Thought for the day

I'm not sure if I've ever come right out and said this before, but I have made a conscious choice NOT to accept books from publishers or authors to review on Ramblings. I kind of made it a while ago, but haven't really come out and said so. I've received a number of requests from both asking me to read and review a book.

I love the thought of free books as much as the next red blooded romance book addict and I was more open to it a few years ago. I didn't take many but I did on occasion. But I've become more firm in my decision as time has gone by.


Are you NUTS some of you ask? Why NOT take books that are offered? There are a few reasons. By the lack of reviews here lately, I seem to be doing a rather poor job of writing them! The number of books read this year has already passed all the years since I've been tracking the number, but the books I've written about has decreased. Not quite sure what that is. My plans don't quite seem to match up with my actions I guess. But the reason I've decided NOT to take any books for review other than those I buy myself is twofold.

First, I'm very much a 'mood' reader. I read a book from a particular genre when I'm in the mood for that genre. And if an author sends me a book in a genre that I'm not in the mood for, well, it can sit there and sit there until who knows when I might feel like reading it. And this doesn't strike me as particularly fair to the author. They have taken the time and energy and money to send me the book and the least I can do is read it. But if I do try and read a book that I'm not in the mood to read, it probably won't get a decent review. The author would be better off sending it to someone else.

Another reason is, knowing me, I would feel a sense of obligation to give it a good review because it was a freebie. And then I'd be caught up in a catch 22 of my own making if I didn't like the book. I have to stress that I'm only applying this to me because I know me. If other readers/bloggers accept books from authors and/or publishers, I don't have a problem with that at all. Good thing really as I think most do *g*.

There was a small brouhaha a couple of weeks ago over a letter one of the big name publishers sent stating they expected that the recipients of the ARC's they sent would review the books and if it turned out that they weren't then said publisher would stop sending them. This was a total non-issue for me. And I must say it was a good feeling that I didn't have to get on that particular horse.

Another reason for rejecting books is I read for enjoyment. I read to get away. I read to destress. I read to visit other places and times I know I'll never get too. And I don't want any of those reasons diluted by reading for obligation. That would take all the wonder out of it for me.

I have taken a few books on occasion in the past; thank goodness I really don't get asked all that much. In a few cases, one in particular, Broken Wing by Judith James, I was so glad that I did as I discovered such a treasure of a book that I might not have found otherwise. But in all honesty, there are more I think that either I didn't start or that I started and didn't like and was stymied as to what to do; so I did nothing. And that didn't strike me as right. It's been quite some time now since I have accepted any. I do have a number in my mail box though. So I think I'm going to just link this post as I refuse and say 'thank you very much for the offer, but I'm just not comfortable accepting it.'

I moved my cheese

It’s another day at work and time to ponder. Now in case anyone is thinking does that girl do nothing but ponder where she works, I do work, but I do have down times and spend them doing this.

But back to the pondering – AAR had an interview with Connie Brockway not long ago in which she stated she is going to go the epublishing route. Some of the reactions to this announcement I found quite enlightening. It was only a short while ago when this announcement would have upset me, as I was one of those who swore I would never get an eReading device. Nope, not for me thank you. First, I liked to hold a book and second and more important they intimidated me. Here I am in the other side of my fifties and there was this whole new way of reading books. I’m of the generation that still used main frame computers and those yellow punch cards things that when you folded the corners and painted them green, made beautiful Christmas wreaths if one was crafty enough and had a supplier of them.

But that was then and this is now and when I started seeing the number of different devices, hearing about the problems with DRM, the horrors of glare and all the other issues I read about, well, I went right back to that little thing I was in Grade 9 and had a little Japanese teacher for Computer Sciences. He had an accent that for the life of me I couldn’t make heads nor tails of. This was the class that I was traumatized in when I got a 26 out of 100 – the lowest grade I ever got in school. And that was a large part of fear of a reading device.

But, there were getting to be more and more books I wanted that were only available as ebooks; Liquid Silver, Samhain, Carina Press and *blush* Ellora’s Cave. And I knew that it was time I faced my fear. I still remember the exact moment when I knew I was going to take that leap, it was during a seminar given by Angela James (of Carina Press), Jane Litte (DA) and Sarah Wendall (SB) It was at that moment that the little engine in me said “I think I can, I think I can. And I did

Fast forward to the dialogue that went on at AAR. Many of the posters were delighted to hear that Ms. Brockway would be coming out with a new book. And the fact that she is planning on writing about one of her secondary characters that appeared in a couple of books from a long time ago made it even sweeter. I don’t know precisely the character they are referring to though I’ve read both books he appears in. Ever since I’ve been part of the on-line romance community readers have been hoping for his book. So the comments of joy and congratulations weren’t unexpected. I was feeling that myself.

