Au Revoir, Romance Month

It's January, which--the last time I checked, anyway--follows December. That means Romance Month is over. Sadface. Thank you to all the people who wrote guest posts and read along with me this month! You deserve cyber cuddles, which sounds uncomfortable but is totally worth it. {{{cuddles}}}

In case you like lists, here are all the posts for 2011's Romance Month:

• Announcement
• Review of Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James
  
• Guest post by KT Grant on Virgin Heroes
• Guest review by Maria from A Passion for Books & Real Life of Omega Mine
• Guest post by Meghan from Medieval Bookworm about Medieval Romances
• Review of The Concubine by Jade Lee
• Interview with Manna Francis
• Guest review by Margay of Persuade Me
• Guest post by Magdalen Braden on Contemporary Romances
• Guest post by Evangeline Holland on Historical Romance
• Guest review by Violet from Violet Crush of Lisa Kleypas' Hathaway series
• Review of Snowbound with the Notorious Rake by Sarah Mallory
• Guest post by Colette from A Buckeye Girl Reads on Arrogant Heroes
• Guest post by Penelope Watson on Holiday Inspiration
• Guest post by Becky from One Literature Nut on Romance Novel Covers
• The Girl Who Slept
• Review of The Thorn and the Blossom by Theodora Goss

Counting the book I'm currently in the middle of, I read five romances and chucked seven mid-way through, which aren't the greatest stats in the world. I feel like I accomplished a lot more than that! I think I've become a very jaded romance reader at this point in my life, which is why there were so many DNFs. I really wanted my interest to be engaged and to be shown something new, and that didn't happen with a lot of the books I picked up.

I predict I will read more romances in 2012 than I did in 2011, but right now there are bunch of YAs calling my name. :) I hope you all enjoyed romance month as much as I did, and thank you again to everyone who joined in!

Book Review: THE THORN AND THE BLOSSOM by Theodora Goss

Proposed alternate title: It's Not Easy Being Green



Evelyn is an American studying at Oxford, when she decides to traipse down to Cornwall for a week. While there, she wanders into a used books shop and meets the handsome son of the store's owner, Brendan (this is my dream, by the way). But will they ever be able to get together after her vacation?

This book is marketed heavily for its binding, which is in an accordion style, with Brendan's story on one side and Evelyn's on the other. Hence the subtitle of "A Two-Sided Love Story" (fun fact: one-sided love stories are also called stalking). Plus, it's nicely illustrated and designed. Although the binding is an unusual idea, I wanted to read this book because of the story, not its packaging.

The story is based on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (or at least a Cornish version of it), which I really enjoyed. I am totally down for any book that bases itself off Arthurian romances. You see, Evelyn and Brendan are locked in a 1000-year cycle of falling in love but never being together, thanks to a giantess' curse. The cyclical nature of these star-crossed lovers' relationship is reflected in the binding of the book. Clever, eh?

I started with Evelyn's story. Unfortunately, I didn't like her character at all and I thought her story was rather pointless. There were a lot of inconsistencies between what we're told about Evelyn and how she acts that don't make her believable. She's supposed to be in her last year at Oxford, so one would assume she's spent some time in England, but she acts like she's fresh off the boat. She's supposed to be studying literature, but on a week-long vacation by herself, she doesn't bring a single book. She writes poetry and sees fairies, but is supposed to be cynical. And so on.

As for character development, I didn't get anything from her. Emotionally, it felt like her story started and stopped in the exact same place (location-wise, it did, actually--that didn't help). Oh, girl's got problems, but those problems have nothing to do with Brendan. It was like at the beginning of Beauty and the Beast, where Belle sings, "Little town, full of little people, every day like the one before." Now imagine if Belle had stayed in the town and married Gaston, and you have an idea of my frustration with Evelyn. She's stupefyingly conventional and never seems to think through her decisions.

Thankfully, Brendan's story saved this book for me. Although he seemed like kind of a prat in Evelyn's side of the book, he clearly is the hero of this story and I felt like there were challenges he had to face during the course of the book that helped him grow emotionally and wind up in a place where he could achieve his dreams. It's interesting that even in books with "two sides" to the story, and ones written by women to boot, the female is still written as such a passive character. Not that Brendan is a particularly active character, of course, but at least he made conscious decisions and used his own judgment.

Although this book didn't blow me away, there's a lot packed into its eighty pages. It's definitely not your run-of-the-mill romance, either in the binding or the way the story is told. I would definitely recommend it if you're at all interested, especially if you happen to be an Anglophile or a medievalist.

The Girl Who Slept

Johannes Vermeer, Girl Asleep, 1657

Have you ever noticed that women in romance novels sleep a lot? Naturally we all need sleep, but with something so ordinary it doesn't seem worth mentioning in a book unless there's a point, like going to the bathroom. So what's the point of all the sleeping? Tired writers? A zombified nation of near-catatonic workaholics who can only sympathize with people in a similar state of ennui? Or does it mean something?

While rereading New Moon last month, I couldn't help but notice that Bella kept passing out--or almost passing out--a lot. And not during entirely appropriate moments (like, you know, bed time), either. Of course, the story is based on Sleeping Beauty, so I figured that had something to do with it, and set the issue aside to think of it no more.

BUT THEN, since I was already thinking about it (despite my resolve not to), I kept noticing heroines in nearly every romance I picked up afterward had a similar problem! It seemed as soon as these women encountered an extremely tense, emotionally-wrought, or high stress environment, they decided they needed a nap because they were super duper tired. "Here I am, alone in the house of a rake who wants to ravish me. Snnnnooorrrrzzzzzzz." Really?

At first I guessed that it was some passive-aggressive way of avoiding conflict--kind of like how Scott Pilgrim runs off to the bathroom as soon as he's faced with a potentially awkward situation. But it seemed odd that so many heroines would fall asleep in different books and situations. "What purpose does this serve the story?" I wondered to myself (actually it went more like, "WHAT THE HEEEEEEECK?!?"). Reading about women who keep falling asleep isn't exactly exciting.


John Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare, 1781

It was an embarrassingly long time afterward that I remembered sleeping women in art history=SEX ALL OVER THE PLACE! Exclamation mark! The most famous example being Fuseli's wildly popular The Nightmare. Pointed toes, arched back, and expression of combined agony and bliss--that woman is totally having an organism. And what's being done to the horse behind that curtain? You don't know; and judging by its expression, I don't want to know.

