Oh look, another author who can’t take criticism.

*Yawn*

The difference is, this author decided to take a potshot at the reviewer’s weight.

Lord.

Here’s the author’s rant in its entirety, crossing a line that no man should ever cross: (more…)

I’m so excited to read this book, as my regulars will know, I love Dorothy Koomson’s work.

Blurb:

As teenagers Poppy Carlisle and Serena Gorringe were the only witnesses to a tragic event. Amid heated public debate, the two seemingly glamorous teens were dubbed ‘The Ice Cream Girls’ by the press and were dealt with by the courts.

Years later, having led very different lives, Poppy is keen to set the record straight about what really happened, while married mother-of-two Serena wants no one in her present to find out about her past. But some secrets will not stay buried – and if theirs is revealed, everything will become a living hell all over again . . .

Sarah has a review of this book over at her blog. She loved it!

You can read the first chapter here, and buy The Ice-Cream Girls over at The Book Depository.

I have reviews of Dorothy Koomson’s My Best Friend’s Girl, here, The Chocolate Run here, and Marshmallows For Breakfast here.

An anonymous commenter posted on an old thread entitled Romance Authors Can Be Victims Of Domestic Violence Too, yesterday, and I thought it was worth re-posting in its entirety.

“This starts pretty abruptly but its 5 am and I haven’t the energy to re-write the thing, so let me just preface by saying, as to the question of why women try, stay, and put up with abuse, even to the point of defending their abusers, this is my take on some possible (in my opinion) heavy contributing factors.

It’s long and rambled slightly, and for that I apologize. I just feel like talking about it, mostly because I feel stuff like this is frequently overlooked in favor of more pat (and also true) answers like “brainwashing.” Its not that I’m right necessarily, just that I don’t think I’m entirely wrong, and that I have this weird idea that if mindsets like these were not just more understood, but respected (not dismissed as “delusional,” “reactionary,” or other thoroughly unflattering verbs) we might get farther in saving women.

Again, I could be wrong, this is just my experience.

(more…)

Hurrah, I’ve found somebody else who hates romantic comedy books.

BarbaraB’s mini rant says it better than I could:

On another note, I’m just amazed that there’s another romance reader who also utterly despises romantic comedy. Maybe without the fervor and madness that I do, but still! I can’t even think about that crap without practically choking on my loathing of romantic comedies AND romantic comedy authors. Who the hell told them they were funny? They’re not stand-ups. All those goddamned eccentric relatives and townspeople/secondary characters, etc. wear me down.

Even the more sophisticated rom-coms make me gag. IMO, most romantic comedy authors don’t know when to stop with the yuks. It’s like reading Robin Williams or Jim Carrey in book form. EXHAUSTING! I also find the humor very forced and corny.

What breaks my heart and tears me up inside though, is that all “funny” romances aren’t labelled as such and don’t always have cartoon covers. I’ve ended up wasting a lot of money on that shit. I get so pissed off for being duped that I rip the book in two and trash it. I’d burn ‘em if I was liscensed(sp) to burn trash within the city limits or had a fireplace. I’m extreme like that!

When I wanna laugh I’ll watch reruns of Blackadder, AbFab, or Arrested Development. Or even Comedy Central. Not pick up a freaking romance! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’d literally pick up trash along the highway in one of those ill-fitting orange jumpsuits before I’d pick up a romantic comedy- book or movie. I want some effing angst and drama when I read a romance.

Lol, so who out there generally loves romantic comedies? Go on ‘fess up!

Mrs Giggles has yet another interesting post up on her blog. This time she’s asking why we don’t see romance heroes with the odd porn mag now and again:

Why do we get hardly any contemporary romance heroes who have porn in their PC or in their closet? I don’t remember reading any contemporary romances with heroes who seem to know what even Playboy is….

I’m not suggesting that I want to see romance heroes using sex toys or surfing porn all day, of course – I don’t want to read a romance novel where the heroine plays with the BOB all day either. But I find it unrealistic that we have Navy SEALs whose locker door isn’t graced with even a single saucy photo of some centerfold, a mechanic who doesn’t have at least a calender full of topless women on his office table, or a romance hero who has apparently never thumbed through a single issue of Playboy before.

To be honest, I really don’t see the point in highlighting the fact that a hero in a romance novel reads/watches porn. How would that further the plot? Even in an erotic romance, I’m not sure this would be of any relevance whatsoever. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’d just end up being fucked off, if in the middle of the book, the hero started spanking his monkey whilst looking at pics of random gigantic-breasted women. Who the fuck needs that much realism? Not me that’s for sure.

What say you? Yay or nay to authors showing heroes with porn mags/vids under their bed, and skin pics all over their lockers, in order to inject a sense of realism into the story?

Directly from her blog:

Enter to win a Nook! Help me spread the word about my upcoming release, BROKEN-due out 3.2.2010.  You can get your name entered for a drawing for a Nook, the new ebook reader from Barnes and Noble. You can also enter by preordering the book online or buying the book during release week-during… not before.

For the no purchase option, please see below.

Read on for details… (more…)

Over on Paz Edward’s blog, she has a list of the qualities for her perfect man:

1.Is kind-hearted to animals.
2.Is caring of others.
3.Is giving.
4.Is thoughtful.
5.Is not afraid to cry.
6.Is not afraid to laugh.
7.Has a great laugh that makes me laugh along or at least smile.
8.Notices the things I like.
9.Notices the things I don’t like.
10.Knows how to paint my toe nails. (more…)

This was in response to an interviewer asking him if he’d ever dated black women.

Here’s an excerpt from the report over at Salon: (I got the link via Monica Jackson’s blog) (more…)

The other day on Twitter, reader and blogger, Magdalen asked why we’re so fond of recycling the same topics over and over again, here in good old RomanceLand.

I’m not going to actually talk about the whys and wherefores, rather I’m just going to list what I think the top ten most regurgitated topics in RomLand are: (more…)

Valentine’s Day is here, and with it–as with many holidays–people are overwhelmed by the pressure. In this case, the pressure to pair-up.

Some of us are happily coupled, and yay for that, but for far too many of us this is a holiday seemingly designed to make single people feel miserable.

Which is utter bullshit, of course, but it’s often very hard to ignore the marketing campaigns all over creation, along with the societal expectations–i.e., people are supposed to be part of a couple or something is not quite right.

On that note, I love this post by Crazy Aunt Purl, one of my favorite bloggers. Here are a couple of snippets of it for your reading pleasure:

Happiness is an inside job. How can any other human being ever look inside your heart and see what will make you happy? Especially when most of us don’t even know ourselves? I love the idea of lifting yourself up to possibility. I am hopeful, I am optimistic, and I think pure hope can dash fear. I think life is wide and we are small.

There are so many roads to personal fulfillment, even ones I never expected. I’m happy for all of us, those who fit the bill and those of us who wandered a bit. We create a new happy each day, each in our own way.

To everyone out there, single or paired up, may your life be joyful. Find your happy and hold on to it!