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.
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!
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.
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!
Katiebabs has a really interesting post up at her blog. It’s entitled Don’t Play In Our Sandbox Because You’re Not a Part of the “In-Crowd”.
KB starts by asking a couple of questions:
Does the consensus across book blog land believe there’s an “in-crowd”? Are there specific blogs or bloggers who give off the vibe that they are too cool to associate with or come across like the cool kids at high school who walk down the hallways with their nose in the air, where you don’t have the right to acknowledge them because you’re not important enough to be a part of their group?
Now whenever anybody talks about ‘The Big Blogs’ I automatically assume that they’re talking about the Smartbitches and Dear Author. Oh come on, you know you do too, but for some reason, people seem reluctant to mention them by name.
I could be wrong of course, there could be other Big RomLand Bloggers out there that I’m not aware of.
I did start answering the above questions on Katie’s blog, but you know me, why waste a perfectly good answer on somebody else’s blog when you can post it on your own? Hmmm….Does that make me a bad blogger? Ahhh fuck it.
Anyway, I digress. (more…)
You know, I totally love it when people give me blog fodder. It really makes my day.
Kirk Biglione took exception to my previous post, and didn’t mind saying so:
Wow. Seriously?! Bernie Madoff stole money. Lots of money. Billions. Are you seriously comparing what Madoff did to the failure of a digital publishing startup? If so, you really have no sense of decency.
As someone who was involved in the Quartet “debacle” I can say without hesitation that:
1. No laws were broken.
2. None of the participants behaved unethically.
3. No money is owed (all debts were honored).Frankly, your attempt to connect the Quartet Press participants to a Ponsi scheme seems actionable. I hope you have a good attorney.
Be still my beating heart. It’s not yet March and I’ve already been threatened with legal action, YAY!! (more…)
If not, then isn’t it just as ridiculous for people who have already tried to launch a digital publishing company and failed, to talk about how to Build A Digital Publishing House? In this case I’m pointing the finger at Kassia Krozser, seeing as Angela James at least already has a proven track record.
Rumour has it that a couple of the other Quartet Press peeps are involved in similar panels. That just seems wrong-headed somehow.
Thanks to you-know-who for the heads up.
The following comment was left on a blog post (by somebody calling himself Barack Hussein Obama Sadaam) that I wrote a while ago, questioning whether or not racism in America had increased since Obama became president:
“I think that racism is increasing.
Minorities act like they want us to be racist to them.
Obama supports the NBA, which has some of the worst (dangerous) black people in the world.
Black leaders, such as NBA superstars, need to lead by example if blacks want racism to go away. I do not think blacks want racism to go away though.
Solution: Have all newborn black babies be adopted by intelligent white people. This will get rid of their terrible language of ebonics along with helping them succeed in life.”
This was my response: (more…)
I’m trying something new – every now and again, I’m just going to post random thoughts. Here’s my first attempt:
1. Enough of the John Terry story already. Who. Gives. A. Shit? He cheated on his wife, so fucking what? Half the country are cheating on their spouses as we speak.
2. I’m looking forward to the Chelsea v Arsenal game on Sunday. I hope the Arses spank Chelsea.
3. I have two Christmas presents still in the boot of my car that I haven’t posted off. I must do it today. Really.
4. I’m still dying to see Avatar. I blame TTG for us not having seen it yet.
5. I love Paul Hawksbee and Andy Jacobs on Talksport. I especially love Andy’s bitterness with regards to all things Chelsea.
6. Blogging is slowly but surely becoming a drag, I wonder if I can keep it up for the next year.
7. It’s my birthday soon, I think I need another bag, maybe some shoes, and some boots.
8. How dare ABC fucking cancel Ugly Betty. HOW VERY DARE THEY!!!??!
9. I wonder when Rush Limbaugh last had sex with his wife?
10. What does it say about me that I love watching shows such as One Tree Hill and Glee?
Wow, that was better than a therapist’s couch. You guys should try it.
I do love Margaret and Helen’s blog. Those two old ladies talk so much sense.
Whether they are for real or not, who cares, but whoever they are, they have to be the most amusing, startlingly perceptive, forthright political bloggers out there. I love how they get right to the heart of the matter.
Their latest log is entitled “The Elephant In The Room Is A Kangaroo” and starts: (more…)
(not really)
Is there something in the water? in the air?
A 26 year old Connecticut woman is found dead after giving birth to what appear to be full term triplets–and her mother doesn’t think the woman knew she was pregnant. WTF? Really?
An Oregon couple is found guilty in the negligence death of their son. The couple believes in faith healing, and even though they were present when their granddaughter died a few years ago through failed faith healing, they wouldn’t seek medical help for their son. They plan to appeal, by the way.
Honestly now, what the hell?
I guess the majority of you have already heard about the Macmillan v Amazon hatefest, huh?
Well, for those who haven’t, this is the short version:
1. Macmillan Publishing want to solely dictate and fix ebook prices up to $15, and they don’t want retailers involved other than to sell them.
2. Amazon weren’t happy with that so told them to fuck off, by removing the ‘Buy It Now’ buttons from all Macmillan titles.
3. Some authors became angry and blamed Amazon.
4. Some bird over at DA called Rebecca, took it quite personally because she hates, HATES, I tell you, e-books, and wont be shopping at Amazon again because they are depriving her of print books, just to win an argument about ebooks, which she HATES by the way.
5. Amazon gives in, because they want to be able to offer their customers Macmillan titles, what with them being one of the six big publishing houses out there.
That’s about it, right? (more…)
