About Robin Reader

http://dearauthor.com/author/janet/

isn't sure if she's an average Romance reader, or even an average reader, but a reader she is, enjoying everything from literary fiction to philosophy to history to poetry. Historical Romance was her first love within the genre, but she's fickle and easily seduced by the promise of a good read. She approaches every book with the same hope: that she will be filled from the inside out with something awesome that she didnʼt know, didnʼt think about, or didnʼt feel until that moment. And she's always looking for the next mind-blowing read, so feel free to share any suggestions!

Posts by Robin Reader:

REVIEW:  Loving Lady Marcia by Kieran Kramer

REVIEW: Loving Lady Marcia by Kieran Kramer

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(…)

Free Riding, Free Expression, and Familiarity in Genre Fiction

Free Riding, Free Expression, and Familiarity in Genre Fiction

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(…)

The perils of paid-for reviews

The perils of paid-for reviews

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(…)

It’s Not All About Taste

It’s Not All About Taste

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,”(…)

REVIEW:  Forever and a Day by Jill Shalvis

REVIEW: Forever and a Day by Jill Shalvis

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(…)

REVIEW:  Can’t Hurry Love by Molly O’Keefe

REVIEW: Can’t Hurry Love by Molly O’Keefe

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(…)

Something is very wrong with us, and it’s not bad reviews

Something is very wrong with us, and it’s not bad reviews

  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(…)

REVIEW:  Can’t Buy Me Love by Molly O’Keefe

REVIEW: Can’t Buy Me Love by Molly O’Keefe

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(…)

Cultivating Tolerance: A multicultural solution

Cultivating Tolerance: A multicultural solution

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(…)

REVIEW:  A Gentleman Undone by Cecilia Grant

REVIEW: A Gentleman Undone by Cecilia Grant

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(…)

REVIEW:  The Understory by Elizabeth Leiknes

REVIEW: The Understory by Elizabeth Leiknes

  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(…)

Is There A Right Way to Read Rape?

Is There A Right Way to Read Rape?

  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(…)

REVIEW:  Blame it on Bath by Caroline  Linden

REVIEW: Blame it on Bath by Caroline Linden

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(…)

REVIEW: A Rogue By Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean

REVIEW: A Rogue By Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean

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(…)

REVIEW: The Whip by Karen Kondazian

REVIEW: The Whip by Karen Kondazian

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(…)