Today’s blog entry was brought to you in part by Nicole, Sybil and Angie.
So, to start things off, here are some big-name authors I haven’t read yet:
- Lavyrle Spencer
- Danielle Steele
- Catherine Coulter
- Janet Dailey
Here are some big-name authors whose books I tried to read but tossed aside violently while chanting an exorcism prayer after slogging through several chapters:
- Fern Michaels
- Kathleen Woodiwiss
- Virginia Henley
- Shirlee Busbee
- Rosemary Rogers
- Sandra Brown
This is by no means a comprehensive list, by the way, just names that immediately came to mind.
I’ve babbled about this piecemeal many times before and in many different locations, but what the hey, I’ll babble about it again in this Official Blog Entry: My start to romance novel reading was very, very rocky.
It didn’t help that the very first romance novel I cared to try was Desire’s Blossom by Cassie Edwards. Ugh, blech, shudder, etc. Even at the tender age of 10 I knew it was easily one of the worst books I’d ever read.
But this didn’t stop me from going through my sister’s extensive collection of romance novels. I was a bookworm, my book-buying budget was limited, and during Christmas vacation I’d run out of reading material right quick, and I could re-read Roald Dahl, the Three Investigators, the Chronicles of Narnia and Hercule Poirot mysteries only so many times before I went barking mad for something new.
(Aside: in Malaysia, the Christmas break is the longest since it signifies the end of the school year—see, our school years coincide with the calendar year, which is why the American system confused the hell out of me when I first moved here.)
Anyway, this desperation for new reading material meant I kept mining my sister’s romance novels for books to read. Read some Laurie McBain novels, HATED them but finished them anyway because I was so desperate. Ditto Barbara Cartland. Read several other historicals by authors whose names I’ve forgotten, and didn’t like them either. Read more than my fair share of old Mills and Boon novels by Penny Jordan, Charlotte Lamb, Carole Mortimer and the like, most of which I detested as well, though a few were tolerable.
These books did not help my impression of romance novels; I hated the prose style, I hated how stupid the heroines were, and most of all, I hated how badly the heroes treated the heroines. I’d oftentimes skip through the book, trying to look for the sexy parts, but alas these were few and far between. For about six years I thought of romance novels as the bottom of the barrell, since the the ones I’d read easily represented some of the most consistently bad writing I’d encountered in my short life.
The first romance novel I liked (but didn’t love) was Special Gifts by Anne Stuart. My dad’s secretary bought me several category romances for my birthday, most of which were incredibly bad, but Special Gifts gave me pause. The writing wasn’t too bad, the heroine didn’t annoy me (though even back then I snorted at the idea of a 29-year-old virgin), the hero was kind of yummy, the suspense side-plot didn’t insult me, and dude, the people engaged in ORAL SEX. Whoo! I re-read this book several times, and each time it actually got a bit better. And I’m not just talking about the bit featuring the oral sex.
When I was 16 years old, Judith McNaught showed me the light. Judith and Something Wonderful. (I’m very, very glad I didn’t pick up Whitney, My Love first.) Judith showed me that asshole heroes are palatable to me as long as they grovel at the end, and that sex in historical romances wasn’t always rape. I haven’t looked back since; in quick succession I found Lisa Kleypas, Patricia Gaffney, Laura Kinsale, Loretta Chase, Mary Jo Putney, Barbara Samuel, Teresa Medeiros, Jo Beverley and Sharon and Tom Curtis, among others. McNaught got me started, but these other authors were what moved me well and truly into the Dark Side. Other authors I tried in this same time period (Linda Howard, Johanna Lindsey, Iris Johansen, Linda Howard, and Linda Howard—OK, there were a few others but I can’t remember their names) reinforced my old opinion that romance novels embodied some craptastically awful writing, but since I was finding more authors I enjoyed reading than not, my opinion of romance novels was completely changed.
Which brings me to these questions Angie asked on her blog:
“Here’s my question for readers: Are there any authors that you think every romance reader should have at least tried to read? Any authors that instill such a sense of nostalgia in you, that you can’t imagine anyone having NOT read them?”
