RITA for Miranda Cheever... seriously?

Karen Templeton · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 298

Well, then, clearly I'm not one of the cool girls, because I check that box every time and I've never been asked to judge the final round. Rolling Eyes

(She said, tongue firmly in cheek. Wink

)

Karen T.
http://www.karentempleton.com

Allyson · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 567

The comments about Julia Quinn's writing getting much praise and much criticism are so interesting to me. I've always wondered about this phenomenon...some authors get tons of love, others tons of hate, and sometimes the two seem related, sometimes not.

Julia Quinn definitely, and I think the people here are spot on about why. I think that the people who really dislike her sort of 'style' focus on her as an author to dislike, because she did kind of start the trend, and is so high profile.

Another author who polarizes is Laura Kinsale--she has a lot of devoted fans, and others who bring her up constantly as an author they hate, and will rail against her. I think it might be a similar phenomenon--those who don't like that 'style' fixate on her more than others. Also she seems to really make people angry, people will call her and her fans pretentious and so on.

But then, someone like Nora Roberts has her detractors, but considering her popularity, she doesn't seem to get the hate-on other authors do. The most criticism I really see is that some people think her books are all really similar and kind of 'meh'. I'm trying to think of other examples, bcause I really do wonder why.

Obviously huge phenomena like Harry Potter or Twilight will have their haters, but outside of that it seems pretty random.

Schola · Joined: 10 Jun 2007 Posts: 1867

Hmmmm. I count as a Quinn Lover, then, even though I do reserve the right to dislike the last two Bridgerton books. Cool

It's interesting to hear about how she "polarises" readers that way. When I lent my copy of The Viscount Who Loved Me to a friend, I all but gushed about how Quinn reminded me of Jane Austen. My friend ultimately hated the book, a DNF for her, because she found it "an overblown teenage romance." Confused

This is also the first time I've heard of Quinn's style being the basis of the "Avonisation" of Romance novels. Which authors did Avon (or other publishers) sign because they wanted a slice of the Quinn pie? I don't think I've read any of them . . . Question

_________________
"To be in a romance is to be in uncongenial surroundings. To be born into this earth is to be born into uncongenial surroundings, hence to be born into a romance." (G.K. Chesterton)

Allyson · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 567

Yeah, I'm a fan too--liked the last two Bridgerton books, but didn't like Miranda Cheever *at all* (wow I wanted to sock the hero so very much) and I wasn't a fan of her most recent either. Her last four or so books seemed to have got very mixed reactions. (I realised that for myself I don't like Quinn's more 'alpha' style heroes, because they always seem weirdly controlling and unpleasant. Her earlier books have heroes like this too, but the Bridgerton series mostly avoids it.)

Yulie · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 1045 Location: Elsewhere

Mary Reed McCall · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 62 Location: Upstate New York

Lynda X · Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 1250

Frankly, I was surprised at A LOT of their choices. I was amazed that I hadn't heard of most--by far--of the winning authors, and when I amazoned them, most had very few reviews, sometimes very tepid, by people. Then, I checked reviews here, and not many had them--another indication of how unknown they were. I've always been amazed that, in the past, obvious choices are ignored. What's going on?

LLB · Joined: 21 Mar 2007 Posts: 869 Location: Dallas, Texas

Karen Templeton · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 298

There seems to be a mixture every year of big names and lesser knowns in RITA contention, a phenomenon that might well come down to that old bugaboo, personal taste. Otherwise known as the luck of the draw -- it's no mean feat to find FIVE judges who love a book, let alone ten Rolling Eyes

. But as we all know, no author is universally loved; reviews can vary widely, as can reader reaction. So can judges' scores.

Just speaking for myself, but generally I get around seven books in my judging box every year, in mixed subgenres. Usually there are at least a couple by well-known authors, even if I'm not familiar with their work. Sometimes those books live up to their hype, sometimes they don't do it for me, just as they might not for any reader. Even though I'm trying to be as objective as possible -- grading the book on execution far more than subject matter, for instance -- even then some of those books simply fall short for me...just as I've found jewels amongst books by authors I've never heard of.

So say, if three judges adore a book but two find it perhaps just okay, that's enough to knock the book out of contention. And that can happen to *any* author, no matter how popular her work might be.

Karen T.
http://www.karentempleton.com Rolling Eyes

Mary Reed McCall · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 62 Location: Upstate New York

damfino · Joined: 11 Nov 2007 Posts: 32

I actually enjoyed Miranda Cheever- though it was my second historical romance ever and my first by Quinn. Smile

I know it wasn't the best of the year though, and I'm 100% certain it was due to her name. Just like winning "On the Way to the Wedding" when that one wasn't well-regarded, either.

Schola · Joined: 10 Jun 2007 Posts: 1867

kspears · Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 373

Maybe the RWA needs to come up with another way to nominate books and keep the same way of judging. Maybe the nominations should come from the entire membership, then whittle it down to five each and those would be the ones that are judged. I know I could nominate some.

Karen Templeton · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 298

Unfortunately -- and again -- since the entire membership hasn't read ALL the books published (nor could they, since we're talking more than 2000 new releases every year), you'd only get nominations from those books actually READ. My guess is the more recognizable authors would be more likely to be nominated, not less.

No contest is going to be perfect, but at least this way the books go out to judges randomly (and yes, they're random, since the two gals in the RWA office making up the judging boxes have no clue as to who knows whom, trust me), which gives unknowns a shot at the prize they wouldn't otherwise have.

I haven't read Quinn in a while (simply because I haven't read historicals in a long time), so this isn't coming from some bias on my part...but I think this is simply a matter of tastes not meshing, and a lot of readers don't agree with the win. It happens...just as it happens with the Oscars, the Emmys, or whathaveyou. Were the contest to be changed, I'm sure there would still be disagreements over the winners, simply because that's the nature of contests. Wink

Karen T.
http://www.karentempleton.com

Claire · Joined: 01 Apr 2007 Posts: 1309 Location: around Atlanta

I bought a bunch of RITA nominees books online from this past year and can I say how disappointed I am with some of them so far? I'm talking about the series romances, like contemporary/suspense/adventure. I'll only mention one, Treasure by Helen Brenna for instance. I'm still trying to get into it but its just not grabbing me. And it won the award for its category! I've lost interest in three of them so far. I'm going to try and revisit them this weekend. Maybe I"m just not in a good reading mood.
Confused