A Little Desert Apartment

Favorite...and not so favorite...Themes

I love books set in the South! Movies too. So to get to spend as much time there as possible I decided to write a series set in the South. Hot and Bothered (4/08) and Hot and Irresistible (11/09).

Are there some book themes that are auto buys for you? A topic that no matter who writes it or how crappie the cover you think ah-ha, it’s one of those and I have to have it now! And you start reading it while you’re still in the store.

I’m a sucker for love and laughter especially mixed with suspense. I’m okay with love and laughter on i’s own as long as it doesn’t drift into characters being stupid to get a laugh. Hate, hate, hate stupid character. They’re supposed to be heroes and heroines for Pete’s sake! Stupid doesn’t work.

And suspense by itself doesn’t work for me. So often it drifts into the gruesome or morbid or dark and I hate all those things. But I love a good mystery. So, if you put the two together it’s an auto buy for me.

And I love, love, love cowboy themes and Southern themes. Not always an auto buy but sure makes me look twice. ‘Course if there’s humor involved then it’s an auto buy and if there’s humor and suspense and in the South, well dang, girl!

And that brings us to what themes you won’t read no matter how many of your friends insist this is the best read ever! I cannot read horror no matter who writes it. Scares me to death, can’t sleep, double lock all the doors. After reading In Cold Blood I put heavy furniture in front of the back door for weeks! My husband and kids thought I was nuts...that’s because they didn’t read In Cold Blood!

And I can’t do vampires. I know, I know...there are lots of vamps out there that are humorous and have mystery but the neck biting thing just grosses me out no matter how gorgeous the neck-bitter is.

So, chickies, the question is... What is your fav theme that you auto buy and what is the one theme that makes you squirm when you just think about it?


Thanks for playing!



USA Today best selling author Dianne Castell writes for Kensington BRAVA. She also writes a monthly editor interview column for Romance Writers Report. Her books have won Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, been on the cover of Romantic Times Magazine and included in Rhapsody Book Club, Doubleday Book Club and have made the Waldenbooks Bestseller list.

The second book in her Savannah Sizzles series for the BRAVA line, Hot and Irresistible, hits the shelves Nov‘09. Hot Summer Nights is out May ’10.
Dianne lives in Cincinnati with her two cats and will do just about anything to get out of housework.

You can visit her website at www.DianneCastell.com.