Bitchin' Blog Posts
: London
May 14, 2012 | Monday | 30 Comments
I started this book last Saturday morning while my kids were at swim lessons, and I was in a dark, humid, and loud indoor pool on uncomfortable bleachers. I did not notice any of those things once I started reading. This book is amazing: confident and clever, funny and touching, and wonderfully done. This book is a simultaneous story - Mayberry's Harlequin Blaze, Hot Island Nights ( A | BN | K | S | ARe ), takes place at the same time with two separate characters. Is there a name for that style of storytelling? I know Twin of…
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November 02, 2011 | Wednesday | 32 Comments
Here’s a strange question for you. Does a contemporary romance set in urban parts of England signal Chick Lit to you as a US (or outside-the-US) reader? One of the conversations I was having this past weekend in Seattle at the Emerald City Writer’s Conference centered on setting and locations, and how some locations signal certain genres. The question about single women finding romance in urban parts of England instantly meaning Chick Lit for US readers made me wonder - I didn’t *think* it was true but outside of Harlequin category romances, I couldn’t think of any single title romances…
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September 26, 2011 | Monday | 16 Comments
It's not a secret that I really like Sarah Morgan's books, and her latest is no exception to the happy sigh reading experience. Polly Prince works at the ad agency her father owns, but in reality, she runs the place because he tends to disappear for long periods of time, usually with a new girlfriend who is Polly's age. This time, dear old dad has run off with Damon Doukakis's sister, who used to be Polly's best friend at school, and both of them are unreachable. Damon is so pissed off, he does what any good Harlequin Presents hero does:…
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December 25, 2010 | Saturday | 10 Comments
From the 2006 London Gay Men’s Chorus Concert: Coming Out on Christmas
May your holiday be full of humor, love, and acceptance!
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November 03, 2010 | Wednesday | 62 Comments
RedHeadedGirl is back, this time with a book she absolutely loved, lest you think she only reads books she hates. Lest you all think I hate everything, this is a Praise to Balance the Snark. I described this one to Sarah as “a soothing avocado mask of a book.” A Regency with a plot that is both logical and entertaining! Dialogue that feels like real people would say it! Characters that are both likeable and entertaining and NOT STUPID! It’s a Regency, so we’re in familiar territory, but dude. SOOTHING AVOCADO MASK. It also has one of my top ten…
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October 08, 2010 | Friday | 57 Comments
It’s not summer, so I’ll get a new icon for the bookclub, but it’s still Sizzling, so it’s time for the next pick in the Smart Bitches Sizzling Book Club for October! You ready? I tweeted about it over the summer while I read it, painstakingly typing in each line that rocked me, and there were a LOT of them. Prepare yourself for good writing, really really GOOD writing, mayhem, diabolical plots and Romancing-the-Stone-esque adventure: the October book is Scoundrel by Zoe Archer. The description: The Blades of the Rose are sworn to protect the sources of magic in the…
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August 09, 2010 | Monday | 35 Comments
Girl From Mars is a story in a story, about a female comic book character who is brave and isolated, honest and ferocious, and about 50+ years old. Philomena Brown, or “Fil” for short, is the artist who has for a few years been drawing her comic idol, the Girl from Mars, as her job. Many people think that “Fil Brown” is a man, and are surprised and often dismissive of a female comic artist when they meet her. Fil has blue hair, is very standoffish and socially awkward, is incredibly and impossibly talented, is a woman in a very…
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