Happy Hump Day! It’s April and I’m personally dreading the oncoming allergy season. The RT Booklover’s Convention is a month away and I’m counting the days until I can be in warmer weather.
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Cosmopolitan has a really interesting interview with artist/illustrator Anna Kmet and author Lorraine Heath on how a romance novel cover takes shape. Thanks to Reader Janice G. for the link:
Lorraine: Romance readers do base a lot on the covers. That’s the first thing that they look for — the cover has to grab their attention, particularly if the book is by an author they don’t know. I’ve seen readers post that they’ve picked up books simply because they wanted the cover that was on the book.
It needs to be a little provocative. It’s also helpful if it tries to capture the mood of the story. This might seem trivial, but the hair color needs to match the character’s in the book. Readers are really sensitive when they’re reading a book and the hair color on the cover doesn’t match the hair color in the book. They’ll email or make comments on Facebook that they were disappointed that the hair color didn’t match.
The covers featured are all historical romances, and I’m curious if how a cover is approached changes within the different romance subgenres.
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If you’re in the New England area, there are some events with the SBTB crew this month!
Sarah is going to be at a romance fiction conference and book signing at Williams College. This event is free!
Redheadedgirl will be discussing reviews at the New England RWA Conference.
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This article was sent to us by another reader and I thought it was a fascinating look at erotica, fanfiction, and mental health.
This cathartic aspect of both reading and writing erotica is crucial to its emotional benefits for many women. A sex blogger who goes by Livvy Libertine told me that writing erotica helped her heal from a decade-long marriage to a man who emotionally and sexually abused her, leaving her with PTSD and a whole lot of sexual guilt. She didn’t set out to ease her trauma by writing erotica but found that crafting sexy stories helped her rebuild her own sense of agency. “It was something he could not, would not, be able to take from me or use against me,” she explained. Her stories involve clear, enthusiastic, continuous consent—an element that was, sadly, missing from her own rapes, but that she can powerfully insist on in her fiction. “I have almost lost my fear of him completely, and my PTSD is more under control than it has ever been,” she told me. “I feel freer, and I finally have realized that what happened wasn’t my fault.”
I’ve found writing and reading romance to be therapeutic at times. Does anyone else feel the same? Or do you have any disagreements with the article? Would love to hear your thoughts!
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Laptop Cord Winders
I have one of these from Above the Fray, and it's great for keeping my MacBook cord contained and safe from being pulled or frayed. There are earbud winders, too! -SW
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Don’t forget to check out the drool-worthy cover debut of Alisha Rai’s forthcoming Wrong to Need You. Plus, there’s a giveaway!
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One of my favorite things I’ve discovered is this artwork, which turns pop culture characters into 16th century paintings. There’s Superman, Catwoman, and many more. My personal favorite is the last one, though I won’t spoil who it is.
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Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
This will be my 1st RT evvvvar AND I AM PUMPED LIKE…LIKE…like something that involves a pumping motion. Hmm. Point is, I’m excited and will fangirl so hard I’ll probably faint no less than 3 times.
Also YAY FUN READING LINKS! I’m bookmarking these for future brain vacation breaks because think pieces are mind candy like none other.
Also OMG I FORGOT TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY AHHHHH! (And I call myself a fan of SBTB by reading All Of The Entries. FOR SHAME!)
The only fun thing I did this week was film and edit my video review of Kresley Cole’s Dark Desires After Dusk for my YouTube channel. In my reviews I often dress as different characters from the book and act out favorite quotes. (Yes, I’m THAT big a romance novel nerd.) Doing Cole’s quotes was ALLLLL the fun!
I thought a lot of readers of this site would be interested in a podcast about women pirates out yesterday from NPR/WBUR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook: Real Pirate Women on the Seas of Old which features the author of the new book Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes and Privateers Who Ruled The Seven Seas by Laura Sook Duncombe
Last week On Point also had a really good episode on the renewed popularity of dystopian fiction including an interesting discussion of apocalyptic vs. dystopian literature and the differences between YA and “adult” (non-YA) dystopian fiction: A Fictive, Failing Dystopian Future
That link to pop culture characters/Renaissance paintings! Thank you. Admittedly, the last one was terrific, but I loooved Catwoman and sidekick.
Oh, I loved the pop culture 16th century paintings! Catwoman (and cat) and Chewie are my favorites.
Catwoman and sidekick for the win!
@Amanda I sent an email about potential bomb ass links! Here’s to hoping that the email address is correct because when I click the “send it my way” the page does squat.
@Jacqueline: If you have a pop-up blocker, it might not work! Clicking the link should bring up an email form in a new window. But just in case, my email is amanda [at] smartbitchestrashybooks [dot] com
Oh thanks for that heads up! For once, assuming didn’t make me an ass! I gambled that it might be the same as the weekly RITA advice newsletter since that comes from your account. Look at me, a regular ole Sherlock lol.
