October 2nd, 2009 — Georgette Heyer, Guest Blogger, Regency
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By Zarabeth, guest blogger
I know a lot of people like Georgette Heyer and this post isn’t meant to step on your toes in any way if you do, but I really can’t read her! I am a huge fan of historical romance novels and was excited to try the genuine article. I tried, I really did, but she’s not for me and here’s why:
- The Language. I can’t read Regency speak, it’s not only another time period it reads like another language!
- The Diction. Not only do I need a Regency dictionary, I need an Oxford-English dictionary to get through the book! Talk about over my head. I would read and re-read, get frustrated with myself, the book, and the story. I put it down and vow never to force myself through another novel.
- The Turns of Phrase. Thief Cant, Dandy Cant… I cant, cant, can’t! Can you say yikes?!
- The Dialogue. What on earth are the characters saying? Really?
- The Format. Why is all the dialogue ending in exclamation points!!!!!
- The Descriptions. Down to the tie of the cravat and elegantly style coiffure… honestly who knows what they look like?
- The Historical Accuracy. The difference between Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer is that Austen transcends Regency and becomes universal. Heyer is so wrapped up in Regency she can never leave it.
- The Writing Style. Is it me or does Heyer read like narrator omniscient? A plot twist (and I use that word very lightly) occurs and I know all to well where it's going.
- The Manners. I thought I liked Regency manners, but honestly in a Heyer all I want is for them to shake it up a little. So regimented.
- Wasted space. Side characters get way too much time to talk and dither about. I want more focus on the main characters and their love story!
I think it is simply time to walk away, without the disappointment and state that I am just not smart enough to read her! I will stick with my guilty pleasures, Thank You!
P.S. Stay tuned, in a few days Keira will be posting her differing opinion in 10 Reasons to Love Georgette Heyer.
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May 29th, 2009 — 5 Stars, Book Review, Children, Contemporary, Entrepreneur, Executive, Lisa Kleypas, Rogues and Rakehells, United States of America
I am a big fan of Lisa Kleypas. I love her historicals. I heard about her contemporaries. I wanted to give them a try, but I was afraid I wouldn't love them as much as I do her historicals. Contemporary novels and I have had our fair share of issues in the past. So I waited, and waited, and waited, until I finally found it in the library. Then I snatched it so fast, it made the other patrons' heads spin.
I laughed, and chuckled, and giggled, out loud and in my head all the way through the book. Kleypas wrote a gem when she wrote Smooth Talking Stranger. I can't possibly say enough good things about this book. The dialogue was witty, the leads had phenomenal chemistry, the path from singledom to motherhood and coupledom was breathtaking and sweet.
When I finished the book, I closed with a blissful sigh and one thought running through my head... must own my very own copy. I wanted to sing praises about this book to the nearest person I could find -- and I did. It happened to be my mother. She's now borrowing it from the library.
I'm so thrilled to be converted to the dark side (contemporaries). I've put my name on the hold list for Blue-Eyed Devil
. I just can't wait to read it. If it's half as good as Smooth Talking Stranger
, it's going to be a toe-curling and very yummy read indeed.
The book pits a high society Texan playboy against a woman who has no use for his charm, wealth, or position other than forcing him to admit he's the father of her sister's new baby.
Rating: 5 Stars
Buy: Smooth Talking Stranger
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May 22nd, 2009 — News, Paranormal
Here's the situation succinctly: Avon stuck its foot in its mouth.
Lynn S.: In our 2002 interview, you felt that the online world didn't have much of an impact on sales. Much has changed in the intervening years, and more and more people - including more women - are online now and use reviews as a helpful guide to the buying process. Has Avon changed its thinking in this area? Avon, also, seems not to include many online reviews in books. Are there any plans to change that policy?
May Chen: In my opinion, the online world still doesn’t have much impact on sales as, anecdotally, I’ve seen books get horrible online reviews but have done well. As far as I know, we still don’t include online reviews on our books, but that can certainly change if we see them start making a difference. Right now, the best endorsements for us still seem to be from NYT bestselling authors and from major traditional print reviewers.
Lucia Macro: Do the consumers recognize the source of the quote? I'm not sure that the vast majority of readers recognize all the online sites. When checking their rankings I'm often surprised at how little traffic they really get. We are all very plugged in, but many casual readers are just picking up a book at their local Walmart and barely have time to watch tv, much less wrestle the computer away from their kids. So an author quote might carry more weight with them.
Read the full original interview here.
