Must Buy Authors by J Monkeys

Hiddey Ho Scribblers!  J Monkeys here.  This past week or two, I have “discovered” a couple of new “Must Buy” authors.  These are authors who’s work I LOVE and will buy and devour the moment it becomes available.  I thought I’d share ’em with ya.

Now I’ve known Sugar Jamison for a while…obviously – she’s been our Monday Scribe since we started!  I read Dangerous Curves Ahead this summer and loved it.  But for me, it takes more than one book to be a “Must Buy” author.  Last week I read her new novella, Have Yourself a Curvy Little Christmasand I LOVED it!  Somehow, Sugar took a very unlikeable character from the first book and made her into a heroine!  There were so many things that I liked about this story – I don’t want to spoil it for you, so I won’t tell you what they were, but trust me.  If you’ve got a spare $1.99 laying around and a Kindle app, do yourself a favor and read it!  In fact, you should probably write Dangerous Curves Ahead first to fully appreciate the wonder of Have Yourself a Curvy Little Christmas.

Last week, I also read a book I picked up at the RWA National Conference last summer – Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare.  I’ve read one or two of her books before, but this is the one that grabbed me.  When I have some space in my TBR shelves (I brought home more than 80 books from RWA and I’ve got another 50 from my local library sale in June) I’ll be looking for Ms. Dare’s back list.  I don’t mine telling you that I’ve read so much regency romance at this point, that if it wasn’t written by Julia Quinn, I usually can’t get into it.  But Tessa Dare has just edged her way into my heart.

Now, Scribblers, you know that I write kids books.  I read a lot of kids books too.  The 39 Clues series is still going strong.  The first 10 or 11 books wrapped up a year or more ago.  They then came out with the sequel series, Cahills vs Vespers. It looks like that story wrapped up with book 6.  Yesterday, I bought Nowhere to Run, book one in The 39 Clues Unstoppable series.  Our heroes, Amy and Dan, are back with even more Cahill trouble.  I’m about 1/2 way through it.  It’s a very enjoyable read.  If you’ve got 3-5th graders out there, as well as older kids, especially boys, they might like this fast paced, action packed adventure series.  They travel the world, so there’s some geography in it and a nice message about not carrying on the feuds of your ancestors.

Another series for kids that I really like is the Infinity Ring series.  There are 4 books out in it right now.  It’s similar to The 39 Clues in that the books are written by a variety of authors but tell the story of a trio of Tweenage time traveling heroes, working to write historical events set awry by a shadowy company of baddies.  I like the history in these – it’s a nice sneeky way to get it in.  And they come with an online game that is fun, but not so hard that I couldn’t figure it out.  

Today’s secret: By the way, Julia Quinn’s next book is out next week!  I can’t wait.  The teaser on her website cut off at an inopportune time…I’m sure on purpose!

Who are your Must Buy authors?  For me, at this point it’s just these that I’ve mentioned here and Lynn Kurland.