feminism

The Enduring Appeal of The Small Town Romance

The Enduring Appeal of The Small Town Romance

Who doesn’t love a small town Romance? Given Jane’s observation in her 2011 RWA wrap-up that small towns remain very popular, apparently a lot of readers do. Given the comments to that post and various lamentations from readers online, there are many readers who absolutely despise the small town Romance. While all genre devices have [...]

REVIEW: A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare

REVIEW: A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare

Dear Ms. Dare: You are well known for your cute toy filled book trailers (Stud Club Trilogy / Maya Banks’ Highlander Trilogy) and I was tempted to do a lego review for this book. After all, I have a castle. I bought some canons. I have minifigs where the girl’s boobs look like they are busting out [...]

Friday Midday Links: Book Scanning for $1 and Brand Loyalty

Friday Midday Links: Book Scanning for $1 and Brand Loyalty

Limecello has been hosting a charity drive on her blog and it ends this Sunday.  Various authors have committed to donating money to the famine relief effort in exchange for comments.  You can read more about it here. ***** Sarah and I are conducting a reader panel at RT in 2012. It’s very cool because the [...]

Is there Such a Thing as Feminist Sex?

[Fleur] thought about Jake. His erotic pull on her grew stronger every time she saw him. She didn’t trust him, but she wanted him. And why couldn’t she have him? She turned the idea over in her mind. No emotional commitment. Just good, dirty sex. That’s all her attraction to him had ever been about. [...]

The Way We Dress

The Way We Dress

This is only tangentially related to romance books. Oh, what am I saying? This is not at all related to romance books by even the most strained reading but it is an issue that has been on my mind for sometime. Earlier this year, there was an article about Katie Couric and her somewhat provocative [...]

Sex and Death – A Rant

Sex and Death – A Rant

more animals I recently finished reading Linda Howard’s Death Angel. This will not be a review, as I have no idea how to go about reviewing this book. If I were to judge on the usual criteria – plot, characterization, prose – it’d be maybe a B or a B-. But the story made an [...]

REVIEW:  Lessons of Desire by Madeline Hunter

REVIEW: Lessons of Desire by Madeline Hunter

Dear Ms. Hunter: I really enjoyed Rules of Seduction and was greatly anticipating Lessons of Desire and the story of the independent and unconventional Phaedra Blair. When I began the book, I was even more interested because I could see that the story that was going to unfold was an exploration of a fundamental feminist [...]

Romance Choices Falsity:  Alone and Miserable or Together and Happy

Romance Choices Falsity: Alone and Miserable or Together and Happy

“One line from “My Brilliant Career” has always haunted me. At one point, Sybylla’s Aunt Gussie tells her, “Loneliness is a terrible price to pay for independence.” My teenage self thought that was an incredibly pithy observation, and I went right home to record it in my journal. When I hear it now, I think, [...]