Confessions of a Romance Reader
How do you find the books you love? I’ll tell you what I do, but first, a (shameful) confession.
After a youthful love affair with paperback Harlequin romances (my younger sister and I loved to borrow stacks of them from the library and binge read them when my mom wasn’t watching), I stopped reading romance. In high school I turned my attention to popular literary fiction and whatever my dad recommended or lent to me (Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Robert Ludlum). After college, I didn’t read nearly as many books as I’d used to, and my ‘reading’ was largely reserved for gossip and fashion magazines and the New York Times. When I did read novels, I read the selections picked by my book club, and they did not read romance. Ever. So neither did I. Well, except books by Rosamunde Pilcher – whose books I adored. Fancy-pants reader Em somehow failed to realize Ms. Pilcher’s novels were romances packaged as women’s fiction. Oops.
Anyway, flash forward to 2014, and a conversation that changed my life. My younger sister (the same one who binged Harlequins with me) called shortly before Thanksgiving and asked if I was watching Outlander. I’d never heard of it. Then she started telling me about the show. Let’s just say I was skeptical – Time travel? Two husbands? HISTORICAL ROMANCE? Friends, my sister is a proud feminist and staunch liberal; she’s interesting, beautiful, and one of the most intelligent people I know. When she talks I listen. But not this time. I was embarrassed for her.
Fast forward twenty minutes. I’m telling my husband about the bizarre conversation I just had with my sister when I get an email alert from Amazon:
S——- (my sister!) has just gifted you the Outlander eight book series
The attached gift note urged me to “give it a try,” and watch the show. I did.
I started reading Outlander and was completely sucked into Clare’s story, and I fell in love with the fictional Jamie. Then I started watching the show and… well, Outlander became my life. I raced through the series, binge watched the season one episodes available, stalked Sam Heughan on social media, and talked about it to anyone who would listen. I was obsessed.
And then I ran out of books. And season one ended. And I’d watched my favorite episodes (you know the ones) too many times to count and re-read Outlander whenever I could sneak away. I was desperate for something else like it – more specifically, a romance like it – to read.
Not surprisingly, I turned to one of my favorite Outlander blogs (shout out to That’s Normal) and a diverse list of romance novels their columnist recommended. The list included books by Karen Marie Moning, Sarah Maclean, Robyn York/Ruthie Knox, Kristen Callihan, and Elle Kennedy. I inhaled their back catalogs – one-clicking with no remorse. Well, not until I got my bank statement.
Concerned with my new addiction/habit, I joined Oyster, the now defunct subscription ebook service. OH MAN! IT WAS AWESOME. I raced through Liz Carlyle (she wrote so many great books!), Lisa Kleypas, Julia Quinn… I went berserk. As did every other romance reader who used the service – and we bankrupted them. I started doing a bit more research into the books and authors I wanted to read before spending my $.
So why am I telling you all this? Well, somewhere along the way I discovered All About Romance. I started limiting my purchases to the DIK reviews on the site and I quickly identified reviewers whose reading tastes seemed to align with my own. I checked the site every day and if Caz Owens gave a book an A, I bought it. I spent hours perusing the old site, searching for authors with large back catalogs to glom – I especially loved a section that provided suggestions for what else to read if you liked a particular author – and trying genres I hadn’t considered reading before.
All About Romance, and more specifically Caz Owens and Dabney Grinnan, largely informed which authors I read and what books I bought. In fact, the only reason I joined Twitter was to follow Dabney! Which turned out to be a very good thing because it’s where I spotted an All About Romance call for new reviewers. Folks, let’s just say I blew my audition (submit a review for a book you loved and a book you hated). My reviews (I loved How a Lady Weds a Rogue by Katharine Ashe; the book I disliked shall remain nameless) read more like book reports – OMG they were novels. I didn’t hear back. I sent Dabney a follow-up a week later and joked that she might still be reading my reviews. Ha! Anyway, she liked my email and gave me another chance. The rest, as they say, is history. I’ve been a reviewer at All About Romance ever since (going on three years now). I read voraciously and I still buy A LOT of books. I’ve discovered many more favorite reviewers on our site (BJ introduced me to queer romance, and still guides me to great books I might not discover on my own), and I have a strictly curated group of “friends,” on GoodReads (many of whom I found via the comments section of my reviews!) I know and trust. I’m not nearly as impulsive with my book purchases these days.
