Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

JaneDrew sent me this link and SLURP it sucked up an hour of my life. So, what better to do than inflict it on all of you? Name Redacted is, well, kind of awesomely addictive. A secretary, a mysterious boss, insane demands, egocentrism, adorable looks hidden behind big blinky-owl glasses? Sound familiar? It’s like Harlequin: Presents crossed with manga and vampire romance.

Enjoy. Mwaaaahahahahaa.

Remember the high stepping lady who showed up everywhere, from multiple book covers to ads for leg vein surgery?

Alert reader Lenna B. sent me the link to “Wife in the Fast Lane” by Karen Quinn, because the cover seems to feature yet another version of the high-stepping lady. Or, perhaps, the rest of her body.

Have a look. She’s moving forward, that’s for sure. 

Don’t forget - the deadline for spreading the word for Save the Contemporary, Save the World is Midnight EST 21 December 2008!

Need details? Read on: below is a Sprout widget about our campaign, and a simpler animated graphic. Right-click-and-save the graphic, or grab the Sprout for yourself, and put it on your site. Let us know that you’ve done so —please make sure to use this email address!—and you’ll be entered to win a copy of the book, plus a 1GB iPod shuffle, and a $75 gift certificate to iTunes.

Spread the word, let us know, and you’re entered to win. That’s it.

The Spread the Word winner will be announced on Monday 22 December, so tune in to see who wins a book, an iPod, and some righteous tunage in our quest to Save the Contemporary.

Why? Because if there’s one thing that makes us sad, it’s the idea of contemporary romance dying out. So spread the word, buy a contemporary (and don’t forget about the coupon code at Borders for $1.00 off your purchase) (HAR1222D), and save the world. 

BookFinder.com has released the Top 10 Out of Print Books in the US, or, more specifically, the books most sought-after. Now, the article doesn’t indicate HOW they know these books are “sought-after.” What does “analysis of national demand” mean. Price? Frequency of searches? Amount paid on eBay?

Anyway, check out #3 and #7 on the list, yo.

#3- “Promise Me Tomorrow” (1984) by Nora Roberts; early novel that the bestselling romance novelist refuses to reprint, describing it as “mediocre.” (BookFinder.com Report 2008 #2 Fiction and Literature title)

#9 - “Comanche Heart” (1991) by Catherine Anderson; coming back into print June of 2009, “Comanche Heart” is the second book in the Comanche series; in 2008, the first book, “Comanche Moon” was reissued and placed on the “New York Times” bestseller list.

A search on BookFinder for Promise Me Tomorrow yields prices in the hundreds, with one copy in the UK fetching $68.00.

[Thanks to Tara R. for the link.]

Here in the wilds of New York and New Jersey (what, I flit across the state line like a butterfly on crack, alright?) it’s snowing like holy shit. No one can agree how much snow we’re going to get either: 3-6” 6-12” 1? Less than?

But I’m not afraid. One, because I’m used to snow and kind of love a good snowstore.

And two, because my iPhone is going to make sweet snowbunny love to the four Harlequin mini-romances offered through the Stanza app from now until 1 January. As GalleyCat reported, romances are one of the few genres doing well in a troublesome publishing market (like, duh, right?) so how better to celebrate than by giving us romance readers more of what we want.

If you launch the Stanza app, the four free ebooks are part of the main bookstore menu, making the downloading ever so easy. The titles are Wrapped and Ready, The Mistress’ Secret, Stroke of Midnight, and The Spy Who Loved Her.

So even if I get stuck on the bus in the snow and the Kindle battery dies, I have four books. WAA HOO.

[Thanks to Mia for the heads up.]