Aside from the pulled-out chair and open doorway that suggests recently vacated company, Vermeer's Girl Asleep is, according to your friendly neighborhood symbologists, full of allegories for temptation, love, and intercourse. It also looks like there's someone under the table, and I don't think they're picking up silverware. IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

In literature, too, a sleeping woman is often a symbol of passive sexuality--think of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, for instance. Again, this is reflected in Twilight: there's a reason why the dynamics of Edward watching Bella sleep puts mamas' panties all in a twist. Or take the scene in New Moon when Jacob sneaks into Bella's room to tell her the Very Important Thing about him being a werewolf and she can barely keep her eyes open. Of course, the fact that she doesn't fall asleep while he's around could indicate that she's not as 'available' to him as he'd like her to be.

For hundreds of years, at the least, a sleeping woman has suggested a sexually available woman. Do I think romance novelists are deliberately using this imagery to make their heroines seem more sexualized? Perhaps--Meyer employs it very effectively--but I think at this point it's become such a part of our culture that we don't consciously take note of it, especially in contemporary-set novels. Most people aren't looking for allegories or subtext in books; if they were, it would make reading certain novels really uncomfortable (I'm looking at you, Lewis Carrol). Even if they aren't consciously aware of it, however, on some level it is clear that the heroine, while asleep, is more vulnerable to the hero. If she's dropping off to sleep, then obviously she trusts him.


Elizabeth Siddal, 1860. Photo courtesy of lizziesiddal.com.

Have you ever noticed this narcoleptic heroine phenomenon? Do stories where the power dynamic is reversed and a woman observes a man who's sleeping have the same subtext?

Guest Post by Becky R.: JUDGING A COVER BY ITS MAN-FLESH

Our last guest post before the holidays is from Becky at One Literature Nut! A few weeks ago Becky casually made an observation about romance novel covers that I thought was pretty brilliant, and I begged asked her to write a post about it. I'll let her tell you about her theory and you can judge for yourselves!


A couple of months ago, my good friend Tasha at Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Books posted a great review of the romance novel Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis. Having just come off a couple of quick contemporary romances myself, I thought it was interesting that the hero in the novel was a wounded soul. Here’s why that was interesting—the cover seemed to predict where we were headed. If our heroes could speak, here’s what I anticipate they might reveal to us:

Fully-Clothed Hero, Up Close:


"Hi. I’m a wounded soul. I’ve probably been through a terrible accident, been ditched by a woman, been a witness of a crime, or been emotionally shut down for years. Basically, someone close to me lets the girl know, and it melts her grown-girl, independent heart and allows her to wiggle into my world (take that as you will). I’m the quintessential softie that knows how to be a man’s man, but prefers to be a romantic bard at heart."

Partially-Clothed Hero, Up Close:


"I’m a bit trickier. Showing some man-flesh might just be showing my rugged, manly side to the world, but that’s not all to me. I still have a secret that keeps me aloof  and yet strangely appealing to women. Even though I might act like a jerk, I’m probably profanely dedicated to my woman (to the point of murder), and once I reveal that gut-jerking wound, the bond with my woman is eternal. Don’t mess with me!"

Fully-Clothed Hero with Fully or Partially-Clothed Heroine:


"Listen, girl. I’m not the type to 'need' to chase you. I can seem intimidating in my power suit or native dress, to the point of being unapproachable, but women throw themselves at me every day. I probably 'get around' quite a bit—just enough to make YOU think I’m the ultimate bad boy that you need to tame. I like to think that you don’t get me, and I’ll hold out to the very last second to let you know what I think. In fact, you better have some serious take charge brutishness of your own or powerful boardroom woman-power to catch my attention. No worries. Once I get that we both wear the 'pants' (so to say), I’ll be your bad boy that is secretly your good guy that you managed to tame."

Partially-Clothed Hero with Fully or Partially-Clothed Heroine:


"Nowadays, I don’t like to jerk a girl to my chest just to watch her heaving bosoms rage or flowing hair escape into the moonlight. Nope. Now I like to grab a girl to me to look her in the eyes to show her she has underestimated or misunderstood me on so many levels. Yes, I might look ruthless in my bare chest and jeans or ripped open shirt and kilt, but I’m a man-beast with some serious rage over some past wrong. Oh, and don’t call me a man-whore, because it’s probably pretty likely that I’m nowhere near that title—people just think I am. Unlock my wound, show me some nurturing, and my eyes (ahem, I mean hot bod) will be yours forever."


Of course we have some funny exceptions to these general, four heroes, but when you really take a look at the romance novels you’ve read recently, you might see some of these traits playing out. Gone is Fabio with his long hair, open shirt, and half-dressed vixen. Today we’re seeing more modern themes, paranormal characters, and strong female leads to match their men. It is kind of interesting though to see covers start to reveal even more about those leading men!

Which male lead is your favorite, and have you seen any covers to match their description?



Thank you so much, Becky! I love the phrase, 'unlock my wound,' someone should definitely put that on a cover! :)
You can find out more about Becky on her Twitter page as well as her blog.

Guest Post by Penelope Watson: FESTIVE AND FROSTY, PENELOPE'S HOLIDAY INSPIRATION

It's almost Christmas! Are you in the holiday spirit yet? If you're not, I have the perfect person to help bring some cheer and wassail into your life: Penelope Watson is a blogger and romance author who writes Christmas romances. Welcome, Penny!


I have an unusual writing challenge. I write a holiday romance series about Santa Claus and the North Pole 365 days/year--The Klaus Brothers Series, published by The Wild Rose Press. Even during the hot, muggy months of summer, I need to feel frosty and festive. I accomplish this in several ways. One thing I do is surround myself with holiday decor all year long. Tiny Santas hang near my desk, whispering encouragement as I write. Wreaths adorn the windows. Antique Christmas knick-knacks line my shelves. Sometimes I play holiday music, especially my favorite Celine Dion Christmas album (don't laugh).



In the fall and winter, I grab a gingerbread latte from Starbucks every morning before I start writing. It really gets me in the holiday mood. I also love to simmer hot apple cider for the family. I put cinnamon sticks, cloves and mulling spices in a pot with apple cider, and bring it to a simmer on the stove top. The kids love it. And the adults sip it with a shot of Calvados (apple brandy). When the whole house smells like cinnamon and cloves, it definitely inspires holiday spirit and creativity.

