Archive for the ‘Characters’ Category
Friday, September 14th, 2012
My very first romance novel was Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe, an old Harlequin Presents title. It starred a naïve British girl and an arrogant Argentinian cattle rancher. She had come to Argentina for a dancing job and instead found herself facing the possibility of working at a less savory profession. He had to be married in the next three days in order to inherit some land. The two make a bargain to marry without love but at some point – well, I’m sure you know what happens from there.
So it’s no exaggeration to say that romances with Hispanic characters have always been a part of my reading, even if some were drawn in somewhat stereotypical fashion. For many years Harlequin was my primary source. Along with novels by Kay Thorpe there were literally dozens of others published every year by authors like Anne Mather, Kim Lawrence, and Lynne Graham. As I began reading single titles, these characters stayed with me. From older books like Judith McNaught’s Tender Triumph to newer books like Regina Jennings’ Sixty Acres and a Bride, I’ve been able to enjoy excellent novels that celebrate the diverse cultures that make up the Latin American world.
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Tags: All About Romance, Caridad Piñeiro, Carla Kelly, Jill Sorenson, Kay Thorpe, melting pot challenge, Tracy Montoya
Posted in Characters, Maggie AAR, Romance reading | 16 Comments »
Thursday, September 6th, 2012
In her recent review of A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare, Sarah of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, mentioned something that caught my attention. A certain group of supporting characters who arrive in the heroine’s village, early in the novel, were seen by Sarah as being “a carriage full of sequel-bait…[not] so much individual as they are at times like an assembly of future characters and convenient plot devices.” This jumped out at me, because I have felt this sentiment before, reading various books by various authors.
For me, the carriage full of characters in A Lady by Midnight worked, and I personally did not feel that they were sequel-bait. (Incidentally, in a Goodreads chat to celebrate the book’s release, Dare mentioned that there are only two other planned stories in this series, a novella and a novel, neither of which will be about any of the carriage characters… Although Dare did not rule out the possibility of revisiting one of the characters at a much later date.) But I don’t mean this as a critique of either Sarah or Dare. Rather, this is just a recent example of a phenomenon that I have been experiencing myself – the expectation of sequels. In this case, I happened to read Sarah’s review just after reading Dare’s comment that she did not intend to write books for these new characters, and it got me thinking.
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Posted in Authors, Books, Characters, Elizabeth AAR, Heroes, Heroines, Relationships | 22 Comments »
Monday, August 27th, 2012
I’ll admit it’s not easy staying in shape, and at times I seem to be fighting a losing battle. In the middle of the winter, curling up with a good book is much more appealing than going out for a long walk on a sub-zero day. But on most days I do try. In nice weather I go for a lot of walks; in colder or rainy weather I’ll return to the treadmills in the fitness center where I live. I attend yoga classes off-and-on, or do some yoga at home, to work on my balance and flexibility. And I even have a few free weights to do some strength training. Perhaps it’s my own efforts in this regard, but lately I’ve been longing to read about contemporary romance heroines who squeeze in a bit of exercise into their lives.
I’m specifically interested in contemporary romance heroines, because, let’s face, it, reading that a Regency era heroine has a fitness room or that she regularly hikes up her skirts and jogs just wouldn’t be appropriate. And most paranormal or urban fantasy heroines either seem to regularly stay in shape to survive, or have very specific natural abilities and powers that endow them with extra strength and speed. But what about your average contemporary romance heroine? And by average, I mean a non-athlete heroine who manages to fit in a bit of exercising into her regular routine.
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Tags: exercise, heroines, Romance
Posted in Books, Characters, Heroines, Life, LinnieGayl AAR, Romance | 35 Comments »
Friday, August 24th, 2012
They can be of the hysterically funny variety or they can drive you nuts. Yep, I’m talking about copyediting errors.
Poor Susan Andersen. Earlier this year in the pages of her reprinted book Baby, I’m Yours, there was this doozy:
“He stiffened for a moment but then she felt his muscles loosen as he shitted on the ground.”
Ummm, that’s supposed to be shifted.
The author handled it very well, posting on Facebook and everywhere she could to reach out to readers and let them know about this unintentional error. But, honestly, I had a good laugh – and, hopefully, the author did too. Eventually.
More common are the sloppy errors that let you know that a book wasn’t copyedited at all or, on the other hand, was copyedited by an idiot. Either way, it’s irritating as hell.
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Tags: copyediting errors
Posted in Authors, Books, Books with Buzz, Characters, Reading, Sandy AAR, writing | 51 Comments »
Friday, August 17th, 2012
When I first began reading romance, India was a popular setting for books. A lot of the books had to do with English characters of the British Raj falling in love, such as Mary Putney’s excellent Veils of Silk. Others were sweeping historical sagas detailing the occupation of India like The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye. The descriptions of the lush, hot land beguiled me as a reader. I became an armchair traveler, visiting exotic temples, cool palaces filled with tinkling fountains and of course, devouring information on the Kama Sutra.
When the Regency domination of historicals began, exotic books were dropped in favor of glittering ballrooms. India became a casualty of the Napoleonic Wars. And perhaps evolving attitudes toward colonialism have made the British Raj look a little less romantic as well. (more…)
Tags: All About Romance, India, Indian fiction, melting pot challenge
Posted in Characters, Maggie AAR, Reading, Settings | 34 Comments »
Friday, August 10th, 2012
I love romance novels, I really do. But, like many AAR readers, I also read other genres, and my other primary reading love is mysteries. I read both contemporary and historical mysteries, serious and light mysteries, cozies and police procedurals. My primary requirements for mysteries are that they be character driven, with minimal graphic details. I’ve read and enjoyed many mysteries, and mystery series, without a touch of romance for the main character, but my preference is that there be a satisfying romance for the main character. The kiss of death for me is when the main character’s significant other is killed off.