So, obviously you’re reading this blog post and you visit our website for book suggestions. Where else do you go? Do you follow blogs or particular reviewers? How long is too long for a review? Do you only read books with great reviews or will you read anything by an author you love? Tell me, I want to know!
~ Em Wittmann
My story is similar to others. I started reading romance in my tweens, starting with gothics, moving quickly into epic historicals, and only occasionally picking up contemporaries. Back then, contemporaries were far tamer than today and not as appealing to me. I read more of them now because there really is much more variety in characters and themes now. By college I stopped reading romance and after college didn’t read much at all. Then I went through phases of reading other genres and NF before returning to romance around 8 or 9 years ago. Now I feel like I’ve come full circle and am reaching burn out with romance. I still read them, but not as much. I’m more likely to pick up a book with a romantic subplot. I’ve also been paying less attention to new releases and more attention to my overwhelming TBR pile.
I get ideas from a variety of places: AAR and sites like them, personal blogs (my favorite, actually, as I’m more interested in the very personal way people relate to their books), Goodreads, and forums (especially back in the old days, not so much today, as they’ve mostly died out). Older me is braver about trying unknown authors than younger me. Price influences whether I’ll try a new/unknown author, so I’m more likely to try that $2.99 indie author or bargain book than the new debut author everyone is raving about but whose book is priced at $14.99 or above (publishers are really out of touch with what lower, middle class readers can afford!). There are also too many books to keep up with. I’m also more comfortable and confident about what I know I will enjoy and what I won’t. Cover art and titles can still capture my attention, e.g., in posts showing covers of new releases or bargain books. I usually sample books before I decide to read.
For reviews, the first paragraph or two are the most important for giving me a clue whether I want to investigate the book further. I usually only scan the full review if I think it’s something I’m interested in. I come back to the review AFTER I’ve read the book to read it thoroughly, which is why I appreciate the detailed reviews. Reviews that only supply squee frustrate me, and I’ll begin to filter out those reviewers once I’ve noticed it’s a habit.
I left out a couple of other ways I find new books, one of which — sadly — had been on the decline, and that’s browsing in bookstores. I used to find so many new books at Borders and Barnes and Noble that way. Just by looking through their various sale tables, shelves and carousels. Lately, my local independent seller is stepping up to the plate, including romance in their offerings and — funny enough — Amazon has opened two brick and mortar stores within easy distance to where I live, all of which I can browse through. Speaking of the latter, I also check out their on-site “if you like this, you might like this” area of their page. It’s obviously not 100% but it can lead to some new treasures.
Finally — although I haven’t used it for myself — when I’m buying book gifts for others around the holidays, I have used the Penquin Random House hotline which is surprisingly excellent at helping to find books for people whose tastes are not the same as your own. You should check it out during the holiday season.
I’ve enjoyed hearing all these stories so much! Thank you! I’m glad so many of you enjoyed my journey to Romancelandia. A few more details: I think I burnt myself out on all my Outlander obsessions (books/TV/Jamie). I’ve tried to pick up the series again but just can’t get into it. I’m still a fan – but not an active one. Also, in case it wasn’t clear, my shameful secret was my unwillingness to read romance or admit I liked it. I’ve done my best to remedy my past by talking up romance and pushing it on friends/family/randoms WHENEVER possible!
I also omitted one of the other “best” sources for books – author recommendations! Yeah, yeah…I know a lot of them promo books for reasons other than ‘they love it,’ – but I’ve had some very good luck following authors on SM. Kate Clayborn rec’d Scarlett Peckham’s The Duke I Tempted. IT’S ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS THIS YEAR. And everyone’s favorite The Hating Game was on my radar earlier than most because I spotted it on Sarah MacLean’s instagram feed – she had it peeking out of a purse she photographed!
