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

Here’s my list:

1. To Pleasure a Prince - Sabrina Jeffries
2. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
3. The Devil You Know - Liz Carlyle
4. The Wonderful World of Oz: A Commemorative Pop-up - Robert Sabuda (illustrator)
5. The Man in the Moss - Phil Rickman

Oh! Gack! Sabrina Jeffries.... I remember reading a book of hers featuring two masturbation scenes in it. Pretty spicy stuff for a mainstream release. But! Not well-written. If her books are fun at all, they’re pretty much guilty pleasures. Read some of Mrs. Giggles’ reviews. She rips Sabrina some good ones.

Erm..here’s my list of recommendations from Amazon:

1.Ravenous (The Horde Wars) by Sherri L. King
2.Northern Lights by Nora Roberts
3. Plantation by Dorothea Benton Frank
4. Shem Creek by Dorothea Benton Frank
5. Pawleys Island (Lowcountry Tales (Hardcover)) by Dorothea Benton Frank

Apparently I get the Frank ones because I bought Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews.  Hmmm.

OK, here are my top 15 recommendations:

The Runaway Duke (Warner Forever) by Julie Anne Long

The Demon’s Daughter (Berkley Sensation) by Emma Holly

The Possession by Jaid Black

Hunting Midnight (Berkley Sensation) by Emma Holly

To Wed A Scandalous Spy (Royal Four) by Celeste Bradley

The Charmer by Celeste Bradley

Things You Should Know by A. M. Homes

Jane’s Warlord (Berkley Sensation) by Angela Knight

The Forever Kiss by Angela Knight

Ties That Bind by Jaid Black, Lora Leigh

In a Country of Mothers (Vintage Contemporaries) by A.M. HOMES

Sin and Sensibility (Avon Romantic Treasure) by Suzanne Enoch

Catching Midnight by Emma Holly

Lady in Red by Karen Hawkins

What an Earl Wants by Shirley Karr

Hmmm. NEVER heard of Celeste Bradley or Shirley Karr. Anyone have anything to say about them?

I’m trying hard to remember if Suzanne Enoch was responsible for writing a book that I thought sucked donkey cock, or whether it was Suzanne Robinson.

I haven’t used my Amazon account for pleasure in a long time. I took a peek, and it’s a listing of computer manuals, and Harry Potter. God,I need a life.

Kiss Me While I Sleep (Howard, Linda)---I’ve already read this book, and I think I bought it from them.

Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing) by Orson Scott Card --Not interested

The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman—sounds interesting, but I can probably get whatever he’s got in this book off BOUNTIFUL number of internet articles at our disposal

The Fiery Cross (Gabaldon)—Read them all except this one.

Public Displays of Affection by Susan Donovan —I may check it out.

2005 Writers Market (Writer’s Market) by Kathryn S. Brogan --I have several other books in this vein, so I’d be buying the same info.

Just A Hint--Clint by Lori Foster—I’ve never read Lori Foster, but I heard she’s good.

Murder List Julie Garwood - I’ll check this one out as well.

From the top 15, all mine are music recommendations, except the Shrek2 dvd, a couple of Peter Mayle books, The Neverending Story and a book about cheese.

(mmm, cheeeese)

I find Sabrina Jeffries to be unreadable and would pass on the Royal Princes in Bed series.  The heroines fall into the ever so nice category and the heros are bland.  Blandily bland bland bland.

Nicole: The Dorothea Benton Frank novels are some of my favorite comfort re-reads but I wouldn’t consider them romance, though there are strong romantic themese in most of them. They’re women’s fiction (IMO) set in Lowcountry South Carolina, and I love reading them.

Here’s mine:
1. Revenge of the Cootie Girls by Sparkle Hayter (read it)
2. A Stroke of Midnight by Laurell K. Hamioton (read it)
3. Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris (read it)
4. The Last Manly Man by Sparkle Hayter (read it)
5. Undead and Unemployed by MaryJanice Davidson (read it)

Gee, that was not helpful. Seeing that the entire list recommended to me on the first page (15 on the list) I’ve read.