But some were of the opposite tone. Some romance readers were quite upset with this development. The fact that she was doing books in eformat was NOT welcome news. Ms. Brockway made very clear in the interview that it was because the NY publishers refused to publish what she wrote that she was going in that direction. But that passed over some of the posters heads. One of them even owned a book store and with this news stated, in a number of posts, that she would no longer stock any of Ms. Brockway’s books. If some brought any in, she wouldn’t take them. Now it’s her store and she can accept or refuse whatever she wants, but I couldn’t help but think it’s a drastic stand. And it also strikes me as being somewhat passive aggressive. There were also others who planned on dropping this author. They didn’t have ereaders and had no plans to get them thank you very much. On the one hand I could relate – I was them. But on the other hand, I wanted to smack them upside the head and say ‘get with the program people’. This is the way of the future and like it or not if one doesn’t adapt, they will be missing out on a lot of good reads. I’ve discovered some real gems at Carina Press. Two of my very favourite books from one of my favourite genres, Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold and Sing my Name, both by Ellen O’Connell aren’t available in print format here in Canada but they can be got for a real good price at Smashwords. I would have missed these really beautiful reads if I hadn’t explored brave new worlds. I have seen some incredible deals at Smashwords and Kobo for some really oldie but goodie books. I just finished a reread of A Promise of Love by Karen Ranney that can be found at Kobo. And before that I had a delightful reread of Theresa Weir’s Amazon Lily that is available FREE at Smashwords.

I think Connie Brockway’s move is a brave and wonderful one. Far too often New York publishers have told authors they won’t print what authors want to write. It’s a terrible thing, that writers we’ve loved can’t sell books we know we will love because some group somewhere says so. With this new option for writers opening, with the fact they are no longer so dependant on big publishers, I can only see it as a positive for us readers. For those who say they won’t get ereaders, me, a former member of the club, says be willing to Follow that Cheese! It’s always going to be moved and we can either cross our arms and refuse to go where it is, or face the unknown and reap the benefits. I have found some great benefits – what about you?

PS:

I was chuckling to myself on Easter weekend. I was invited to Easter dinner at my soon to be in-laws who live an hour or so away. As I unplugged my cell phone I had charging, made sure I had the GPS ready to plug into the cigarette lighter, checked my purse to see if I'd added my IPad and Kobo, it occurred to me. I may have a fear of small electronic devices, but I sure have enough of them!

Did we REALLY read the same book????

I started thinking this after I wrote up and posted my review of The Last Goodbye. I don’t check Amazon reviews that often, but I do like to check other blog reviews and sites like AAR, TRR and The Romance Reader at Heart.

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Sometimes it’s the review that kicks me into trying out a book – often it’s one of these reviews that kicks me into it *g*. But if it’s a book I’ve decided to read on my own, I either only briefly skim a review or ignore it until after I finish the book and do up a review so I’m not influenced or inadvertently plagiarize another reviewer. Goodness knows there’s been enough about plagiarizing in the past couple of years.

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So it wasn’t until after I posted my most recent read that I went looking around for others thoughts on it. The first place I checked was AAR and I was quite surprised when I saw the low grade and when I read the review, I couldn’t help thinking did she really read the same book I did?

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I often find it quite amazing that despite all loving romance in general, so many of us have such different loves and dislikes. There is a current discussion underway on one of the AAR boards about a book that received a DIK from the reviewer there but a number of posters have had a complete opposite reaction to the book; some to the point where they haven’t been able to finish it. Now this isn’t a book I’m interested in so I have weighed in with an opinion but it does exemplify why I think it’s a wonderful thing that there are so many romance blogs around now. I’ve been blogging officially six years now; I celebrated my sixth year in February. It was a quiet celebration; just between me and the blog. In fact I think I probably missed the exact date *g*. But back when I started, there weren’t that many around. It was mainly through review sites I garnered opinions on books. And the problem with that was if any particular reviewer and I had different tastes in books, then depending on that, I would either dislike a book they enjoyed or miss a book I would have loved. And that’s why I also think it’s important to get more than one take on a book. I’ve seen some people post at AAR that they only trust them and don’t trust blog reviews but I’m of the opposite opinion. I do read and totally appreciate the reviews on AAR and other review sites, but as with review blogs, it’s only one person’s opinion and I like gathering more than one opinion on a book if possible to read either before or after I read the book.

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That’s one reason why the proliferation of blogs is so great. It’s interesting seeing different styles and critical-ness of others. I’m not so sure who much help I am to other readers, I tend to like an awful lot of what I read. And if I’m not enjoying a book, I have no problems putting it down and starting something new. I did get a message from someone from the Chapters site who had read my review of Queen of Shadows and got the book based on my review. I was thrilled to pieces when she contacted me and said how much she loved it. It makes me feel good when someone reads and enjoys a book I’ve recommended. I’m very slow getting to know the different styles and preferences. Me, I’m easy. I like just about everything. So it does kind of startle me when I read a review somewhere on a book I didn’t care for but someone else did. This happened with the latest Jill Shalvis book I read. I checked AAR and they had a much more favourable review than mine. And that made me happy since I feel bad when I’m not so positive in a review.

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Some others though are much tougher than me. Nath, for example, my soon to be roomie, is much tougher than I am. It’s a rare thing that she gives a book the highest grade. Wendy, The Librarian of the Year is also a tough critic. If she gives high grades to a book, then I know I will like it. There are also a few tropes she’s not too fond of that I like so if she downgrades a book because of that, I know it won’t bother me. Some of the younger bloggers don’t care for older women/younger men stories and it’s one of my favourite – now that I could possibly fall into that category of older woman. So if it gets a lower mark or grade due to that particular reason, that won’t be a minus in my books. Leslie and I seem to have very similar tastes so that if she really likes a book, chances are I will too. I know we both agree that the Joss Ware books aren’t that big on the romance aspect but they work great despite that! Renee who hasn’t been blogging as much as she used to also has very similar likes and dislikes. We are of an age and both have been reading romance for years. Jill, a relatively new romance convert, as judged by her blog name *g*, and another former room mate, seems easily pleased like me. She reads more historical than I do though.

