This After Dark post is open to everyone so folks can see what ridiculous tasks I am assigning myself. Any reviews and book shrieking will be part of the upcoming year in After Dark.
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I am traveling to Denton, Texas, for the Art and Jazz Fest.
Are there romance-specific quests I might undertake in Denton? Oh, hell yeah.
First, Denton is the home of The Plot Twist, a romance bookshop and bar. Will I be visiting? ABSOLUTELY of course are you kidding?
I’m going to miss the Twilight trivia night, but shopping will most definitely happen. Which is part one of my quest! What shall I shop for while I’m there? I welcome suggestions!
Maybe I’ll attempt another IG Live while I’m there. I’m so tremendously bad at Instagram (they keep changing it! WHY. WHY?!) my efforts are always comical.
But second, and my second quest: Books & More. (I’m going to be doing so much book shopping and jazz listening, it’s going to be incredible.)
I first learned about Books & More in December 2023 when Amanda and I recapped RT magazine’s July 2004 issue in Episode 593. Romantic Times Rewind: July 2004 Ads & Features. And I visited in October 2024.
Look at the used romance room, y’all. USED. ROMANCE. ROOM.
This is only HALF of the Romance Room:
I felt like I was in a museum. I practiced absurd restraint and only purchased one book last year: Lion and the Lark by Doreen Owens Malek.
This year, I have PLANS. Which leads me to my question for my quest:
What old skool romance should I seek out while I’m in the Museum Of Older Romances Conveniently Located in Denton Texas?
When I say this is like a museum, I’m not kidding. You can find entire cover progressions for one book:
I have a special warmth in my heart for The Raider because I own the Barbie™ set inspired by this book.
Look at this incredible Ken, about whom the back of the box says, “Ken is swashbuckling in a sheer white cotton shirt paired with black pants.”
Spelunking in old skool romance collections is among my favorite activities, and I would love to have your suggestions.
I’m planning on reading and recapping/reviewing/shrieking at some of these. SO! WHICH ONES should I seek out?
For example: there’s not going to be anything problematic in this book, right?
White Dreams? The heroine’s name is Star Dreamer, and she’s hiding from the Sight “in the white man’s world with Grady O’Brien.” Surely nothing uncomfortable for the modern reader will happen, like when “the rescue a free Black woman from slavers, [and] incur the wrath of a dangerous man known only as the Dragon.”
I’m sure the Erect Cactus™ is not symbolic, no.
And I’m certain this is fine, right?
Wait until you see the stepback:
That’s a bum.
I could and probably will spend hours in this room. So in the interest of making me read and recap some truly absurd books, and sharing the glorious old skool covers, I humbly ask that you help me develop my shopping list.
I’ll be reading and recapping some of them, so this is your chance to send me down a truly bonkers rabbit hole.
Which old skool romances should I hunt for at Books & More, and what should I pick up at The Plot Twist?
The first romance I read in the 1980s was my mother’s copy of Woodiwiss’ Shanna. A sprawling historical adventure full of purple prose with a pampered heroine so feisty I think even my 11 year old self wanted to slap her (given its era, the hero probably did slap her). It’s now available in KU but it wouldn’t be the same reading those crazysauce bodice-rippers on a device; you need the musty doorstopper like I read back in the day.
Now I’m on a quest for the Ken Doll!!! Forget Barbie.
My mom had a couple of those minimalist-styled Jackie Collin’s books with the bright neon covers, which I would say are more women’s fiction (in those days… today just fiction) with crazysauce plots and meticulously described clothes and jewelry. But the covers were so bright and really say late 80s/early 90s to me. Were they a trend? Was Jackie Collin’s just special? (Like a fever dream of a book that the FMC goes to france as a teen? And goes through what I would consider abuse from her aunt? (CW ED) to become beautiful? And then back to the US for hundreds of pages… these books were wild)
So many choices! A few I always look for are 1st printings of Flame & The Flower, Sweet Starfire, and Night Song. If they’ve got old categories, then any Erin St. Claire (Sandra Brown), Tracy West/Joyce McGill. Also Brenda Jackson!
