Bitchin' Blog Posts
: England
January 24, 2011 | Monday | 34 Comments
I have so many memories wrapped up in this book. There’s the time when I was 15, and it was one of two romance novels I took with me when I was an exchange student. And there’s that other time, a few years ago when I journeyed out to a booksigning hosted by the Dunes & Dreams Chapter of RWA (it’s on eastern Long Island. To get there, drive until you’re just about in Europe, then stop), and met Bertrice Small - who then, I am not even kidding, invited me into her home to see the original etchings for…
read more »
December 08, 2010 | Wednesday | 199 Comments
So here’s a question for you, as part of my continued research for “Everything I Know About Love, I Learned from Romance Novels:” Where is the strangest place you’ve seen a couple in a romance novel have sex? I’m not picky as to the specific sexual act (wow, could that get me into some fun trouble if taken out of context!), but I am curious which crazy or bizarre locations you’ve read about when the happy stiffy meets the eager recipient of said happy stiffy. Could be a lava-hot cavern of love, or another happy stiffy that’s tangling with the…
read more »
September 22, 2010 | Wednesday | 74 Comments
R., better known as RedHeadedGirl, is back with another wayback-when old-skool romance review, with plenty of layered WTFery to go around. Enjoy! You never forget your first. You don’t forget your first kiss (Mike, and I had to guilt him into kissing me, because he was too much of wuss to try, and I was too much of a girly-wuss to kiss first), your first flower (Dave, whose great moments were always involving flowers but didn’t have a lot to back that up), your first Doctor (Oh, Nine. Your time was too short. But fantastic!). This was my first romance. …
read more »
August 05, 2010 | Thursday | 10 Comments
Looking for a job? Tor.com has suggestions: Best and Worst Job Prospects in the Urban Fantasy Economy. My personal favorite: 4. Leather clothing manufacture and repair. But who repairs the belt? [Thanks for the link, Jane Drew!] The first issue of the Journal of Popular Romance Studies is online, including articles from Laura Vivanco and Kyra Kramer that cite the Bosoms as a secondary source (WOOTY!), and a fantabulous interview with Beverly Jenkins who rocks so hard, it’s impossible to measure. There’s a new collaborative author blog among romance writers: the Heroine Addicts is the group venture of Julie Cohen…
read more »
June 01, 2010 | Tuesday | 165 Comments
I had an email over the weekend from Helen, who is a little frustrated at the removal of Australian terms from romance novels set in Australia: I have a topic to suggest. International heroes, or, false advertising: why are you labeling him Australian, giving him an American name and calling him a rancher? American cultural imperialism! It drives me crazy. Corrugated iron roofing is called ‘ripple iron’, properties or stations get called ‘ranches’... and dear God almighty, a Sheriff? I hope he’s flown in from the USA cos I’ve never met one in Australia. Why do editors assume that Aussie…
read more »
February 11, 2010 | Thursday | 36 Comments
From Mara, a wardrobe malfunction about to happen: I’d like to appeal to the collective knowledge of the Bitchery. I’m looking for a book (a Harlequin, I believe) that I read in the mid-to-late 90’s or early 00’s. It was about a pair of twins (identical, of course) separated in toddlerhood by divorcing parents. The story follows the twin who ended up with Mom, who later remarried, I think she grows up in Florida? In the States for certain. She is a model whose career is destroyed when she is in a car accident and has to relearn how to…
read more »
January 23, 2010 | Saturday | 64 Comments
Jessica writes I read this in 1996ish. I dont remember the publisher, but I’m pretty sure it wasnt a category. The cover featured a swooning, brunette woman, possibly in a blue dress, in the arms of a well-endowed man. Both are tastefully dishelved, and of course, the bosoms are heaving. Okay, so I think the time period is the late 19th century and the heroine is a headstrong American heiress whose name might be Amanda. She has a brother (she gets a crash course in sex after seeing him with one of the maids in the stables—naughty!), a dead father,…
read more »
January 09, 2010 | Saturday | 49 Comments