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See, this is all stuff that you never get to really know from a romance reviewing site. I think getting to know the person behind the review. I did get a chance to meet a few reviewers from AAR so now when I read their reviews I have more of a sense of who they are.

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All this is to say that getting to know who is doing a review say Wendy, o n a book helps ever so much when reading said book and I loved it and she hated it and it’s soul mates I don’t have to wonder, “Did we REALLY read the same book????”

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And if I seem to be rambling more than usual – that’s cause I am. Both my case managers here at work are on extended leave of absences and until we get other case managers to fill in, my workload has taken a drastic drop – thus giving me time to ramble and be a bad little worker bee. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. It also gives me time to come up with rather bizarre answers to simple questions. Some came over this morning wondering where the in office case manager was. I told her the space aliens came by and beamed her up to the Mother ship. I think that Coast to Coast AM radio show I listen to first thing in the mornings is having a strange affect on me.

The voices in my head

It's late. The brain won't let me rest so I've been thinking of different points of views in novels. An unusual topic at 1:00 am but nevertheless, it's keeping me entertained.

What got me thinking deep on this topic is there is a book that's been taking me a while to read and I was trying to figure out why when tonight it hit me. I've been stuck in one spot for a while because the story is now being told from the villain's point of view and I don't like that. In fact a lot more than I'm comfortable with is from the villain and huge chunks at a time. As a reader, I'm wishing the author would find a different way to let us know how the villain is influencing the story. I don't like being in the villain's head. He's one bad dude and causing all kinds of trouble. Late this night I'm wondering why authors do this.

I haven't gotten the Black Dagger Brotherhood bug. I've read a couple of the books but I'm not in a big hurry to read more. But in reading what other readers say about them, one of the big complaints that I see is too much time is spent with the Lessers or whatever they are called - I forget at the moment. I've read where a lot of readers just skip these parts and to me it seems that something is wrong with the picture when readers just skip huge hunks of the story.

In order to have a good story - or any story at all really, we have to have conflict. And a good deal of the time conflict is caused by The Villain whose goal is to destroy in one way or another the happiness of the hero/heroine. So why do we need to read it from his or her head?

Another issue I've seen a lot of readers struggle with is when there are multiple points of view. While this isn't quite as annoying for me, still I prefer only to see the two POV, the heroine and the hero. Many more than that and it can get confusing.

But

I do like to get the heroes POV along with the heroines. I'm always a little disappointed when the entire story is told from just hers. I like to see what the hero is thinking too.

Has this been a problem for anyone else? Have you got stuck while reading a book because you are in the villains head? Do you get distracted when there are too many points of view? And would you just be happy with the heroines POV or are you like me and want to know what the hero thinks too?

I suppose it takes all types

Sometimes people boggle me. I often visit AAR - I love their site for the interesting topics, the reviews, the message boards, and while at times I may disagree with some of what I read, there is no question the staff and visitors do and say what they do for the love of romance and it was there that I first found my 'people'. Where I think of blogging as small gatherings of good friends, I think of AAR as a 'neighbourhood party' kind of place.

And I suppose with every neighbourhood party, you are going to get one of your rude and nasty neighbour types. I just happened to see that one of the rudest, nastiest neighbourhood types dropped by to start an interesting topic - looking for romance books that don't have a HEA. Well I think the vast majority of us hold the belief that if there is no HEA, it isn't a romance book; a romantic book perhaps, but not a romance. Apparently the rude neighbour didn't like that she wasn't getting what she wanted and left this comment:

I 'closed' this thread because I wasn't really getting any suggestions like I had asked for. Instead I was getting five out of eight people telling me that you can't have a romance novel without the HEA. I DID NOT ask anyone what their definition of a romance book was or any of the other crap I got. I simply asked for suggestions. Nothing more. If no one had any suggestions then there was no reason for them to reply.

I closed the topic and someone from AAR took it upon herself to reopen it AND send me a private message. I'm really irritated with that.

As you can see, what was a topic about wanting suggestions for romances without a HEA has turned into all of you giving your opinions on something that was NEVER asked for.

I think she just won the 'rudest most nastiest comment' award that I've ever seen there. What really got me is that it isn't her site. If you follow the thread, there are some interesting replies. And for this person to take this attitude makes me want to bitch slap her. As one of the commenter's replied "It's an open discussion forum."

After reading her nasty comment, to me it's not then a surprise she's looking for books that don't have the HEA. As I said, Friday I was in a snarly mood most of the day, but still I wouldn't do the kind of thing this person did - at someone else's 'place'.

Am I the only one that feels this way - that when visiting someone's blog or message board it's just not 'the thing' to be nasty? Disagree sure - that's what makes for interesting discussion, but to take it to this extent? I just don't get it.

I loathe the phrase "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all", loathe it with a passion after being raised on it. But there is taking that and going too far in the other direction. And I think this person just did that.


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And an update on the battle of wills going on in the house

Destructo Cat: 27
Brent: 0

Already this morning Brent's brought her up 4 times

This - and That

THIS

I’m reading and enjoying a very charming book at the moment. At the beginning of every chapter is something I’ve noticed before and oftentimes think is a waste of time for me anyway and I got wondering what other readers think. And that is the little blurbs at the top of the page of a new chapter. I don’t even know what they are officially called.