I don’t think there’s an author that every reader should have tried at least once. Personally, I love Laura Kinsale, but I certainly don’t think everyone needs to have read at least one of her books, though I certainly have her name right on top of my list of highly-recommended romance authors. I do think people should check out new authors regularly, unless she specializes in a sub-genre that you KNOW you won’t be able to enjoy. (I’m staying well clear of Danielle Steele, and I don’t care how much of an uninformed snob that makes me.) There aren’t any authors who instill nostalgia in me that I’d actually recommend, because in my opinion, these nostalgic authors almost without exception produced bad, bad, bad, BAD books. But there are authors who are so ubiquitous, so incredibly famous that I have a hard time believing somebody who’s been reading romances for more than a couple of years haven’t tried them yet. Nora Roberts is one, and Linda Howard is another. Hell, I don’t even like Linda Howard novels and I ended up reading about ten of them. Desperation for new reading material is an ugly, ugly thing.
Not that I have that problem now, heh.
LOL! This is your payback because I have just finished writing a blog about that topic. *arggh* *thunk*
Which Sandra Brown books did you read?
The three Texas! books. I’m pretty sure I tried a couple of others, whose names I don’t recall. I do have Led Astray in my TBR stacks, and the plot sounded interesting enough to me that I didn’t chuck it when I moved a couple of years ago.
Hey, Maili, where’s your blog entry about your intro to romance novels? I just checked your blog and it’s not up there yet…. I LOVE reading about how people came to read romance novels.
Like Maili, I was gonna ask which Sandra Brown titles did you read, Candy? Because I really enjoyed French Silk. You should give that one a try. I first read her as suspense and they were pretty good but thin on romance. I liked only the one Texas! book and that book was Texas!Chase. The rest of your list – I agree with. Never read them and don’t want to try especially Catherine Coulter.
The only Sandra Brown I’ve read that I liked was Envy, and I thought that was pretty good. I agree that her straight romance is pretty bad; It’s hard for me to believe that the same woman who wrote Envy wrote Demon Rumm, which was… not to my taste, let us say (I’m not arrogant – or confident
– enough to say it was terrible).
I must admit to a low taste for Linda Howard, however, in small doses. Ditto Tess Gerretsen.
From the All About Romance contest I won back in 2002:
“People who know me now would find this hard to believe, but I had a great deal of trouble learning to read as a child. I was moved backwards into easier and easier reading groups in the second grade, and I stayed at the next-to-lowest level group through elementary school (the lowest level was for children for whom English was not their first language). I can remember clearly being frosted with jealousy that my friends in the advanced reading group were presenting plays and acting out stories to the other groups, when I could barely figure out what the words said. I don’t remember as clearly the day I finally Got It, but eventually I learned to read. Unfortunately for me, I had little patience with much of the reading material available in my school libraries, and the books my father liked to read were beyond boring to me then (the civil war for 46,538 pages? You have got to be kidding me!). I read through much of the YA novels for kids my age, and while I collected the Sweet Valley High series with a rather frightening intensity, they bored me. No setting, predictable plots, and basic character development: I couldn’t have named those concepts at the time, but I did think more than once, “Okay, I GET it, they’re in California, they’re TWINS and they’re Gorgeous. Move ON!” I began to finish the SVH books and others like them in less than half an hour – hardly worth the money I’d paid for them!
So I could read, but I didn’t really want to, so I stopped, which made the struggle and eventual success in learning to read seem rather brittle in comparison to that bright shiny joy I’d envisioned receiving for my new skills. Then, just before high school, I found romance novels. A friend of a friend was reading a very thick paperback book in the public library, and I was jealous (What is it with me and the jealousy?!) that she was reading such a thick book and enjoying it. It had to be boring, I remember thinking. She must be smarter than me because she could enjoy a thick book. To me, thick books were boring, much like the ones my father stockpiled by his reading chair. Then I saw the cover, and asked her what it was. “A romance,” she said. “She’s Scottish, and he’s English, and she doesn’t want to be married to him, but she has no choice, so she’s disguised herself as an ugly troll so he’ll buzz off and leave her alone.” I asked her if it was good, and she was amazed that I’d never discovered romance novels. There was a huge rack of them along one wall and she dragged me over. I don’t think she took a breath while she explained all the different kinds of romance: “This is The Flame and the Flower and it’s really good but I didn’t like it because there’s, like, this really nasty rape scene, but I marked the pages so if you wanna skip it just look for the folded corners and skip to the pages that aren’t folded at the top and this is Night Magic and it’s really good and so is The Raven and the Rose and this one is really good but it has a weird ending but I think there’s gonna be a sequeal and THIS one is good too, but not as good as THIS one….”
