Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Heroines
November 21, 2011 | Monday | 42 Comments
Every now and again I receive email asking what one of the abbreviations on the site means, so I thought a Bitchery Glossary would be a good idea. Some of these terms are used all over the place and certainly aren't exclusive to this site. Some are abbreviations we use for categories or features here. But if you've ever wondered what the hell something means, hopefully this list will help. GS vs STA: Good Shit vs Shit To Avoid - used for developing lists of books by type or characteristic, both of books folks loved and books folks didn't like…
read more »
November 12, 2011 | Saturday | 138 Comments
I have an anonymous request for a “Good Shit vs. Shit to Avoid” list: Like many of us, I cope with things by reading about them, and I love finding a book about someone who has problems similar to mine and is able to thrive. I was recently diagnosed with a chronic condition that will almost certainly affect the rest of my life. It’s not fatal, and it’s not degenerative, but it is likely to lead to some level of physical disability in the future. I am thus wondering about books with heroines who are physically disabled. I know there…
read more »
October 18, 2011 | Tuesday | 106 Comments
Cross dressing is an old and familiar plot trope in romance. We’ve talked about it here before, and there’s a pretty thorough list at AAR of all the cross dressing romances they’ve cataloged. I joke (A LOT) about how oddly easy it is for heroines to easily pass as boys. So many romance heroines years past puberty have grabbed some boys clothing, possibly from a well-hipped stable lad, I presume, and shoved a cap on their heads and presto! Everyone thinks she’s a boy. Yet there is an amazing history of “passing women,” women who “passed” as men, often marrying…
read more »
May 09, 2011 | Monday | 59 Comments
I started reading this book because it contained some tropes I like, and a setting I thought I would enjoy. Vineyards! A winery! A small town/small community setting with a character returning home for whatever reason - I usually enjoy this kind of story. The problem here is that most of the characters go too far into negative territory and I was afraid that the author wouldn’t be able to get them out. About halfway through I was worried enough that I went seeking a review to see if the story would have a happier resolution than I thought would…
read more »
April 21, 2011 | Thursday | 109 Comments
Time for another Good Shit Vs. Shit To Avoid, this time prompted by Amanda, who is searching for books with strong female friendships: I am looking for a book to read. I’ve been a little bored with the romance novel offerings and here’s why: Why doesn’t anybody ever have a friend? None of the women ever have any friends! I mean, sometimes they have a convenient “This is my friend, sometimes I see her in a park, a ballroom (if historical), or in yoga class (if contemporary). We talk for five minutes and then we don’t think about each other…
read more »
March 26, 2011 | Saturday | 24 Comments
Laura writes: I’m looking for my first ever romance novel which I didn’t finish because I was too embarrassed and now would really like to find out what happened. I read it in early 2000’s, but I’m pretty sure it was written before that. I don’t remember the title or author’s name, clearly. I know it was a historical set in medieval England or Scotland. The heroine’s sister had recently lost her virginity to some village guy even though she was betrothed to the hero (she was betrothed either because they were forming a truce or as a reward, either…
read more »
March 01, 2011 | Tuesday | 10 Comments
If you tuned in to the Book Club Chat last week, you heard me announce that the next pick is Bitter Melon, a YA novel by Cara Chow. It’s probably the very best part of the book club that I get to select books that I’m excited about. This book grabbed my attention because it’s set deep in a particular culture, but the heroine’s experiences are universal and I had a great deal of empathy for her predicaments. Here’s the cover copy: Frances, a Chinese-American student at an academically competitive school in San Francisco, has always had it drilled into…
read more »
January 03, 2011 | Monday | 135 Comments
