Posts
In this month's issue, Romantic Times Book Reviews gave VIRTUALLY HIS four stars. There were no four and the half or top picks for the romantic suspense books out this month! Another shocking note: there are only TEN books reviewed compared to the dozens for paranormals. Wow. I wonder whether it's just a fluke that there are so few RS being reviewed? Indeed, there is a whole section talking about paranormal authors and how quickly they are rising as stars.
What are your thoughts? Are you guys reading less romantic suspense?
Also, I have a short "interview" on page 88. There is a typo there. It's brain ENTRAINMENT hypnosis, not brain ENTERTAINMENT hypnosis. Gah. Sigh.
P/S Jordan: Still trying to find a font/background solution to your RSS problem! For now, maybe you can just do a quick highlight of the feed. So sorry!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Virtually His in RT
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
Personally I'm getting really SICK and tired of paranormals. I want my contemporaries and romantic suspense novels back! WAIL! I am not a big paranormal fan, I'll read them if they get good reviews or recommendations by my friends, but I don't seek them out. In fact, I've recently returned to the world of Silhouette Desire and Special Edition because of the lack of contemp and suspense stuff.
I think that I am reading more paranormals than RS. If the RS doesn't have the sizzle, then I usually put it down and never finish it. I really enjoy your writing style because you are very detailed. Same for Howard. Same for Stuart. There are just way more paranormals out there. The authors writing RS I usually auto-buy write slow, so one or two books a year for them times maybe 15 authors for me . . . for example, look how long it has been since Fiona Brand had a new book. And if I look down a list of favorite authors, while the RS may be at the top of the list, the paranormal outnumbers them by a lot. My paranormal auto buys number way higher. For me, you are in a very exclusive club in that every book you write delivers the ingredients that keep me up reading till 1 or 2 in the morning. I would never dream of putting down one of your books and not finishing it.
I am definitely more into the romantic suspense books; just can't get into the paranormal unless it's someone like Kay Hooper, Holly Lisle, etc. I get Romantic Times magazine & I just skip over the paranormal & erotic review sections. I've been going to the UBS & picking up some older books of authors I've discovered in the last few years like JoAnn Ross, Barbara Freethy & others. With the price of books, I have become pretty selective in authors I purchase. I'm really looking forward to Virtually His. Sometimes I just don't get how RT rates the books they review; I've read some of their "Top Picks" which have a 4 1/2 star rating & I thought they were rated way too high. We will just have to go the Amazon & BN & give your book our 5 star rating once we've read it.
Steff
Gennita, I can read this one. :) It's still faint, but at least it stands out from the white background. Yah! Thank you!
As for paranormals, I'm biased because I love them. Always have. That said, my tastes these days tend to run more toward the sci-fi/fantasy section. The romance section is over-saturated with paranormals. People that wouldn't normally write them are writing them these days and it shows. *g*
Like Tressa, I'm very picky when it comes to RS. There are only a few authors that I like (ie you, Michele Albert, JD Robb and Fiona Brand). Same goes for straight contemporary. I can list the authors I like to read on one hand. I'm slowly but surely getting to that point with the paranormal romances. I have my favorite authors that I tend to stick to when I buy. Luckily, they're prolific. :)
I agree with Anne. Paranormals are becoming seriously over-rated. The craze is coming to a close.
On a different note, I spent the entire night reading (went to bed at 4 am). I love it and I wrote a review but I have nowhere to post it. Amazon isn't giving me that option yet. :(
Also...how do you feel about releasing Virtually Hers in you know....late May? I don't think I can wait until August...you know? I might just go crazy.
-Sarah York
PS It was Freaking AWESOME!!!!
I don't read a lot of RS, I think You and Pamela Clare are it for me, JD Robb too. I read a chit-load of paranormals though, but out of all of them I have like 6 autobuys in that genre, most are hit & miss.
We are still having a wonderful time, but sadly we all have to pack up & go home tomorrow :(
It was a lovely time, and you'll be happy to know we misbehaved at every opportunity LOL
LOL on that brain *entertainment* hypnosis. Sounds like a copyeditor problem, rather than a typo. =)
With RS, I'm picky. I read one recently that's supposed to be a bestselling author and it was just okay, not great. I think my standards for RS are way higher because they're set in the real world.
Paranormals probably have it easier with me because I love sci-fi/fantasy.
Anne, what a coincidence - I, too, started checking out Silhouette! I came across Beverly Barton's His Only Obsession by Silhouette Intimate Moments and noticed that the cover has "romantic suspense" on it! Can't tell you how thrilled I was and am wondering if this is a new line in Silhouette? I don't read category titles as I find them too short but if this dearth of RS titles continue, I won't hava a choice.