Turns out she’d read most of the wall’s worth of novels, and was rereading her favorite: Midsummer Magic, by Catherine Coulter. She put it down to go to the bathroom, and I picked it up. I read the first few pages. When she got back, I’d already checked it out and started reading as I walked home from the library. (Yes, I am still ashamed).
Even now, I read as if I’m trying to catch up with all those words I missed when I was in elementary school. I learned some years ago that many teachers of adult literacy programs use romance novels to teach women because the stories are interesting, and the language and concepts are both challenging and accessible. This makes vats of sense to me: I became a faster, stronger, and very giddy reader the more romance novels I found. I even found my knowledge of European social and cultural history to be of much use in high school World History class. I read my way through Coulter, found the other triumvirate of writers of whom my public library had a limitless supply, and kept on reading. Then, I began exploring the local bookstores – I loved some of these books so much, I had problems giving them back to the library! I would find myself wanting to revisit a scene or reread a particular moment in a story, and the fact that the characters and stories and countries I loved weren’t right there with me in my room proved to be a rather expensive habit indeed.”
I also hate Kathleen Woodiwiss, Virginia Henley, and Rosemary Rogers’ books. So much so that I half assumed that any very popular romance writer must be bad. I recently read my first Nora Roberts romance (having previously read one of her suspense books, which made no impression on me), and was surprised that I liked it a LOT.
Danielle Steele is a horribly bad writer. “Star” is one of the very worst books I’ve ever tried to read. However, she has written a couple I found mildly entertaining. One was about the Titanic (forget the title). It wasn’t really a romance, however.
I’ve read several Janet Daily books. They were generic ‘70s novels but a couple were surprisingly good for what they were. I’ve also enjoyed some Johanna Lindsey, although I couldn’t tell you why since she’s not a very good writer. But you never know what you’ll like (or even why, sometimes).
“But you never know what you’ll like (or even why, sometimes).”
Yup. An author doesn’t necessarily need to be a good author to hook me. I’ve read and enjoyed bad books, like anything by Dara Joy and Gaelen Foley. Conversely, good authors have left me cold, too. Nora Roberts, for example—I wouldn’t rate anything I’ve read by her higher than a C+ or so, but I can acknowledge that she does most things right.
Ahem. I just have to point out that Brianna didn’t write that blog and ask that question. I did. Yes, my daughter is quite genius, but at six months she hasn’t yet grasped the finer points of things like romance novels and which authors rule the world. She pretty much just thinks all the books taste the same.
It’s an intersting topic, how people got their romance start. Like I said on my blog, I started early (like 4th grade) and glommed everything. So it does come as some of a surprise to me when people haven’t read authors like Catherine Coulter (WHAT!!) but then again, you dislike Linda Howard and I have a couple of her books on my keeper shelf. I guess, in the end, it goes back to whether you like secret baby books, sheik books, are Scottish Highland books- there’s an audience for everything but you or I aren’t always going to fit into that audience.
Ahhhahahaha! Good grief, what a dumbass typo. I’ll go correct it right away. I DID get it right in the beginning of my post, though. Writing all them words musta sapped all the brain cells outta me.
Excuse my mommy brain, I didn’t quite give a complete thought there. Where’s my delete button?