Christmas is a huge holiday at our house. We entertain the entire family with good food and festive cocktails. I serve "kiddie-friendly" drinks for the younger crowd... sparkling apple cider, or our own concoction we like to call "Gin and J." It's 1 part ginger ale mixed with 1 part orange juice. Put it in a festive glass with some fruit (orange slices, maraschino cherries, etc) and the kids feel like they are getting a big treat.

My new favorite grown-up Christmas cocktail is called The Gingerbread Man. It packs a wallop, and it's the perfect drink for the holidays. If you're feeling brave, give it a try! (Here's the original link from Drinknation.com). I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, and a Happy New Year!

Please stop by my website for more information about The Klaus Brothers Series: http://www.pennywatsonbooks.com/.



The Gingerbread Man Cocktail

1 part Bailey's Irish Cream
1 part Goldschläger
1 part butterscotch Schnapps
1 part vodka

Combine in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake it up, strain into shot glasses. Enjoy!


Thank you, Penny! I don't have that much alcohol in my entire house, I don't think. :(
If you want to find out more Penelope and her books, check her out on her blog, twitter, and FaceBook. Also check out Penny's latest release, Sweet Magic!

Guest Post by Colette Chmiel: ARROGANT HERO SYNDROME

Today one of my blogging buddies, Colette from A Buckeye Girl Reads, is here to talk about her favorite type of romantic hero. Colette and I have a long-standing debate over one of the heroes she mentions in this post, so let's bring it! ;)



Everybody has a favorite type of hero. I'll be the first one to admit that I have a hero problem. I almost never go for the nice guy love interest for the heroine. No, I go to for the one that is moody, slightly boorish, demanding but has a heart of gold that only shows itself when he realizes he’s in love with the heroine. Yes, I have what I call the Arrogant Hero Syndrome. I just love those guys who with one line like: “One day you will kiss a man you can't breathe without, and find that breath is of little consequence.” (Barrons, Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning) will totally win me over to their side with a blink of an eye.

I'm not sure when I developed the Arrogant Hero Syndrome, but  I blame it totally on James Mallory, the hero of the first real romance book I read. He was the hero in A Gentle Rogue by Johanna Lindsey. He was this tougher then tough guy who totally melted for Georgie and I was hooked from that moment on for tough guys.

I don't know why I can't like the nice guy heroes. The ones who are charming, nice and would do anything for their heroine. With a few exceptions the nice guy heroes tend to bore me with their charm and obvious love for the heroine. They are open books, and what makes the arrogant hero so desirable to me is that you never know where they are coming from or going to. The ultimate example of the Arrogant Hero is Barrons from Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. There's almost nothing redeemable about him, but he's so mysterious, blunt and jerkish how can you not just love him? I'll be in the middle of wanting to smack him  for lines like this one:  “I'm sorry your pretty little world got all screwed up, but everybody's does, and you go on. It's how you go on that defines you.” (Bloodfever) Then we get a gem like this one: “You're leaving me, Rainbow Girl," (Dreamfever) and it makes me love him again. What can I say? I have book boyfriend issues!

Tell me, what kind of hero do you like best? The ones with the hidden heart of gold or the ones who are super sweet?


Some of my favorite Arrogant Hero Quotes:

"You undo me, Merit. Wholly and completely. You don't take me at my word. You challenge me at every opportunity. And that means when I'm with you, I am less than the head of this House... and I am more than the head of this House. I am a man." He stroked my cheeks with his thumbs. "In my very, very long life, I need you more than I have ever needed anything. (Ethan, Twice Bitten by Chloe Neill)

He paused, then tapped a finger against the box. “This is a wish,” he said quietly, “that even after four hundred years of existence, a man can be strong enough to accept the gifts he’s given.”
“Ethan—,” I began, but he shook his head.
“I’m prepared to wait for a positive response.”
“That’s going to take a while.”
Ethan lifted a single eyebrow, a grin lifting one corner of his mouth. “Sentinel, I am immortal.” (Ethan, Twice Bitten by Chloe Neill)

“You know I do, aye? Love you right, Chessiebomb.”  (Terrible, City of Ghosts by Stacia Kane)

“I am cursed with a terminal case of curiosity," he said. "I am jealous, selfish, acquisitive, territorial and possessive. I have a terrible temper, and I know I can be a cruel son of a bitch." He cocked his head. "I used to eat people, you know.” (Dragos, Dragon Bound)

Signs you have The Arrogant Hero Syndrome:

5. You find yourself skimming over parts of the book that don't have the bad guy love interest in them.
4. You have trouble reading books with Beta heroes in them.
3. Eye rolling occurs when the nice guy hero appears.
2. Shouting occurs when the heroine dares have a paragraph alone with the nice guy hero.
1. You find yourself defending heroes like Barrons and Ethan all over the place.

Thank you, Colette! I don't think I have arrogant hero syndrome, thank heavens. :)
You can find out more about Colette by checking her out on twitter and FaceBook.

Book Review: SNOWBOUND WITH THE NOTORIOUS RAKE by Sarah Mallory

Proposed alternate title: Rosemary for Remembrance



Rose, a sensible widow, is stranded in a hunting lodge over Christmas due to a blizzard. The lodge's owner, Sir Lawrence Daunton, is there all alone, drinking himself into oblivion and having a pity party. Although Sir Lawrence's rakish reputation precedes him and Rose is determined not to fall for another rogue, they decide to crank the spit and roast some chicken anyway--IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN--and they fall in love. But will Sir Lawrence be able to convince Rose he's a changed man before she marries someone else?

This book is what's called a "cabin romance"--kind of like a house party romance, but with only two people. Trapped alone together in a tiny space. Who knows what could happen?! The charm of a cabin romance is that two people who would otherwise not normally socialize have to cooperate and get to know one another very well by simple necessity. Unfortunately, in Snowbound with the Notorious Rake, Rose and Lawrence are of a similar social set and I'm not sure the 'cabin' part of their romance was necessary for them to 'fall in love.'

