Posts Tagged ‘Nora Roberts’
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013
See, I knew that signing up for this blog would cause me a headache. How are you supposed to choose the top ten romances that rock your world? How? How? (At the back of my mind I have the Baha Men singing along, except it’s “How do you choose now? How, how, how, how?” Great. Hence the headache.)
Anyway, I figured the only way I can keep sane is a) recognize that I won’t hit them all, and b) acknowledge that if I am actually stuck on a desert island with only ten romance novels, I’d go crazy anyway, no matter what I chose. (Unless I chose, like, the Koran, Paradise Lost, and Journey to the West. Then maybe I’d not go all loopy.)
I decided that what I’d probably crave the most is variety, a little bit of every genre to suit every mood. It actually turned out to be relatively easy once I’d decided on this, looked at my Top 100 list, scanned my shelves, and sliced through the different categories. I’m happy with my choices – they’re all different in setting, subgenre, writing style, and character. I’ve also read each of them at least twice – I’m a serial re-reader, so I know when something works for me, when it doesn’t, and (most of important of all) when it stands up to the test of time. (more…)
Tags: All About Romance, Georgette Heyer, jennifer crusie, Jo Goodman, Joanna Bourne, Katie Fforde, Mary Stewart, meredith duran, Nora Roberts, sharon and tom curtis, Thea Harrison, Top Ten lists, top ten romance novels
Posted in All About Romance, Jean AAR, Romance reading, Uncategorized | 16 Comments »
Tuesday, January 8th, 2013
It looks like 2013 will be one of the best years yet for historical romance listening with many popular print books finally scheduled for audio release.
Julie Garwood
It starts this month with the release of Julie Garwood’s The Secret, a book that has made every AAR Top 100 Romances Poll since it started in 1998. It’s classic Julie Garwood and one many recall from their early days of romance reading with its original 1992 publication date. And it is being narrated by one of my favorites for historical romance – Susan Duerden.
Brilliance has scheduled the majority of Garwood’s backlist (that is not already in audio format) for release in 2013. A month ago, we saw the release of Prince Charming (Rosalyn Landor) with projected release dates for: (more…)
Tags: All About Romance, Audiobooks, Elizabeth Hoyt, Julie Garwood, Karen Marie Moning, Laura Kinsale, loretta chase, Nora Roberts, Pamela Clare, robyn carr, speaking of audiobooks, Thea Harrison
Posted in audio books, Book news, Lea Hensley, Uncategorized | 26 Comments »
Wednesday, September 26th, 2012
While many of you are aware of “copywriting boobos”, I tend to be more aware of descriptive information. I want it to seep into my subconscious setting the scene, showing me the action but not be a part of the story. I think of adjectives and adverbs as the structure or foundation of a novel. You know that it there and it makes an impression but it doesn’t scream out at you.
I am not saying that stark and unadorned writing doesn’t have its place, but adjectives and adverbs are wonderful things when used correctly. They take you from, “See Leigh run,” to “See exhausted but unwavering Leigh stagger wheezily to the finish line.” They change a simple black and white thought by adding vibrant color to it(albeit sometimes purple color), and crafting an image that comes alive in our mind. And having stories come alive is of critical importance.
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Tags: All About Romance, Elmore Leonard, Nora Roberts, purple prose, writing styles
Posted in Books, Leigh AAR, writing | 36 Comments »
Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
A report was just released that revealed that in Washington, DC, the childhood poverty rate is higher than that of Mexico. In Washington, DC, my former home and our nation’s capital, more than 30% of children are growing up in impoverished families. Thirty percent.
This is not meant to be a political blog (though how sad is it that just stating childhood poverty rates can become a political debate?). Rather, I present this information as a reality that many of us don’t want to face: some Americans are poor. But reading romance novels – particularly contemporary ones — won’t let you in on that fact.
I’m not talking just the richest of the rich that are far too common in romance novels — the Roarkes, the movie stars, the billionaire bosses — but also the extremely healthy upper-middle-class that it seems almost everyone in romance novels belongs to. No one is living paycheck to paycheck. No one is working two jobs to make ends meet. No one has eschewed vacations in favor of paying school loans.
