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 […]
In which I figured out what romance I should write
Well, okay, this wasn’t my least favorite Florand, but it didn’t blow me away either. It also took me over a week to read (bad in Romance Standard Time.) Caveats: I have been in a romance slump for awhile, and I may have just poisoned my own well too badly both in general mood and specific experience with this author. And now that I am reviewing it basically a month later, I have the arduous task of even trying to remember it (she said, rolling […]