Friday, September 7, 2012

Author Serendipity #6: Lynn Kurland

 
 
Welcome to this installment
of my new book meme!



The purpose of this new feature is to highlight those authors I have recently discovered, and whose books I would love to read. Such discoveries might come about through browsing on the Internet (on Goodreads, Shelfari, or Amazon), a chance encounter with an interesting book in a bookstore,
or through other bloggers' recommendations.
 
The authors I choose will be those who write in my favorite genres, and might be either emerging authors, or have been in print for a while.
They will, however, be entirely new to me.


Here's my most recent
discovery!


 
Lynn Kurland
 
This best-selling American author has written several romance novels which combine romance with historical elements, time travel, or fantasy.
 
She first came to my attention when I discovered one of her books, Star of the Morning, which I recently featured in a Shelf Candy Saturday post because of its beautiful cover.
 
She grew up in Hawaii, then moved to the mainland, where she attended high school and college, becoming trained as a classical musician.  She plays the cello as well as the piano.
 

Her first novel, Stardust of Yesterday, appeared on the literary scene in 1996, winning two RITA awards.  It was reprinted in 2001.
 
Kurland's novels have made the New York Times Bestseller List, USA Bestseller List, The New York Times Extended Bestseller List, the Amazon Top 100,  the Barnes and Noble, Waldenbooks, and B. Dalton Bestseller lists.  She has also won numerous awards, including three RITA awards and the 1999 PEARL award for Best Time Travel.  The novel that won her this award is titled The More I See You.
 
Kurland's novels center around three families: the Macleods, the McKinnon, and the de Piagets.  Her characters 'travel' from one book to the next, creating a continuity of narrative that has won her many fans.  Each of these families has its own series. 
 
She's also written a fantasy series titled Nine Kingdoms, the first of which is Star of the Morning.  Although I have not read this book in its entirety, I love the synopsis.  I've also skimmed part of it, and know that, when I begin reading it, I won't be able to stop!
 
 
These are some of
Lynn Kurland's books!
 
 
 
 
(Macleod #1)
Lynn Kurland
Mass Market Paperback, 356 pages
Berkley
October 1, 2000
 
 
 
(Nine Kingdoms #2)
Lynn Kurland
Trade Paperback, 384 pages
Berkley Trade
January 2, 2008 
 
 
 
 
(Macleod #8)
Lynn Kurland
Paperback, 432 pages
Berkley
September 2, 2003
 
 
 
 
(Nine Kingdoms: Ruith & Sarah #1)
Lynn Kurland
Trade Paperback, 368 pages
Berkley Trade
January 5, 2010
 
 
 
 
(Nine Kingdoms: Ruith & Sarah #2)
Lynn Kurland
Trade Paperback, 368 pages
Berkley Trade
January 4, 2011
 
 

 
 
(Nine Kingdoms: Ruith & Sarah #3)
Lynn Kurland
Trade Paperback, 310 pages
Berkley Trade
January 3, 2012
 
 
 
General Review of
Lynn Kurland's Books
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lynn Kurland Online
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

4 comments:

  1. hola amiga! creo que esto es una gran idea. gracias y que tengas un buen fin de semana.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hola, Ao!

    Me alegro que te haya gustado la idea! Voy a tratar de hacer este tipo de articulo mas a menudo.

    De nada, y gracias por tu comentario! Te deseo un buen fin de semana a ti tambien!! : )

    I'm glad you've liked this idea! I'm going to try to do this type of article more often.

    You're welcome, and thanks for the comment! Hope you have a good weekend, too!! : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your posts are so interesting Maria! They cover fascinating books and you always show an intelligent enthusiasm about the literature in question.

    A series of books, or in this case a series of series of books, involving an intricate fantasy world with a host of characters sounds irresistibly interesting and fun to explore.

    However, I have never been a fan of romance stories. I must admit that the mix of these two genres, so very prevalent in recent years, is a very creative development.

    I took a quick look at some of Kurland's books online. I could be mistaken but I think that this series might be very appealing to someone interested in the fantasy genre but who otherwise would shy away from romance books.

    I totally understand that writers and publishes must label such books into the category of fantasy romance as there exists a market that look for this category and thus buy and enjoy the books. I do think that the label "romance" might put off certain readers who might otherwise enjoy such books.

    Due to the marketing necessities that I noted, I am in no way criticizing authors and publishes for such labeling. In fact, perhaps some fans of the fantasy genre might find certain of the "romance" aspects of these books more appealing then expected, if the story and characters are well crafted. I am only saying that readers should be careful not to be too quick to judge a book by its label!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, Brian!

    Thank you!! You always have such wonderful, supportive statements to make on my posts!! I greatly appreciate that!!

    It is a fact that most guys are just not into the romance genre. It's simply not the type of reading that men normally gravtitate toward. To a woman, romance is such an important thing!! I do enjoy reading other genres, like SF and 'regular' fantasy, but romance will always remain a favorite, as well!

    The combination of romance with other genres is a recent phenomenon, if I'm not mistaken. As a romance fan, I'm thrilled about this, because I do enjoy those other genres, too.

    I've been wanting to start on George R.R. Martin's "Game of Thrones" series. He's been labeled "the American Tolkien", so that makes me VERY anxious to read his books!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Tolkien!!!!

    I hope you do try out one of Kurland's novels, and see how you like it. I own "Star of the Morning", so that will be the first Kurland book I'll read.

    Thank you so much for your very insightful comment!! : )

    ReplyDelete

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