Me – for the most part, I ignore them even though I feel bad that I do. See – I can manage to make myself feel guilty over just about anything – it’s a gift I have.

The ones in the books I have now do relate to the story. They are little gems written by a Lord Chesterfiled and added in letters the grandmother writes to the hero. I get the feeling that the author has done research and that these could very possibly been words truly written. And while the grandmother has crossed over to the other side, she has left an impact on the hero. But there is a part of me that while admiring the author, thinks, for this reader anyway, it was kind of a waste of time.

In all of the books that I’ve read over all of the years, I think the only time I’ve ever really paid attention to the chapter headers was in Elizabeth Hoyt’s books. I love fairy tales and had to read the ones that she had. Other than that exception, I’m much too impatient to get to the story to pay much attention to the chapter headers.

What about anyone else? Do you read them or like me, are you too impatient to get to the actual story?

AND THAT

I got an email from Amazon listing the top romance books and I have to say, I disagree with many of those listed!!

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I haven’t read this book but I know many a romance reader has read and loved it. But I question whether it’s a ‘romance’ by my own definition. It’s shelved with general fiction in the stores around here and one of the big reasons I haven’t read it is because I gather it’s a tear jerker of an ending. I don’t like books that make me cry at the end

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

This is another book I question as to it being a romance. It’s also shelved in the general fiction shelves and while it may be wildly romantic with the enduring love between Jamie and Claire, even the author herself doesn’t consider this series romance books.

Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts

I don’t have any issues with this book being a romance. While I stopped reading Ms. Roberts series books, I still consider them romance.

Divine Misdemeanors: A Novel (Meredith Gentry Book) by Laurell K. Hamilton

I haven’t read any Laurel K Hamilton books either – and by reading the reviews of her later Anita Blake books I don’t really care to, but from what I gather, she doesn’t really write romance either. Books were there are multiple partners like I think are in the Merry Gentry books don’t really say ‘romance’ to me!

Visions in White by Nora Roberts

Again as with Bed of Roses, I think this certainly qualifies as romance.

The White Queen by Phillipa Gregory

I don’t consider this a romance either. This is the story of Elizabeth, the mother of the two young boys in the tower of London. To me, Phillipa Gregory writes historical fiction heavily based on real life characters. I don’t consider this romance.

Dear John by Nicolas Sparks

I sound like a broken record here – but I haven’t read Nicolas Sparks either. But he doesn’t write romance as far as I’m concerned. He writes fiction with strong romantic elements. And tear jerker endings. I already said this, but I don’t like tear jerker endings!

Knit the Season: A Friday Night Knitting Club Novel by Kate Jacobs

I’ve never heard of this book and I like to think I’m up on the latest romances. So I looked at the description:

Knit the Season is a loving, moving, laugh-out-loud celebration of special times with friends and family. The story begins a year after the end of Knit Two, with Dakota Walker's trip to spend the Christmas holidays with her Gran in Scotland-accompanied by her father, her grandparents, and her mother's best friend, Catherine. Together, they share a trove of happy memories about Christmases past with Dakota's mom, Georgia Walker-from Georgia's childhood to her blissful time as a doting new mom. From Thanksgiving through Hanuk kah and Christmas to New Year's, Knit the Season is a novel about the richness of family bonds and the joys of friendship.

I dunno – this just doesn’t scream ROMANCE to me!

So in a list of eight books, there are none that I’ve read; me – a dedicated romance reader and only two that I, a dedicated romance reader, consider true romance books. And since I’ve been around longer then Amazon – I’m right and they are wrong – heh, heh, heh.

When is enough, enough?

First off – apologies to all Suzanne Brockman fans. I realize she is wildly popular and at one time I loved her books too – but was turned off on book in particular and never went back to her single title series and was also turned off on one of her Harlequin series and never went back there either.

So while I know that she’s popular, I’m totally baffled as to the depths of the discussions on her next release. Sure I get that some readers fell betrayed – that they felt they were misled by a certain couple that apparently isn’t to be. And I do get a laugh sometimes when I visit her message board about the amount of justification her fans are doing. But still, there is a thread at AAR that at last count was 82 f’n pages long – on a book that hasn’t been released yet. There was an AAR blog post there too. DA covered it. I just want to scream – ENOUGH ALREADY.

And another one I really don’t get is all this chatter about Lisa Valdez. I don’t care anymore if she has another book coming or when. It was four years ago when Passion came out. Yes, I read it. Yes, I enjoyed it. But here it is almost five years later and readers are still wondering about the next book. In the meantime there have been some wonderful new authors. I don’t give a flying fig about Lisa Valdez’s next release. I don’t mean to sound cold but I do not for the life of me understand why readers are still going on about it. I just want to scream ENOUGH ALREADY.

And again – apologies to JR Ward fans. I know there are a lot of them out there too. I’ve read her first couple of books, enjoyed them quite a bit actually and have her next two TBR. But I don’t understand the – well let’s say passion – some readers have. Things are fairly quiet now as fans wait for her next release, but when it gets closer and when the book comes out, I’m sure I’ll be thinking ENOUGH ALREADY.

Thank goodness there doesn’t seem to be the same hoopla over Elizabeth Elliot. I’ve read her books, loved them and wanted the book about the assassin brother, but I would never participate in a pages long discussion on it.

I love romance books – absolutely adore them and have done a couple of nutty things when some strike chords within me such as Dreaming of You and Broken Wing. But, whatever I did was in earnest because I really did love them and hoped others would too, still it was with a bit of tongue in cheek and a sense of fun. And I hope whoever went along with me sensed that.