Sharron writes: So I read this story a whole lot of years ago. I can remember it clearly enough to know I adored it; not enough to actually remember the bloody title. Or author. Or any character names. Our hero: distant, brooding English movie actor with a secret childhood trauma. His speciality? Horror movies (including the Slasher Charlie series, Blackbeard, and Dybbuk, which was his breakout role). He plays monsters, in short. Totally gone off women because of all the women who wanted to sleep with the monster. He shagged most of them, then went off them once he realised…
read more »
November 09, 2009 | Monday | 9 Comments
Trudy writes: There was a book that came out, maybe in the 80s or early 90s - the basic plot is: It’s a time travel. An earl, during Regency era, is attacked by someone and travels thru time to the present. He meets up with a gal from Virginia (I think) and she tries to help him solve what happened to him. They do all this research and find out he was murdered (unsolved) and was the end of his direct line to the earldom. At first he’s anxious to get back but the two fall in love. She arranges…
read more »
July 16, 2009 | Thursday | 10 Comments
Sonia hopes y’all can help her find the first romance she ever read: I live in London, England and have recently found your website due to my desire to find the first romance book I read, at the not so young age of 14 or 15! Unfortunately I cannot remember the title (pain in the neck, I know) but do know that it was a Silhouette (I think it was a Silhouette Romance but can’t be 100 per cent certain) and I read it in either 1984 or 1985. The cover of the book is violet in colour. The story…
read more »
February 14, 2009 | Saturday | 43 Comments
Bitchery reader Eva says:
‘ve recently taken to reading to my grandmother who at this time is ill. However she is a bit picky about what books she is interested. I was hoping to find some romantic mysteries set in the 1920’s-1930’s, preferably in England. We’ve already read some Dorothy L. Sayers. If you know of any offhand or could point to website I could hunt down the information I would appreciate it. I’m sorry for making such a broad request.
I hope your grandmother recovers nicely - and that you find some marvelous books to share!
read more »
January 07, 2009 | Wednesday | 17 Comments
I’m a fangirl of Julie Cohen’s writing, particularly because she can blend sharp, smart, witty writing with characters who contain emotional depth and a unique perspective on UK-set contemporary romance. Cohen is funny, intelligent, and vivid in her stories, and I love reading them. But while I loved the hero and the setting of this book, the heroine and the mystery in the plot left me wanting more. Sophie Tennant is a private investigator who specializes in honey traps. She’s hired by women who suspect their husbands or boyfriends are cheating. Sophie then lures them into situations wherein she records…
read more »
December 31, 2008 | Wednesday | 26 Comments
What a perfect way to end the year: DocTurtle finishes another review. Part 5: Chapters 20 through 26 All things must come to an end, and so it is with Heyer’s tale of Waterloo. After several truly engaging chapters, we come down from the mountaintop and finish out with a series of chapters focusing on the battle itself. Eighty-eight straight pages of blow-by-blow on the battlefield! Ouch. I wouldn’t mind a few highlights, but I’ll be damned if Heyer doesn’t tell us of every last little manoeuvre either side makes. I’ll go light on the details below. Ready? Here we…
read more »
December 30, 2008 | Tuesday | 10 Comments
When I redid the re-captioning of Wayne Jordan’s book from the Uncyclopedia definition of romance, the book itself caught my eye. The synopsis sounded very interesting, so I ordered it. Mason Sinclair is recovering from a terrible injury sustained in the line of duty when his mother tells him that the man the thought was his father was not, and that he has three brothers he never knew about. Lianne Thomas is undercover protecting a little boy and his mother. They’re both in Barbados. Could this potentially rock? It seemed to me that yes, oh yes, it could. Caribbean setting?…
read more »
December 29, 2008 | Monday | 6 Comments
Yay Doc! Yay Turtle! Yay Heyer! Part 4: Chapters 14 through 19 May it please the Bitchery to know that immediately after writing my previous post for SB Sarah, I sat down to read the next chapters of Heyer’s novel and found chapters 14 and 15 to be positively delightful, by far the strongest so far. The first of this pair was genuinely hilarious, betraying hints of an almost farcical humor, perhaps not unlike that underlying Heyer’s other works the SBTB commenters are always talking about. The second of these chapters sees the maturing of Heyer’s subtly exquisite characterization of…
read more »