What I was trying to say is, there might be a very good reason why you haven’t read Catherine Coulter. And why I haven’t read Laura Kinsale or Barbara Cartland or a number of other big name authors. Because, despite the lure of the romance powerhouse author, who is marketed until you can’t stand to see her name anymore, sometimes we can just look at an author’s work and know, intrinsically, that we aren’t interested. No matter how many other people are. But something sets us apart from that author’s audience (for instance, dislike of The Big Misunderstanding).
Did that make more sense? Maybe I should have let Brianna answer this question. she might have muddled through it better.
I picked up my first romance when I was a preteen. We had moved to Spain, and up to that point I was a TV addict. Spanish television left a lot to be desired in my 11-year-old opinion. So I went to the bookstore on the military base and bought Jude Devereaux’s The Black Lion. I was instantly converted. I still have that book. Fond memories.
I like LaVyrle Spencer. I thought her book Hummingbird was excellent. It still is one of my favorite.
Oh yeah, if you haven’t read Barbara Cartland yet, please don’t bother unless you’re into reading books for camp value. They are absolutely terrible. And while I can dig that Laura Kinsale won’t float everyone’s boat, her craft is pretty damn solid—if nothing else, she doesn’t roundly abuse the ellipsis, and she doesn’t write about stammering, painfully stupid virgins being swept away by a masterful lover over and over and over again.
I don’t know why I haven’t tried some of the authors on my list. OK, Danielle Steele I definitely have a prejudice against, ditto Janet Dailey. (I keep associating Janet Dailey with authors like Jackie Collins, which is probably unfair and inaccurate.) I don’t know why I’ve never tried Lavyrle Spencer or Catherine Coulter, however. Someday before I die, I hope to try some of their books and see how I like them.
I like Linda Howard’s early suspense and Sandra Browns too but I’ve never read any of their old category reprints. I was a big historical romance reader um in the day—Jude Deveraux and Julie Garwood and yes, I’ll even admit I read Johanna Lindsay though I’ve sworn her off 🙂
Danielle Steele is to be avoided—haven’t read her in 20 years.
I liked Janet Dailey’s Harlequin Presents (some of them, anyway). I think she did one for each state, and I read most of them. Now, I can only recall one or two clearly, but I did like them (or Missy did—I’m not sure how NORTHERN MAGIC or NO QUARTER ASKED would stand up now).
I’ve read at least one book by all of these authors, but I think it is pretty telling that I don’t have any of them now—if I liked them at one time, I didn’t bother to keep them…or in a few cases, I just didn’t like them.
I have such a guilt complex, everytime I run across my name in a post I think I pissed someone off.
That or I have just spent too many years online ;).
I have a list of people I haven’t read that will prolly give angie a heart attack but blogger is being a bastard and won’t let me post.
Just looked through the Sandra Brown books I have tbr and no French Silk. Figures… I think I saw it for dirt cheap the other day. Will have to look again.
I do admit to reading Steele when I first started reading romance. But I realize now I didn’t read romance I just read trashy books. Jackie Collins – check, Sidney Sheldon – check, Judith Krantz – check. Danielle Steel – check. VC Andrews – check. I had everything they had written from 13 to 18 (‘88-‘94? somewhere around there). Which I remind my mother of all the time cuz she gave me shit for reading some teen book with a clinch cover and took it away from me! So I just started reading books with non clinch covers. But really the woman should have known who Jackie Collins was.
* Lavyrle Spencer
* Danielle Steele
* Catherine Coulter
* Janet Dailey
Hmm…only read Catherine Coulter out of here and didnt mind what I read, but had no desire to really seek her out.
* Fern Michaels
* Kathleen Woodiwiss
* Virginia Henley
* Shirlee Busbee
* Rosemary Rogers
* Sandra Brown
Only read Woodiwiss and Busbee that I remember, and they weren’t terribly good. Yeah, I’ve never read Sandra Brown either. Hey, I do find time to read lots of romance, so hmm…guess I’m more a mid-list author fan.
Though I have to say Johanna Lindsey’s Angel is one of the most read of my romances. *sheepish grin*
I think Janet Daily has some talent. Johanna Lindsey has some imagination. And Danielle Steele has a LOT of luck.
