Comments on: Romance Rant (Volume XXXVI)

By: New Beginnings

New Beginnings — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:07:53 +0000

[...] 2011 was the year of slow reading. I read 47 novels last year, down from 152 last year. Only 19 were romance, and the vast majority of those were published by Harlequin. I read 5 romances published by the so-called Big Six New York publishers. One reason I read so few books is down to a lack of time. 2011 was crazy busy, and I invested most of my spare time on my writing, or writing. Another reason is my lack of satisfaction with the variety of settings and tropes on offer from the traditional publishers. Either I’m bang out of luck in that what’s popular at the moment doesn’t appeal to me, or publishers are playing it safe and not publishing the sort of envelope-pushing romances I miss from the Nineties and early 2000s. For more on this topic, Sandy at All About Romance has a great blog post entitled Romance Rant (Volume XXXVI). [...]

By: Denise

Denise — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:05:01 +0000

I like Regencies–the problem for me, I think, is the “young miss” trope that seems to have a stranglehold on the genre. I would bet that not many readers of Regencies are “young misses” themselves and want to see someone more like them to identify with. I remember my surprise when I found Judith Lansdowne’s books; several of them featured an older woman as the heroine. And I also enjoyed Elizabeth Mansfield’s books because she often broke with the “young miss” formula (I see that Nook and Kindle are now carrying “Miscalculations” and “Mother’s Choice”). Sheri Cobb South–ditto. One of her heroes was a mill owner.

And then there was Carola Dunn’s series featuring Jewish heroes and heroines. Oh, and there was that wonderful Nina Abrams series, too (at least one featuring an older hero based on one of the Rothschilds).

I break away to mysteries now and then–I’ve been enjoying Imogene Robertson’s books.

By: Anne

Anne — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:01:49 +0000

When I reach a reading slump (which I’m in now) and nothing romance seems to satisfy, I turn to my first before discovering romance love, mystery. Over the years through recommendations from friends online and in person, I’ve found some marvelous stories from authors such a Chris Grabenstein, Marshall Karp, R.D. Wingfield, Kate Ellis, David Rosenfelt, Alison Bruce, KJ Erickson and Archer Mayor to mention just a few. In fact, I’ve enjoyed the Grabenstein and Karp characters so much that even though I know how the mystery ends, the entire series of both authors are on my list of books to reread when the dreaded slump beckons. If mystery appeals, I’d suggest heading the the stopyourkillingme.com site and check out the What we’re reading now section. It gives a short summary of books they’ve read going back several years.

By: Carla Kelly

Carla Kelly — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:22:05 +0000

I like to write stuff besides Regencies. It does get tiresome, after all, not only for readers, but for writers, too. I have high hopes for an idea of mine set in the Royal Colony of New Mexico in 1780. We’ll see if a publisher agrees.

For fun reading, I just discovered Steve Havill, who writes crime fiction set in far-south New Mexico of today. He’s a talented writer. I do enjoy crime fiction; it’s my escape reading.

And for great history, Erik Larson hit it outof the park with The Devil in the White City, and In the Garden of the Beasts.

By: Michele

Michele — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:59:19 +0000

I hear your pain and I think the answer is to branch out to the smaller e publishers like, for example, Samhain. I’m delighted with the terrific stories I’m finding. Thats where you find the good books with stories the NY publishers won’t take a chance on.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 19:24:14 +0000

I know you’re inundated with suggestions, but I also want to add my voice to the ‘swap genres” group. Try some sci-fi rom, such as anything by Linnea Sinclair, “Contact” by Susan Grant, or Jayne Ann Krentz’ early sci-fi books: “Sweet Starfire,” “Crystal Flame” and “Shield’s Lady.”

I also recommend anything by Bujold, especially the “Sharing Knife” series and “Curse of Chalion.” I loved “Shards of Honor” as well. All these books are made even better by great narrators if you chose to go the audio route.

“Song of Scarabaeus” By Sara Creasy is a really excellent sci-fi with some romance. As are “The Outback Stars” by Sandra McDonald and “Endless Blue” by Wen Spencer. All of these have superior writing.

By: PatH AAR

PatH AAR — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 06:59:43 +0000

After bottoming out on Regencies (another Miss excited about the upcoming Season and I wanted to hit myself over the head!), I switched to Western America (both contemporary and historical) and Amish / Inspirational romances. Both subgenres were new to me, so I’m not expecting anything. So perhaps a change in subgenre (with some really good reading choices above) might help.

Good luck! May the force be with you, Sandy!

By: Renee

Renee — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 04:30:41 +0000

Sandy, I don’t know how you feel about audiobooks but when I hit a reading slump, I listen to an old “print” fave in audio and that seems to get me over the hump.

By: lori

lori — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:55:34 +0000

I tried m/m romance, and am loving the difference in the dynamics of the relationships. I tend to prefer the stories that involve a mystery as well, so authors like Josh Lanyon or Tamara Allen, or paranormal by Jordan Castillo Price, or just romance by Tere Michaels or Marie Sexton, historical by Charlie Cochrane.
Love the ebooks!

By: JoAnn

JoAnn — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:18:49 +0000

If you haven’t already….check out some of the old romance novels by Candice Proctor (who writes the Sebastian St. Cyr series as CS Harris). These books are really well done and not your typical historical romance novels (especially the settings: Australia, New Orleans, Colorado). While they are no longer in print most are available on Kindle or try your interloan library service.