Thinking about Barbara Cartland….

By |2023-03-19T11:44:15-04:00March 20th, 2023|Categories: Romance reading|Tags: |

I was going to write a column today asking what was the first romance you ever read. I, however, have no idea what, specifically, the answer to that question is personally but I’m sure whatever it was, it was written by Barbara Cartland. So I searched for Barbara Cartland on the site and this wonderful piece came up. So, I’m asking today instead about your experience, if any, with Dame Cartland. Did you read her? Love her? Hate her? Think her work is seminal to romance?

 

 

I always brag about reading Georgette Heyer and Laura London at age 13 – and it’s true.  Early on I developed a taste for the good stuff.  What I mention far less often is my undeniable huge (as in gigantic, oversized, and extra large) appetite at that age for Barbara Cartland.

During my teenage years I devoured Dame Barbara.  And, considering her huge backlist, that amounted to one major league crap-load of […]

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the ask@AAR: What was the first romance novel you read?

By |2021-06-14T09:16:20-04:00June 11th, 2021|Categories: Dabney AAR, Romance reading, the ask @AAR|Tags: , , , |

While the first romance that ever really registered with me is Sweet, Savage Love (and I attribute that to it being the first book in which the sex was varied and, for the time, explicit), the first romance novel I read was–and I have no idea which–one of Barbara Cartland’s 723 books.

I read hundreds of Cartland’s books and they all blend together now in my head. There’s always a lovely young virginal woman, an older slightly rakish and devastatingly handsome hero, a villain who wants bad things to happen, a scene in a carriage, and at least one kiss that renders our heroine into a proverbial butter pat. […]

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Just Not My Type

By |2017-06-23T08:30:40-04:00August 5th, 2013|Categories: Characters, Heroes, Heroines, Lynn AAR|Tags: , , , , |

gypsyheiress Do you ever find certain types of characters difficult to like? I wouldn’t say that any particular type of hero or heroine is completely a “no go” for me. I firmly believe that, in the hands of a good author, just about anything can be made to work. However, when I come across certain character types on a book blurb, the description is not going to have me clamoring to pick up the book – often because it’s something I’ve seen handled less than skillfully way too many times before.

Pirates definitely fall into that category for me. I don’t know if it’s my background of having studied European and Middle Eastern history, but nothing I know about pirates makes them terribly romantic to me. Most historical accounts I have read make them sound uneducated and brutal, and conditions onboard ship sound filthy and unappealing. While I […]

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10 Things Barbara Cartland Taught Me About Romance

By |2023-03-19T11:34:02-04:00September 17th, 2010|Categories: Authors, Characters, Heroes, Heroines, Reading, Romance reading|Tags: , , , |

 

I always brag about reading Georgette Heyer and Laura London at age 13 – and it’s true.  Early on I developed a taste for the good stuff.  What I mention far less often is my undeniable huge (as in gigantic, oversized, and extra large) appetite at that age for Barbara Cartland.

During my teenage years I devoured Dame Barbara.  And, considering her huge backlist, that amounted to one major league crap-load of pink-tinged dreck…er, Cinderella stories. And, considering that she wrote the same story featuring the same characters over and over and over and over, that added up to young Sandy being heavily inundated with the lady’s ideas about romance and gender. (Shiver.)

But, heck, I’m betting that a lot of us did our time in Cartland-land.  And, undoubtedly, we all learned some important lessons, right?

  1. Heroine Requirement Number One:  Virginity. Completely non-negotiable. You must be a perfect example of shining innocence to capture the heart of a […]
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