Romance on the Web

First: I was over at Salon Magazine over the weekend with a summer reading list of contemporary, historical, and paranormal recommendations for hot vacation relaxation: Your Guiltiest Summer Reading Pleasures:

While the perfect tan requires careful sunscreen, enjoying a romance requires only two things: a belief that everyone deserves a happily-ever-after, and the ability to ignore anyone who sniffs at your choice of reading material. A good romance novel is like the perfect day at the beach: wonderful and restorative from start to finish.

Note: I wish it didn’t label the list guilty pleasures, too, but alas, the title is the part I didn’t write. No guilt here. I’m more likely the one to give you a high five on the subway for reading a book that’s awesome. Big thanks to Angela James and KristieJ for helping me compile the list.

Sarah Weinman is also over at Salon with her list of crime and thriller novels for the summer. Woo!

It’s a good week for romance in online publications, too: Teresa Medeiros hit one out of the park with her pointed and charming explanation that, no, celebrity marital drama does not equate with romance novels, and the boneheads who do the cheating are NOT heroes because A Romantic Hero Wouldn’t Do That:

…it makes us a little crazy when people compare the drama unfolding in the lives of wronged wives Elin Nordegren and Sandra Bullock to the conflict you’d find between the pages of a best-selling romance novel.
I’ve always said a romance hero can be deeply flawed … as long as he’s willing to rush into a burning building to rescue a basket of kittens.

He might be a haughty Brit looking down his nose from the lofty edifice of his pride, like Mr. Darcy. He might be a brawny Scot so blinded by hatred for his enemy that he nearly misses the chance for love standing right in front of him. These days, he might even be a werewolf or a vampire, sparkly or not.

But the one thing he will never be is a serial cheater who repeatedly betrays the woman he claims to love.

I smell a 2011 Veritas from RWA for that one.

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