By the way, love Sparkle Hayter.

1. The Runaway Duke
2. Lady Whistledown Strikes Back
3. The Good, the Bad, and the Undead
4. Batman: The Long Halloween
5. The Forever Kiss

About a month ago I went through and graded all of the books I’d bought from them, and updated my recommendations—but still it’s pretty miss miss miss hit.

A little further down is THE LADY IN RED by Karen Hawkins; I might give that one a try, because I liked KH’s entry in an anthology I read (The first Whistledown anthology, methinks).

Looking at these, I’d say—wow, a lot of us have similar tastes...but how much of this is just paid-for advertising to get on these recommendation lists? Is it all reader preferences?

Lady in Red sucked ass, if you want it Meljean email me your address and it is yours.  I have wondered if I was just really pmsing while reading it or if it sucked as much as I thought.

I have much love for To Wed A Scandalous Spy (Royal Four) by Celeste Bradley.  And Celeste Bradley first liar books are grand… hmmm you know angie is trading them - go get them.  The Charmer was eh and I have The Rogue tbr, looks good. 

I like Sabrina Jeffries.  Her last book was great, the one before that I didn’t like at all.  The Forbidden Lord is great but I would say Dance of Seduction is one of my faves.  But everyone else must hate DoS cuz I never see it mentioned.  If you are still going through your Pirate faze I really enjoyed her first book under this name - The Pirate Lord.  If you want to borrow it I will send it to you.  Or if you just want to try her out, you can borrow any of mine (I have them all).  They are fun.  There is no heavy lifting involved but she is an enjoyable read.

My Amazon recommendations consist of In Death novels (I order the audiobook versions through Amazon), Charlaine Harris books (I ordered two of her audiobooks through Amazon), and Secrets anthologies (some of which I’ve ordered through Amazon).

Pretty predictable.

Alyssa

1 A Breath of Snow and Ashes
by DIANA GABALDON

2 Origin in Death
by J. D. Robb

3 Red Lily (In the Garden)
by Nora Roberts

4 Always Time to Die : A Novel
by Elizabeth Lowell

5 Chanur’s Legacy: A Novel of Compact Space (Chanur)

I liked the option better when it listed more than 15 books at a time. If you’ve checked out an author with a particularly huge back list, that author comes up frequently.

I didn’t realize my comment would send you through your Amazon list, Sarah.  My recommendation list works for me because I use refining it as one of my main methods of procrastinating when I should be working on my book.

On my list at the moment:

1. He Loves Lucy by Susan Donovan
2. Mouth to Mouth by Erin McCarathy
3. The Trouble with Valentine’s Day by Rachel Gibson
4. Sin and Sensibility by Suzanne Enoch
5. The Devil to Pay by Liz Carlyle
6. The Bishop Goes to University by Andrew Greeley
7. Rear Window (DVD)
8. To Wed a Scandalous Spy by Celeste Bradley
9. Ultra-Lounge: Cocktails with Cole Porter.
10. Exploring the Labyrinth: A Guide for Healing and Spirtual Growth by Melissa Gayle West
11. Genius Loves Company - Ray Charles
12. Welcome to Sunnydale: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG Supplement by Excelsior Game
13. The Serpent on the Crown by Elizabeth Peters
14. Broadway’s Lost Treasures 2 (DVD)
15. John Brown, Abolitionist by David S. Reynolds

It’s a fairly ecletic mix and at least half of it are things I’m pretty certain I’m either going to order from Amazon or pick up locally.  But, boy, did I spend a lot of time getting to that point.

Amazon is watching you.  Does no one else find this disturbing?  It is pricing books acording to some secret rating system and the web surfer next to you may be getting a better price on that recomended list. 

Paranoid much, Ferfe?

Why, yes.  Yes I am.

Amazon keeps recommending my own books to me. I’m glad someone’s pushing them.

I have Loretta Chase and Jo Beverly alternating down the list along with Spiderman 2, which I already own.