. It was Something Wonderful. I was 17. I was hooked. I read it recently, and it still made me laugh and get angry too. It was just innocent enough for a first read for a teenager. I was so lucky that it was my first. It will always remain my favorite love story and closest to my heart. And a close second would be Johanna Lindsey. I have every single one of her romances. They are lined up in a tattered row on a book shelf in my home office. It’s funny, because anyone who walks in and sees them asks, “So, you like Johanna Lindsey, who is she?” I roll my eyes at my sister-in-law, Is she crazy? Who is Johanna Lindsey? She’s a classic. Do I read her today? Not so much, but she is fondly remembered as one of the first too.
katiebabs
on Dec 22nd, 2008
@ 12:31 pm:
I would also want to have lunch with Julie Garwood. Her historicals gave me such joy.
Karin
on Dec 22nd, 2008
@ 1:04 pm:
I am another of those who is sometimes sad at the end of a book. However, like the other re-readers, I enjoy going back and visiting with the characters again and again.
There are quite a few authors I’d like to meet, but the one who tops my list is Jill Shalvis. I love her writing and she has such a quirky sense of humor that is evident in her blog posts. She just seems like a person it would be great fun to be around. Of course, I’d have to ask her what kind of research she did for her firefighters series and which she had more fun doing, researching that series or researching her new book with a baseball player hero.
Elyssa Papa
on Dec 22nd, 2008
@ 3:53 pm:
J.K. Rowling, hands down. I want to meet J.K. Rowling and get a look at her office and all the notes she had on Harry Potter. I’d pick her brain about how she plots (because I so don’t) and gush endlessly about my love for the Harry Potter series.
For romance . . . Susan Elizabeth Phillips!!! Her writing was a huge influence on me in my own musings and imaginations as a writer—I love how she combines humor and angst.
Stargazer
on Dec 22nd, 2008
@ 6:19 pm:
There is a lot I would like to meet…but if I have to pick one.
Anne Rice, because Vampires are just way too cool.
Maria Lokken
on Dec 22nd, 2008
@ 6:34 pm:
Reading all the great authors listed here – I had a momentary imagining of having a ’speed-dating’ session with authors, where they’d all be sitting at various tables and we could visit with each one for 10 minutes. Now that would be cool.
kh
on Dec 23rd, 2008
@ 1:28 am:
leslie kelly
vicki thompson
shakesphere
Deborah
on Dec 27th, 2008
@ 9:05 pm:
I would love to share a bottle of wine (or two) with Lisa Jackson, Sandra Brown and Nora Roberts. I love-love-love suspense/thrillers and these three are fantastic. I would want to know why they chose to delve into such a dark and edgy genre and what makes their minds wander into some pretty scary situations. Nora Robert’s Divine Evil is suberb. It is one of my favorites.