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 it includes stories from romance readers and authors. My goal with this book was to show that the romance community is filled with incredibly smart and thoughtful readers and writers, and to put to rest the tired idea that romances create unrealistic expectations of love, relationships and sex. Romances, as many of us know, are more often a road map of What To Do and What Not To Do in real life relationships.
So many people contributed, and so very many people went above and beyond to make suggestions and provide stories and lessons learned that this book really isn’t about the genre so much as it is about the women who read and write romance, and how much we have learned from our favorite books. Therefore just giving away the ARC isn’t really enough.
Here’s my plan. Leave a comment and please tell me the one romance novel you want to recommend above all others to someone who hasn’t tried the genre (yes, just one) (yes, I suck) and you are entered to win.
What can you win? Awesome stuff!
Ten winners will be picked at random and each winner will receive an ARC of Everything I Know About Love, I Learned From Romance Novels (Which I refer to as “EIKAL” because there is nothing I love like a REALLY LONG TITLE, BABY, YEAH!).
The winner will also receive one of the following titles from these authors who also appear in the book:
But wait, there is still more. I have 10 copies of a special Jennifer Crusie omnibus edition that contains both Bet Me and Welcome to Temptation in one book – and each winner will receive a copy of that book, too. Each of these authors, plus many many more, appear in the book, providing stories and advice or landing a spot on one of the recommended reading lists in the book.
There will be more chances to win, do not worry. I’m giving away 10 here, and a few on Goodreads and on Twitter. (Any possible giveaways on Facebook will have to be random like a semi-drunk fairy landing on the keyboard and highlighting someone’s comment by chance while I’m half-looking at the screen to stay in line with the Facebook Terms of Service. Then I have to contact the winners by semaphore with hot pink flags while facing the eastern skyline.)
Standard disclaimers apply: I’m not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Do not wear a pelisse in the rain. Stirrups are required, but boots are optional. We’ll sell you the whole seat but you’ll only need the edge. Stripes and plaid are rarely a positive fashion statement.
Comments will be open until noon on Friday, 20 May, and I will announce the winners then. Contest is open to international readers, and since my stats indicate no readers in Greenland, if someone enters from Greenland and wins I’ll send them extra stuff. Come on, Greenland!
Honesty time: I am enormously proud of this book, and humbled by the number of people who shared how much their romances mean to them, and how valuable romances have been in their lives. This book wouldn’t be what it is without the authors and readers who contributed, so I can’t send out the ARC by itself. It has to have company.
Gena Showalter’s first Alien Huntress novel, [Awaken Me Darkly.
If someone hasn’t tried the romance genre, I’d like to throw them into the deep end of the pool and recommend s/he start with a paranormal.
Sarah, congratulations on your book. I’m looking forward to reading it.
!!!
I was going to nominate “These Old Shades” but you know, I think “Devil’s Cub” is the one…..Heyer starts so many romance novel tropes in these two books but the pinnacle (much repeated ) is when that shot is fired (you know when….) in Devil’s Cub. So well finished with the characters from the first book meeting those in the second in the Inn at the end. All the characters, even the minor players are well thought out ( and am I the only person who rather suspected Rupert was gay even though there was talk of a widow he might marry)
Very late to the party here, but it would have to be BET ME. Smart, funny, delicious, sexy tension-filled awesomeness. Yes.
Congrats on the new book, Sarah! So looking forward to it.
Its hard for me to decide because I tend to be author/authorseries orientated. I feel if I had to “pick” my top Author/ Book—it would have to Susan Elizabeth Phillps ’ Match me if you can. I chose her as my Top author because her books have great character growth, the stories she writes have the same “themes”or
“stock characters” but are told in such way that it seems fresh and new.
I for my “Dirty Reads”( authors I would never admit liking in front of my mom) I choose Diana Palmer ( she does great historical and great texas/ cowboy theme romances), Sandra Brown ( does excellent work in romance or romancesuspence) , Nora Roberts ( when I have an adventure streak or Thief theme or even romancesuspence, I find alot of Oxymorons between the characters in her books),Of course I m talk about Jennifer Cruise. I mean I explain why she is a great author to my mother. On top of that she puts alot of her beliefs in her books like in what the lady whats and Bet me. Those books made me laugh with tears streaming down my eyes.