While I was gazing at my own navel the other day (and the stretch marks along side of it) I started thinking about where my own standard of beauty originated, and how the romances I read may have influenced my concept of the female ideal. What, you don’t think about that while getting dressed? OK, it was more along the lines of, “My chest wouldn’t fit in a single one of those bodices without ripping,” but that spun out into standards and ideals. I think there’s good and bad parts to the female standard in romance novels. Among the good…
read more »
December 31, 2010 | Friday | 50 Comments
Rather than do a recap of 2010, which would probably break my brain because I’ve done a lot of high-impact computer work this week (no, really, not even kidding) and because I can’t remember what I was wearing yesterday, let alone remember what I was reading eight months ago, I wanted to look back on the authors I discovered this year that rocked my world. These aren’t debut authors, not all of them, anyway. I don’t actually think being a debut author causes any more of a ripple in my consciousness than any other author or book that catches my…
read more »
November 11, 2010 | Thursday | 140 Comments
Well. That was…unpleasant. I’m done with the 1970s-early 1980s OG Old School. That was one of the most unpleasant reading experiences I’ve ever had, and I read The Phantom of Manhattan. I finished it because I was kind of interested in where this story would end (and how much shit can be heaped upon the head of the heroine), and I have a finely developed case of trainwreck syndrome. (Also, my copy didn’t stink, so that helped.) I’m having a really hard time coming up with a Letter Grade, because I’ve read worse, and I’ve read better. I had a…
read more »
September 29, 2010 | Wednesday | 93 Comments
This was in my inbox. I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe. Enjoy. I’ve recently started to pick up on some rather….er…...interesting turns of phrase by certain authors and thought I’d share one with The Bitchery. So after checking out both Smart Bitches and Dear Author for some new reading material, I thought I’d try some Lisa Marie Rice. So far ok. Not great, but a good way to distract myself while laying in the physio’s office with a bajillion acupuncture needles stuck in my ass and lower back. I guess that would be ass-upuncture. Anyhow, I’m reading Woman on…
read more »
September 15, 2010 | Wednesday | 95 Comments
Today on Twitter (that sounds like a really bad show on an entertainment network, doesn’t it?) I mentioned that I encounter a lot of heroes who smell “woodsy” but had no idea what that meant. Swampy? Like pine trees? Cedar? Hickory? Like firewood, pre- or post-campfire? A few people suggested cedar, or, as Maisey Yates said, “like sticking your head in the Pacific Northwest.” Having never smelled the PNW, I’ll take your word for it that this is a good smell. But this conversation got me thinking - why are there not more romance-novel tie-in products? I mean, think of…
read more »
August 24, 2010 | Tuesday | 107 Comments
GS vs. STA is “Good Shit vs. Shit to Avoid,” and is all about books of a particular trope or type that you adore or think should be tossed out the window at the nearest opportunity, just as soon as the car slows down enough. M. is looking for books wherein the heroine, like Min of Bet Me, doesn’t want children. Okay so I have been a long time lurker, occasional poster, but this Bitch needs some help. Thanks to your lovely site, I have discovered that I LOVE contemporaries. Like a lot. Before it was all historicals, but thanks…
read more »
July 10, 2010 | Saturday | 24 Comments
Canadian Sarah (There’s only one?! A travesty!) writes: I was wondering if you could help a Canadian bitch out. I am looking for a contemporary category romance that I read in the mid to late ‘90’s. To be honest I don’t remember much about the plot or character names. I believe there was some mystery or action thing going on. What I do remember is as follows: Hero: Pretty standard romance novel dude (tall, dark and handsome) with an alpha outlook. But, I remember vividly a scene where he paints the heroine’s toenails and declares himself to be a male…
read more »
June 07, 2010 | Monday | 17 Comments
I had such a good old time reading this book. There were some flaws to the plot but while reading it, I was charmed and giggly and totally absorbed. This book made me happy. That’s probably the best way to put it: it made me smile. A lot. Books like this are why I read romance. Keri Daniels is an entertainment reporter in LA who left her hometown in New Hampshire a long, long time ago, breaking it off with her high school sweetheart Joe right after graduation and heading as far west as she could. She’s been back before,…
read more »