The book started out pretty good, if extremely silly. I really liked that Rose was practical and experienced, as well as the sexual aggressor in the relationship. Once the romance moved out of the hunting lodge, however, the story lost a lot of momentum and seemed to go into a rejection repeat cycle. There are reasons for Rose to be cautious about a relationship with Sir Lawrence, but since he never behaves in any way that's remotely rakish during the entire course of the novel and is pretty obviously reformed, her repeated rejections don't seem justified.

Any connection between the two characters is indicated through tell and not show--the author tells us they feel a connection, but Rose's actions suggest rather that she believes Sir Lawrence has the moral compass of a Goldman-Sachs executive. Furthermore, it gets more and more difficult to sympathize with Rose because she's actually kind of mean; at one point she says, "I cannot imagine any sensible person asking you to stand godparent to their child." Wow, really? It's not as if he's a pedophile. Instead of telling Rose to go eff herself in a snowbank--which is what I would have done in his shoes--Sir Lawrence just brushes it off; but one has to wonder exactly how and why Rose is in love with someone of whom she has such a low opinion.

As for Sir Lawrence, he's just kinda there. He's actually actually very nice and polite and thoroughly bland. Rose's fiancee-the-second-time-around (don't most people usually break up after one of them decides they shouldn't get married?) is a total prat, yet she persists in thinking he's an upstanding citizen, which is another nail in her relatability coffin.

Overall this book is way too long, with tons of silliness that quickly descends into nonsensicalness. The characters aren't believable, and nothing very interesting happens. I will say that Rose's son, Sam, was the perfect balance between incorrigible child and convenient plot device, but beyond that I didn't find a lot to enjoy in this book.



Musical notes: "Last Christmas" by Wham! Eighties fashions!

Guest Review II

Hello, everyone! Just a heads up that Violet Crush has a post about Lisa Kleypas' Hathaway series up in honor of Romance Month. Check it out!

Guest Post by Evangeline Holland: THE ROMANCE OF HISTORY

Yesterday Magdalen from Promantica wrote about the difficulties of creating a contemporary romance; today we have Evangeline Holland from Edwardian Promenade here to tell us the pitfalls of writing a historical romance. Evangeline is a writer, scholar, and co-hosted the Downton Abbey twitter party earlier this year. Bonjour, Evangeline!


I not only write historical romance, but sew and wear vintage clothes, run a history blog, obsess over classic cinema, and try my hand at recreations of various historical topics (food, crafts, etc.)--so needless to say, I live, breathe, and eat history on a daily basis. However, until I got involved in the Steampunk community, I rarely reflected on my consumption of history. Of course I was aware of the oppression, racism, sexism, bigotry--and every other type of -ism and -phobia out there--of the past, but reading frothy historical romances and watching the umpteenth adaptation of Jane Austen made it easy to view the past through rose-colored glasses.

This is not to say that I wallow in the doom and gloom of the past, that I only want to read serious books about the iniquities of society, but come on! Not even Jane Austen was the bucolic, ballroom-obsessed lady writer those costume dramas like to portray. Beneath the padded shoulders of Mr. Darcy and the elegant Pump Room at Bath lay Austen's eagle-eyed critique of topics like love, marriage, classism, religion, and even slavery, during the late Georgian Era. The same could definitely be said of the Brontes, Gaskell, Eliot, Dickens, and any other 19th century English writer beloved by producers from the BBC or ITV.

Yet I can understand the desire to look back at the past and recreate it in our personal image: it's fun to imagine dressing for a ball that would end at 3 am, or meeting some of history's most famous (or infamous) characters, or taking part in historical events such as Waterloo or Gettysburg or the Somme. One of the reasons I write historicals is both to show how similar we are to our Edwardian counterparts and to understand what life may have been like when social norms were much stricter and less forgiving than today. And it's always enlightening to see how far we have come as a people, which increases my compassion a tad for people of yesteryear.



A major reason for my enthusiasm over Downton Abbey is the wonderful mix of frothy costume romance+social critique+DRAMA+Edwardian era. I may be biased, but I consider that time period to be one of the few in history that is rife with natural drama and conflict stemming from the social unrest and last heyday of high society. In that short fourteen year period before the outbreak of WWI there was the rise of militant suffrage, the foundation of the Labour Party, the Dreadnought, the birth of the super ocean liners (and the sinking of the Titanic), the rise of hemlines, etc etc! What's not to love about the Edwardian era?

So as I write my books, I remain aware of the pitfalls one can fall into when viewing history through one perspective, yet also give myself tons of leeway since I am, after all, writing fiction! Now my biggest hurdle is actually getting to The End. XD What about you? What draws you to historical fiction of any genre, and if you aren't a fan of the past, why not?


Thank you, Evangeline! It does seem very easy to romanticize the past, even within one's own lifetime.
If you want to more about Evangeline, check out her author website, follow her on Twitter, or like her author page on FaceBook.

Guest Post by Magdalen Braden: CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE AUTHORS DO IT WITH LESS

Magdalen is one of my favorite bloggers at Promantica. She doesn't review books, but she does blog about reading and writing, and her posts are invariably interesting! Today she's here to explain the art of writing a contemporary romance. Welcome, Magdalen!


You can get a reader in a romantic mood really quickly by setting the story in a romantic era, with romantic characters in a romantic setting. If you’re writing anything other than a contemporary romance, you’ve got it easy.

[Handy guide: Romantic eras include the Regency, pre-Revolutionary Paris, pre-American Revolution, and even some wars (all those yummy spies). Romantic creatures include vampires, mages, shapeshifters, and some literal Greek gods. Romantic settings include outer space, Atlantis, pirate ships, Almacks, and a sheikh’s Bedouin encampment.]

Contemporary romance writers have none of those things to work with. We’re required to dream up a romance from a few raw ingredients: one modern man, one modern woman, a plot, a real place that someone could visit today, and some realistic complications. Hey, it’s not easy. McGyver would have struggled with just those bits and pieces.



Everything in a contemporary romance has to sound plausible but also seem exotic. Billionaire sheikhs have to look like Oded Fehr: [Photo 1] And not like Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah: [Photo 2] Cowboy heroes are as sexy as the Marlboro Man, but don’t smell like an ashtray. Special Forces veterans never have PTSD severe enough to hamper their alpha hero status.