Also, I’ve become friends with a few of the reviewers here at AAR (well, more than just colleague friends) and these women have led me to some WONDERFUL books. They’re my most trusted sources for great books & I’m so glad to ‘know’ them.
em
Other than this website, I go on a few other blogs/websites to get their insights and recommendations. Plus, for the past year, I’ve been a member of a local romance reading group held at a local bookstore and that has certainly expanded my horizons because they, rightly, try to be very inclusive, reading many subgenres, diverse authors, and diverse characters. In terms of my own personal tastes, I will usually stick with books that have been well-received by others. However, I *will* stick my neck out and read a book I haven’t heard much about or one that’s received iffy reviews, if the subject matter appeals to me. My preferred subgenres are contemporaries, comedies/chicklit, women’s fiction, and gilded age historicals. I won’t necessarily read everything by an author whose previous books I’ve loved. The general plot line still has to interest me. That being said, I will occasionally search to see if an author I’ve enjoyed is publishing anything new. Basically, my book buying system is not much of a system.
In terms of my background in romance, I began reading romance as a young preteen/teen in the 1970’s. At one point, I joined the Harlequin Book Club and received 8 Harlequin Romances and 4 Harlequin Presents a month, so I was definitely churning through them. I also would pick up other romances – both Harlequins and others – at the local Woolworth which, sadly, no longer exists. When I went to college, I had to put romance reading on the backburner, because there was so much course-related reading to do, especially for a social science major who also took a lot of English classes as electives. Romance books were definitely frowned upon among my set or maybe that was just my impression. I kind of kept my toe dipped in the water by including women’s fiction in my leisure reading and novels by feminist authors like Margaret Atwood. Over time, my reading for fun became less frequent because I just wasn’t enjoying what I was reading. Then, in the 1990’s, I was a member of a listserv that was focused on the discussion of popular TV shows, when someone brought up the Outlander books – the Outlander TV show was not even a twinkle in Ron Moore’s eye at the time — and I decided to check them out. I think only the first three or four books had been published, so I read straight through them, and lo and behold, my love for romance – despite what Gabaldon says about the genre of her books – was reawakened. I began to pick up Lisa Kleypas, Liz Carlyle, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Judith McNaught, Laura Kinsale, Kathleen Gillies Seidel, etc., trying to catch up all that I had missed for ten to 15 years.
You want to know and I answer–
I’ve got a list of nearly 30 webpages and blogs and I enter into my data base the books they give great reviews. I consider that, if a novel is given As or 5 stars in three or more sites, it means that there’s something special in that book.
I follow pages, not particular reviewers.
A review shouldn’t have more than 800-1,000 words, in my opinion.
There are a few authors that are auto-buy for me. Apart from that I only read books with great reviews. But there’s also a little –very little– space for something that sounds interesting, even if it does not belong to any of those groups.
AAR is my go to review place to , although I do look at other blogs. BUT what I’m finding that is beyond belief is that the people that work there do NOT get paid. I understand their work is a la labor of love et. cetera et. cetera. I visit AAR before I buy from Amazon always. Since paypal is so easy to use I sent a contribution last night. DO NOT ever stop the good work you do there. I would buy a membership if necessary. Keep up the most trustworthy reviews, please.
A random collection of observations:
1) I read Outlander in hardcover from my local library before it had any sequels. I’d read enough romance by then to know that Jamie was an extraordinary hero, but sagas have never appealed to me so I’ve never been tempted to read any more of the series.
2) I’m a lapsed historical romance reader (like you can be a lapsed Catholic). The blurbs and reviews all seem to be either total fantasyland (which irritates me beyond bearing now) or the same old same old I’ve read a hundred times before.
3) I’ve branched out into various contemporary subgenres like NA and MM. I have absolutely no autobuy authors though, and can happily cherrypick a series for the tropes I like.
4) Since you asked, most reviews on this site (and Dear Author, for that matter) give away far too much of the plot for my taste. Even in the early parts of a book I want to be left with some surprises. Although I completely agree about cliffhangers. That kind of nonsense the reader does need to know about.
