Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Julia Quinn
April 16, 2012 | Monday | 87 Comments
Billie Bloebaum wrote in with a rather interesting question: Has there ever been a GS vs. STA for fairy tale-inspired romance? Because I'm totally going through a phase with it right now and was hoping for some recommendations of things inspired by tales other than Cinderella or Beauty & the Beast. I can find a ton of stuff in YA and Fantasy and even Lit Fic (and if you haven't read 'The Snow Child' by Eowyn Ivey you should do so nownownow) ( A | BN | K | S ), but Romance seems to be stuck on those two stories, with…
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August 09, 2011 | Tuesday | 54 Comments
Many books establish reader sympathy for the tortured hero early in the book. Reader sympathy allows a secret and somewhat omniscient understanding of what appears to other characters to be aloof, arrogant or even cruel behavior. If the reader didn’t know the hero has a tortured, miserable past, or a turning point in his life that changed his character, he’d seem more like a shit and less like a hero. In Lord of Scoundrels, Loretta Chase establishes from the earliest pages Dain’s miserable childhood, and his feelings of distrust, abandonment, and shame. He does not fit, he does not look…
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July 06, 2011 | Wednesday | 44 Comments
Links, news, and various things in convenient list format (mostly because I’m afraid I’m going to forget something and there’s three things I want to tell you about).
1. One of the best historical romances ever, beloved by many, is .99 cents today for Kindle, nook, and Kobo.
Additionally, Caroline Linden’s A View to a Kiss is also .99c (AMZ | nook | Kobo) digitally right now. I don’t know how long the sale lasts, but if you’re craving historical romance like I am, then join me in a celebratory WOO HOO!
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June 22, 2011 | Wednesday | 79 Comments
As I mentioned earlier, my recent email exchange with Robinjn following her re-examination of LaVyrle Spencer’s Years got me thinking generally about age differences in romance, and how reactions can vary depending on sub-genre, character, and conflict. In historical romances, the age difference is often expected, or at the least not worth noticing as a potential conflict. In many historicals, the women are younger and possibly virginal, and likely looking or staunchly not looking for a husband (except for that steaming attraction to that guy) (and maybe at some point she wears a pelisse or some boy’s trousers) (or both).…
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June 06, 2011 | Monday | 42 Comments
One of my favorite historical romances is “The Duke and I” by Julia Quinn, which started the Bridgerton series. I love that book. If I go near it, I lose two hours because I will reread it again for the three hundred and forty-seventh time. I love the friendly style of the writing, the warmth of the family - and have mercy, the depiction of a sane and loving mother and a family that actually likes one another. So when I learned that Julia Quinn’s next book was about the Smythe-Smith family, hosts of the infamously bad musicale from the…
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April 24, 2010 | Saturday | 7 Comments
This afternoon prior to dinner, Julia Quinn and Cherry Adair gave an informal Q&A session that was, no kidding, sit-on-the-floor-there-are-no-more-chairs room only. I was on the floor. That’s how I know that. Anyway, they answered questions about writing habits, rejection, revision, going back to older works to update or, in one case, rebuild them, and about success and joys of writing. This, however, was the highlight: Q: Can you tell us about your first sale? Cherry Adair: I had many first sales. Julia Quinn: You can only lose it once… Adair: My name is Cherry. I can lose it as…
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July 10, 2008 | Thursday | 203 Comments
Unquestionably powerful librarian Nancy Pearl (I mean, dude, she has her own Action Figure!) has a new article up at NPR of her recommendations for carry-on books that make traveling and waiting a marvelous escape. Says Pearl, “You want a book — either fiction or nonfiction — that’s complex enough to smother your annoyance when the guy in the row ahead reclines his seat into your lap, but not so intellectually challenging that it demands a dictionary.” Oh, hell to the yes, ma’am. And ho, there, what awesome sauce through yonder linkage breaks? It is the Heyer, and she is…
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June 30, 2008 | Monday | 85 Comments
In a curious overlap of two audiences which, I am told, don’t often overlap to a large degree, Julia Quinn’s novel The Lost Duke of Wyndham is featured in the latest issue of Soap Opera Digest because the cover features Norwegian actress Ewa da Cruz from As the World Turns. Several SBTB readers pointed that out when we discussed the cover awhile back, which I never would have known, as I don’t watch soap operas. The article in the Digest is part interview with da Cruz, and part review. Which brings me to my next question: how many of you…
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May 23, 2008 | Friday | 11 Comments
Free books? Hell, yeah! First, HarperCollins, in addition to posting the first three chapters of Julia Quinn’s next book The Lost Duke of Wyndham, is offering a free read of The Duke and I online as well. There’s a whole “Browse Inside” page for your clicking pleasure, should you wish to start reading. But, wait, there’s more! We’ll sell you the whole seat, but you’ll only need the edge… no, wait. Not Monster Trucks. Books. Even better than monster truck rallies! Tor, who fully embraces the entire monster truck rally economics of twelve trucks for twelve bucks (That’s a buck…
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