Since I don’t consider Danielle Steele to be a romance author (and I don’t think I am alone) you can skip her 😉
I have read Lavyrle Spencer and her best book is Morning Glory. If you read this one and hate it then don’t bother with any more.
I read Woodiwiss in the late 80’s and enjoyed them…okay, I sill have them but, I haven’t read them in years and I am afraid of just how bad they really are.
I did enjoy some of Sandra Brown’s books in the late 80’s because they were damn sexy for their time. First book I ever encountered oral sex – not only was I shocked and but so was the hero – but, in a good way 😉
So, how old is everyone? I am 34 and I was a late bloomer to romance as I only discovered they existed when I was 18. My mother never read romances so I was stunned to see sexual acts written on the page…at 18! I was at a friend’s house suntanning by the pool and was bored so I picked up a book that was lying there. The page the book was open to was a sex scene and I was glued to the page. I then started the book from the beginning and I ended up taking the book home with me even though her aunt hadn’t finished reading it! I’m just curious about readers who were ready some pretty heavy stuff at pre-teen ages. Did you understand what was going on or did you skip those scenes?
CindyS (who may have been too immature at the age of 10-12 to understand sex. I did read Sweet Valley High (maybe I was 10 at the time) books and liked the romance aspect even though I also got upset about the constant setting up of character and plot)
I don’t really mind Woodiwiss. Aack, don’t hit me! My mum loves Woodiwiss (The Wolf and the Dove is her all time favourite) so I cut her some slack when I read her novels, some of which are definitely better than others. I read a few Coulter novels when I was younger, mostly because they had rude bits. For the same reason, I read a couple of Brenda Joyce novels.
Ah, who am I kidding? I just skimmed to the sexy bits while browsing in the bookstore. 🙂
The first real romance book I remember reading was a Mills & Boon by Charlotte Lamb and even though the plot sucked and the main characters were cousins (!!) I read it over and over again (unbeknownst to my mum who had censored it at the time).
I didn’t read SVH books but I did have a collection of Sweet Dreams books, some of which I wish I’d kept because they’re sort of classics now.
My first ever romance as a teen was a Book called Country Girl, which was a Sweet Dreams story, I then graduated onto Sweet Valley High, then a series called Seniors.
My first adult romance was a Mills and Boon Book, where the heroine was brought up in the wilds of Africa, (obviously a virgin) wore a lot of khaki, and the hero was Mr Overbearing Sneering Asshole… but I loved it.
I used to enjoy Danielle Steele Books (I bet others did too, they just wont admit it now), as well as Nora Roberts.
“I don’t really mind Woodiwiss. Aack, don’t hit me!”
Hey, if I can enjoy Dara Joy, I certainly can’t make fun of somebody who likes Woodiwiss (though I can certainly make fun of Woodiwiss’s writing, heh heh). Like I said, oftentimes bad writing is enjoyable; so what? If one read and enjoyed only Great Literature or Books with Deep Meaning, life would be pretty friggin’ boring.
“So, how old is everyone? I am 34 and I was a late bloomer to romance as I only discovered they existed when I was 18.”
I’m 27 and started reading books with sex in them when I was 10—romance novels, Stephen King, Sidney Sheldon, Jackie Collins. Oh yeah, LOTS of confusion ahoy. I had the most basic idea of what sex entailed, thanks to my fourth brother’s extremely basic explanation (“The penis goes in the vagina and puts sperm inside the woman that way”) but I had NO idea what erections and ejaculation were, which led to the following hilarious misconceptions:
1. The penis didn’t actually ENTER the vagina, it just lay limp and sandwiched between the labia. I picture it as sort of like a hot dog in a bun, to be honest.
2. The guy peed on the girl’s labia, and the pee contained sperm, which would enter her and swim into her uterus.
3. The whole surface of the penis was actually swarming with sperm, so the guy didn’t need to pee on the girl if he rubbed vigorously enough on her labia. The whole thought made me giggle, because the idea of all those soft bits flopping around seemed completely absurd to me.
4. Every time a guy took a girl’s virginity, he pinched her really really hard, or maybe smooshed her way too hard with his body (because that was the only explanation I could think of for why losing one’s virginity hurt).