But for the life of me I can’t understand the over-the-topness of some readers. I can’t understand the need to discuss a book that takes 83 pages!! This is fiction. These are not real people. They are works of fiction written by some very talented authors. I doubt very much whether I’d want to be involved myself to the lengths that some fans to for even my Very Favourite Books! If I were to, I’d scream at myself ENOUGH ALREADY

All in All, there's just no more brick in the wall

This particular post was inspired by Jace’s recent review of Gabriel’s Ghost. We are now both eagerly waiting for Shades of Dark! The author Linnea Sinclair popped in with some comments and one of them just struck me:

First person POV is a POV I love but I didn't set out to write first person. It was simply that the story could be told no other way. It was never even a question but over the past few years, when I've been confronted by readers who refuse to read Gabriel's Ghost because it's first person, I've given it some thought.

A few years ago that could have been me – the reader I mean – not the author (although I’d never write an author and tell her I wouldn’t read her books – I just wouldn’t read them and not tell her)

When I was younger I used to read a lot of first person books and they never bothered me. If I remember correctly most of Mary Stewarts books were written in the first person and I loved them. Jennie could confirm that but the poor dear has gone to Hawaii.

But that was before I really started reading romance books and since I've been pretty much strictly a romance reader for a while now, first person doesn't allow you to get into the hero's head. We only get one person’s POV. I would pick up a book in a bookstore and if it was written in the first person I would immediately put it back on the shelf. I even have a few books I purchased through a book club not realizing they were first person and when I discovered they were, I put them somewhere else and never even attempted them.

But with a well skilled writer, I've discovered you can get a good enough sense of the hero through the heroine's thoughts. I've read a number of really excellent first person romance books now and I no longer cringe when I realize that's how they are written. It's like a much bigger world has opened up again.

I think there is still a certain prejudice amongst many romance fans against first person books, and even I until very recently had a lingering trepidation myself, but I am discovering that I need to get over that.

I first started weakening when I began reading the Stephanie Plum books. Although not exactly romance books, there was enough romance in them to satisfy me. I love them. I adore them. And for the record – I’m a Joe girl – just wanted to get that out.

But even though I was weakening in my stance with first person books, I still wasn’t a happy camper when I heard that Linda Howard would be having a first person book coming out. Her books were definitely more romance focused. I presumed they wouldn’t be as good as her third person books because one of the things I like best about third person books is getting into the hero’s head during love scenes. When you think about it though, it really isn’t all that credible. Let’s face it – men and women view sex differently and being in the hero’s head in a love scene in a book is really still being in a women’s head as the vast majority of romance books are written by women.

Then, because it was Linda Howard and I just couldn’t pass it up, I read To Die For and even though we never got into Wyatt’s head, it didn’t seem to matter. I loved the book and I think it really worked told from Blair’s POV. I know many readers found her annoying, but I loved her. And I think a large part of that was because it was Blair head we were in.

Then after reading Games of Command last year, I simply had to read more Linnea Sinclair books and the next one on my list was Gabriel’s Ghost and I was pretty much sold after that. I loved it just as much as GOC. I remember reading a review on Jennie’s B(ook) Blog just before I posted my own thoughts. Jennie commented that she didn’t even really clue in that it was first person. I thought that this was very telling. A book can be read and enjoyed written in the first person without it even being an issue.

The next big leap was when Lisa Kleypas wrote her first book in the first person – Sugar Daddy. I confess that even though the wall I used to have was more along the lines of rubble, still, this was Lisa Kleypas. Then I got past my previous bias and thought if Linda Howard could write a first person book that I loved, then so could Lisa Kleypas. And so she did! When I picked up The Blue Eyed Devil, there was no hesitation at all. If two of my favourite authors could write in the first person and I could love the books, then I’m pretty sure even the remaining rubble is gone now. I eagerly picked up Blue Eyed Devil and read it - not a single moment of hesitation. And one of the books I'm really looking forward to is as I mentioned earlier, Shades of Dark which like Gabriel's Ghost is again done in the first person.

So how about anyone else? Do you have that preconceived notion that first books person books can’t be as enjoyable as third person? Have you put a book back on the shelf in the store when you discover it’s first person? And even more important *g* if you are one of those kinds of readers, have I a former first person chauvinist convinced you to give one of them a try?

Or are a reader who has no problems with first person romance books? Which ones are your favourites? Now that I'm cured, I'm open.

Next hurdle - first person, present tense. I hear that Grimspace by Ann Aguirre is the book for this one.

Covers – Are they going too far??

Now that Katiebabs and I are partners, I thought one of the things we could do that would be interesting and fun is offering more than just one opinion on the Romance Industry.

Kristie's Thoughts

I consider myself a fairly normal romance reader. Now a normal romance reader is a different kettle of fish than a normal reader. We have a tendency to go a bit overboard compared to regular readers – at least some of us do.
So – as a normal romance reader – of the older generation, I have to say that some of the covers these days are starting to make me uncomfortable. I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I hate those clinch covers. Back in their day, when romance first gaining popularity they were acceptable I suppose, but as the genre has grown, I’ve long felt it was time to move past those old half naked poses. For the most part, with the exception of one publisher in particular (see Kate’s last post) the covers are miles better than they used to be. But in the last little while I’ve noticed a new trend that makes me somewhat uncomfortable. I don’t know if it’s a product of my age – I don’t like to think that’s it, or a product of my rather strict upbringing – we weren’t *gasp* allowed to read comic books, but some of the covers are too much for me.

