romance genre

Midday Links of Love: 50% off Ebooks at EHarlequin Today

Over at Smart Bitches I noticed that there is an ebook sale at eHarlequin today. Using the code CUTINHALF, you will receive 50% off any ebook in the eHarlequin library. I think that they have over 2,000 ebooks for sale. I don’t have a good list for you to buy but I can provide some(…)

Monday Midday Links: It Looks Rosy for Romance

Romantic Times is blogging about Carina Press. The blogger, Nicole, says that the manufacturer limitations is what has prevented her from adopting ebooks. What Nicole is talking about, however, seems to be limitations by the publisher and not the manufacturer: I know that one of the reasons I have resisted a Kindle or a Nook(…)

The Rake

see more Lolcats and funny pictures There is not a more common hero archetype in historical romance than the “rake”. In my early days of reading, I always viewed the “rake” as a sign of virility of the hero.   In romance novels, the women titter about the rake’s scandalous reputation while parading their young in(…)

Readers Opinions Wanted: Unfamiliar Terms

In today’s First Page, Laura Kinsale brought up a question in the comments regarding unfamiliar terms in a story. I have a question, as a writer, about one of the comments. This isn’t a loaded question, or any sort of commentary on this excerpt itself, it’s input for me. DS said I had to look(…)

Ponderings on the Golden Era: Perspectives of a Seasoned Nerd and a Nerdy Novice

see more Lolcats and funny pictures Janet: Reading through the comments on the Dear Author Golden Era poll, they seem to reflect the split in the voting between the 1990s and the 2000s. Those who chose the 1990s seem more like Historical Romance readers, while a number of those favoring the current decade have pointed(…)

Golden Era of Romance

[poll id="194"] McVane has kindly thought up some poll ideas for me. (They are hard, you guys!).   I thought this topic was particularly apt given two things.   First, there are some readers who believe that the best of romance is in the past and that what is being published today is good but will never(…)

Memorable Romance Book Moments

see more Lolcats and funny pictures There are passages in books that are so memorable that you need only say a few descriptive words and the reader knows exactly what book you are talking about. These are scenes that I don’t think could be duplicated by the same author or even other authors without invoking(…)

The Romance Apologia Scale

more animals Every Thanksgiving, we have tried to post something positive, something to show our thanks for the community of readers here.   This year, we are providing a self help guide, so to speak, for the community to respond to those around us who might question the reading choices we have brought with us on(…)

Just Because It’s Got the Name, Doesn’t Mean It’s the Same

more animals [poll id="121"] It seems only yesterday we were reading about various “traditionalist” attacks on Erotic Romance.   Remember the graphical standards debacle?   Or how about the accusations that GBLT and polyamorous Romance weren’t real Romance?   But the intervening years have shown that Erotic Romance is not only a viable subgenre, but is, in fact,(…)

Genre Fatigue Poll

[poll id="107"] I’m feeling the paranormal/fantasy fatigue. What are you feeling? Send to Kindle

Let’s Talk About Sex (and Love and then Sex Again)

more cat pictures I just watched the first episode of Bones which I downloaded from iTunes. I’d been thinking about watching it for some time and was holed up in the basement working on a project and thought that running the show while I was working would be a great way to pass some time.(…)

Mainstream Media Embarasses Itself

MSNBC decided to run a poll about romance novels in conjunction with its feature of fiction writer Danielle Steele. Why MSNBC jumps from Danielle Steele to romance, I’ll never know but it just goes to show how culturally illiterate the MSNBC poll writers are. Apparently MSNBC believes that romance books are still called “bodice rippers.”(…)

18 Really Awesome Things About the Romance Community

see more crazy cat pics I’ve been fatigued by the scandals and the bad behavior and the general discontent that’s going on these days. It seems like you can’t turn around without tripping over someone inserting their foot into their mouth and then some. The problem with that is there are actually some wonderful things(…)

Romance’s Trivialization of Issues

see more crazy cat pics A legitimate criticism of romance as serious literature is it’s often cavalier treatment of important life topics. Too often, war, separation, human indignity, are treated as plot devices, conflict mechanisms, and not given the attention and treatment those important issues deserve. How many romance books are thought provoking? How many(…)

Confess Yourself: Are you a closet category romance reader?

Confess Yourself: Are you a closet category romance reader?

I received a press release from Harlequin a couple of weeks ago about the online version of the Romance Report that I made fun of last year. The theme was confessions. This year, though, I figured it would be just too easy and I would just be repeating the myself. But my recent reading of(…)