March 19th, 2010
- The Heroine with a Herb Basket: She works in the kitchen to brew the herbal concoctions with which she heals the tenants! And the neighbors! And, of course, the noble, injured hero who just happens to get oh-so-nobly injured right in her neighborhood. The Herb Basket Heroine is frequently aided in her activities by…
- The Absent-Minded Father: He may be an historian or a scientist or maybe even a vicar, but I’ll guaran-double-damn-tee he’s distracted and managed by an ever-so-resourceful managing heroine daughter who, if she doesn’t have a herb basket, is a secret columnist or novelist. But, whatever she does, there’s a very good chance her hero will be suffering from…
- Napoleonic War Wounds: Be they of the mental or the physical variety, the noble hero laid low by Deep Dark Secrets of War which leave him Tortured and Wounded and ever so ready for those herbs. The hero’s secrets may or may not have something to do with his sideline as … Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cliches, romance novel
Posted in Books, Characters, Heroes, Heroines, Reading, Romance reading, Sandy AAR, Settings | 40 Comments »
March 18th, 2010
We are now in process of periodically updating the If You Like lists at AAR. Pollsters Lee Brewer and Cindy Smith have given me suggestions for updates to the lists as they appear now. We also would like to hear what our readers have to say. This week’s author writes contemporary romance in quite a different style than the historical author we profiled last. It’s Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Here are the authors we have as our recommendations for ones that you may enjoy if you like Susan Elizabeth Phillips:
Susan Andersen
Elizabeth Bevarly
Jennifer Crusie
Susan Donovan
Rachel Gibson
Jane Graves
Jennifer Greene
Christie Ridgway
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: If You Like... lists, susan elizabeth phillips
Posted in AAR Rachel, Authors, Reading, Romance reading | 16 Comments »
March 17th, 2010
Both historical and contemporary romances set in England abound, and there are plenty of Scottish romances (especially Scottish romances with the word “Highlander” in the title). In fact, our own listing of Scots and Irish romances is dominated by the Scotland-set books. However, when I started thinking of Irish romances for St. Patrick’s Day, I quickly realized that there weren’t nearly as many out there. Perhaps some of the sad events in Ireland’s history have something to do with this. This is a shame, because Ireland is a beautiful place with a rich history that is far from 100% tragic and I hope more authors will discover it. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite romances with some tie to Ireland:
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Candice F. Ransom, Diana Groe, Irish romance, Jacqueline Sheehan, Laura Kinsale, Laurel McKee, Meagan McKinney, Melody Thomas, Nora Roberts, St. Patrick's Day, Trish Wylie
Posted in Lynn AAR, Romance reading, Settings | 18 Comments »
March 15th, 2010
If, like me, you read a fair amount of Harlequin novels or you’ve ended up on the company’s mailing list, you’ve probably seen flyers in recent years touting Harlequin’s More than Words program and the annual anthology that goes with it. From the ad copy, I understood that Harlequin was putting out anthologies celebrating charitable work by women in their communities, but didn’t know much more than that. When I had a chance to chat about it via email with a publicist, I found out more and was very impressed by the work supported.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: charity, Contests
Posted in Contests, Lynn AAR | 21 Comments »
March 12th, 2010
One of the things romance readers share is the undeniable fact that we are all readers. And, as the dedicated readers we all are, we are passionate about the books we love.
And, in that passion, we want readers to embrace those books. Whether it’s because we’re seeking validation for our own tastes or – and I think this is the biggest motivator – we want others to experience the joy that we did when reading our favorite books, bringing others on board sometimes assumes monumental importance.
But here’s where I think a line gets crossed: Some readers are so zealous and outspoken that those who don’t share the love may feel as if they are somehow suffering from some character defect by not embracing what seems to be the Official Romance Land Approved Syllabus.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: romance books, romance novels
Posted in Books, Online, Romancelandia, Sandy AAR | 30 Comments »
March 10th, 2010
Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again…
From the first time I read Rebecca, these words have been pure magic to me. Though the people around her never even call her by name, this narrator ushers the reader into an unforgettable story. The brooding atmosphere, the slow revelation of horrible secrets, the gradual unveiling of layers of character – none of this would have been there were it not for this particular narrator. Readers get to know Maxim de Winter, Mrs. Danvers and the others through her eyes and it’s this aspect of the novel that really makes it work.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Amanda McIntyre, Daphne du Maurier, Helen Fielding, Karen Brichoux, Laura Caldwell, Mary Stewart, Narration, Victoria Holt
Posted in Lynn AAR, Reading | 24 Comments »
March 9th, 2010
Even if you’re a big fan of ebooks, you might not realize that March 7-13 is Read an Ebook Week. The first Read an Ebook Week was started in 2004 and the first Amazon Kindle didn’t come out until more than three years later. Read an Ebook Week may be an idea most of us are only now catching up with. I celebrated it by accident yesterday, starting by downloading Michael Palmer’s new medical thriller The Last Surgeon on my Nook.