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Tags: All About Romance, finances, Julie James, Nora Roberts
Posted in Jane AAR, Romance reading | 40 Comments »
Thursday, March 15th, 2012
Maybe it’s the brogue. Or the green eyes so many of them seem to have. Perhaps it is the passionate, artistic nature. The Irish, after all, are credited with being great poets and musicians. It could be the magic – the Island is equated with all manner of faeries and myths. Perhaps it is their imports- men who look like Colin Farell, Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan all have the look of a good romance rogue. Whatever it is, there is nothing quite like an Irish hero, is there? With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, I felt it was time to pay tribute to lads of the Emerald Isle. Here are my favorites, in no particular order:
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Tags: All About Romance, Erin Quinn, Irish heroes, Karen Marie Moning, Laura Kinsale, Meagan McKinney, Nora Roberts
Posted in Heroes, Maggie AAR | 21 Comments »
Thursday, September 15th, 2011
Reading Maggie’s blog about the unique backgrounds of individuals now writing romance novels caused me to think about writing as a career and how some authors are able to make a success of it for years and even decades, while others fall off the map. Think of all the authors that you loved who no longer have a current contract. (The ease of self- publishing eBooks has given me hope that they will be back.) Some are able to carve out a very comfortable and in a few cases, even wealthy, lifestyle, but then there are many others who have to keep their day jobs. Ability, commitment, hard work, and a bit of luck all have a hand in an author’s longevity. And I think one other element helps authors as well: a perception or aptitude to keep their books unique but familiar.
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Tags: All About Romance, Jayne Ann Krentz, Judith Krantz, Kathleen Gilles Seidel, linda howard, Nalini Singh, Nora Roberts, susan elizabeth phillips, Susanne Brockmann
Posted in Authors, Leigh AAR | 23 Comments »
Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
Sometimes I take away more from a beloved romance novel than the love story, or fond memories of the hero and heroine. Sometimes other aspects of the book not only stick with me, they actually influence my life.
Art glass is something I never thought about, let alone collected, until I read one of my favorite romances of all time, Nora Roberts’ Born in Fire.
The heroine Maggie Concannon is a glass artist. Her work comes to the attention of wealthy gallery owner Rogan Sweeney. He wants to show her work in one of his galleries, and when she fails to respond to his inquiries, he goes in search of her in her rural home. Rogan first encounters Maggie – mid work – in her small studio behind her home. She barks at him to close the door, and then immediately turns back to her art:
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Tags: art glass, loretta chase, Nora Roberts
Posted in LinnieGayl AAR, Reading, Romance reading | 13 Comments »
Monday, August 15th, 2011
I know that for the readers that just love holding the actual paper book in their hands, it is going to take a lot to convince them to change to eBooks. But this week, a recurring dilemma of mine brought home one reason I love them.
An AAR reader mentioned wanting to read an out of print book, but the least expensive copy available is selling for $40.00. As I read the message board post, I realized that I had read the book. (more…)
Tags: All About Romance, decluttering, ebooks, Georgette Heyer, Nora Roberts
Posted in E-books, Leigh AAR, Reading | 36 Comments »
Thursday, June 23rd, 2011
While I am in no way an expert on the male psyche, I do have brothers and I worked in a male dominated profession for over ten years so I have had plenty of exposure to their logic, conversation, and ways of interacting with each other. After reading a book with very authentic male dialogue, I then read a passage in another book, where a male character tells a friend that his wife is his life. Now don’t get me wrong, because honestly that is a lovely sentiment. But none of the men that I have been around would say that about their wife to me or any of their other friends in normal day to day conversation. That statement just seems like a crying in my beer, she left me country song.
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Tags: All About Romance, Deidre Martin, Emily Carmichael, Heroes, Nora Roberts, Rachel Gibson, Shannon Stacey, Sue Moorcroft
Posted in Heroes, Leigh AAR | 27 Comments »
Monday, April 25th, 2011
Series romances with contemporary settings appear to be going strong. Harlequin releases plenty of them every month and readers (including me) eagerly snatch them up. However, single title contemporaries are a little harder to find. Anyone who reads romance sites and blogs or who spends any time at all following romance readers on Twitter has seen plenty of moaning about the dearth of single title contemporaries. I started to wonder why this is, and that in turn has made me wonder if contemporaries might not be a more narrowly defined subgenre than one might think at first glance.
At first glance, the contemporary landscape appears wide open. The choice of settings is almost endless and so too the choice of character types. After all, a book can feature cowboys in Texas, a shop owner in Paris, or archeologists in the Middle East and so long as it’s set in the here and now, we can call it contemporary. The possibilities for the imagination at this point almost boggle the mind. Then comes the plotting – and that’s where things get sticky.
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Tags: All About Romance, contemporary romance, jennifer crusie, Julie James, Kristan Higgins, Nora Roberts, Susan Wiggs
Posted in Lynn AAR, Romance reading, Settings | 15 Comments »
