Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

I went to check it out (yes, I like Garwood) and they’ve got Debbie Macomber on that blog (squawkradio) for a while, I guess.  I like her too.  Just in case anyone wants to know.

Yeah yeah. Sue me. I like J. Garwood. BUT- despise J. Devereaux & N. Roberts. I know. UnAmerican of me. BFD. However, sounds like the book might be interesting. ANyone ‘round here going to review it on their blog? I’m too cheap to pay full fare for a debut.

Candy, Candy, Candy.  We’ve talked about this.  No to J. Garwood.  No to L. Howard.  Man, next you’ll say you don’t like Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick…oh wait. 

I’m pretty sure the penalty for that type of romance disloyalty is stoning in the town square (and I mean with rocks, not drugs).

Well, I just got this book in the mail from half.com.  I’m meh about Garwood, but like sheikhs (hmmm, thinking of “My Lady’s Tutor” here) so I’ll have to let you all know.

BTW, I moderate a book forum on a parenting site (www.sybermoms.com; sorry though you have to be a paid member to see the book forum) that may have sent masses of people to check out your trashy cover pages a month or so back. 

Great site :)

Nope, not a Garwood fan here.  Heroines of Garwood historicals are not, well, *quite* all there, are they?

Neither are heroes, to come to think of it.

I have to admit a selfish interest in this book, because my first ms has a very similar premise.  I reviewed the book a few weeks ago here.

I have to admit that I read it comparing it to my own work, not Julie Garwood!  I can see the resemblence, though.  Lara was a martyr heroine and the book read very much like a historical despite the fantasy setting.

I don’t mind Garwood’s historicals, dislike intensely her contempories (sp? bite me). Roberts, I like about every third one she writes. Never read Devereaux, or if I have it was entirely forgetable and didn’t leave me with the burning urge to race out and read everything she’s ever written.

X

Speaking of sheik fantasies, sort of, have you read Susan Johnson’s, Love Storm.  It’s one of those books you either love or you hate.  Lots of heat, though.

I’m not a particular fan of Garwood’s books, contemporary or historical.  The contemporaries are dull attempts at suspense and the historicals have okay alpha males and TSTL, Mary Sue heroines.  No thanks.

Having said that, Warprize in no way, shape or form reminded me of a Garwood book.  I enjoyed it very much and was pleased to find a new author.  The only thing that I didn’t like was the fact that I’ll have to wait until next year for the next book in the series.

jmc

I haven’t read this book yet, but a friend of mine has. She went ballistic over the Garwood comparison.  Said it was not like Garwood (she basically felt it was an insult ;) ) So I would give the endorsement a bit of leeway.

Garwood and sheiks and a recomendation from Christina Dodd? Useful review, all right! I wish I’d read this before getting the book ::sigh::

Julie Garwood’s Castles is one of my favorites, but I wasn’t wowed by her other books, and I haven’t touched any of her romantic suspense.  I don’t read Deveraux, and only a couple of Nora Roberts, which I didn’t think were all that great. 

And a sheikh romance with a Garwood heroine is a total turn-off.  I like to see a sheikh romance with a touch heroine that could match him, but that wouldn’t fit the standard fantasy, so I guess it won’t be happening any time soon.

Great looking site. I love the title!

I read WARPRIZE and enjoyed it very much, and I never thought about Garwood or sheikhs while reading it.  What I thought about was linguistics.  Since it’s told in first person, you get the heroine Lara’s impression of what people mean when they’re talking to her in a foreign language she has to translate in her head, or when they’re using her language without understanding certain key concepts. 

It’s a first contact novel as much as anything else, and I’d recommend it.

Candy:  I’m only into the 4th chapter so far, but my impression of the heroine is that she’s a far cry from a Julie Garwood character.  I don’t see any similarities between the two. 

I haven’t read to the point where the heroine has met the hero so can’t comment on the sheikh aspect of it, but so far it’s been an enjoyable read.

I’d say take Dodd’s review with a grain of salt in regards to the hero type and Garwood comparisons.

I read it this weekend.  It’s not the kind of book I usually pick up to read, but I decided to give it a try.  I had a million things to do this weekend.  Reading ... was not one of the things on my to do list.  I skimmed the first page, read the second, got comfy for the third and did freaking nothing until midnight Sunday night when I finally finished it.  It is, for want of a better description, what would happen if you took a classic Lindsey plot and asked a Sci Fi writer to make it their own.  First person, world building was amazing, plot held no surprises though and it does have the Sci Fi glimmer of a social message.  Sex is suggested at but not described.  The twist damn near killed me even though I saw it comming.  (Doubtful anyone else on the planet will even notice but ...)