Waves @Jacqueline, it’s my first RT too!! Looking forward to seeing everyone there and squeeing all over everything and doing all the things! See you at the RT Virgin Orientation Panel!
And Sarah, my mom always used to schedule a visit to us in May because in New England her allergies would just be starting but here they would be over already. So she would stay for 2 weeks and miss them entirely and then go home to a de-allergified CT.I realize your stay will be much shorter but I hope it works the same way for you.
@EC Spurlock OMG OMG OMG HIIIIII!
So, like, is it weird I’m excited about potentially meeting someone I’ve never spoken to? DAMN, THE POWER OF THE ROMANCE FANDOM IS SO STRONG! I’ve only got Day 1 of the con scheduled so far, BUT IMMA BR AT THE VIRGIN BREAKFAST/PANEL THINGEY BECAUSE HELL TO THE YASSS!
I don’t know if we get lil name tags, but if we do mine will either say Jacqueline or my YouTube channel name, Fangirl Musings. Gotta represent the romance book & drama vloggers, yo. Haha.
Fun this week? Well, the bright spots in my Workweek From Hell have been:
Mainlining the first 3 titles in Kristen Callihan’s Game On series. OMG, so good! I love sports romances, and even though I’m not a football fan, I love these so hard! Strangely, I read the series backwards, starting with the third (that cover! ) and finishing the first one late last night.
Second fun thing this week: I turned a friend on to Kylie Scott’s Stage Dive series by loaning her my copy of Play. I know I’m taking a chance by loaning it out–something I rarely do–but I needed her to have it toute suite. She texted me this morning to say that it was fantastic and had her reading until 4am.
My job here is done.
@Nancy C I’m sorry your week sucks butt. BUT YAY FOR ROMANCE MAKING IT LESS SUCKY, RIGHT?
Dude. Big-Freaking-Note-To-Self: Read Callihan’s other stuff! I keep forgetting she has books outside of her Darkest London series!!! AND I CALL MYSELF A FAN, WHATEVES!
So, I just Google hunted the premise for Play and HOLY EPIC WOWZA I NEED THIS BOOK!!!! Dammit why did I Google? I should NEVER Google! Because my “book budget” for April is 10 kinds of pissed at me and we’re only 6 days into the month!
@NancyC Okay sorry to bug, but quick question! I just did some more Google diving on Play by Kylie Scott and was wondering something. I HATE 1st person narratives, but can handle them a bit better if I at least get the heroes perspective too. Does this book stay only in the heroine’s head?
@Jacqueline – trust me on this, you simply must pick up the Stage Dive series. Although you can start with Play, you really won’t get the full impact of Mal, the hero of that book unless you read Lick, the first book in the series. Mal is, well, in my book notes I describe him as a big, bouncing Golden Retriever puppy with absolutely no filter on his mouth. At one point he holds a conversation with Anne’s (the heroine’s) vagina that literally had me crying with laughter. This may not make him sound much like hero material, but trust me, you will love him. I don’t actually think there are any scenes written from his perspective, but you don’t really need them to know exactly what he’s thinking.
Be careful when using Frixion pens! If you write important stuff on a paper that gets rubbed a lot (perhaps you keep it in your handbag and it jostles a lot) you might find it gone.
My kid’s teacher banned them when older notes became illegible in some of the kids’ notebooks.
@JenM *FALLS TO KNEES CONFLICTED AS FRICK!* God I wanna read this series sooooo bad. A vjayjay convo that is funny and potentially smextastic? BOOK, YOU SOUNDS AMAZEBALLS!
Buuuuut I know my stupid ass. I hate-hate-HATE when I can’t get inside both character’s heads. It’s my favorite part of reading; seeing what characters think but won’t or don’t say. Sigh.
Maybe, MAYBE, I’ll still give this one a shot. Dammit why do I have to be such a weird picky book bitch?!?!?!?!
@Diana: Whoa! No kidding! I know they aren’t good for anything that will be exposed to heat (like laminating a paper with Frixion ink on it) but I hadn’t thought about the paper in a bag or backpack. Thank you!
@ Jacqueline, I’ll keep an eye out for you to say hi! Best way to look for me is that I am old and have amazing jewelry (I’m bringing out all my most eye-catching pieces for this because they are great conversation starters.)
@EC Spurlock HECK YEAH! And niiiice! My fashion sense is Victorian goth inspired so I usually get people hitting me up about my clothes. Jewelery is my weakness! I love buying mine from antique stores and little vintage shops because you can usually find THE coolest stuff there!