This year, lots of ebook vendors are participating. The Ebook Store page lists participating vendors. While the list includes stores I had shopped at in the past (cough Ellora’s Cave cough), there are lots of stores I had heard of and always meant to check out. For example, Diesel eBooks, AllRomanceEbooks, and Kobo. And even a couple of stores I wish I had heard of. (Did you know that you can buy digital copies of 2000 AD comic books like Slaine, Strontium Dog, and Judge Dredd from DriveThruComics? And they have back issues of Fantasy Book, a magazine I could never find at newsstands? Why didn’t anyone tell me this before? And people who like that site might also love WarGameVault, which is offering free downloads of RPG stuff this week.) There was even a site specializing in Spanish and Catalan ebooks.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: ebooks, Read an Ebook Week
Posted in Anne Marble, E-books, Reading | 6 Comments »
March 8th, 2010
Our March new releases column is late. My workhorse of a laptop crashed and was off to the manufacturer for twelve days leaving me with no means of submitting a column. A bit frustrating – yes, but added to that aggravation was the fact that I was unable to sync my iPod and choose audiobooks from my own audio library. This is where technology sometimes gets the best of me as I repeatedly and unsuccessfully attempted to access my Audible files via iTunes on another computer. Grrrr.
There will now be three Speaking of Audiobooks columns in March. Next week March’s main column will be dedicated to Narrators and, during the last week of the month, we’ll take a look at April’s audiobook releases.
Two weeks ago, we discussed our favorite romance audiobooks and your recommendations were in depth, fun, informative and, I must say, outstanding! That combined effort will certainly be used in the future as a tool for newcomers to romance audiobooks or to this column as a whole. I’m sure those who have read the column have already benefitted from those many, many recommendations. Bravo!
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Audiobooks
Posted in Authors, Lea Hensley, audio books | 13 Comments »
March 5th, 2010
- If you’re going to call a book The Billionaire’s Virgin Stable Girl because you know it will sell, then accept responsibility for a sizeble chunk of the scorn heaped on romance and readers who love it.
- And the same goes for cheesy covers.
- Leave it to Beaver is s-o-o-o-o over. We had some excellent suggestions about what to call faux-temporaries and I think Mayberry Romances really fits the bill. If a book features Grams and PawPa and a 50 year-old mom who spends her leisure time in the sewing circle with Aunt Bea, kick it back. Please.
- The whole destined lovers thing in paranormal romances is really getting old. Seriously. Old as dirt. Okay, so J.R. Ward gets a pass because…well, because she’s J.R. Ward, but genetic destiny does not excuse alpha-creatures leveling a heroine’s objections with a thrust of his massive supernatural dick.
- Meredith Duran, Sherry Thomas, Elizabeth Hoyt, Gail Carriger, Lavinia Kent: May we have more, please? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Authors, Books, Characters, E-books, Publishing, Romance, Sandy AAR, Settings | 45 Comments »
March 4th, 2010
Monogamy, polygamy, bigamy – these are all terms that have always been on my radar. The -gamy suffix comes from the Greek for “marriage.” I had never heard of hypergamy, though, until a month or so ago when I started to browse sites written by men about the modern dating scene. Basically hypergamy is marrying up – in status, wealth, prestige. Pick-up artists insist that women are innately hypergamous, that in terms of evolutionary psychology, many women will fight over one alpha male, often accepting fleeting or polygamous relationships rather than mate with men they deem less impressive. Marriage as a social institution evolved in order to more fairly assign mates, increase population, and protect and raise progeny to adulthood – or so goes the theory.
My first reaction was to scoff. After all, I know lots of married people and most [actually none of them] are not married to alphas. So where is all the alpha scrambling? The scuffles between women?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: hypergamy
Posted in AAR Rachel, Romance reading | 18 Comments »