I started reading romance in the mid nineties. Nora Roberts’ MacGregors series were my first sortie into “true romance”. My family have always been avid readers and my sister and I lived at the local library during the fall/winter reading stuff too mature for tweens to be reading, It was there that I discovered Georgette Heyer’s The Grand Sophy and we were hooked, but I’ve never thought they were romances until much later. Amanda Quick’s books were my first historicals and the beginning of my love for the regency genre written by modern authors. Even with all the junk in that genre it’s still my favorite.
AAR has gone through many changes since I first started visiting. In the past some of the most intense “discussions” happened here and often made an impact on changing my values. I was thinking about AAR Sandy and commenter Ridley just a few days ago when my sister and I were talking about how civil things are at AAR, SBTD and DA. AAR is really the best book review site because of the diverse “views” of the reviewers and Em like you if Caz says yes I’m usually in and I can tell you when she says “no way jose” I listen (mostly) :).
I recommend libraries to all romance readers because it allows them to take chances on new authors. The LAPL Overdrive catalog has almost 70,000 romance e-books and the SPL has about 15.000 choices. I will always buy books I love, but I wouldn’t read as much if it wasn’t for Overdrive.
Fabulous post and comments!
Outlander started my trip through romance as well! Watched the first half of season one, then devoured the books before the second half! That led to a sad period of reading trashy Highlander romance novels! Never knew they were a thing till Outlander! There are a few good ones, and a LOT of bad ones! That led to HR, mainly regency, which I love. I think it started with Sarah Maclean, then proceeded through all of Julia Quinn, Loretta Chase, Lisa Kleypas and eventually I landed on netgalley when I kept seeing reviews mentioning ARCs. Only found your site when Laura Whitig posted the last list voting. I now seem to buy several books a read based on your recommendations, the reviews are always spot on. If I’m interested in a book, I check your reviews first, and you’ve saved me a few dollars, though my TBR list seems to grow in leaps and bounds. I generally purchase from links on your site so you get some credit. I’m sure it’s not much, but no sense in wasting the opportunity to support the site. Thanks for being here!
As a reader with a severe tbr backlog (my read-first spreadsheet recently passed 1,000 entries, my total ebook count passed 10,000 earlier this year, and I still have thousands of other unread paper books), I really don’t need to add even more tbb titles beyond the large numbers I already have from a large number of auto-buy authors. Despite that, I still pick up some of the freebies I see mentioned in eReaderIQ and BookBub lists. I use Amazon reviews to vet freebies: I will usually get free romances if enough first-page reviews mention humor and none mention cliffhangers or poor editing. I also buy new-to-me authors based on AAR reviews, blogs, and message boards, or mention on a couple email lists I’ve been on for years. I rarely visit other review sites for the same reason I don’t participate in any (anti-)“social media”–I don’t have enough reading time now and don’t need more time sinks.
Love this blog and all of the comments. I started reading romance in 2000 while sitting in the bleachers at my kids sporting events. I have appreciated the reviews here along with upcoming releases and seeing what everyone is currently reading. I liked when AAR was looking back at the top 100 favorites because I enjoy rereading and discussing some of the older books along with the new. I also like Goodreads, Romantic Book Lovers and Romantic Times Weekend Reading forums. I struggled with Outlander because of the length. Thanks to all who keep this site going.
Thanks for this Em! My journey has some parallels to yours, in that I substituted spy thrillers like Ludlum, Silva, Reich, Clancy for romances for several years having also read HQN and likely the entire Barbara Cartland collection as a teenager – the exception being that the Outlander series was the one I kept reading as each new book was released having started with the first one in University.
I’m pretty loyal to authors so if something is written by an author I like, I’ll probably read it even if the reviews for that particular book haven’t been as good. And I definitely read books recommended to me by bloggers with similar tastes.