Nearly a year ago I wrote here about some of my favorite “recent” mystery finds, including books by Tasha Alexander, Deborah Crombie, Rhys Bowen, and Erin Hart. I’ve read a lot of mysteries since then. Some have a strong romantic component, while others have none, but my favorites all have interesting main characters. Following are a few of my favorite recent finds.
Several AAR readers suggested that I might like Anne Perry’s Victorian mysteries featuring policeman Thomas Pitt and his wife Charlotte. I decided to try the first in the series, The Cater Street Hangman, in audio and was hooked. Ms. Perry does a wonderful job giving the reader a feel for the time. While I listen to a lot of mysteries, I was completely stumped as to the identity of the villain, making many wrong guesses along the way. This is a long series and I’m pacing myself. So far I’ve read the first three, and am getting ready to download the fourth. Thanks to all of you who recommended this series to me; it’s wonderful! I can’t wait to see what happens in future books to Thomas and Charlotte, as well as to other members of Charlotte’s family. How will Charlotte deal with her reduced financial circumstances? Will she continue to investigate cases? I look forward to finding out.
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Posted in Authors, Books, Characters, LinnieGayl AAR, Reading | 67 Comments »
Tuesday, July 24th, 2012
I have never read a book by Tana French and the first time I saw her name was in the Eagerly Awaited August Books where both Dabney and Lynn indicate that they are looking forward to her new release Broken Harbor. Then while surfing the Web, I came across her name again. She wrote an article for Publishers Weekly outlining her writing tips.
A few of them didn’t resonate, but this one did:
There’s no such thing as ‘men’ or ‘women’. There’s only the individual character you’re writing. One guy emailed me asking me how to write women, and I couldn’t answer, because I had no idea which woman he meant: me? Eleanor of Aquitaine? Lady Gaga? If you’re thinking of ‘men’ or ‘women’ as a monolithic group defined primarily by their sex, then you’re not thinking of them as individuals; so your character isn’t going to come out as an individual, but as a collection of stereotypes. Sure, there are differences between men and women on average – but you’re writing an individual, not an average. If your individual character is chatty on the phone or refuses to ask for directions, that needs to be because of who he or she is, not because of what he or she is. Write the person, not the genitalia.
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Tags: diversity, tana french
Posted in Authors, Books, Characters, Heroes, Heroines, Leigh AAR, Reading, Romance reading, Settings | 7 Comments »
Thursday, July 19th, 2012
When I wrote my post for the TBR Challenge yesterday, one of our commenters brought up a good point – it’s hard to find a gothic where the heroine isn’t a doormat. Nowadays, gothics are pretty hard to find anyway but even in their heyday, they seemed to have more than their fair share of childlike, frequently fainting heroines. Growing up, I remember my mom loved gothics and while I enjoyed some of the old books she picked up at library sales, there were definitely some helpless idiot heroines out there. And while The Jade Pagoda, the book I read for TBR Challenge yesterday, didn’t feature a completely spineless heroine, it still isn’t one I’d put on a list of recommendations.
After seeing the request for good gothic suggestions, Barbara Michaels immediately came to mind. Though better known today for her Amelia Peabody books written as Elizabeth Peters, under the Michaels name she has written a number of novels full of creepy Gothic goodness. (more…)
Tags: All About Romance, Barbara Michaels, Catherine Gaskin, gothics, Mary Stewart, Susanna Kearsley, Tiffany Reisz
Posted in Heroines, Lynn AAR, Romance reading | 25 Comments »
Wednesday, July 11th, 2012
Last week we featured a sneak peek at 2012 debut authors. This time, I’m taking an early look at Chick Lit and Women’s Fiction for 2012, a category that at times has been a bit of a problem in the Annual Reader Poll at AAR. Some years we pollsters wonder if we’ll have enough votes for any single title to declare a winner. This wasn’t the case in the 2012 AAR Reader’s Poll for books published in 2011, when Jill Mansell’s To the Moon and Back was the winner in the category. A number of 2011 books captured readers’ attention and received quite a few votes in the category.
But in other years we’ve had more problems. First, a lot of AAR readers avoid both genres and leave the category blank on their ballot. Now this isn’t a problem for the readers; I tend to have a number of blank categories on my ballot each year as well (Biggest Tearjerker, Best Love Scenes, Best Romantica/Erotica to name just a few).
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Tags: Books, chick lit, women's fiction
Posted in Books, Characters, Heroines, LinnieGayl AAR, Polls, Reading, Relationships, Settings | 16 Comments »
Friday, July 6th, 2012
I consider myself a reader who enjoys a wide variety of books. In terms of historical periods, I enjoy everything from the Roman Empire to WWII, and I now read a lot of Inspirational Historicals. In fact, the main reason I began reading Inspirationals was for the wider selection of historical periods. I also read a variety of sub-genres and genres. I look for books set in a wide range of locations. Then this past month Dear Author posted a blog which inspired this post on the potpourri board. The post had me wondering about the diversity of my reading in a whole other area.
How many romances do I read that involve characters of varying ethnicities who are neither white Americans nor English people? Looking back at my 2012 reading year I saw that as of the last week of June, I’d read seven. (more…)
Tags: All About Romance, multicultural romance
Posted in Characters, Maggie AAR, Romance reading | 32 Comments »