The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne. =)
Way back when, I read a book called “Trade Wind” by M.M Kaye. There was a phrase from that book that still pops into my head to this day, something like “One never completely knows oneself, let alone other people”
my sweet folly
laura kinsale
Congratulations on the book coming out! I can’t wait to read it.
You know it’s torturous to try to come up with one book, don’t you??? Okay, I don’t know that this is necessarily the best book ever, but it’s one of the first Nora Robert’s books that I read and probably helped cement me as a romance reader. So I’m going to go with Jewels of the Sun. It’s such a comfort read for me. The whole trilogy really, but it’s my favorite of them.
I would have to recommend Kresley Cole’s No Rest For the Wicked—it is my favorite so far from her Immortals After Dark series and is a good way to break into paranormal romance if you haven’t read those before!
ACK! HARD DECISION!
I’m not really sure what I would recommend. This Duchess of Mine by Eloisa James is probably my favorites, because Jemma is one of the best characters ever, but it’s fifth in a series so I don’t know that I would recommend it FIRST to someone.
Probably Miss Wonderful by Loretta Chase. I love that book.
Word: love34. I would love to have chosen 34 books to recommend!
The one I have consistently recommended to friends (nay, begged them to read) is “Mr. Impossible” by Loretta Chase. Chase’s books are consistently funny, witty, and oh-so-hot, but the excellent Egyptian adventure puts this one higher on my list for intriguing current non-romance readers.
And thanks to the Smart Bitches for introducing me to Chase in the first place!
I am on the bandwagon for “Lord of Scoundrels” myself. I’ve even asked my husband to read it. Maybe one day he will!
Only one? Impossible! Anything by Laura Kinsale.
Congratulations on the book – one to add to the list!
If I had to pick just one book, it would have to be a vintage Heyer: Venetia. The dialogue is crisp and funny, the protagonists genuinely like one another before they fall in love, the hero and heroine are flawed and human and it is a great example of a pairing that crackles with sexual attraction without going any further than a kiss.
As i’m typing this more and more books keep flashing through my head but i have to say “Devil in Winter” by Lisa Kleypas. Incredibly sweet and romantic, shy wallflower gets the big bad rake, and when he falls.. he falls hard. The whole wallflower series is great but this is the only one I bought and read over and over again
Black Silk by Judith Ivory. I love all her books but this one has has stuck in my brain.
Also – my favorite – Not Quite A Husband, though I don’t recommend it to friends, it’s almost too personal.
SO excited for this new book!
I’d have to go with Chase’s Mr. Impossible. Hey, it worked for me. I’d read a few other romance novels before that book, just to see what the whole thing was about, but once I read Mr. Impossible I was hooked.
I would have to go with my first:
Victoria Holt’s “The Secret Woman”
I didn’t think I would be into the whole “romance novel thing,” but I read that book, and it sucked me in with the sweet romance and plot twist reveal. It is my lure for any friends I can get to read it 🙂
Man, just one book. It’s a toss up between Outlander by Gabaldon and Naked in Death by JD Robb. Totally different, yet each melts me down to a nubbin with the romances. Both have hot attraction with very equal footing between the hero and heroine. I’ve pre-ordered your book, but would love an ARC! Congrats too on a great cover.
Uh….. Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught. Why did I not see that on the list? This was the first romance novel I read. The best book EVER!!!
The answer is obvious: Decadent by Shayla Black (just kidding)
I would have to go with Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon. The heroine in this book is slightly pudgy, neurotic (in a good way) and just plain not perfect. Which is a relief for me after reading so many books where the women are perfect and the men are pricks (perfect). The hero is of course gorgeous but flawed. He struggles to over come his flaws and become a better man. When I read this book the first time I was amazed by how real and human her characters were. I did not have moments of ‘shut up you skinny whiny witch’ or stop being a massive prick’. I could understand and identify with the main characters in the book. Fantasy Lover is a great book to start with and a hard book to follow up.
Welcome To Temptation…it’s worked on many colleagues over the years, male and female. It is sharp, clever, hot and charming. I love the Crusie-verse altogether, but WTT is my favourite.
I just have to say I personally would not recommend Kinsale exactly because of the damaged hero business. It might not be pc to admit it, but I want Mr Capable, not Mr Vulnerable as my guy, and I’ve tried several Kinsale heroines and found them too fey/waify. But then I’m not into angsty romance.
If we’re talking historical, it would have to be Heyer and it would be Sylvester, Venetia or Frederica, all of which I love.
Congratulations! I can’t wait to add this to my library, either by winning or buying.
