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

It’s always a refreshing change when something exceeds your expectations and brings you a few hours of real enjoyment, isn’t it?
I have never read a Harlequin anything - but maybe, SB, your New Year’s Resolution (and reviews) will inspire me to venture forth.

BTW - Rhys was our #1 choice of name if baby #2 (due in May) was a boy...I guess it’s a good thing she’s going to be a girl!

Oh, and I loved the Bond Character device bit.

And I read “Pat expressions of autonomy,” as “Pat expressions of anatomy” - would still probably fit many a book, no?

Road trip romances...I do like those. Like Romancing the Stone, or On the Road to Mr Right by Belinda Jones, which is more about the road trip, rather than road-trippin’ with a man and the inevitable squabbles about stopping to ask directions.

I love all kinds of “forced proximity” romances, of which road-trips are one type.  Anything where the H/h just canNOT get away from each other!  I *heart* me some forced proximity.  Must pick this one up.

I don’t normally read Harliquins either, but this one sounds really interesting.
Might just break with tradition on this one.

He drives a rental car?  Some Tycoon!  And the cover makes her look pregnant.

It sounds like fun, though I might have to slap a fake cover on it if I took it to school. Looks about the right size for Torts in a Nutshell.

I was thinking about Romance Novel Unusual Naming Syndrome the other day when Jane Espenson discussed the naming of characters in ways to help the audience remember them. 

I wondered if it was all that necessary in a romance since, after all, out of all the characters who will appear in the story, the audience won’t be forgetting the main characters.

Actually, it’s a trope I’ve wondered about off and on for years: why are uncommon names so seemingly necessary?  I get that names like George or Bob don’t necessarily inspire instant sizzle at first glance, but I’m still not sure I fully grasp the reasoning why so many perfectly good names get the miss-in-balk.

And finally, I broke up my reading of an intense war memorial the other day by reading a Suzanne Brockmann category and was happily reminded it is possible to have a story with a plot and everything in a smaller-sized book.  It’s too bad that I don’t seem to have found many authors who really have the knack for writing them.

Ooh, this was one of the free ebooks that eHarlequin gave away between Christmas and New Year.  I wasn’t sure about it when I read the description, but am so glad I downloaded it now!

I am very surprised with the positive review and now curious to check for myself! Thanks!

Can I just say that category romance rocks.  Ok, maybe that’s a little strong, and I don’t think I read this line because of the sometimes overbearing heroes and not enough sex - but maybe times have changed.  Should you have not already indulged, I recommend my FAVORITE line of categories, Harlequin Blaze.  Some great authors started there like Barbara Delinksy.  Every third or fourth one is really good.  The crap ones, with the big type, obviously hurried for impending deadlines, do suck, though.

I think that the unusual name thing is really interesting. I have heard mentioned here before that it can be squicky if a character has your name. I never have that problem because my name is rare but the flip side is that I am rather possesive of my name. If someone says ‘Yvonne’ they are talking to me.

*sigh*

Makes me miss the Love & Laughter series from Harlequin. Could read one in a giggly, guilt-free afternoon.

Thanks for reviewing this, I’ve been hoping for reviews of the free Harlequins.  I downloaded all but one, and I liked this one as well.  It’s probably a B for me, because of some plot weaknesses (idiot plot anyone?) but still a fun and worthwhile read.

I’m back reading categories after a long hiatus, and I’m really enjoying them.  Short and satisfying at best, and at the worst it’s a couple of hours of your time.

I reveled in reading this book, and it went a long way toward reassuring me that my naughty prejudices about the category genre were very much unfounded.

I have come to see category Romance (especially good categories) as the amuse-bouche of the genre.  Bite-sized, meant to stimulate the appetite for more, under-appreciated but often more difficult to pull off than a larger course, that’s the category at its best, IMO.  A good category read excites me about the genre all over again, and makes me hungry for more.  It’s a good thing (in honor of intertextuality, lol).

This sounds like It Happened One Night. I can only assume the BITCH WHERE MAH VOWEL?! scene involves a motel room divided in half with a sheet?

Before the Silver Tigress, who is Welsh by birth, comes in and bites you people, I should point out that “Rhys” DOES have a vowel--it’s Y.  The name is pronounced “Reese.”

If you have a problem with the Welsh Y as a vowel, just wait till you read a story in which a character named Hywel is riding through a cwm playing his crwth…

I’m not entirely sure what you said there, Talpianna, but it sounds dirty. ;-)

Haven’t posted here before, but I must just pick up on Foleydog’s comment about Harlequin Blaze:  that line did not yet exist when writers like Delinsky were writing category in the 1980s and early 90s.  It was the Harlequin Temptation line that saw some of the early work of quite a number of excellent novelists:  Jayne Ann Krentz, and, a little later, Jennifer Crusie, are two other examples.

Oh, and a cwm is a valley, and a crwth a musical instrument.  Perfectly decent.

Man, I wish I had known one of the books Harlequin was giving away was actually good!  Guess I’ll have to stick it on my BookMooch wishlist.

~I have come to see category Romance (especially good categories) as the amuse-bouche of the genre.  Bite-sized, meant to stimulate the appetite for more, under-appreciated but often more difficult to pull off than a larger course, that’s the category at its best, IMO.  A good category read excites me about the genre all over again, and makes me hungry for more.  It’s a good thing (in honor of intertextuality, lol). ~

Yeah… what Robin said. 

I absolutely agree some categories out there are an offense to the tree that gave itself up for its printing.  However, this is true across all genres, and not just a curse of category romances.  And when you get a good one, they can be downright brilliant, and ever so satisfying.  Just the perfect size, fitting in my hands comfortably, and I can read it in a convenient little chunk of time.

Sarah, you probably know this, but just in case … many times when you see mentions of other characters, it’s because somewhere out there in category land, there is a connecting story.  When done well, it’s just a seamless part of the story, with a little “aha, I know them!” moment for those who’ve read the other books.  If it’s not done well, then there can be all those distracting questions—Is there more coming? Was she aiming for a contract with sequels? Was this a bigger book edited down to category length and the better parts of those characters ended up on the editing floor? IS there an editing floor when one is discussing books?

When I read your post earlier today, I figured this was part of a connecting series.  I got home and looked it up in my Byron database, though, and didn’t see any connecting books listed.  Her backlist looks like it’s mostly mass-market historicals, though, not categories, so maybe she’s used to having more characters, because she usually has more words to work with.

Or not.

Diane

I think that this was the one free Harlequin title that I missed because I forgot the date - but I didn’t mind until now. The cover and title put me off a little. Oh well…