IMO, if we are reading more paranormals it's because that's all there is at times. Much as I enjoy J R Ward's Black Dagger Bros, an RS would still be my first pick and I never would have ventured into paranormals if the publishers didn't inundate me with them while reducing the number of RS at the same time.
I got so desperate, I bought more old Linda Howard and Tami Hoag titles, and snatched one title I'd been looking for for ages - Iris Johansen's Reap The Wind. I loved this book when I read it back in 1991 but after I bought it last week, I read that Johansen had revised it and edited out some sex scenes deemed inappropriate for the new version! Aargh! Damn.
I, for one, am hoping that the publishers wake up and realize that RS is a staple and should not be replaced by paranormals. It's kinda difficult, though, for them to know for sure, isn't it? How do they know if more people are reading paranormals and less RS beause we want to or because we have to?
For now, I'm going to check out the Harlequin website to find out if Silhouette Romantic Suspense is a line on its own, in which case I'm going to order a crate load! LOL! I've even resorted to buying RS in e-book form then printing it out!
Arrghh, SARAH YORK! Arrghhhhh, I'm so fracking jealous! Tell me more...sexy or not? Hotter than Sleeping or not? Monitor--no, don't tell me--but is he hot or not? :::pouting:::
--Leslie
Anne,
Yes, there are a lot of paranormal books out these days, aren't there? I don't mind it at all, but it's getting to the point where I can't tell the different series/authors because they all seem to blend it, esp. with the covers. I'm not sure whether it's just me or other readers are having my problem.
Hey Tressa,
I think, RS today is more mainstream and is losing some hardcore romance readers. I don't much enjoy mainstream romantic suspense at all, especially serial murder themes, because I want the focus to be on a relationship between a man and a woman, not the gory details of how a murderer torture and kill.
Also, I'm really more into techno-thrillers and military stories than the traditional romantic suspense. So I gorge on Anne Stuart, Cherry Adair, Linda Howard, and other great writers of the genre.
You know I love paranormals. I've been buying them up since the early 90s when there were very few of them. The hotness is what sells them today and I think, what's missing in RS, for me. Yes?
Steff,
I hope you enjoy Virtually His!
I love Kay Hooper but I stopped at the book with the victim's eyes being gouged out. :shudder: Nope, not for me.
Why do you think you can't read paranormals? Is it because of the suspension of disbelief? Maybe I'll bring this up as a topic because it's interesting to me what readers enjoy or not in each genre.
Jordan,
Remember not too long ago when quite a number of authors changed from historicals to romantic suspense? ;-) It's happening with paranormals now too. I'm all for it--write a good book and they will come. However, I'm at the point where I'm thinking there are enough vampires and slayers, LOL.
Hi Sarah,
You made my day :-). You can post reviews at BN.com, I believe. I think I saw a Harriet Klausner entry there. So, so glad you liked the story of Hell and her monitor! Lots of questions, eh?
Hi Aimee,
You girls are partying the hell out the town, girl! So proud of y'all. LOL.
Back on topic, I've always liked a little action in my books, so RS and paranormals with kickass action fulfill my needs.
Hi Kathleen,
RS has "grown up" a lot since the good old days of damsel in distress and gleaning over police procedurals. There are many workers (former cops, former military, former agents) in the law field who are writing now and the details show it. Again, I seem to like the action stuff a lot more than the procedural parts.
Paranormals are attractive to me because of the richness of the world building. But done too much, as in sci-fi fantasy, it starts to put me to sleep. Makes sense?
Elaine,
SIMs has always been my favorite Harlequin line. It always carries some great romantic suspense stories. Some of the current top single title authors came from writing Intimate Moments stories: Linda Howard, Nora Roberts, Suzanne Brockmann, just to name a few. I wanted to be a SIM writer because that line was so cool.
Leslie,
I'll let Sarah answer your questions. ;-)
Leslie,
Hotter than Sleeping, much hotter. Sexy? Oh definately. And the monitor, words cannot express. Honestly this is my favorite since Nikki's book. Jenn is just awesome. -grin-
-Sarah York
I will read anything, as long as it is good solid writing. An omnivore!
I think that for paranormals there are a few who are excellent in the genre and a lot who have jumped on the band wagon and are not that great.
That is so cool, 4 stars. I can't wait!
Elaine, in case you stop back and see this, the Silhouette Intimate Moments line is now Silhouette Romantic Suspense... so YAY for that! : )
Post a Comment