All of that is true because readers live in the same world as contemporary romances, but they don’t want a contemporary romance to remind them of their world. No broken toilets, no money problems, no screaming brats, no churlish in-laws, no cars that won’t start—unless the breakdown results in a meet-cute with the small-town chief of police who’s manning the switchboard, answers the frantic call for a tow truck, and comes out to rescue the heroine, only to discover she’s actually the straight-arrow auditor hired by the corrupt mayor to go over the police department’s books with a fine-tooth comb.

Ooh, I like that. I may have to write that...

In a contemporary romance, the laws of nature apply, the human body is limited to a narrow range of fang-less and fur-less specifications, and it’s a fine line between swoon-worthy and stalker. But we tackle all those limitations because, when it’s done right a contemporary romance reminds us that love really could be right around the corner. Sure, we’re not likely to meet a super-hot cowboy or an Italian magnate, but a well-written contemporary romance can let us dream.

After all, there’s no barrier of time, genetics, or science preventing a contemporary romance from coming true in the here and now.


Thank you, Magdalen! I'll take Oded Fehr any day. ;)
Magdalen is starting her own publishing company called Harmony Road Press and her series of legal romance novels, The Blackjack Quartet, is going to be published in 2012! To find out more about her and her work, please visit her author website at www.MagdalenBraden.com or her blog at www.Promantica.com.

Guest Review: PERSUADE ME by Juliet Archer

Today we have a guest review from blogger and author Margay Leah Justice. The novel, Persuade Me, is an adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion and sounds quite excellent. Welcome, Margay!


I consider myself a romantic at heart. I like to watch romantic comedies, I get sappy at Happily Ever Afters, and I re-read tried and true romances to remind myself that they do exist – if only in the pages of beloved books. So it’s no surprise that I have a special affinity for Jane Austen. I love her stories, her affinity for recording the foibles of humans who dance the dance of love – and the idiosyncrasies of all the secondary players who make the heroes and heroines what they are. My one problem with Miss Austen is that she didn’t write enough stories! I feel like her main six are just a teaser – but oh, what a tease! So, to fill in the empty spaces left behind by what could have been had she written more, I like to read adaptations of her stories.

In my quest to get more of Jane Austen and the wonderful characters and worlds she created, I read just about every adaptation I can get my hands on. Some have been good, some not so much. But there’s a rare few that take my breath away and make me want to read them again. One of those stories is Persuade Me by Juliet Archer.

Persuade Me is a modern retelling of Persuasion and it has just enough quirks to make it original. The main characters, Anna and Rick, met and fell in love in France, but she, on the advice of an old family friend, broke it off, convinced it was a poor match, and then was whisked back to England by a father who can hardly bear the sight of her. Flash forward some years later and Anna has developed into a self-assured woman with a degree in Russian Literature and Rick is a marine biologist living in Australian who is making a splash in the world of literature having written a book with a somewhat provocative title. During his book tour – which inevitably leads him back to England – Rick crosses paths with Anna once again and the adventure begins.

I have to admit that Persuasion is one of my favorite Austen stories, so I was excited to read an adaptation of it. I don’t think it receives the attention Pride and Prejudice does, but it deserves it. This is such a classic story of lost love and second chances, ripe with likable characters and despicable ones and it translates well to modern times. In Ms. Archer’s hands, the story shines, taking on its own relevance and leading the reader by the hand through the story to the inevitable conclusion in such a way that, if one hadn’t read – or was even aware of – the original piece, it wouldn’t matter. They would still be enthralled by this story. Indeed after reading it, one might be encouraged to read the original to see how it compares.

I must admit that, sometimes, I’m hesitant to read adaptations because I’m afraid they won’t measure up to the original, but Persuade Me does not disappoint. It hits all the key points – the love story between Anna and Rick, the influence of the family friend, the despicable natures of Anna’s father and older sister, and the clingy, whiney nature of her younger sister – in the original, but does it in a way that makes it seem fresh. The idea of Rick being a biologist and writer rather than a captain is a stroke of genius. Anna being more self-reliant and not so much under the thumb of her family is a welcome relief. The book tour is a brilliant way to get all of the other key elements together and make it the author’s own. I had so much fun reading this book, I can’t wait to read it again. But first, I want to check out the first book in the Darcy and Friends series, The Importance of Being Emma.

Final verdict: Extremely enjoyable and I would recommend it to any Austen fan and anyone who just loves a darn good story.

A little more about it (from the author’s website):

Boy meets girl, falls in love and asks her to sail round the world with him. Girl loves boy - but listens to The Voice of Reason, an old family friend, and says no…

The words ‘forgive and forget’ are not in Rick Wentworth’s vocabulary. The word ‘regret’ is definitely in Anna Elliot’s.

When they meet again ten years later, he seems indifferent and intent on finding happiness elsewhere. Can she convince him that their lost love is worth a second chance?

Persuade Me, JA’s modern version of Persuasion, will be available in September 2011. In the meantime, you can read the prologue and first chapter here or feast your eyes on a certain Captain Wentworth.

JA says: Just as I felt Knightley needed updating for a 21st-century audience  in The Importance of Being Emma, I’ve given Anne Elliot similar treatment in Persuade Me. My Anna leads her own life and is financially independent of her father, although there’s enough baggage between them to fill an airport carousel! I’d love to know what you think of the extract - email me at juliet@julietarcher.com.

Thank you, Margay! That sounds like a great book.
Margay Leah Justice is the author of Sloane Wolf, available at museituppublishing.com. You can also find her on FaceBook, Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem, Twitter, MySpace, and the Jane Austen Society Pages.

Author Interview: MANNA FRANCIS

Manna Francis is the author the Administration Series, which I started reading on the recommendation of Kris from Kris 'n' Good Books. These are some of my favorite books of the year--they take place in an alternate world (governed by the Administration) and focus on the relationship between Val Toreth, a government investigator, and Keir Warrick, a corporate developer. I was thrilled when Francis agreed to an interview to answer some of my questions about the series!

Heidenkind: You say in your GoodReads profile that you identify as an "original slash" fiction author. For people not familiar with slash fiction, yaoi, etc., can you explain what you mean?

Manna Francis: Slash fan fiction is fan fiction which features a sexual/romantic relationship between two same sex characters.  It's a genre that's primarily written by and for women, and it generally has a different and distinctive style to m/m fiction written by and for men.  Rather like porn, it's hard to explain but 'I know it when I see it'.