I’d have to go with the overall consensus that the recommendation would be based on the person, but I’ll probably start with Charlotte Bingham’s To Hear a Nightingale.
Right now I’d say Endearment by LaVyrle Spencer. It’s a classic – plus it introduces a lot of different subgenres from virgin hero, “prostitute” heroine, small town, frontier, historical American, and mail order bride. It’s yummy. 🙂
Courtney Milan, “Unveiled.”
I had this recommended to me a few months ago and it’s incredible. I like it because I think Milan works very consciously within the conventions of the genre, but complicates them in interesting ways. (Which is to say, that each time – and there were several – I thought I knew how she was going to get the heroine Out Of This Mess, and was ready to roll my eyes – I was totally wrong).
She’s a great writer, too – good dialogue, good characterization, and I didn’t ever feel like I had to accept something batshit crazy to explain a character’s actions in order to appreciate or understand the novel.
Anyway, she’s fantastic, and only getting better, I think.
Georgette Heyer’s “Sylvester”. In addition to the unlikely romance between dark, dashing, arrogant Sylvester and brown sparrow roman-a-clef authoress Phoebe, who could resist a novel with Sir Nugent Fotherby and the deliciously idiotic Ianthe?
BTW, kudos on the new book!
The new book looks great! As for my recomendation I would probably go with The Secret by Julie Garwood. Yes, its a historical, but its not weighted down with a bunch of facts. It is, at heart, a story of a friendship that began in childhood and surpassed all cultural boundaries. It is also extremely witty and makes for a good read.
I’m so excited for you! (And me because I’ve been looking forward to this book coming out for what seems like FOREVER!!)
I always recommend Lisa Kleypas’s Then Came You. Because if they love it, she has a huge back list full of books that are just as great (except for that one with the alphahole in it… I just pretend she didn’t actually write that one.)
I would recommend Paradise by Jusith McNaught. It has romance, humor and angst.
I would recommend PARADISE by Judith McNaught. The book has romance, humor and angst.
First – congrats on the upcoming book! Second—thanks for the chance to win a copy!!!!!!!!!!!!
My absolute favorite book… which I read when my 20-something nephew was a baby… and of which I still have that copy 20-some years later… is Hummingbird by Lavyrle Spencer. What a fantabulous introduction to the genre!
I’d probably hand over one of my all time favorites – Natural Born Charmer (in audiobook if they will take it). Congrats on the new book and thanks for always sharing your passion for romance!
Well if I have to go with just the one….
The one book I will recommend is Playing James by Sarah Mason. IT IS TOOO GOOD. If dictionaries had pictures, there will be a picture of this book next to the word Awesome.
Hard to choose but I’d go with “Bet Me” by Jennifer Crusie. And congratulations on the book—can’t wait to read it, either in ARC or final form!
It depends on what her non-romance reading habits are and how mainstream she likes her books! I wouldn’t recommend “Dark Lover” to my mom, for instance, but I would hand her “Bet Me” in a heartbeat.
I am looking forward to reading ETIKAL so so much, and the prospect of getting an ARC is too awesome for words.
But what one book to recommend? aaaaaaack, so difficult to choose, esp as recs depend so much on who the recommendee is. I think I’m going to have to go with an old Garwood, though…let’s say Honour’s Splendour, because I can still tell you the first line (“They meant to kill him”) and the last line (“And she belonged to him”) after all these years (I was less half the age I am now when I first read it!), and any book that can do that HAS to be good!
I would probably go with Bet Me, because it takes some of those tropes you know are going to be obnoxious and doesn’t do what you’re afraid it’ll do. The villains aren’t really villainous, the friends don’t all pair off, the kid isn’t a plot moppet. It’s a romance, and it’s magical, but it’s grounded and real.
Congrats on the book.
My go-to book after many many years is still Julie Garwood’s The Bride. I think it makes the perfect intro into the genre. I think I have it in all forms and have bought and lent it many many times.
Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer’s “Agnes and the Hitman.” I have it in hardcover and even though it is large and unwieldy and I could just bring a damn paperback, I lug it with me whenever I move and read it whenever I need a pick-up.
So many good suggestions (though I just skimmed as there are too many entries to read them all!) I agree with a lot of the suggestions but since I didn’t see Anne Gracie’s The Perfect Rake – I’ll add that. Of course it could be on this huge list somewhere, but just wanted to make sure.