February 16th, 2010 — About
5 Reasons why the unenlightened think we love romance novels:
10. We're bored and have nothing better to do. This explains why a good portion of us read in lines, just before the lights go off in a theater, between meetings, before class, and during our commute... because we have time to spare.
09. We don't have to think when we read romance! Great! Let's leave our brains at home because everybody knows romance novels are right up there with gossip, soap operas, and fashion and celebrity magazines.
08. Secretly, we love the trashy cover art. Clinches and clutches and heaving bosoms really appeal to us. Who doesn't love toting embarrassingly bulging mantitty in her purse?
07. We love romance because it's petticoat porn. (What and men don't like watching poorly filmed flicks off the internet? At least ours is intellectual- it's literature!)
06. Better yet, on top of loving it for porn we also love it because we have no sex life. This is our only way to experience sex... ie vicariously through fictional characters. Right... as if any woman couldn't go into any bar and ask any man if he wanted to go home with her and he wouldn't say yes.
Now for 5 real reasons to love romance novels:
05. Truly, we love romance because it's emotional porn. Two hanky reads anyone? Passes out tissues.
04. Happily Ever Afters. We love a great ending and knowing that no matter how many troubles and problems seem to mount up eventually they're solved and go away.
03. Variety. There's a romance out there for everyone. Many of us develop preferences and seek out stories that cater to them.
02. The heroine. She's everything we want to be or admire in others with the exception of the Too Stupid to Live Heroines.
And the number one reason women love romance novels is:
01. The hero... because we can fall a little bit in love with him every time we open a book to read.
Photo Credits: left-hand, jonrawlinson
Originally posted 2009-05-12 05:07:52. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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January 27th, 2010 — 4.5 Stars, A-C, ARC, Contemporary, Dukes and Earls, Entrepreneur, Ghost, Great Britain, Jane Austen, Memory Loss, Regency, Rogues and Rakehells, Scarred Hero, Survival, Teacher, Time Travel
WWJAD is quick fun read. The story is flirty and cute just like the hero, Lord James Shermont. Read it in the bathtub, on the beach, while waiting in line at the post office, wherever, it’s sure to make you smile and leave you eager to turn the page.
Eleanor Pottinger (yes it is unfortunate that is her real last name) is a fan of Jane Austen. We meet her trying to get a room at a Jane Austen convention only to be told the room she booked has been given to somebody else. Luckily there was a newly renovated suite that was available…if she didn’t mind ghosts!
Of course Eleanor changes her mind about ghosts the minute they materialize. Sisters Deidre and Mina from the time of Jane Austen need Eleanor’s help. They are stuck as ghosts and can’t move on without her help. Eleanor jokingly offers to help if they can guarantee she can meet Jane Austen. They agree and before Eleanor can cry “Just Kidding!” Deidre and Mina have transported Eleanor back into the past.
When Eleanor wakes up she is stuck in the Regency era and is believed to be the girls’ widowed cousin Ellen who was arriving from America. Eleanor plays along and gets away with it because they haven’t seen the real Ellen since childhood. The ghosts tell Eleanor her tasks are to keep them out of the clutches of Lord Shermont, a rakehell of the worst sort, and to make sure their brother, Teddy, doesn’t enter into a duel with Shermont over their reputations.
Eleanor was once foolish enough to try and make a Mr. Darcy out of a Wickham, is she smart enough not to do the opposite? What would Jane Austen do?
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Buy: What Would Jane Austen Do?
Originally posted 2009-04-28 05:47:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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April 19th, 2009 — 4.5 Stars, Children, Comedy of Manners, Contemporary, Cursed Lead, Movie Reviews, Sports, United States of America
March 1st, 2009 — 4 Stars, 4.5 Stars, ARC, Dark Ages, Farming, Friends, G-I, Gentry, Great Britain, Kings, Princes, Sheiks, Chiefs, Pregnant, Rape/Abuse, Rogues and Rakehells, Soldier, Survival, Virgin Heroine, Warrior
The Kingmaking is book one of the Pendragon Banner Trilogy by Hellen Hollick. In one sentence this book is about Arthur growing from boyhood to manhood, from untried to experienced, from soldier to king. He is shaped by his times, loving women and drink freely and openly. It gets him into trouble more than once - the most serious time exposing him to the clutches of the current king and his manipulating wife and daughter. Forced into marriage with Winifred, Arthur's full of self-loathing and fury, because instead of being married to a woman he truly admires and respects (Gwenhwyfar) he's stuck with a spoiled rotten manipulative whore. If only he had kept it in his pants!
Arthur must decide which is more important - his quest for kingship or the love of his life?
Winifred is determined to keep Arthur for herself now that Gwenhwyfar has brought him to her attention. She bears Arthur one sickly daughter who soon dies, and one son, which he begets with her during the voyage from his home in Less Britain back to the king's court. Not very smart of him since he was planning to divorce her so he could marry in the Christian way his beloved Gwenhwyfar. (He married her by the Old Way before leaving Less Britain and doesn't know it but impregnated her.)
You will find that Arthur is the reason behind most of his anger and regrets. He tends to get in his own way by being loose with morals and engaging with whomever strikes his fancy. He says he loves Gwenhwyfar, but his actions lead him to many beds of slave and servant girls. It's not clear, but I am certain he also found himself in bed with more than one gentle female. Plainly put, he is used to pleasure and to not denying himself. However while we know many of his illicit trysts, most of the details are rendered vague or skipped over.
Luckily for Arthur he seems to straighten out once he's gone through the divorce and married Gwenhwyfar. Of course he almost slips up during the last stages of her pregnancy but a quick spat settles it. Loving and marrying Gwenhwyfar soothes the spoiled and selfish side of Arthur, but his barriers have not yet fallen down. I expect we will find him (more) enamored and open with Gwenhwyfar in book two, the Pendragon's Banner, which I'm greatly looking forward to reading.
Hollick's trilogy promises to combine a legendary hero with political intrigue, historical research (and obvious fictional interpretations of it), romance, and a quest for ultimate power. Harry Potter for grownups. Now try to wrap your tongue around half of the names... haha.
Rating: 4-4.5 Stars
