Thirty inches of snow later, here I am at my desk, still trying to make up for worktime lost by snow removal. We did not lose power and I'm so grateful to the electricity god!

Saturday I did not work at all, except for an hour very early in the morning, so I had the chance to scrutinize M.J. Rose's writing. She has posted comments here a couple of times and has two blogs of her own. She writes thrillers, but, as she'd be the first to tell you, they're "intelligent thrillers," meaning that the characters and situations have a lot of psychological depth. I ordered Lip Service, her first book, from the library network. It was published in 1998, but she had self-published it prior to that. With a really successful marketing campaign (Rose had a career in the advertising biz), and good writing to support her claims, the book was picked up by a major publisher.

I was bowled over by the black-and-white photo on the cover; it's more than very suggestive. I think it's intended to be er*tic, but to me (and I swear I'm not a prude!), it borders on p*rn. (I'm starring syllables because I don't want the h*rnie
p*rn*rs to find my blog.)

At first I was concerned that it was going to be a trashy read, but after the first chapter, my fears had vanished and I was totally absorbed. I read until it was way past time for dinner and couldn't wait to get back to it. The characters are well-developed, the story is original and invoked my curiosity, the pacing is terrific, setting details are handled convincingly, and I found myself caring deeply for the protagonist. And it is hot! Rose can write s*x all right! Heartily recommended. It will warm up your toes on January nights.

I'm going on a deadline--actually three deadlines, so I can't provide the links at this moment. I will put them in during the day today.