Comedy

Friday Film Review: Down With Love (2001) & Strictly Ballroom (1992)

Film review: Down With Love (2001) & Strictly Ballroom (1992) Grade: B- & B+ Genre: Romantic comedy Dear Readers, It hasn’t been a good week. A DVD I bought from an online shop for this week’s review – a Cary Grant/Doris Day film – has a scratch, which rendered it unplayable. I went to a(…)

Books in Recessionary Times

[poll id="136"] Last week I wondered on Twitter if the recession would hurt the book market. It doesn’t look like it will hurt the romance book market. One twitterer pointed out that movies did great during the Great Depression and apparently it was during that time that the Harlequin imprint really took off. And if(…)

REVIEW: Necking by Chris Salvatore

Dear Ms. Salvatore, I don’t think it’s unfair to say there are a lot of vampire books out there. Sometimes I feel like they should get their own category separate from paranormal books in general. But even so, I think your debut injected some light humor into a subgenre dominated by brooding, testosterone-laden men and(…)

REVIEW: At the Bride Hunt Ball by Olivia Parker

I had the strangest reaction to this book. On the one hand, I really liked the voice and the interaction between the characters. On the other, I hated, loathed really, the setup and the silly situations in which the characters were placed to evoke conflict. Gabriel Thurston Devine, the seventh duke of Wolverest, decides to(…)

Manga First Impressions: Wild Ones and Fairy Cube

Manga First Impressions: Wild Ones and Fairy Cube

Dear Readers, I got some first volumes of some shoujo series from Viz for review. I’ve not read any of the series, so I’ll just be providing my first impressions based upon all the Vol 1′s, a couple at a time. Wild Ones by Kiyo Fujiwara. Viz. $9.99. T for Teen (innuendo, some cartoony violence).(…)

GUEST REVIEW: What’s So Funny by Donald E Westlake

Today’s guest review comes from author Jennifer Estep. Estep pens funny novelizations inspired by the comic book ouvre featuring Bigtime and the super heroes/heroines (Karma Girl and Fiera, for example) and ubervillians that inhabit the city. *** Donald E. Westlake is the funniest writer you’re not reading. Never heard of him? I probably wouldn’t have(…)

REVIEW: I Gave You My Heart, but You Sold It Online by Dixie Cash

Ladies, This is the second book I’ve read in your series set in the minuscule west Texas town of Salt Lick featuring the dynamic duo of hair stylists Debbie Sue Overstreet and Edwina Perkins-Martin. And while I still love all the titles of the books, this one fell far short of book one in the(…)

REVIEW:  The Book, the Film, The T-Shirt by Matt Beaumont

REVIEW: The Book, the Film, The T-Shirt by Matt Beaumont

Dear Mr. Beaumont, While reading another of your books, “The E Before Christmas” I was in stitches. This book had me almost crying as I watched yet another “train wreck” occur for a British ad agency. The scene is mainly on the set of a brill TV advert for tyres (tires to us Americans) which(…)

REVIEW:  Dr Yes by Lisa Cach

REVIEW: Dr Yes by Lisa Cach

Dear Ms Cach, I told you this was one of my favorites of your older books and here’s my gushing fangrrl letter about it. Oh. My. God. This book is a winner. Screamingly funny heroine with a nose ring and a pink dye job is contacted by a secret organization known as B. L.I. S.(…)

REVIEW: The Chaotic Miss Crispino by Kasey Michaels

Dear Mrs. Michaels, Just an aside, the whole time I was reading this one I kept thinking of antihistamines and sleep meds. Allegra Crispino’s mother ran off with an Italian opera singer and was cut off by her father, the Baron Dugdale (which is a silly name, isn’t it?). Now he’s on death’s door and(…)

REVIEW: Must Love Dragons by Stephanie Rowe

Dear Ms. Rowe, While reading “Must Love Dragons” I kept getting feelings of deja vu. I think other readers will as well since there are a lot of similarities with “Date Me, Baby, One More Time.” I feel that a reader’s response to that book will determine their grade for this one. You left us(…)

REVIEW: Real Woman Don’t Wear a Size 2 by Kelley St. John

Dear Ms. St. John, As a woman of curves, I was happy to be offered the chance to read your book “Real Women Don’t Wear Size 2.” But while I enjoyed some things about it, there was an equal amount that just didn’t work for me. Clarise Robinson is tired of just wishing for a(…)

REVIEW:  The Spinster and the Rake by Anne Stuart

REVIEW: The Spinster and the Rake by Anne Stuart

Dear Mrs. Stuart, >Boy howdy some of your earlier regencies, gothics and contemporaries sell for a mint. Are they worth it? Well, in this case, yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause and this one is worth the money. It’s a light hearted romp with the proverbial regency characters of a spinster and a rake.(…)

REVIEW: Yule Be Mine by Charlene Teglia

Charlene, I love this book! I love Luke and I love Jordan and I love how they interact. I love their families and I really, really love Luke’s bathroom. I want that bathroom, damn it. But WTF? I went to your website and Fictionwise looking to snag a cover download and the book isn’t being(…)

REVIEW: My Favorite Marquess by Alexandra Bassett

Dear Ms Bassett (aka Elizabeth and Julia Bass), The opening of “My Favorite Marquess” reminded me a lot of Laura Kinsale’s “My Sweet Folly.” Thank God your book stayed pretty good while that one ended up as a bit of a mess. Violet and Sebastian are two fantastic characters and the rest of the crew(…)