@Catherine: they are a set, and can be found on eBay between $100 and $200. They are so fun.
@Steve – this is an excellent list! Thank you!
@JoanneBB – Ok, I should not have been reading them at the age that I was, but wow did I think Jackie Collins’ books were THE HEIGHT of glamour. I should reread one just to listen to my brain short circuit.
@oceanjasper – SHANNA. And yes, KU is not the same as the dusty, brittle pages with itty bitty teensy teensy type inside. If my retinas aren’t upset about it, it’s not an old skool romance.
I almost dropped my phone seeing my hometown mentioned!! Enjoy Arts & Jazz Fest! Also I STRONGLY recommend Recycled Books on the Square! It’s in a remodeled (and painted purple) opera house and is my absolute favorite place in the world!
@Ashley: I love your hometown and I’m really excited to go. I will definitely check out a remodeled opera house full of books. Like, that’s a trap for me, personally, I bet. Watch: they’ll lock me in when I was through the door, like, “Got her!”
Oooh, find me that fabulous Old Skool cover design for Suzanne Robinson’s “Heart of the Falcon”. Not the jewel cover, but the glorious fuchsia and blue clinch cover. I wish I had kept my copy when I found it cheap in a used book store, because resellers have gone wild.
https://www.fictiondb.com/title/heart-of-the-falcon~suzanne-robinson~32031.htm
Also, any old Loretta Chase covers.
@Heather! I saw the original art at the exhibit last winter with John Ennis’ original cover paintings. It glows, istg.
The covers aren’t as spectacular, but I think it would be so much fun to lay hands on a few of the Loveswept series. They are so wild, and also so of their time… My personal favorite is the wildlife rehabilitator/male stripper + children’s librarian who drives a Volkswagen Bug (which is a plot point) romance, but there are so many to choose from…
Ooooh! Look for any of Virginia Henley’s early “The _____ and the _____” books. They have fab Sharon Spiak clinch covers!
Oh, what fun! I can’t wait to read about your trip! If you see any covers by Morgan Kane — I’m a long-time fan of textiles, and actually followed fashion when I was a kid — I did an elementary school report on the History of Fashion. I loved the covers of a couple books I learned were painted by Kane. I think I tore a cover off one for the report, but I can’t recall the titles. Post Script: I never developed a personal interest in fashion for myself, but am the happy recipient of my grandmother’s quilts.
In high school, in my Greek mythology course, we read Glory and the Lightning by Taylor Caldwell. I wonder if this is in the Romance Room at Books and More.
For the Plot Twist, find a book set in another place you plan to travel to in 2026 but can also give you a bingo in the recent summer reading bingo?
I have not read a lot of crazysauce old skool romance, as my romance reading very quickly went the way of classic Regency romance think early Mary Balogh, Signet Regency Romance etc. I do love the old painted Signet Regency covers though! A few books that stayed with me always were The Vampire Viscount by Karen Harbaugh – well the title says it all! It’s from 1995 and I believe a but of an outlier for a Signet Regency – because vampires! The other one is Lady Alex’s Gamble by Evelyn Richardson, which has the heroine masquerading as a man for most of the book.
Crazysauce plot-wise, I can think only of one right now, Legend by Jude Deveraux – convoluted time travel/past lives story. The cover isn’t exciting, but the story is defo crazy-sauce!
Oh, and also Remembrance by Jude Deveraux – more time travel/past lives crazy sauce! I think I had both Deveraux books given to me by an older American friend of my mom’s who was a voracious reader. That was in my teens and I admit I had to look these books up to jog my memory. Some names and plot points I remembered, though they did not impress me enough to keep them I admit… but the plots of both of them are pretty wild! From what I remember, they also featured pretty alpha-y heroes that did not impress me over much… even then!