And I can’t help wondering – if they are too much for me (whom I consider somewhat normal) are they too much for other readers?
It’s not that I won’t necessarily buy the books if they sound appealing, but I won’t buy them in the store. Instead I would order them online. Just to be clear, I’m talking mainstream books, not some of those ebooks with over-the-top covers you can get at EC and the like – some of those are just laughable in their badness.
And if we go with the theory that I’m a normal romance reader, wouldn’t it follow that others are like me too? That they might see these books in the store and pass them by due to the graphic covers?
Don’t get me wrong – I like looking at a nice looking naked male chest as much as the next reader. I mean I really love one. Kate, Sula and I even named a pic of our favourite actor of the moment, Chest. And the shallow me has been known to buy a book based on that fact. As much as the good reviews have convinced me to get Joanna Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady, the cover also plays a factor *g*. But some of these covers go too far for me to be comfortable with.

There are a couple of types that I think go overboard - the almost naked guy/girl - and I don't mean half naked - I mean just a wee slip and totally naked is the one type that makes me kind of squirm.

Then there is the couple - or more than two, that I know I'd never take to the checkout with. I'm seeing Megan Hart's newest book all over the place and it's not that I wouldn't necessarily read it - I have Broken in the TBR pile - but I do think the cover is too much.

And how many of those readers would actually go to the trouble of ordering online? I think the percentage is growing. I know since I discovered the ease of it, I do a lot more. But I think that book stores and/or authors depend quite a bit on spur of the moment buying. I don’t know if that many romance readers do a lot of research like those of us with an online presence.

One can argue that these are erotic romance books and in many cases aren’t shelved with the regular romance books. But I’ve been daring – I have looked at the erotica section of the book store and there are a lot of them that aren’t nearly as explicit as these examples above. I have bought a few erotic romance books even - these ones for example are in my TBR pile

And also keep in mind – this in no way is any kind of condemnation of the authors themselves. I’m talking strictly covers. So I’m left wondering – am I normal when it comes to the almost extremely explicit covers or am I showing my age?

I'm looking forward to Katie's thoughts as she is a year or two *chuckle* younger.

Katie's Thoughts

When I started reading romance novels, they all tended to show the man and woman in a passionate clench with the woman's bosum falling out of her dress along the man's rippling chest without a shirt for all to see. Personally, not much has changed in twenty years of my reading. You still see those same covers with the two love birds practically getting naked in a field of flowers, near a lake or in the snow.

The snow cover that I am talking about and makes me chuckle is Melody Thomas's Sin and Scandal in England. It is a very cliche cover. And I kept thinking of course their nipples would be hard because of the frost in the air. I even sent an email to Melody about it and we had a really good laugh about her cover. *G* So authors probably feel the same way as we the reader do.

But one publisher who has some of the most outlandish and very naked covers happens to be Kensington's Aphrodisia line. The main reason I wanted to read and review Lord of the Deep (better known as the tree sex book) was because of the nice hard butt on the cover. And the funny thing is, that cover is perfect for the book. And when I was reading it, I seriously would hide the cover because I was afraid people would glance over and see it and make that assumption about who I am because of what I am reading.
Lately I have been reading more and more erotica books with some interesting covers on it. These covers make me blush, but I must say I am a fan of the "chest"ones or aka the man-titty covers as they are being labeled lately by the fans

The other day I went into Borders and was so surprised to see in the romance section the amount of these hard-core sexed up covers, and right near the cafe. Why not enjoy your coffee and some tit and ass to go with it? To be honest, even if romance covers continue to show less and less clothes I will still buy and read. I try not to choose a book by its cover and anyone who has an opinion about me because of some butt or nipple showing, then they need to get a clue because right after I finished my latest erotica I opened up North and South and that only has a lovely field with a tree on it.

Now let me ask you, which cover is classier? Which would you choose to pick up in your local bookstore and read out in the open?

Top 100 Grumblings

Ever since the results of AAR’s top 100 romances poll went up there has been a lot of discussions going on. There were some shocks, smiles and more WTFs??
On my end I did have some shocks as we all know my die hard love for The Bronze Horseman wasn’t even rated. But to be honest I knew it was going to come down to 3 books for the number one slot. I really had thought The Bronze Horseman has a very good chance of being number one of at least in the top 10. I am not an emotional person when it comes to movies or books but a book like The Horseman gave me such an emotional mind bender, that I actually had the shakes and was crying like a baby as I read. (The only other book to do this is The Stand by Stephen King where I really thought we were all going to die of some horrible virus and I would be stuck in the Lincoln Tunnel) So a novel of this magnitude should be number one on everyone’s list right?