It wasn’t until I was 12 and a friend of mine sneaked a medical encyclopedia belonging to her father to school that I figured the rest of the mechanics out. Erections and ejaculation made so much more sense than the scenarios I came up with.
I am 29 and started reading Jackie Collins when I was 12 and babysitting for the teacher across the street. She took a summer job and I took up reading smut and watching Days of Our Lives.
I loved to read and ran out so I raided her bookshelf. And her husband watched Days and their VCR was broken so it had to be on to tape for him.
hmmm maybe my warped mind is alllll their fault!
Oddly enough I don’t recall being confused but I can’t remember who ‘told’ me about sex. Candy has a much better memory than I do.
The only Woodiwiss I liked was Shanna and that book isn’t very well-liked but whatta hero!
I tried reading Catherine Coulter…no comment other than to say that I don’t read her anymore.
As for Janet Dailey, I did like one book by her and wouldn’t mind reading more but with so many authors, so many books to read, she’s just really on the peripheral of my reading list.
I’m 33 and started reading my senior year in high school. My first author of course was V.C. Andrews followed by Victoria Holt.
I started early—like 12. We lived in the country and I had 1 neighbor (period!) who used to loan me books. We were po folk so there was no Sweet Valley High for me—boy was i jealous.
After I ate through the neighbors books I moved into mom’s collection—whoever mentioned Jackie Collins et. al you forgot Jaqueline Suzanne—Valley of the Dolls babeeeeeeee LOL
I saw Valley of the Dolls on sale at Powell’s Books the other day and I soooo wanted to buy it. Then I smacked myself sharply upside the head and told myself to just get it from the library instead.
I never thought I’d say this, but in a weird way I miss those Jackie Collins/Judith Krantz sex-o-rama glitz-n-glamor books.
I continued to buy JC for years after I stopped reading them. I kept telling myself I would get to them. I loved Rock Star and Chances (I think that was the name the first in the lucky series).
I finally took them off to the usb last year cuz I needed the space! But I still have Rock Star 😉
hee my list finally posted on my blog… why oh why does blogger hate me so?
Well, I’m 25. I didn’t really start reading romance til I was around 17. And then well, I was in college for awhile and you know you don’t get a ton of reading done during that time.
I’m 38. The first books I read with any sex were probably Victoria Holt in my early teens—nothing was described, of course. One of her books (I think it was called “Demon Lover”?) had a “hero” who abducted and raped the heroine. She spent the whole book being genuinely traumatized by this, but on the last page decided she was in love with him. I was so disgusted that I stopped reading her books for years.
Another favorite from my teens, still my favorite writer: Norah Lofts. Her stories often had heroines who were compelled by their desires. Again, nothing was described, and in fact she’s a good example of how you can write convincingly about sex without being at all explicit.
I also remember reading Judith Krantz in my mid teens. I reread a couple of her books recently, and she’s not a bad writer, although the stories are so pointless that at the end all you can say is “So what?” I was never able to read Jackie Collins at all, though. She put me to sleep.
Midsummer Magic, by Catherine Coulter
hey I have that on my tbr pile…
CC is one of those authors iffy authors. Her viking books were very eh. But I love the bride series – sheridon bride, hellion bride, scottish bride and I think there is one more.
I just picked up about 5 at a library sale for 10cents each. So I shall read more of hers. That either makes me scared or just cheap.
Candy, you are hilarious! At least you remember *not* knowing what an erection was. I think I discovered what one was with my first boyfriend at 15 – but then, I never actually saw it 😉 Now that I have hit the TMI button I’ll relate a cuter story.
I remember thinking (around the age of 9?) that when two people kissed somehow a photo was taken internally and a baby would develop. Yep, I have no clue where I got that idea.
Also, I remember our girl scout leader got pregnant and wanted to educate the girls on sex. You know the whole permission slip thing and stuff. I got permission but I never understood why I was watching films about frogs and puppies. Something about fertilizing eggs, which may explain why I believed for way too long that a woman’s egg was always waiting to be fertilized and that a woman could get pregnant at any moment. What a dunce I was!
