Romancing the Novel Carnival #4

August 2nd, 2009 — Links and Challenges 

Welcome to the fourth edition of romancing the novel. This one is pretty much a link frenzy. We have links on RWA, romance in general, book reviews, author interviews, industry professional interviews, writing tips and more! If you read all of the articles shared below I could conceive that a majority of your day would be taken up, but what a way to spend a day!

romancereader

RWA:

On Genre:

Book Reviews:

Author Interviews:

Between the Sheets:

Misc.

On Writing [Tips:]

That concludes this edition of romancing the novel. It's now time for you to submit your relevant blog articles to the next edition of using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: romancing the novel, blog carnival.

Photo Credits: kowitz

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Review: The Secret Passion of Simon Blackwell by Samantha James

April 12th, 2009 — 2.5 Stars, 3 Stars, Book Review, Farming, Gentry, Great Britain, J-L, Victorian, Virgin Heroine, Widow or Widower 

bookreview

Great start. Mediocre middle. Great ending.

There was one discrepancy that was glaring to me... how probable was it to have two people to get married to cover a brewing scandal, get divorced/separated after a year (claiming annulment maybe?), and go about their lives as if nothing happened? It wasn't something I thought too much about because with romance you know they're going to stay together and find love so it wasn't really an issue.

What I didn't like was that the book spent too long repeating the same things. I was eagerly and desperately waiting for the point when Annabel McBride smartened up enough to realize she couldn’t make a man love her if he wasn’t willing or that she couldn’t compete with a dead wife and kids.

The Secret Passion of Simon Blackwell is one of those widower plots that combine brooding hero and a fresh untried miss. I did like that Simon Blackwell generally and truly loved his late wife, but it was hard to read Annabel’s determination to win him over. She can’t if he isn’t willing to let go and the book took too long for Annabel to reach a quitting point that would force Simon to either give up his ghosts or to give her up.

This is too bad because I honestly love reading about heroes who find a second at love or get a second chance to find their first love as the case sometimes is. However I did believe Simon falling in love with Annabel even if he was a stubborn fool about the whole affair. If it wasn't for the middle section I would say this book was just about perfect.

Rating: 2.5-3 Stars

Buy: The Secret Passion of Simon Blackwell

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