I’m probably much older than the average age of readers here (I really was a Disco Dolly in the 1970s) and have watched the entire arc of the modern romance novel from the publication of SWEET SAVAGE LOVE (a book I would definitely NOT want to revisit today) when I was in my teens. I’ve always been an avid reader of all types of fiction and non-fiction; I have a degree in English and read a lot of classics and literary fiction, but have never felt ashamed of my love for romance novels. The precursors for me were Gothics (Victoria Holt was the Queen) and historical fiction (I think I’ve posted before about Anya Seton’s beautiful KATHERINE, the quintessence of great romantic historical fiction). When it came to romance reading, I was almost always a Regency gal (I still have a soft spot for Edith Layton and Mary Balogh), until a few years ago when I gradually segued into reading almost exclusively contemporaries. I’m a magpie when it comes to recommendations—I’m always on the lookout for new-to-me writers and books—and visit a number of romance blogs (including AAR) looking for possible reads. (Whoever it was here who recommended Jackie Ashenden’s HAVING HER a couple of years ago, thank you, thank you!) I like good solid writing (Anne Calhoun, Jill Sorenson, Cara McKenna) and I tend to gravitate toward dark & angsty (Skye Warren, Natasha Knight, Willow Winters)—and I look for reviewers who have liked those writers in the past to see what they’re recommending now. I also download lots of freebies, samples, and 99-cent specials from the kindle store—many of which end up being deleted after a few pages, but some of which have led me to new favorites (Sierra Simone, Julie Kriss). I love that there are so many sub-genres and tropes in romance and that I’m always finding new books to try. Thank you AAR for being part of that.
I too read romance as a teenager, and never really stopped. I went through a Nora Robert’s phase in the 90’s, her supernatural series were my favourites and led me to paranormal romance from Sherilyn Kenyon and Christine Feehan. I was a huge library borrower, and I always tried to get various authors and genres to try. I got my first e-book reader in 2013 and fell into the Indie published hole for a while due to how cheap they were To buy, and blogs who recommended them. But then I guess you could say I woke up to how unfulfilling most of them are and I was at a loss. It wasn’t until a book friend and I buddy read a Tessa Dare, which was my first historical since I was a teenager. Then I read Laura Kinsale. Then Elizabeth Hoyt, then I discovered the amazing KJ Charles’s Queer historical romance. And so many others. I started to revisit Nora Robert’s again. And a lot of these choices have been through curating friends recommendations that had shared interests, and really now only follow blogs that recommend a good variety of well written romances in various genres from historical to fantasy to paranormal to contemporary to queer. And these days, I read mostly traditionally published, however a small handful of Indie published authors have become favourites too from word of mouth by trusted friends and reviewers.
I’m also going to say, book reviewers that I already trust, only need to say “Read this fucking book now” for me to auto buy. I try to go into books blind to get the most enjoyment and surprise. I don’t even want to know if it has a cliffhanger. I don’t want clues of surprises. I don’t want hints that it may devastate me because then I may not even read it and miss out on an inspirational read if I’m feeling chicken shit. I feel too many readers share too much information and take away the journey waiting to be discovered.
There have been many times I wished I could write “Read this fucking book now!” as a review, but alas, that won’t do! Everyone has different preferences as to review styles; at AAR we try hard to avoid spoilers and stick to discussing things that are in the book blurbs and in the early part of whichever books we’re reading. And generally, I’ve found – from just looking around at other review sites, Goodreads etc.- that the majority of readers DO want to know if a book ends on a cliffhanger, or, in the case of romances, has an HEA/HFN or whatever. Not everyone wants (or can afford?) to invest in a novel only to find they have to buy several more books to get the answers to all the questions that first book throws out.
Personally, even with a trusted reviewer, I prefer a little more than “great book – read it!” before diving in. That’s a recommendation rather than a review, and as I said, everyone is going to have different preferences as to how they use reviews and what they take away from them.
I have set up an Amazon storefront for readers like you. I’m hoping I can get our reviewers to set up their must read lists with just a quote–no spoilers. That way, if you love Caz’s or Shannon’s or anyone’s reviews, you could go there and not see the reviews.
I have only been a romance reader since April 9 2018. I became a romance reader after being astonished that during my Feb 2016 Vorkosigan reread that the romantic Shards of Honor was my favourite. I eventually ignored the fact that I am supposed to be a man ;-) and tried a romance book, The Duchess War by Courtney Milan (the third chapter of which is superb).