CindyS (Shanna was my fav. Woodiwiss and I am still considering taking time to re-read it…if only there weren’t so many other books needing attention)
I’m 27—When I was about seven or so I thought that once a guy reached puberty, his dick was just big like that (erect) all the time. I’d seen my cousins and my little brother naked, so I knew kids didn’t have what I’d seen in my dad’s magazines (My poor parents—they did their best, and the magazines were in a locked cabinet, but I knew where that key was) and the pictures in Hustler gave me a very, very, very fascinating ideas about the male anatomy.
I knew all the mechanics of it very young—I don’t ever remember not knowing, or having an idea that was different from “insert penis into vagina and hump hump”.
I’m 40—my first romance books were Barbara Cartlands, which left a lot (of ellipses…) to the imagination. My mom, though, was reading some weird soft-core porn books at the time (I was 11, I think), some of which I read. The most memorable one was called Majorca, and it had a scene with a guy, a jar of honey, and a dog. I think it was right around then I swore I would never have sex. Too gooey. I liked Judith Krantz’s glitzy books, too. I’ve never read Nora Roberts, Linda Howard, Suzanne Brockmann, Janet Dailey, Fern Michaels, Woodiwiss, Busbee or Brown. I haven’t seen E.T., either. Or Titanic. And, Candy, my best friend works at Powell’s. But the romance section there stinks (she’s in travel, does not read romance)!
Megan—Oh, thank goodness I’m not the only one who thinks Powell’s romance section sucks ass. I love that store, but jeez—for a place that big, you’d think they’d devote a little more shelf space to romance. I’ve never found a book I’ve wanted there (even recent titles).
Hmmm…now I wonder: do they even buy/give trade credit for used romance titles?
Oh, the snobbery of Powell’s, don’t even get me started… In short: yes, their romance section sucks donkey balls. They lose quite a bit of business that way because I end up giving my dollars to evil big-name chains like Borders or buying on-line at Amazon.com. And no, the book buyers generally don’t buy back used romance titles. I’ve tried to sell back my romances to them several times. No go—in fact, they look at you as if you’re an asshole for making them sort through all those clinch covers. I don’t even try now, I just give my non-keepers to the Friends of the Library and call it good.
If you ever decide to give Coulter a chance, pick very carefully, esp. among the historicals, because I recall a lot of them having the hero force himself on the heroine—which just PISSES ME OFF!
At the risk of being bossy, please don’t consider reading Steele unless you want a part of your brain to go dead forever.
A few of Sandra Brown’s books aren’t too bad. Although I haven’t read her in years, I seem to recall that some of her earlier work was pretty damn hot. If you like reading about friends who become moooore, A Whole New Light was a short, fun, and sexy (or what I thought was sexy at the time) read. For something weightier, try Breath of Scandal—though (and this isn’t a spoiler) there is an extremely disturbing and detailed rape scene that I’m sure some readers wouldn’t be able to tolerate. I’ve read somewhere that Brown’s writing is “wooden,” but some of the tender moments between the hero and heroine had me in tears, and now that I’ve written this, I feel like searching out the book and seeing what I think of it all these years later.
I started reading romance at 11, started with Harlequin Presents. Loved them because they were mainly English. Moved on to Victoria Holt, Anya Seton, Harold Robbins, Sidney Sheldon and Jacqueline Susann. The first historical romance that I read was Sweet, Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers. I’ve read Howard, Brown, Brockmann, Spencer (her books are fabulous and worth a read), Coulter, Henley. I now read anything that Mary Balogh writes, Mary Jo Putney, Katie Macalister, Loretta Chase, Eloisa James, Julia Quinn write.
Having never read Danielle Steel (but known from reading the blurbs on my mom’s copies from an early age that I would never, ever want to), I’m curious—what exactly makes them so terrible? I mean, from what I know about them, they sound terrible. But I’d like to hear the snark from someone who actually read them.
Holy hell, I am not sure what is odder that I am now 32 or I remember this thread and chat. You read Lavyrle Spencer yet? Morning Glory rocks.
sez me