Vaughn is an excellent writer.  When she is comfortable enough to step away from the standard, safe romance plot she’ll be even better.  She already takes quite a few risks in this book.  I won’t list them here because it would ruin the story for anyone looking to read it later.  Also, we are all smart bitches and can figure that shit out on our own. 

Anna Genoese has taken some gigantic leaps of faith with the TOR Paranormal line and while the books so far are not all things to all readers, Hunter’s Moon (by C.T. Adams & Cathy Clamp | http://www.ciecatrunpubs.com/) and Warprize (By Elizabeth Vaughn) are top shelf literature pretending to be pop fiction.

Used my real name for above review because if I’m going to have my ass handed to me later, on my own TOR book, I wanted to make sure it was covered by {full disclosure—I am currently a TOR author—{{small print—notice that when I don’t like a book, I won’t say anything at all so, seriously, read Warprize.}}—Mine is nothing like any of the TOR books out thus far - just so you know.}

Ignore my complete inability to spell or freaking type today.

Thank you.

—C

OK, I stayed up half of last night to read this book, and then let my 3 year old nap this afternoon while I read, which I will pay for in spades tonight.  Here’s my review from my book journal on sybermoms:

A good story - a bit fantasy, a bit romance - actually it reminded me of Naomi (Kritzer)‘s books, because the characters seemed to have real substance. They were complicated. The world-building was similarly complex and intriguing, good anthropological background, with city dwellers vs. pastoral peoples.

The plot (and the characters) turned out to be much, much more interesting than I thought at the beginning (nomadic warlord takes captive princess as “warprize”). The cover was a bit of a turn-off - I thought it made the book seem trashier than it was. Definitely would read more by this author.

Just wanted to add that it reminded me quite a bit of Lois McMaster Bujold’s recent fantasy novels (Chalion series) - in a good way - and I really didn’t see much similarity to Garwood.

What romance reader doesn’t enjoy Julie Garwood? (Answer: the same reader who doesn’t particularly enjoy Nora Roberts or Jude Deveraux. Haaaaa!)

and

Yeah yeah. Sue me. I like J. Garwood. BUT- despise J. Devereaux & N. Roberts.

I don’t care for Garwood or Devereaux, but love the JD Robb books, and about 1/2 to 2/3 or the Roberts books I’ve read - and there’s a bunch I haven’t picked up because reading the first 15 or so pages I knew I wouldn’t care for them. but then, I read more romantic suspense than straight romance. don’t know how I fit in here at STBT, but I love your site anyway.

Actually, the captivity theme is of real interest to me, but the Christina Dodd recommendation is more problematic.  I did not like her use of forced seduction in either A Well-Pleasured Lady or whatever the companion Gentleman book was, so I’m a little wary.  Sometimes these books that have captivity dimensions also indulge in forced seduction/rape devices and—combined with the cross-cultural aspects of the book—can spell a heap o’ trouble for someone like me who’s very very picky about what kind of rape/fs I can stand in Romance and is hyper-sensitive to racial and gender stereotypes.  Can anyone who’s read the book tell me how either the sex or culture stuff is depicted in the book?

This is the most “PG” rated book imaginable.  There is no rape.  There is no abuse.  No graphic terms.  No purple prose.  Just Dodd likes it, does not mean it is like anything Dodd writes.  It is nothing like anything I write and I loved it.

Robin, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by Vaughan’s (romantic rather than graphic) consensual sex and her portrayal of gender & race.  :)

I think I’ve read one Julie Garwoood—one of her more recent (Heartbreaker I think) and it was OK.  I really liked Nora Roberts until she became obsessed with sisters and trilogies starting with the “Born In…” era.  No thanks.

I recently finished another TOR paranormal romance titled Do You Believe by Ann Lawrence.  There were a few choppy places in it, but it was a great read.  Witty, sexy and creepy all rolled into one book.  Anna Genoese certainly has a knack for picking good paranormal/fantasy romance, IMO.

Do You Believe by Ann Lawrence is on my TBR pile.  So much to do.  So many books waiting to be read.

Okay, this was posted while I was without internet and I stumbled on it but I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Warprize.  I also like Julie Garwood but the comparison is not there and is ridiculous. I think the book is completly surprising and I’m looking forward to the next in the series!