So for me, the original slash label was something of a marker for slash fanfic readers that this could be something that they'd like to try. I first put the Adminstration series online in 2002, when the original  m/m fiction scene wasn't anything like as large as it's become today.

H: Would you call the Administration a dystopian world? Is there a specific event in the history of the Administration that diverted it from our own?

MF: Well, it certainly isn't a utopia! It's described as a dystopia in a couple of places on the website.  I like dystopia as a description, because it packs in a lot of tropes for the reader to expect.

I've never been specific about when the Administration world diverged from the real world, as it's something I haven't yet fixed in a story. I wouldn't like to speculate about it, lest I narrow my options for future stories.

H: Why is Warrick so obsessed with creating an artificial world that feels real?

MF: I think that kind of obsessive approach is in his nature.  The ultimate evolution of the Sim would be something in which there would be no way to tell if it was real or not, so that's the goal he sets himself. Whatever he ended up doing with his life, he'd approach it in the same way as he does the Sim. When he was working on Administration security systems, he had the same dedication, and that's one of the things that caught Carnac's eye. If he'd become, say, a chef, he'd be an Administration Heston Blumenthal, engineering every dish to absolute perfection.

If guess that if you wanted to, you could make a connection between his growing up in an essentially artificial family and his desire to create a perfect world under his control.  Or something along those lines.  I don't generally go down that path with characters, though, as I don't find it helpful in writing them.

H: Do Sara and Warrick feel morally superior to Toreth?

MF: Morally superior in the sense of feeling that they actually have morals, or morally superior because he's a Para and they aren't?

I think they both feel that he's missing something that they have.

Sara doesn't see anything wrong with being a Para. Warrick never makes any secret out of his distaste for I&I.  On the other hand, he's happy  to take advantage of his corporate perks, and happy to see Toreth, so I don't think that he'd want to give any lectures on his moral superiority within the Administration. Not that Toreth would care if he did.

H: In several of the books, people accuse Toreth of being psychotic. Do you think he is?

MF: They accuse him of being a sociopath, which isn't the same thing. He has a very firm grasp on reality.

This is something I get asked a lot about Toreth, and I always say the same thing -- read the books, and make up your own mind about it. I think it's the kind of topic about which it's very unproductive for an author to shove in her two penn'orth. Certainly, no one has ever changed their opinion of Toreth's mental state because of what I said about it.

(The other question I never answer is 'does Toreth love Warrick?'. Because, really, where's the fun in giving people a flat yes or no about that?)

H: You make a lot of classical references in the books, especially in Quis Custodiet. Are you drawing from classical literature for your novels? Is the story of Toreth and Warrick's relationship going to follow the format of a Greek tragedy or comedy?

MF: No, and no. I really just liked the title.

Bonus question: Would Toreth ever be able to handle owning a pet?

MF: Ha! I can't imagine how he'd get it in the first place. It would have to be a very robust pet that could handle total neglect.  The closest thing I could imagine would be maybe a wild rat living in his kitchen--where at least it would be able to find plenty to eat.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions, Manna! 
To find out more about Manna Francis' novels, please check out her website at http://www.mannazone.org/, or go to her GoodReads Author profile page.

Book Review: THE CONCUBINE by Jade Lee

Sun Bo Tao is a notorious playboy and the Emperor's best friend. When he criticizes the Emperor's foreign policy, however, Xian Feng punishes Bo Tao by making him Master of the Festival of Fertility, wherein eligible noblewomen throughout China come to the Forbidden City to compete for the position of Empress. I know what you're thinking: a playboy surrounded by desperate virgins... how could this POSSIBLY go wrong?

I love Jade Lee's Tigress series, which also takes place in Imperial China (although during a different time period), and this novel has all the elements from those books that I like: well-drawn characters, an awesome setting, and a wonderful story. It starts off with a great meet-cute between Bo Tao and Ji Yue, one of the Imperial Virgins, and is pretty much unputdownable from then on. There's never a lull in the narrative, and every character gets as much time on the page as they warrant. Ji Yue and Bo Tao go from hating one another's guts to pulling each other's clothes off perhaps a little too abruptly, but I think that can largely be attributed to the length of the book. And they definitely have chemistry, so it's not unbelievable even if it does seem a bit rushed.

Jade Lee really has a gift for writing historical romances set in China: they feel exotic, but at the same time there's always something familiar from a Western perspective to make the characters relatable, despite the cultural and historical gulf. It wouldn't be unreasonable to say this novel is like The Bachelor, but set in Imperial China; except that for Ji Yue and the other virgins the stakes are much higher than being sent home 'broken-hearted.' They can't go home if they fail the tests--that would shame their families. Their only options are to remain in the Emperor's harems forever, become prostitutes in Peking, or kill themselves. Those are pretty high stakes for a woman to face and still pursue another relationship! Ji Yue might have come off as an idiot for choosing Bo Tao over all that, but she doesn't because the choices she make are for herself.

The romance between Bo Tao and Ji Yue also draws upon the European literary device of courtly love (that Meghan mentioned in her guest post on medieval romance), in that there's nothing but shame and death that can come from their relationship. This is a modern-day romance novel, though, so thankfully things work out.

As for the exoticism, I don't think it comes so much from the setting as what Lee does with it. Imagining characters and stories set in China seems to give her the freedom to be much more creative and unconventional with how she builds her characters and plot than she is with romances set in prototypical nineteenth-century London, like The Devil's Bargain. She really has never failed to surprise and entertain me with either the Tigress series, The Dragon Earl, or this book; which is a shame, because as far as I can tell, Lee has no more novels set in China in the works.

To say I'm super-disappointed over this--and how other writers who set romances in unusual time periods and places are often either dropped or redirected to more popular settings by publishers--would be an understatement. I know they probably claim that readers don't seem interested in different settings as some bullshit excuse, but let me tell you something, publishers of historical romances: I AM YOUR AUDIENCE. I am the proverbial choir to your preacher; I am going to smell what the Rock is cooking. But to be honest, the whole Regency romance thing was getting a little tired in the late '90s. So trust me, I'm interested. I will take any unusual setting you have to offer: China, India, Canada, even nineteenth-century Paris, but PLEASE allow a book set somewhere other than nineteenth-century London to be published on a regular basis. Please! /public service announcement

If, like me, you enjoy historical romances but are looking for something a little different, I highly recommend any of Jade Lee's books. The Concubine I think is one of her more accessible novels, and probably your best bet if the prospect of reading--in detail--about Taoist sex cult practices makes you a little nervous. There's no sex-as-a-spiritual-practice in The Concubine as there is in the Tigress books; it's just a delightful romance novel set in the Forbidden City with top-notch research and great storytelling. Definitely a keeper!



