“Remastering Jerna is a complex, erotic story of redemption, love, and the contract of trust in a relationship of control and submission.”

Tagline plus cover art: To me that says erotica, not romance.

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Didn’t have a problem with your other split grade or any split grade as long as the reviewer explains why.

This is the part of your review that triggered my reaction:

My grade is slightly lower than it would be if this weren’t a romance review site, because most of the book is NOT actually a romance. If this were a general lit review site, I’d give it an A- (notice, for example, how many times I use “brilliantly” in this review). As a romance review site, though:

Grade: B

To me this sounds like the grade was changed based on your intepretation of DA reader expectations and that’s the part that’s not sitting very well with me. If it had gone from an A- to a B+…well, okay, not so bad. But to drop 2 grades levels (A- to a B) seemed huge in my mind. Probably made larger by that fact that the phrasing hit a trigger for me.

Taking my head’s arguments out of the equation, my gut reaction to the above quote is:

(Stealing from your edit) I’m Cher from Moonstruck and I want to smack you around and say, “Trust us!” We’re intelligent readers, DA reviews are top-notch in explaining what did and didn’t work so we’ll figure out whether or not a book might work for us.

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BTW: Your commented response was excellent. I’ve read books that wring the emotion from me and, oh my gosh, they were excellent. I’d rate them highly but there are some that I never, ever, want to read it again.

Thanks for the clarification.

AQ

The body of your review screams A+, I’m not too hung up about ratings. I don’t know, but I always figured the rating of a book was more for an authors benefit? That’s how I see it anyway, the text means more than how many stars/letter/penises a book gets ;)

It’s a great review of what sounds like a great book and no one is going to (okay, there’s always someone) have a hissy fit if you leave it as is or change it. Frankly, I’ve read many, many books that I would rate an A for one part and a B or even C-for other parts.

It’s the caveat that you threw in at the end about this being a romance book review site that I think is confusing some of us.

If Jane gave an A to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, which she labeled a ‘fairy tale, middle grade’, than why can’t you give an A to a book that is not completely or solely romance? Other grade A reviews have been given here to not-romance YA books, so why the extra line you’ve drawn in the sand for yourself?

I respect that Sarah’s reading experience led to a B grade (though I would give the book an A. Very few authors can make me feel so deeply for a character).

I don’t know if the next counts as a spoiler, but just in case . . .

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I did think there were elements of romance in the beginning. Jerna’s relationship with Tyrme was very sweet and Jerna wants to get back to her and their children. He wants to survive for them.When he begins to lose hope–ugh. Very moving.

What I loved most about Tyrme was that while some women in m/m’s are shrill and unpleasant, she was loving and strong willed. The ending was especially tense for me because I wanted Jerna to both be reunited with Tyrme and still get the guy. I loved this book :)

DA has definitely reviewed books that are, at least to me, not really romances at all or the romance is a very tiny portion of the entire story. And I think it’s a fantastic thing that DA is so open to all kinds of stories.

(And I’ve read many a romance novel where the main character is “a sanctimonious prig who refuses romance, and it takes stripping everything–and I mean everything–from him to make him accept romance.” =) I still call it a romance. There’s still the character learning to love, no matter how long it takes him to get there.)

For one, although I know how little an author sometimes has to do with their own cover copy and marketing, the end tagline for Jerna on PD Publishing’s page is, “Remastering Jerna is a complex, erotic story of redemption, love, and the contract of trust in a relationship of control and submission.” Which does sort of sound romance-y, if you ask me. And only describes the last third of the book.

Second, if this book were the second half of the book (which would be silly, because Jerna wouldn’t be the character he is if it weren’t for the first half of the book, but if), it would conform to A grade expectations for me: No one steal it, I will keel you! But it’s not only the last half. There’s the first half too, and it could get…wearing, even though it was brilliantly done. Reading a suicidal depressive get more suicidal is not my idea of a good time (don’t get me started on Crime and Punishment, please), even if it’s brilliantly done. I’ll reread maybe the last 1/4 of Jerna again and again and again. Already have. But I don’t want to go near the first half again. Not because it’s bad, but because it’s too vivid a portrait of extreme stress and hopeless despair.

If forced to put the two parts of my reading experience together, I’d give it a B+. So maybe that’s what I should have done. And I have been gently schooled by y’all (and the rest of the wonderful DA reviewers on back channel) that reviewing non-romance is fine and good and should be graded on its merits. But for me, on its merits, Jerna gets….oh, lord, now I really don’t know. My original response here (having rewritten this many times as well, AQ!) was B+. But then why say A- in the review?

I think maybe that my review was slightly schizophrenic because the book is too. I think. It wants to be a romance, but you’ve got to get there first. And the romance if more powerful because of the despair that comes before it. But it starts out definitely not a romance. It’s not–it’s all the things I say at the beginning of the review, but it’s not a romance. But it’s ending? Yes, a romance. The denouement and tension and conflict–at the end–are all mixed up in the romance, but that’s not how it starts and it takes a long time to get there. Jerna doesn’t WANT a romance at the beginning. He’s (as I say in my Edit above) a sanctimonious prig who refuses romance, and it takes stripping everything–and I mean everything–from him to make him accept romance. So…hmm.

@AQ: I don’t know if that helps at all or just makes it more confusing. This is not my first split grade (and I stand by that one much more firmly), but I’ll try really really hard not to do it again, I promise. So sorry.

A: I loved it and would cry if someone took it from my library. I would need lots of chocolate to get over its loss.
B: It’s good and I would buy it again, given the chance.
C: Eh. Not bad but I probably would never read it again.
D: I want my money back.
F: I want my money back and repayment for the time wasted reading it.
DNF: does this really need an explanation?

And the review needs to reflect what the book is actually about. (BTW: I thought the review was excellent.) Otherwise there needs to be some cavaet about DA’s official definition of romance for grading purposes and how non-romance grades will be downgraded because they aren’t romances.

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Ya’ know, I’ve written 4 messages and deleted them and then I wrote the above and rewrote it and I’m still not sure I’ve nailed down my dismay. Does this mean that you’ve upgraded books because they are romances?

Can someone help me out here? I’m really having trouble with the argument in my own head so I’d love to have someone help me clarify.

If this book deserves an A (and it sounds like it does), that’s the grade you should give. I think DA has a broad enough base of fans to incorporate all varieties of romantic fiction, no matter how unusual the romance.

(And really, your excellent review makes it sound like more of a romance than some other novels I’ve seen reviewed at DA.)

I’m not into BDSM, so my favourite free short story of hers so far is this: A fluffy tale.

Oh, and if you give her feedback she answers very promptly ^^.