Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Loretta Chase
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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August 01, 2011 | Monday | 40 Comments
Sales continue, much to my surprise! Not really. But this is a surprise: Lord of Scoundrels (BN | Kindle | Kobo) is still .99c, even though I thought the sale ended on 31 July. As one reader suggested to me in an email, that’s a great price to gift a copy to someone who might otherwise sniff derisively at the romance genre. I’m going to send it to a few people now. Heh heh heh. Surprise Romance! And if you were curious about the Amish romance phenomenon, Cindy Woodsmall’s Hope of Refuge (my grade: C) is on sale for $1.99. …
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July 28, 2011 | Thursday | 9 Comments
There’s always something happening on the Internet. It’s so cool that way.
First up: Paul Biba, my fellow Jersey-an, has an interview with Susan Edwards, COO of Ellora’s Cave, about their new direct-to-consumer eReader that will debut at RomantiCon in September.
A branded version of a device that, according to Paul, is very similar to devices from Russian companies Digma and Prology, the EC reader will come stocked with short stories, and will be sold at the convention. They haven’t set a price.
Best part: It vibrates.
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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 28, 2011 | Tuesday | 11 Comments
Lindlee also reviewed this book for the RITA® Reader Challenge, which finaled in the historical romance category. Lindlee herself has finaled in the Freaking Awesome category. Incidentally, her grade also matches my grade from my review of this book. Plot Summary: After surviving the perils of Egypt, Peregrine Dalmay, Earl of Lisle, is back in London, facing the most dire threat of all: his irrational family . . . and Miss Olivia Wingate-Carsington. A descendant of notorious—but very aristocratic—swindlers, the delectable redhead has the ability to completely unhinge him and a long history of dragging him into her scandalous schemes.…
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May 23, 2011 | Monday | 62 Comments
A hard-to-find Loretta Chase is on Amazon for $2.99 digitally. I don’t know who “NYLA” is as a publisher, but with the square cover art and the artistic style of the image, I’m wondering if Chase self-published this book. Anyone know? First out of the gate in News From My Tweetstream From BEA was Kobo’s announcement of a new ereader with a touch screen, selling for $129 and available next month (“in time for Father’s Day”) at many retailers including Indigo, Best Buy, WalMart and Borders. I’ve been waiting to see what the new Kobo will look like, because I’m…
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May 17, 2011 | Tuesday | 681 Comments
Behold, the excitement! I am containing myself to one exclamation point (not including the title) and that was it. Please appreciate my restraint, here. I have A Pile Of ARCs to give away of my October book, Everything I Know About Love, I Learned from Romance Novels, which so very, very many of you helped create. From the depths of the box on my dining room table currently being fought over by my cats, I have 10 shiny copies to giveaway. But that is Not All. This book is all about the lessons we’ve learned from reading romance novels, and…
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October 09, 2010 | Saturday | 126 Comments
Question for you: which do you think are the most memorable scenes from a romance novel wherein the hero or heroine (or both!) reveal how they feel about one another? Which scenes do you adore wherein the hero or heroine confesses how they feel - or asks openly for the other person to be with them? I remember being breathless when I first read the final scene between Jason and Victoria in Judith McNaught’s Once and Always, where he thinks she’s dead and doesn’t quite believe she’s in the room with him. Seeing his misery and what it reveals about…
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August 05, 2010 | Thursday | 39 Comments
Olivia and Lisle are characters who first appeared in Lord Perfect and who have now grown up, grown together while very far apart, and grown ready for their happy ending. Lisle is in Egypt with his aunt and uncle doing sandy digs for archeological treasures, and Olivia is back in London, digging up trouble and always up to something, while tirelessly and faithfully chronicling her adventures, limited though they are, to Lisle in letters. Lisle is a somewhat spotty but affectionate correspondent for Olivia, and for years they have maintained their deep friendship over long distances solely through written communication.…
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July 08, 2010 | Thursday | 208 Comments
I’ll get right to the good part, with no flirting around. I have ARCs to give away of Loretta Chase’s 27 July book “Last Night’s Scandal.” In fact, I have six ARC copies. And I have a grand prize, too: a selection of her printed backlist, including Don’t Tempt Me, Last Hellion, Lord of Scoundrels, Not Quite a Lady, and Your Scandalous Ways. AND a $25 gift card to your choice of Amazon or BN.com. You wish to have? Sure you wish to have. It’s Loretta Chase! All you have to do: get crazy and tell me what would you…
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October 20, 2009 | Tuesday | 46 Comments
There are two lessons in the following story. First, there are a lot of countries I couldn’t find on a map if you held a loaded crossbow to my head, despite listening to They Might be Giants’ Alphabet of Nations about sixteen million times. Thanks to Brandyllyn, I have a long, long list of them. She was in the UK, and was unable to buy a digital copy of Loretta Chase’s Mr. Impossible for her flight back to the US. Why? Have a look at the countries where she could have purchased it - in her estimation, it’s “Every Country…
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August 05, 2009 | Wednesday | 42 Comments
Don’t Tempt Me was a strange reading experience for me. While I was reading it, I was so captivated by the chemistry between the hero and heroine that I couldn’t bear to stop. I resented every minute I had to spend working, sleeping or shopping. I cheerfully ignored cats, friends, roommate and boyfriend in favor of finishing the book. I haven’t read a book this way in a very long time—I think the last time I felt like this was when I read Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik last summer. But once I put it down and I was…
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May 20, 2009 | Wednesday | 53 Comments
Back in March, Candy and I were interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered, and oh, what a glorious thing. “Magic Hoo Hoo” and “heteronormativity” were said within moments of each other - on NPR? Win. The producer of the show that day, a marvelously savvy woman named Petra, is a romance fan, but alas, the host, Rebecca Roberts had never read a romance novel, and wasn’t sure what to think of them - aside from all the negative stereotypical things one usually hears about romances. When Candy and I recommended a few during the course of the interview, we weren’t…
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January 30, 2009 | Friday | 28 Comments
Another snarktastic chapter-by-chapter account by Li’l SBiT Patrick. I know many of you are reading along with Patrick - how are you liking the book so far? Being a bit of a blow-by-blow by SBiT Patrick, Part the Second: Chapters 3 through 5 Chapter 3: The Bluestocking Does Some Blue-Balling “Dain felt extremely reluctant to enter any room with a fille de joie, which created a serious problem, since he was just fastidious enough to dislike having a female in a reeking Parisian alleyway.” For over a week after his first encounter with Jessica, Dain has been unable to get…
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January 20, 2009 | Tuesday | 37 Comments
A snarktastic chapter-by-chapter account by Li’l SBiT Patrick Howdy, howdy! It’s time I get underway with my next review, of the much-ballyhooed Lord of Scoundrels. As I write these words I’m about a chapter and a half in, and already I’m afraid that there might be a little less snark in this episode: so far the book is pretty much a big ol’ loaf of awesome smothered in a rich awesome sauce. I’m liking it a lot: the writing is sharp, the characterizations subtle but effective, and the plot darkly hilarious. While the prologue had a nearly gothic overtone not…
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