Now my favourite book is a romance, The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanne Bourne, and I have 9.5 romance books on my reread list. Steel’s Edge by Ilona Andrews, Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold, Brothers Sinister series and Unveiled by Courtney Milan, the Paris half of Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase, Three Weeks with Lady X by Eloisa James and Say Yes to the Marquess by Tessa Dare.
I have found most of my romance books on reddit but I have a list of all the books that have been in AAR’s polls top ten to explore.
I’ve always been an avid review reader and have been reading reviews here at AAR since the early 2000s, which seems like a lifetime ago. Many of the authors I followed then either no longer write or write books that no longer appeal to me. So, I’m always open to new authors, and reviews are the best way to find them. I follow reviews on a few other sites, but I think Goodreads changed my reading choices a lot too as I’ve been able to develop a group of friends and reviewers whose book tastes I share. Additionally, I follow favorite authors on Goodreads and social media and have found new authors I like based on author reviews. The romance writing world is expansive and choosing what to read requires a good system in place.
Really fun post Em! Only read Outlander but I LOVE the tv series.
I check out several book review websites for books to read and it is helpful when I check out a book on Amazon and they suggest “other readers like this too” or something like that. And of course, the library is a great resource. Librarians and readers always make suggestions on the website and don’t forget that librarians in the library are just waiting for people to ask for help of what to read next. (And no, I’m not a librarian.) :)
Yes, libraries are so important when it comes to finding good books! My 14-year old niece, who lives with me, reads voraciously and I cannot afford to buy her all the books she wants.to read in a given week. Thankfully we have libraries!!
I have a similar experience to yours, Em. Started reading romances in my early teens. My mom gave me my first during an Easter vacation—”John Chauffeur Russe” by Max du Veuzit—I suspect she wanted me self-entertained so she could relax. After that I devoured many of the romance books at home. Though we lived in Portugal, my mother had a big collection of English/American/French ones… including the famous bodice rippers and a few Barbra Cartland.
I was tired of Ms Cartland after the second or third one but, together with pirate bodice rippers (that my mom apparently loved and that I nowadays avoid at all cost), they kind of introduced me to HR. I still remember the female protagonists who stuttered when talking to the hero and the fireworks that accompanied the kisses. Gah!
After that I needed something different and moved on to traditional fiction, historical fiction, thrillers, sci-fi, historical fantasy, etc. For ca. 15 years I rarely read pure romance (although I sometimes read romantic suspense). More recently I restarted to read romances but lesbian themed ones. Alas the pool is much smaller than in heterosexual fiction and, of course, it’s more difficult to keep the reading quality on high grounds. (Let’s not even mention Historical Romances in lesbian fiction which are rare and either painful to read or plain bad. Jae’s “Shaken to the Core” is one of the few exceptions.) I got feed up after awhile and went back to other genres once more.
And then… kaboom!… Outlander arrived. I watched it with my wife and we were both hooked. We didn’t stalk Sam Heughan, but we got huge crushes over Caitriona Balfe (“can you please rewind so we can see that scene again” became a motto). And, yes, Sam is super-hot too. (And their chemistry is above any scale.) Of course I checked the Outlander book series. I read the first one, but it didn’t grab me as much as the tv series (well… Caitriona is not there, right?), but I decided to check more on the HR genre… Et voilà, sites like AAR come under my radar.
I don’t read much contemporary (though I do love Julie James), but I’m seriously hooked on HR. Specially the ones with great female characters. First it was Julia Quinn, Tessa Dare and Lisa Kleypas. Those addicted me to the genre. But then I discovered Mary Balogh (which I think is my favourite), Sherry Thomas, Lorraine Heath, Loretta Chase, Caroline Linden, Julia Justiss, Virginia Heath, Meredith Duran, etc. I started to mark and date my book reads in November 2017 (using Calibre) and since then I read 70+ HR novels. And I still haven’t touched Jo Goodman, K. C. Bateman, Joanna Bourne, Anna Campbell, Kate Noble, Alissa Johnson, Elizabeth Kingston, Laura Kinsale, Sabrina Jeffries, Julie Garwood, Madeline Hunter, Katharine Ashe, Louise Allen, Laura Kinsale or Stella Riley (and this is not my full list of authors to read).
