Bye Bye Bethany

I started this blog six years ago to post my reviews of romance novels, and promote myself as a romance author, under a pen name. As I get closer to completing a book and become more involved in the industry, it's become apparent that I should work under my own name, and not a pen …

Sharing Something about Shoes

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. From tech to fetish, shoes in fairy tales are a mark of status The glass slippers in Disney’s 2015 film version of Cinderella. Allison Shearmur Productions, Beagle Pug Films, Genre FilmsRebecca-Anne C. Do Rozario, Monash University Fairy tales have …

Luck and Privilege: Book Inserts

Many of the older romances I pick up, and even some of the newer ones, have mail-in cards that sign you up for a monthly book subscription. The cards usually include a gift, sometimes a contest, and always a sticker of some sort that you must remove from one page and attach to another. Presumably …

Dance Cards

Regency Romances often refer to dance cards. Like most lists, a list of your dance partners for the evening is a great way to be organized. No one is overlooked or forgotten, no one gets more time than they should have, and there's no risk of forgetting names. It's also a record of the evening, …

The Well-traveled Book

My library is not what it used to be. For decades I accumulated books, dragging them back and forth across the country, and my library was a source of pride. Vanity, to be honest. Changing priorities (a euphemism for not having enough money) meant I had to drastically prune the collection, but that task was …

Awful Eighties Book

I'm not going to name this book or the author, because as much as I dislike the book, it's thirty years old, so I don't need to warn anyone away. Also, the author is a prolific writer, a best-seller in several genres, and this was from early in her career. I assume she was writing …

The Good Girl’s Second Chance

I picked up another set of free sample Harlequins, just to keep up with the different lines (and, of course, FREE BOOKS!). Getting a set like this means there will be some books I like less than others. Which brings me to The Good Girl's Second Chance, a 2015 Harlequin Special Edition, by Christine Rimmer. …

The Penguin Book of Infidelities

Having just read a couple of novels where the plot involved adultery, I found myself keen to re-read this collection. The Penguin Book of Infidelities, edited by Stephen Brook, is a rich collection of literature on the subject of marital and/or sexual infidelity. The selections include poetry, fictional accounts, letters, and historical records. Brook's stated …

Why I Respect E. L. James

I have not read Fifty Shades of Grey. I know something of the story (submissive relationship) and something of the writing (poor), and I've no desire to read it. It's no secret that the story and writing are widely mocked, which leaves me mystified as to why anyone thought a twitter Q & A with …

Writing Tips – Character Goals

Further to my entry of a few weeks ago, Is it Hot in Here?, I've been working on my characters and story.  As cherryreads commented, they are intertwined, which makes it more complicated. Today I came across some helpful writing advice. In How to Write a Romance Novel: The Keys to Conflict, romance editor Jennifer …