Musical Notes: "All I Ever Wanted" by Airborne Toxic Event

Guest Post by Meghan Burton: MEDIEVAL ROMANCE

Today I asked Meghan from Medieval Bookworm to tell us about the roots of the modern-day romance novel, medieval romances. Meghan challenged me to read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight last year as part of Classics Month, and I really enjoyed it! Now she's going to tell us about her favorite medieval romances. Welcome, Meghan!



Romance is not really a modern notion, although the happily-ever-after ending for couples certainly is. But in the Middle Ages, particularly the High Middle Ages which took place roughly from the year 1000-1300, romance was flourishing. The only caveat? It was the courtly kind - the breed of romance that was never really meant to be consummated, and which was disastrous when it was. You can't really expect much else in a culture which focused on marriages for political reasons. In fact, many of the tales can be seen as cautionary; while they’re meant to capture the heart, they’re also lessons on how not to rock the boat too much, and how to retain your honor while engaging in courtly love.





This trend is very, very obvious when you start reading medieval literature. We have a lot of fantastic romances that take place through this veneer of respectability. The best known are, of course, the Arthurian legends. How much more romantic can you get than these stories? They have changed so much over time, first originating as Welsh myths, but many of the characters we know well appeared in Chretien de Troyes and later Sir Thomas Malory's medieval work on these legends. If you're looking for a romance, Guinevere and Lancelot are legendary, and the medieval period is when Lancelot du Lac actually appeared in the stories, which had previously focused on Arthur. But here? We have an entire civilization ruined more or less because two people fell in love.



One of my personal favorite lovers, though, is Elaine of Astolat, who may not be the most appealing of heroines, but who is certainly a romantic one in the most medieval of molds. After watching Lancelot joust in a tournament and nursing him back to health after an accident, Elaine falls in love with him. Lancelot, famously, is deeply in love with Guinevere, and as a result, Elaine dies of heartbreak. Her last request is to be placed in a boat, a lily in one hand and a letter in the other, and sent to Camelot to show Lancelot what he’s done.  Yet another life destroyed because of the love between Lancelot and Guinevere.



Outside of the Arthurian period, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales features a few romances – even raunchy ones – that demonstrate how we are the same and yet different even now. Chaucer doesn’t shy away from the facts of life, and at one point we even manage to get a young couple in each other’s arms. Over other tales, he also examines May-December romances, marriage, and courtly love, each in their own time. While no story is a romance in the way we’d call one, it’s hard to avoid the realization that, actually, love was as pervasive in their culture as it is in ours.



Staying in King Arthur’s court, we can skip further ahead in time to Tennyson’s poems. Writing in the Victorian age, Tennyson interprets the stories traditionally around King Arthur in new and different ways, giving life to the romances and inspiring some of the most beautiful medieval-inspired paintings I’ve ever seen.

The Middle Ages have become very romanticized over the years, and the romantic relationships in the stories have enjoyed the same treatment. It’s still very much worth reading the originals. I’d always recommend starting with Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.



Thank you, Meghan! I like how you said that the story of Lancelot and Guinevere is basically about how two people falling in love destroyed a civilization. Those are some pretty serious consequences!
If you want to find out more about Meghan, check out her excellent book blog, Medieval Bookworm or follow her on twitter @mbookworm.

Guest Review!

Hello, everyone! Maria from A Passion for Books & Real Life is doing a review of Omega Mine by Aline Hunter today as part of Romance Month. Please stop by her blog and check it out!

Guest Post by KT Grant: LIKE A VIRGIN (HERO)

KT Grant is a novelist whose most recent release can be found in the Christmas anthology Yule Be Mine. She also writes the very popular romance blog Babbling About Books, And More. I know KT loves her some virgin hero goodness, so I asked her to kick off December with a post about them, one of the most rarefied of all Romancelandia characters. Willkommen, KB!



Nothing says romance like an awesome hero that makes a reader swoon. My favorite type of hero is a virgin one. There are far too many virgin heroines written and nearly not enough sexually inexperienced men. I really dislike a hero who is proud to admit he’s slept with too many women to count. To me, that’s the opposite of what romantic and sexy is. There’s something endearing to read about a man who stays pure, much like a woman would, where they wait for that right person to come along and be with in the elemental sense. And it’s pretty sexy when a woman can take the man by the hand and show him what he’s been missing.

Here are some recommendations for my favorite virgin or sexually inexperienced heroes in romance that I’ll never forget:



Hands down, the best romance virgin hero in all of romance is Jamie Fraser from Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. I’ve never been big on time-traveling romance, but Outlander destroyed my bias. When twenty-four year old Claire Randall travels from 1945 back to 1743 and meets the handsome, young redheaded Scotsman, Jamie, sparks don’t fly right off the bat. As Claire gets to know Jamie and visa-versa, they find a respect for one another. And then when Jamie has to marry Claire to save her life, that’s where things get hot. Claire is a married woman from the future who not only makes Jamie first time with a woman a memorable experience, but he shows her a thing or two. He takes to Claire and their love making like a duck to water and it’s smoldering, intense and fun.



The Outlaw and the Lady by Lorraine Heath is perfect for those who love Western romance. The heroine, Angela is blind and ends up kidnapped by the notorious outlaw, Lee Raven. Lee wants revenge for the people that have hurt his family and Angela is caught in the crossfire. When he realizes she’s blind, he makes sure she’s comfortable and treated with respect. Angela then learns who Lee is and one thing leads to another and when they time comes for them to act on their passion, Lee tells Angela he’s as innocent as she is. These two learn how to steam up the sheets together and it’s beautiful. Also the way Lee feeds Angela fruit in bed is beyond sexy. The Outlaw and the Lady is one of my favorite Western romances.



