The Journal
Blog
Thoughts on books, reading, culture, and the literary life.
Is that a sword in your pocket?
August 22, 2014In the early days of romance adventure stories were a fairly standard part of the landscape. One need look no further than Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women edited by Jayne Ann…
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Critique Partners, Continents Apart
August 18, 2014Two of my favorite books I’ve read thus far this year are Untouched by Maisey Yates and Having Her (here’s my review) by Jackie Ashenden. Though both books are contemporary romances, they…
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Fairytales in Romance
August 15, 2014First there were vampires, then zombies, and now fairy tale adaptions seem to be the new entertainment trend. The newest film adaptation of “Sleeping Beauty,” Maleficent, scored big at the box…
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A Special Titles Update!
August 13, 2014One of the nicest parts of looking up newly nominated titles for a Special Titles Listing is discovering and rediscovering great books. This time around, we were struck by how…
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Our First Take on Outlander: The Series
August 11, 2014Starz’s adaptation of Outlander, with Caitriona Balfe as Claire and Sam Heughan as Jamie, premiered last week with a free online episode available here. Outlander is a legend in the…
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Possessive, check. Jealous, check. Volatile, check.
August 6, 2014It’s no mystery that the Alpha-Male character type has dominated romantic fiction. Nearly any romance you pick up will feature one of these tough, rugged, manly men out to woo…
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Romance Writers Rock my Favorite Bookstore
July 31, 2014When I was 18 and arrived in North Carolina to go to school, I was thrilled to discover The Regulator Bookshop. Its shelves held fiction so tempting that for the…
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Snippets from RWA2014
July 28, 2014Blythe and I had a great time at RWA2014. We both have interviews and insights to share and we will be publishing columns over the next few weeks sharing our encounters…
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Courtney Milan: A Slow Writer’s Guide to Making a Living (RWA2014)
July 25, 2014I’ve loved attending my first ever RWA. It’s always great fun to meet new writers, talk to those I already know, and listen to everyone chat about Romancelandia.
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An Interview with and a Giveaway from author Laura Andersen
July 23, 2014I’m speaking with Laura Andersen about her Boleyn Trilogy, which was completed on 15th July with the release of the final book, The Boleyn Reckoning. (My review of the book…
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50 Shades of Readers
July 21, 2014“All sentences are not created equal,” Jenny Davidson tells us in Reading Style: A Life in Sentences. Her tale is not so much about “which books must be read than…
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Courtney Milan talks to AAR… and gives away five copies of The Suffragette Scandal!
July 18, 2014I, like many AAR readers, have been avidly awaiting Courtney Milan’s most recent book, The Suffragette Scandal, which she released this week. I asked Courtney if she’d answer some questions and she…
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