Jean is reading The Courtesan's Scandal by Julia London
Stephanie is reading Velvet Promise by Jude Deveraux
Cheryl is reading Double Play by Joanne Rock.
Kathy is reading Jane Slayre by Charlotte Bronte and Sherri Browning Erwin
What are you reading?
Today, I feel like asking this question. What particular book convinced you that romance was the genre you wanted to read? ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't exactly know what book but I know why. I was an English major, library science minor in college and, as you can imagine, I didn't read a lot of my own choosing--except summers. I remember reading Forever Amber during that time. After I went to work as a librarian, I read across the genres because I felt it was my professional obligation--even science fiction and mysteries, which is were not my first choices. One day I picked up a hot New York Times Bestseller and read the blurb. In that moment, I knew I could not stand to read another book that was not going to end well. I remembered how Jude Deveraux and Julia Quinn always left me feeling good. After that, I read only romance for a long time. That isn't true any more, though I do read mostly romance. I read everything now--well, except science fiction and mysteries.
ReplyDeleteJean, you obviously had a love for reading before finding romance books. Your healthy desire to read across the board will surely enhance your writing. ;)
ReplyDeleteI wasn't a big reader in school, though I loved to read and write poetry. But I knew as soon as I read the book, Captive Embraces by Fern Michaels, from the Captive Series, filled with swashbuckling adventure and romance, that I wanted to read and write pirate books. That was many, many years ago and today I'm experiencing the biggest high ever now that I've written my first pirate romance. Funny how certain books stick with you, isn't it? But this also shows that books have the power to mold their readers in undefinable ways.
There is infinite power in the written word.
I have always read lots of different genres. Even as a child. I really like biographies too so I am not sure what book lead me to romance. I can remember that the first ones I ever read, like many people, were my grandmother's Harlequin Presents and my first bodice ripper the hero raped the heroine on accident and called her "Kitten" then entire time.
ReplyDeleteWoe! Kitten? Being the young whipper-snapper that you are, I must have missed that one somehow. Or maybe I did read it and have purposefully forgotten. LOL!
ReplyDeleteI know I may be starting a war, but I really loved the bodice-rippers. Not the rape part, but he bodice ripping. ;)
LMAO! The bodice ripping...
ReplyDeleteSorry I'm late to the party. Never go on vacation - coming back is always a nightmare... any way, Kathy, "The Wolf and the Dove" got me started. Then for a long time I didn't read romances. I got on a horror/suspense kick for years. Then I picked up a romance and got hooked all over again.
ReplyDeleteReading is a guilty pleasure and I don't get to do it as much as I would like. Never seems to be enough time in the day.
Just finished an older Elizabeth Lowell novel, "Lover in the Rough". Luckily I'm still on vacation. I spent three hours propped in bed because I couldn't put it down.
ReplyDeleteHi, Katherine! I love this question. My first romance was Jennifer Wilde's Once More Miranda. I remember thinking, "Wow, is that what it's like for a man when he falls in love?" and from that moment on not being able to get enough. Turns out Jennifer Wilde was actually a man writing under a pseudonym, LOL. But I still especially love scenes from the hero's point of view--whoever writes them! :)
ReplyDeleteOh, and btw, I also don't mind a ripping of a bodice or two (but absolutely not forced sex). I've got some rending o' garments in one of my upcoming books. ;)
I'm reading HOT ROCKS by J.D. Robb and it's great. I love the story.
ReplyDeleteCheryl, I love The Wolf And The Dove. I still have my original copy from when I first read it in the late 70's.
ReplyDeleteCathy, Elizabeth Lowell is one of my all time favorite authors. Note to self: I need to try spending time propped up in bed reading. Sounds very relaxing.
Katharine, I love to get into the hero's POV. It's very sexy, isn't it? And where bodice ripping is concerned, I think readers like the sense of urgency between characters. All in the name of love, of course. ;)
Christine, J.D. Robb is very popular. I'm glad you recommend HOT ROCKS with such enthusiasm. :)