Sep 3 2012
Dear Ms. Cushman, The title of this book rang a bell when I saw it for sale. Since it has such a positive reputation and was a Newbery Honor book, I felt confident that it would be worth my time to seek out and try. I immediately fell for Catherine, called Birdy. But I also(…)
Aug 17 2012
Little Manhattan (2005) Genre: Coming of Age Romance/Comedy Grade: B I’ll be honest and say I took a chance on this one. I didn’t recognize any of the actors or the director and frankly given the subject matter, it could have turned out to be a disaster. But “Little Manhattan” ended up sneaking under my(…)
Jan 31 2012
Dear Ms. Livesey, The cover song has always occupied a precarious position in the annals of music lovers. On the one hand, it is quite a safe thing to do—cover someone else’s song. One already knows that it is beloved. One already knows what sort of person might like that song. It has a brand, a(…)
Nov 4 2011
The Sure Thing (1985) Genre: Coming of age romance Grade: B Once I’d seen “Say Anything,” I knew I’d eventually have to finally, after all these years, watch this whole movie. Yep, I’d seen bits and pieces of it on TV but always ended up flipping the channel, maybe because I’d never seen it from(…)
Oct 8 2011
Dear Ms. Wolff, Jaclyn says: When I opened to page one of Isle of Night I was expecting a historical romance set in Scotland—presumably on the Isle of Night. The ARC I had didn’t have a cover image and because I have enjoyed your books in the past I did not seek information about the(…)
May 24 2011
Dear Mr. Davies, Forgive me for not getting to your novel “Gentleman Captain” until just recently even though it was published in the US last autumn. I’ve been a fan of historical naval books for years having started the Aubrey/Maturin series (I’ll finish it one of these days, I swear!) and checking into any romance(…)
May 14 2011
Dear Mr. Edward. The mysterious and elusive Dr. Laura Vivanco sent me the link to your book, as an example of a meta-romance. Even better, a meta-m/m-romance. I love romances about romance authors and I especially love those about the m/m romance world, considering its own peculiar fucked-upped-ness and stranger-than-fiction history (Z.A. Maxfield’s Send to(…)
Feb 16 2011
Dear Readers, I don't know if it was Jayne's recent review of the Merchant-Ivory film adaptation of this novel, or a discussion of Forster's works that some of us on Twitter got into a while back. There's also the fact that every time I see Jennie do one of her classics reviews, I think to(…)
Apr 1 2010
WARNING: This review of The Wood Nymph contains major spoilers for that book’s prequel, A Chance Encounter. If you plan to read A Chance Encounter and do not like spoilers, you may prefer not to read this review. Dear Ms. Balogh, Recently I reviewed one of your older traditional regencies, A Chance Encounter. I enjoyed(…)
Oct 16 2009
Say Anything Genre: Coming of Age Romance Grade: B+ How did I miss this? Srsly, where was I? Dunno. I’ve heard about the “holding up the boom box” scene. I’ve seen it on so many “Gawd, these are the best films evah!” lists and heard from so many people that “you have to see this(…)
Oct 13 2009
Dear Ms. Walsh, You don’t know me, but I sometimes lurk at your blog, Writer Unboxed, which is one of the best blogs for writers I know of. I’ve been following it since the days when you were writing this book, under the working title of Unbounded, so when Jane told me that we had(…)
Jul 31 2009
Starter for 10 Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance Grade: C+/B- For all of you who were thinking “Jayne only likes old movies,” I decided to pick one that’s not 70 years old. Yes, it’s set in 1985 but it was just released in 2006! So that counts, right? Why did I pick this? 1) James McAvoy. 2) I(…)
Oct 11 2007
Dear Ms. Shinn, You’ve written some of my favorite romances (Yes, I know that they are published in the SF/Fantasy and YA genres, but I consider many of your books romances). General Winston’s Daughter, your latest YA fantasy novel, may not be my most cherished among your works but it’s still an unusually good book,(…)
Apr 10 2007
Paradise Kiss, by Ai Yazawa. Published by TokyoPop. 5/5 volumes released. Retail: $9.99. Rated OT 16+ (sex scenes, but only showing what you’d see on network TV.) “The basement store was removed from the main road by a maze of side streets. To reach it, one had to go down a flight of stairs(…)
Apr 17 2006
Dear Ms. Mccafferty: I was late to the Jessica Darling saga and was able to read Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings within days of one another last fall. These were wonderful books and really cemented a relationship between myself and young adult fiction. I recommended these to a friend who responded that she couldn’t read(…)
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