Since I work in Academia, I have lots of non-fiction readings to do (some good, some horrible) and fiction reading is a very successful escapism for me. My most relaxing hobby, in fact. I cannot read sci-fi, or fantasy, or thrillers with the same easiness that a romance provides. And because I love history, HRs give me the best of two words.
I’m, of course, a steady follower of AAR reviews (and blog posts), specially Caz’s since she covers HR so well (besides being a wonderful guide into the genre). It is here that I find most of my next readings and AAR has provided me such great reads that I truly wish that, besides the Amazon or Kobo affiliation links, you had a donation system.
I do complain, like many others, that 2018 has not been a good year for HR, but I still have so much to catch up that I’m not that worried. I just have to check my TBR list, or the AAR’s Power Search or Special Title Listings and I’m good to go.
Note to Em: great post! Thanks! :)
We do, finally, have a donation system!
Done!
How did I miss this?!
I just set it up today! You inspired me!
Going to send my students your way. ;)
Thanks. I think there’s nothing anywhere like our Power Search. It’s amazing!
You are totally right. That feature is one of a kind. I even have a shortcut on my computer to it.
Oh dear, Eve, I am a fellow Droughtlander Sufferer though, happily, this will be p0artly cured on 5th November here in the UK. (Please, Diana, finish #9 ASAP!!!) I had a similar experience that started last autumn when I was channel surfing and came across episode 1 of series 1 and, BANG!!! – that was IT. Yeah, me too: time travel? two husbands? Well, I never ordered and read 8 books so fast in my life. Thanks for the list of writers you discovered on your favourite Outlander blog. I’m about to check it out! I’ve just had a look at Karen Marie Moning on amazon – never heard of her before and I think I must have a look at her work. Slainte!
I used to receive Romantic Times in the mail since it had been a tabloid-sized newspaper in the 1980’s. That was my main source of finding the books I loved to read. I would circle the titles I found the most interesting, and in a month or two, would find them at the nearby B. Dalton bookstore. It was through Romantic Times that I first heard of Outlander in 1992 or so, bought it in hardback, and have read that same book more than once since. Eventually, as my career took off, and as knitting overtook my leisure time, I let the RT subscription lapse (and now I understand the publication is no more). A few years later, on a whim (and recalling how much I had loved her Signet regencies) I bought a Mary Balogh Christmas short story compilation, and BOOM, my love for romance reading was back. By this time, this site was up, as were others, and I knew I was secure in having solid sources for reading ideas. And so it remains to this day…
I loved reading your “romance reading journey!” And I distinctly remember when I learned about Outlander – waaaay back when there were just 3 books written/published, and the idea of an Outlander movie was only a dream (there were LOTS of discussions about which movie star would make the best Jamie).
I was on a scrapbooking site, of all things, and there was a random “What are you reading” post. Someone was RAVING about Outlander, it sounded interesting, I read it and BAM! I was hooked.
I also laughed (WITH you, not AT you) about writing long reviews…I tend to be overly-effusive when chatting about books, too, LOL. I certainly don’t mind long reviews. Although to be honest sometimes I skip over the recap of the story/characters if I think I really want to read the book. Over the years I’ve learned that starting a good book without knowing any details is much more pleasurable than knowing lots of information about what happens before I even get to page one. (I realize that reviewers need to give a brief description of the characters/plot, so I don’t count that against them, obviously…I just jump to part where they tell me WHY it’s worth reading…strong characters, believable plot line regardless of genre, beautiful prose, etc.)
But for some reason I also enjoy reading the “D” or “F” reviews. It’s amazing the drivel that manages to get published!
I’m SO grateful for AAR – it’s my go-to source for choosing the books I’m confident I will like. I don’t want to waste my time and money on books that I don’t enjoy. Reading a frustrating book is awful – it makes me cranky!