Reader Kris recently commented that when she reread Lisa Kleypas’ Dreaming of You it DID NOT hold up at all. She wrote:
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the ask@AAR: What can’t you forgive in a lead?
Last night, Dr. Feelgood, my friend Ann and I watched The Man Who Knew Too Much. I had seen it in college and loved it. Morocco! Que Sera Sera! Jimmy and Doris! I had forgotten, however, about the scene in which, fairly early on in the film, Jimmy Stewart’s character–he’s a surgeon–forces sedatives on his…
the ask@AAR: What’s your favorite film adaptation?
It is the era of the recycled tale. So much so I often wonder whether or not any original stories are being filmed. Cape Fear, a story originally written by John D. MacDonald in 1957, has been made into two movies since its publication. Want more of what would you do for your family tale:…
the ask@AAR: What should it cost a library to lend out an ebook?
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the ask@AAR: Whose story do you long to have told?
In anticipation of the upcoming Bridgerton show and because The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After was on sale last week, I finally read the latter. (We reviewed it here.) I was not impressed–So. Many. Babies.–although I found Francesca’s story touching. The last story in the book is about Violet Bridgerton
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the ask@AAR: How do you feel now about marriage of convenience tales?
The marriage of convenience is one of romance’s most enduring plots. Whether the bargain is struck to save a fortune, secure a future, or escape a scandal, watching two strangers discover that vows made for practical reasons can blossom into true love, hot sex, and/or a perfect partnership is, for many, a lot of fun….

This is an experience we’ve all had. There are romances we loved back in the day that now make us shudder or, at the very least, wonder what on earth we were thinking.
Earlier this year, I tried and failed to reread Devil’s Bride by Stephanie Laurens. The prose was absurdly purple, Devil is kind of a dick, and Honoria is just plain silly a great deal of the time. Today, it is a hard pass and yet, when I look at Goodreads, I see that in 2013 I gave it four stars which, for me, is high praise.
How about you? What are books that really no longer work for you? Why?