Wrong. The two books I knew would be number one would either be Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase or Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas. I really wasn’t surprised in the least. It makes sense seeing as these two books are always discussed and loved by anyone who reads them. It comes down to two amazing heroes and their love for their heroine, including the talents of two amazing authors. (And don’t forget the really hot sex scenes!) And it also proves that Chase and Kleypas are masters at this genre because of how many of their books are in the top 100.
There is no real scientific reason and we can analyze this list till we are blue in the face, but all the normal suspects are there and the majority of the books listed are more often than not on reader’s list. About 90% of mine have been listed. Maybe the numbers are off but they are there.
What I find fascinating is that more than half listed were released during the past 5 years and the majority are all written in the 1990’s. For me the 90’s had the best romance had to offer, and it shows.
But what happened to some of our long time favorite authors such as Anne Stuart (Hello, no To Love and Dark Lord or A Rose at Midnight???) No Beatrice Small or Kathleen Woodiwiss, who is considered one of the all time greatest romance authors?
Where are the majority of some major romance classics? Jane Eyre is there and Pride and Prejudice. But no Wuthering Heights or Gone with the Wind or even Little Women?
Surprisingly there is a wide variety of novels from historical, paranormals, romantic comedy to choose from and overall I am very happy by the list.
But I have some dark secrets as a loyal romance reader. Some of these books and authors I have never read. Georgette Heyer? Nope never read her. Nora Roberts? Not a big fan but I am a die hard fan of JD Robb (GO Naked in Death!) The Outlander series by Gabaldon was thrilling to read but not on my list either. I also am not a big fan of Mary Balogh fan either.
But the biggest sin of all, and yes burn me at the stake, is that I have never read Pride and Prejudice. I have watched every screen adaptation and even saw a play a few years ago on the book, but since I have never sat down an actually read this classic, I didn’t put it down on my list.

So what does this list mean? Honestly it was done for fun. “Fun” being the key word. I am so thrilled that a poll like this was done for my favorite genre I love to read. Can you honestly say that not one of these books doesn’t deserve to be there? I can’t. Each one is special to the one person for their own reason.
So on that not I will take The Bronze Horseman (IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE TOP 10!!) and move it to the top of my list because it deserves to be there, but hey it’s just my opinion! :)

Katiebabs

Being wary of the reread

I love rereading books. I think I reread a book for every four new books I read. I planned to reread every one of the 1,711 books (at last count) I have stashed in every nook and cranny of our house. Yea right, if I live to be 182 maybe. I may have to rethink that plan though. A few months ago I dug out some of my old favourites in an attempt to at least start on this gigantic feat. I started off with Til Dawn Tames the Night by Meagan McKinney in honour of pirate time. Loved it the fourth time around. The previous three rereads were all years ago. Next up was Honor’s Splendor by Julie Garwood. Many years ago I loved her writing and went on a major glom in order to make sure I had her entire backlist. I drove all over the city to every bookstore there was in search of them. And I did it. I found them all. I was a happy little Garwood camper. I read them and reread them and eventually moved onto other books. They were put away in the corner of the basement, kind of like the Velveteen Rabbit. When I went searching through her section for a reread of course the one I chose was Honor’s Splendor. It was terrible. I hated it and wondered what on earth I ever liked about it the first time around. I tried analyzing what had happened; that a book I once loved so much, I now loathed. Was it that I had aged in the fifteen or so year since I last read it? (well of course I have chronologically), but was it that I had matured so much that I could no longer enjoy nincompoop heroines or was it really that bad all along and I just didn’t know it. Judging by the number of recommendations she still gets from other readers, there are still a lot of people who enjoy her writing so I don’t think that’s it. It must be me. More and more I enjoy less and less the sweet little young (oh gawd so young) nincompoop heroines. Have my reading tastes changed that drastically? Now I don’t quite know what to do with the rest of my Garwood’s I hunted so hard to find. They were all printed in the late 80’s and early 90’s. They have been reprinted a number of times so I would never get my money out of them at a UBS. And do I even want to get rid of them? I know I won’t read them again, but they brought me so much pleasure at the time.
And another question I have. Do I really want to go back and read the books I loved so much from so many years ago? What if this happens again? On the one hand I loved the McKinney book. It was a very good visit. It can happen again with my old favourites. On the other hand though, how many of them will I not be able to finish? Many of the other older books I dug out of my pile from the basement have remained in a pile upstairs – somewhere.
Most of the books I reread have been written in the last five to seven years. However some are much older. Susan Anderson’s Exposure was written in 1993 and I reread that one not to long ago and it still held up over time. I think my old Putney’s will too. I’m kind of leery about my old McNaught’s though.
Well, I guess I will just have to try them and see – one book at a time (yea right)

And while I have your attention, can anyone help me with showing links to other blogs? I would love to add links to the other blogs I read and enjoy but have no idea how to do it.

Harelquins - and why I love 'em.

For as long as I’ve been reading romance books, I’ve been reading series books. Not nearly as often or as many as single title books, but they definitely have a place in my reading repertoire. I don’t think they are taken as seriously as single books. Even I consider them to be the cotton candy of romance books; something that is honestly not fair of me. They can also have deeper and darker stories. Because they are constrained by size, they don’t always have the character development that single books do but a good series author manages to do this.
I am currently reading a Harlequin Temptation book, Free Fall by Jill Shalvis. It is light and fluffy and exactly what I need at the moment. Plus so far, it’s a pretty darn good book. I’m starting a new job tomorrow (see previous posts) and after being out of work since last November, I am somewhat anxious about it. I don’t have the concentration power to get into a weightier story right now but I still feel the need to read.
I often find this is the case. Series books are perfect for this. They settle the compulsion I have to read, but they don’t drain me emotionally.
Another reason I appreciate series books is the fact that they are a fast read. I can normally read a book in two days, but sometimes this isn’t possible. If I have a lot going on outside of my reading and don’t have the time or if a book is particularly moving and I’m taking my time with it, it can take me longer to read a book. After this, I like to read a series book to get me back into the timing groove so to speak. If I don't have a lot of distractions, I can read one of these in a day.
Quite a few popular authors started out writing series books; Suzanne Brockman, Linda Howard, Jennifer Cruise among others and it’s always fun to go back and read their roots books.
I will always read series books and I completely recommend them to anyone who hasn’t tried them before to give them a shot. They may be just what you need.

