Malin gave me this book several years ago in the CBR Book Exchange, promising that I would like it. And then I proceeded to not read it for a very long time. In my defense, it’s one of 215 (as of June 2018) books on my physical and digital bookshelves that I own but have yet to read. One of my reading goals for 2018 was to make a serious dent in my already-owned books, and that included reading all of the books I’ve gotten in the […]
Making It Up as They Go Along
CBR10 is my seventh year participating in Cannonball Read, and in that time I feel comfortable saying that I’ve made a space for myself as a reviewer of romance books. I review all the romance I read because I believe firmly that everyone should read what they want, read what they like, and have someone pointing the way for them. We have our lead dogs of this pack (#BlameMalin) and we have the “hobbyists” (me). One of the greatest gifts of Cannonball Read is finding […]
I Don’t Need the New York Times to Give Me Permission to Think Critically About a Billion Dollar Genre, When They So Obviously Cannot
One sometimes needs a palate cleanser. If that one is me, that is almost always a Romance novel. I am one of the millions of people who read, enjoy, and think about the genre, its tropes, and look forward to the reliability of a happy ending. (With the exception of a few descriptors I am an amazingly average Romance reader.) The world around us is falling apart quicker than we can patch the cracks. Sometimes we need to refuel with a guarantee. I finished this […]
Robert Gottlieb and the New York Times Book Review Can Kiss My Romance Reading Ass
This may be more rant than review. Go buy the book, it’s good. I had this whole other review written and I expected to publish it Wednesday morning. It talked a little bit about how great Cannonballers are and some #BlameMalin jokes. I reviewed the book. I was debating a spoiler section at the bottom where I could talk about what I really loved. And then I read a tweet from The Ripped Bodice about Robert Gottlieb’s fabulously condescending “round up” of Romance books. I’ve […]