Born in Sin by Kinley MacGregor aka Sherrilyn Kenyon hits the spot for medieval romance. The heroine, Callie is forced into marriage with Lord Sin, the black sheep of the MacAllister family. Sin has been abused and treated horribly. He has emotional and psychological scars from the abuse he’s suffered as a child. Because of this he can’t stand to be touched and has never been with a woman. It takes Callie to break down those walls he has constructed and bestow her love on him. Sin falls for Callie and allows her to not only touch his body, but his heart. Watching a tormented hero like Sin find happiness is very moving.



Colonel Jack Seward from Connie Brockway’s All Through the Night may not be a virgin, but this is a man emotional tortured and afraid of love and everything it entails. When Jack meets Anne Wilders, a widow who also happens to be the mysterious thief he hunts, their attraction for one another grows to an all-consuming obsession. Jack courts Anne gently, unaware she is his thief who makes him think naughty thoughts. And then when he catches Anne and puts two and two together, it leads to a smoldering, erotic interlude in a library where Jack gets down on his knees and uses his mouth on Anne in ways that should be illegal. A gut-wrenching, angst filled, swoontastic romance that begs for a sequel.



Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh features a deadly hero who can kill someone with a simple thought. Judd Lauren comes from a deadly race of people who have cut off all their emotions. Judd has defected, and when he meets Brenna, a woman tortured at the hands of a serial killer, the ice around his heart melts. Judd becomes interested in sex and desire all because of Brenna and only she can become his partner. And when Judd is excited or ahem, horny, he ends up breaking furniture by throwing it around the room due to his telekinesis.


These are only a few of my favorite virgin/sexually inexperience heroes. Are you a fan of these types of heroes? If so, what are some of your favorites?



Thanks, KT! All Through the Night is one of my favorite historical romances, too.
You can find out more about KT and her books online here:

Author website (http://ktgrant.com)
Book blog: Babbling about Books, and More (http://kbgbabbles.blogspot.com)
Twitter: @katiebabs (https://twitter.com/#!/katiebabs)
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kate.garrabrant

Book Review: FIFTY SHADES OF GREY by E. L. James

This book will teach me to read novels just because they're nominated on a 'best of' list.

Anastasia Steele (that's a mouthful) is a naïve college senior when she meets handsome richy-rich guy Christian Grey. Although he tells her to stay away from him, he keeps following her around. It's all cool, though, because she likes him! Then she discovers he has some Serious Issues that he likes to express via a BDSM lifestyle (it goes way beyond sex), and Anastasia spends the rest of the book hem-hawing over whether or not she wants to sign his insane contract that gives him the right to tell her what to eat, wear, and shave. Will these two crazy kids get together? More pertinently, DO I CARE?!?

I've heard this book described as being either love-it or hate-it, and I have to say I fall firmly into the latter category. At fist it seemed okay... ish. The writing was not great, and was a very awkward combination of first person viewpoint and simple present tense; but it was light and fun and mixed together secretary-billionaire category romance tropes with Twilight, both of which I love. That being said, even though I was entertained, I was a little bothered by the sense of geography--which can be described as shaky at best--and the fact that the American characters talked like extras from a Harry Potter movie. The author is British, and trust me, that and the fact that she has no ear for North American dialect is ABUNDANTLY obvious. Why didn't she just make her characters British? Damn if I know.

So I was already thinking this novel was a little cray-cray, and then the BDSM thing started.

I've read and liked novels with strong BDSM themes, but in those cases the sex felt integrated into the story and made sense for characters. The sex in this book is hot, no doubt, but in a porntastic way, and quite frankly I got bored with it pretty quickly. It has very little to do with the characters, especially Anastasia, who's not even a submissive and has no interest in BDSM at all--I think that's probably the most ridiculous part of this whole thing. I really wanted her to tell billionaire guy to fuck off, but knew she wouldn't because, one, it wouldn't be much of a book if she did; and two, she's a spineless idiot whose actions make no sense.

Plus, if you're thinking of trying this book because it's Twilight fan fiction, I strongly urge you not to do so. The details of the novel may be ripped out of Twilight--it's set in the Pacific Northwest, Anastasia has a flighty mother who's remarried and living in another state, her father is a monosyllabic sports fan, and she has two guys chasing after her (other than Christian): a boy-next-door-type who works with her in a hardware store owned by his family, and the 'ethnic' best friend, José, whose dad is her dad's friend--but those details have absolutely NOTHING to do with the plot, and the tone of this book is not in any way similar. In fact, judging by the amount of lip-biting that goes on, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that James has watched the movies more than she's read the books. Like many other elements of this novel, the Twilight aspect feels like a poorly hacked-on gimmick. It's not an homage to the Twilight series, that's for certain.

I don't know what I find more annoying/insulting about this book--the throw-away Hispanic character, the fact that it could be set in Rio de Janeiro and be the same story, the total lack of attempt on the part of the author to make her AMERICAN characters sound like actual Americans, that it made me want to projectile vomit on several occasions, that finishing it stole away FOUR DAYS of my life that I will never be able to get back, or that the author implies BDSM is good substitute for psychotherapy--but overall it was pretty annoying.

I do not recommend this novel. But if you want to read a book that contains little to no research, poor writing, no attempt at character development, a heroine who falls into every stupid Victorian trope that ever existed, and sex scenes that are little more than porn, then by all means have at it. I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of the book to review, however! That was really nice of them.



Musical Notes: "Marry the Night," by Lady Gaga

Announcing a New Theme Month!

I've been wanting to do another theme month for a while, and as you might have noticed, I've been ruminating a bit on romances recently. Who doesn't like a little bit of romance, especially in the winter? As Cole Porter put it,

Ev'ry average man you know
much prefers his lovey dovey to court
when the temperature is low.

Therefore I'm pleased to announce that December will be Romance Month at TBF&B. I hope to get through a lot of the romances on my TBR stack this month and review them on this here blog. I've also scheduled some of my favorite romance bloggers for guest posts, and an author interview or two.

PLUS! For the first time, I'm opening up the theme month to anyone who's interested in participating! I know, that's pretty exciting. Whether you love romances, have never read a single romance, or are somewhere in between, I invite you to participate by reading at least one romance novel with me this month. To RSVP, please fill out the form below or go here.

Here's to making December one of my best theme months yet!