Real World vs Romance World

I basically live in two worlds, well three if you count cyber world. The two main worlds I live in are “real world” and “romance world”. I have not trouble distinguishing between these two worlds. It’s not like I’m worried, as George Costanza once did in a hilarious Seinfeld episode, that my two worlds will collide and I will cease to exist. Romance world is a complete fantasy world fueled by the wonderful imagination of some very talented authors. Real world is where I exist and spend most of my time. This is where things are, well, real. I visit romance world when I have time, when there’s nothing I want to watch on TV or when real world gets me down and I need that Calgon time. I completely understand that the people, the heroes, the heroines, the secondary characters, are not real. They are fictional people who do not exist except in romance world. But sometimes I can’t help but wonder if some other romance readers understand this. There is an authors’ site with a message board I lurk on sometimes. These visitors and posters seem to be a very warm and caring group of fans, one of the reasons I visit there. Every so often they do weird me out though. When they begin discussing characters from said authors’ books, it seems as if someof them are discussing real live people. This always causes me to scratch my head and break in with the post “you do know this isn’t a real person don’t you?” I love discussing books I’ve enjoyed and characters I liked/disliked too but I am always fully cognizant of the fact that I am discussing fiction, albeit fiction I love to read and discuss. Sometimes, if a book is very good, a character will stand out and grab me. But that character will never gain hold because they are a fantasy. And fantasy doesn’t begin to be real life.

Vampires "R" Us

I must admit at the beginning of this blog that I really don't 'get' the latest trend in paranormal romance and that is Vampire Romance. Oh, I've read them. In fact I probably started reading them before they became the rage. I read Interview with a Vampire long before the movie with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt came out. The first vampire romance book I read was Maggie Shayne's Twighlight Phantasies which I read when it first came out in 1993. I also read Forever and the Night by Linda Lael Miller and a few by Amanda Ashley who was also writing vampire books around that time. While I enjoyed them, I wasn't that taken with them that I was hooked on the genre.
The genre really took off I think due to the popularity of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. I watched those shows sometime but didn't really 'get' them either.
It's not that I haven't read quite a number of the current crop. I've read Christine Feehan, Susan Sizemore, Karen Harbaugh, Sherryilyn Kenyon and a few others. I just don't understand why they are in so much demand these days. So many authors are writing them. It's not that I don't like the authors. I loved Feehan's Wild Rain and Sizemore's time travels. I just don't enjoy their vampire books.
To be honest, a lot of them creep me out. Let's face it, the vampire heroes are cold and dead. I don't get the appeal of a cold, dead love interest. I was reading one of Christine Feehan's Dark books and when the hero explained to the heroine who he had just converted why they had to sleep in the ground, I thought "EEWWW. No matter how you try and spin it that's just not romantic." And the whole drinking of blood just gives me the willies. Maybe I watched Dracula with Bela Lugosi too many times when I was young.
It's not as if I don't like the paranormal. I like werewolf books. Susan Krinard has some really good ones. Rebecca York has a series of werewolf books that I like better than quite a few reviewers. And I love a good ghost love story. Lynn Kurland wrote a wonderful ghost story in Stardust of Yesterday. Christina Skye wrote some wonderful ghost stories in her Draycott Abbey series. Susan Plunkett in another "ghost" author. Susan Krinard's Body and Soul is a book that had me tearing up. Yes, I know, the hero/heroines are cold and dead in ghost stories too. But somehow it seems different.
So quite a few of the wildly popular vampire authors of today, MaryJanice Davidson, Katie MacAlister, Lynsay Sands won't be making it onto my bookshelves.

Some Like it Hot

Some like it hot in their books and I confess I am one of them. Years ago I read the bodice rippers; the books by Rosemary Rogers with Steve and Ginny, Kathleen Woodiwiss etc. Then I got away from romance for a few years and when I went back, I tried these books again and found them quite honestly, dreadful. I found the 'heros' borderline abusive to their women and in some cases they crossed the line. I didn't like the women any better. I decided then that I would stick to romance books with no sex. I read Patricia Veryan, Marion Chesney, Slyvia Thorpe and others in that would be labeld "kisses". Unfortunately or fortunately as the case may be, I read faster that those mild romance books were being written and slowly started reading books that contained mild or very tame sex scenes. And I found myself liking them; quite a bit actually. I began to to widen the box and read books with more explicit sex scenes. Books by Linda Howard and Nora Roberts. It was a completely different experience than the old boddice rippers I used to read. Both the hero and heroine were equal partners. Ther heroes weren't forcing themselves on the heroines any longer. There was love and respect now involved, something that was missing in those early books. I've now completely changed my reading habits from those first days when I returned to romance and I'm much more likely to pass on the "kisses" books and go for the "hot" or "burning" books. Maybe it's my age. I don't read the sex scenes for the titilation any more. I read them as part of a passionate relationship between two people who love each other.
The odd thing is though, often I skim rather quickly through the sex scenes. It's something I can't quite figure out about myself. If it's a well written book, the hotter the better, but I often don't really read it.