This sparked a whole bunch of conversation and dialogue across many romance blog sites:
The whole thing as Jane notes is ironic and is summed up quite nicely by Amy of My Friend Amy in this Twitter message.
Pamela Jafee of Avon responds to the backlash with this comment on Lynn's post. She responds to the accusations in another comment stating that the quotes are direct without editing.
Right below Pamela's comment is one by Katie Mack linking to Jennifer Crusie's thoughts about author quotes on books and if I had any confidence in them before it's completely gone now.
What gets me most is that they assume because bloggers don't have corporate search engine ranks that we don't have power and additionally the assumption that was made about online versus offline. Before I started blogging, I did research online for books that I bought, yes I still made impulse buys, but I often gravitate toward books reviewed around the romance community. I don't really put faith in newspaper ratings for books or movies because oftentimes the reviewer is somebody who clearly doesn't share any similar tastes with me. They give it a 2 I give it a 4, they give it a 4, I'd never pick it up/go watch it even if you paid me.
As for the rankings... Alexa is complete bunk as most bloggers who blog about blogging say and they take it with a pinch of salt. Google Page Rank used to be highly sought after and now it's kind of a "well that's cool, I guess," rank. Alexa confuses me, but I do know a bit about Google PR. It's based on Log Base 10 mathematics. To jump one point you must be ten times more powerful than you were in terms of many things that are hard to quantify like: content relevancy, search relevancy, traffic, bounce rate, internal/external links, backlinks, etc. To jump two numbers you have to be hundred times more powerful; three numbers equals a thousand times more powerful, and so on.
Smart Bitches and Dear Author last I knew were both Google PR 5 (out of 10). Love Romance Passion is a 3 and I'm not quite a year old as a blog.
Think about that... that's a load of people and community sharing to build those numbers. We might not have the numbers of a corporate giant, and we certainly don't have the capital to push a book, but we're innovative and the numbers we do have shows just how big the romance community is online.
Google doesn't think we're bottom of the food chain, Avon shouldn't either.
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April 28th, 2009 — About, Author Interviews
I sent out a query on Twitter to romance authors and readers if they'd be interested in answering two quick questions. These two questions are ones that I personally love to ask romance authors when I interview them because the answers are always different and unique even though both deal with emotion and passion. It's inspiring really to see how they can be defined. Below are the questions and their responses; how would you answer them?
How do you define love?
Leigh Ellwood: I see love as the feeling in your heart, somewhere between softening and swelling, you experience when you are near your partner. No matter how they look, what they are wearing, or how long you've been together - you still get that tingle when you kiss and that itching desire to grab 'em!
Carolyn Jewel: A deep and abiding respect and admiration (since I can't use the word "love"). Two people who are aware of each other's flaws and find it makes little to no difference.
Rai-mon Nemar: Love is - Thinking to yourself "if you just act on your dreams you'll rule the world", and yet you're actions are consistently made with someone else's well being in mind.
Love is - When you feel as though your personal and professional pursuits wouldn't have had as much meaning without that someone who's traveled the journey with you. They might even be worthless.
Love is - Not an emotion! It is a choice you make daily to stay the course and live your life with someone and know you'll be better for it.
What makes a great bedroom scene?
Leigh Ellwood: I like a slow build-up, a painfully teasing undress and kisses that explore the skin like a roadmap. I like dialogue, too. Sex doesn't have to be a mute activity. Where there is communication, it only ramps up the sex appeal.
Carolyn Jewel: There must be something at risk, something changed between them afterward. If your characters aren't risking anything emotionally through their intimacy, then it's just boring. Every bedroom scene has to change the relationship between the characters. This can include making things seem even worse, by the way. Intimacy does not always equal happy ever after, especially early on in a relationship. It's not only about who's touching who where. The best bedroom scenes never, ever lose focus on the emotion, even when one of the characters thinks there isn't any.
Rai-mon Nemar: I'd say it's like it real life. It's all about the foreplay and more importantly the anticipation. Then "learning" how the person reacts to the certain things you do. Kissed this (nothing), touched that (nothing) bit her fat (she sucked her teeth for almost a minute like bacon sizzling) hopefully you know what I mean.
To read other responses to these questions, check out Love Romance Passion's additional author interviews.
If you are the owner of a review blog or are a romance author and are interested in participating in this survey please send your responses (and links) to Keira: reviewromancenovel at yahoo dot com.
Photo Credits: 1
Originally posted 2008-12-30 05:01:50. 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
