Last fall I picked up the first book in the La Vie en Roses series, Once Upon a Rose. Due to some ridiculous writing by the New York Times at about the same time, my review of that book is mostly subsumed by my rage about the way genre writing is discussed by major reviewers. However, I found much to be enjoyed in Laura Florand’s writing, and was excited to return to the South of France for a little refueling between One of Us is […]
Another breezy contemporary romance from the south of France
Lucien Rosier grew up in a very tight knit group of cousins, with a strong sense of family. So when at eighteen, he discovered that he was in fact illegitimate, and not actually a Rosier, he ran away and joined the French Foreign Legion, where he crafted himself a new identity and support network of fellow soldiers. Fifteen years later, a determined woman has managed to locate him and figure out who he once used to be. His great-aunt wants to give him a legacy […]
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 […]
A Crown of Bitter Indifference
So my latest romance read has taken me weeks. Weeks of boredom. Thankfully Malin reminded us CBR Romancers that the new Lucy Parker comes out next week (which I preordered months ago). All this is to say it gave me finally the motivation to finish this snore fest so I’m ready to go for Tuesday! A Crown of Bitter Orange is the latest in Laura Florand’s La Vie en Rose series. It’s the only one I’ve read in this series so far, and it’s the […]