Sep 25 2012
Dear Ms. Kramer: Before Loving Lady Marcia, I had not read any of your books. However, when news of the book’s title hit online, it raised a lot of eyebrows, including mine, especially when your publisher disavowed any substantive relationship between the book and the “Brady Bunch” series. I fully admit that curiosity drew me(…)
Sep 25 2012
My first post in this series on free speech issues focused on the line between fully protected critical speech and less protected commercial speech, specifically in regard to paid-for positive and sockpuppeted reviews. This post is on the economic concept of free riding and its substantial but often silent impact on intellectual property issues. If(…)
Sep 4 2012
Despite the regularity and ubiquity with which free speech is invoked in online discussions, it is rarely relevant in the way it is used, as either sword or shield. In the broadest possible sense, our online discussions (at least in the United States) are reflective of the “marketplace of ideas” theory of free speech, but(…)
Aug 21 2012
So here’s the thing: I think we’ve oversold the virtues of subjectivity. When I first entered the online Romance community, I faced a steep learning curve when it came to calling out what I felt was poor writing and sub-par editing. Frustrated at being chided for “sounding like an English teacher” or being “too picky,”(…)
Aug 13 2012
Dear Ms. Shalvis: I think the first book of yours that I read was Instant Attraction, and I remember being so taken by the smart, capable heroine, the realistic relationship issues in the romance, and the interesting Sierra Nevada setting. It was small town Romance that didn’t read kitschy or cutesy to me, and I(…)
Aug 2 2012
Dear Ms. O’Keefe: Just last month, I wrote an almost giddily positive review of your debut single title contemporary Romance, Can’t Buy Me Love. I still remember reading that book for the first time and feeling both excited and afraid to read Victoria’s story, Can’t Hurry Love, given her pitiably flawed presence in Luc and(…)
Jul 17 2012
It’s so much worse than that. Something is very wrong with us, and by “us” I mean the online community of (largely) women authors and readers. What is wrong is the “outing,” threatening, shaming, and silencing of readers who are perceived to be too critical of or hostile to authors. And for those in(…)
Jun 27 2012
Dear Ms. O’Keefe: When Jane told me I needed to read your first single-title contemporary, I didn’t hesitate in requesting it from Edelweiss. Jane knows my taste well enough that if she says I’m going to like a book, I am there. And what do you know – she was right again. Can’t Buy Me(…)
Jun 19 2012
Tolerance is one of those words that balances right on the line between positive and negative. We speak of tolerating something bad — that is, of enduring something we would otherwise like to avoid. In other contexts, we refer to tolerance as an aspirational value, as in racial tolerance, for example. This definitional dualism (or(…)
Jun 4 2012
Dear Ms. Grant: Your debut novel, A Lady Awakened, is one of my favorite Romances of the past year. So I was particularly excited to read A Gentleman Undone, not only to catch up with the delightfully perverse Martha and her new husband, Theo, but also to discover if Martha’s brother, Will, made as fascinating(…)
May 31 2012
ETA: Bancroft Press is giving away copies of this book and The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns, which I also reviewed and recommended. Enter before tomorrow, June 1st, though! Dear Ms. Leiknes: After reading, reviewing, and greatly enjoying your debut novel, The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns, I was happily surprised to receive an(…)
May 1 2012
In the wake of ubiquitous popularity for The Book That Shall Not Be Named, the reality that women do experience – and even enjoy! – sexual fantasy has collided with far more than 50 shades of judgment about who, what, where, when, why, how, and whether that’s okay. Last week, Leigh at AAR wrote(…)
Mar 27 2012
Dear Ms. Linden: Before I get too far into this review, I want to say right up front that I found Blame it on Bath quite likeable. I do so because the series that includes this book – The Truth about the Duke – is based on a legal issue that, even to my limited(…)
Feb 28 2012
Dear Ms. MacLean: This is the first of your books I’ve read, and it’s the first in quite a while that I’ve considered applying the mistorical tag to. Given the muddled nature of Regency history in Romance, as well as my insecurity regarding how much I really know that’s true about the period, I decided(…)
Feb 1 2012
Dear Ms. Kondazian: One of the reasons I was excited to read The Whip is that I lived for quite a while in Santa Cruz County, where some of the novel is set. I was also intrigued by the idea of a fact-based story about Charley Parkhurst, a woman who not only lived for most(…)
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Berkley Fall Giveaway
Author DeborahAnne MacGillivray Harasses Amazon Reader
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