A Guest Pandora’s Box: Judith Ivory’s Beast

Hello everyone and welcome to the first in what we hope will be on-going series here on the AAR blog. Every month or so we’re going to choose a romance and have a discussion about it, we being Elisabeth Lane (of Cooking Up Romance), a long-time romance reader who now creates recipes inspired by books and then blogs about it, and Alexis Hall, a relative newcomer to the romance genre, whose other hobbies involve hats, swords and tea (though rarely together).

In this Pandora’s Box guest bloggers Alexis Hall and Elisabeth Lane discuss Beast by Judith Ivory, published in 1997. It’s a beauty and the beast type story featuring a beautiful American heiress, Louise Vandermeer, and her husband-to-be, a French prince and – of all things – perfumier,  Charles d’Harcourt.  The first part of the book is set […]

By |2017-06-23T08:30:21-04:00February 6th, 2015|Categories: Guest Posts, Pandora's Box|Tags: , , |17 Comments
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Stuart’s Coat, Sara’s Spectacles, and Jessica’s Glove

glovesI’ve been thinking lately about what is it about some writers that make their books magical for readers in ways that others aren’t.

First, a confession: I read contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and paranormals, but historical romance was my first love and remains my absolute favorite.  So, with my bias fully admitted and setting aside the continuing gush of wallpaper historicals in which you can’t even tell the time period a book is supposedly set in unless the author tells you, there are some talented writers out there I’ve come to admire and who have become auto-buys for me.  Still, the ones I’m watching have yet to come up with one of those scenes.

I’m talking about those hit-you-in-the-heart scenes. The kind you remember. The kind you share with other readers who very often respond “Yes!” The kind that make you feel what the characters are feeling.

I love the […]

By |2017-06-23T08:31:36-04:00February 25th, 2011|Categories: Authors, Characters, Heroes, Heroines, Historicals, Reading, Romance, Romance reading|Tags: , , , , , |50 Comments
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Vive la France!

France_Paris_Night1This subject has been on my mind for a while, but two recent-ish blogs got me writing: Joanna Bourne’s musings on the topic, and Lynn’s request for Italian-set romance novels.

See, I love France.  I love the food and the art and the cinema.  I love the cobblestone streets strewn with leaves and dog poo alike, and I love the mega-stores and tiny boutiques.  I appreciate their massive anal attitude towards their language, and am utterly envious of French women who all seem born with the Instant Style Gene.  Whenever I go to France, the minute I step off the plane, I feel like I’ve come home.

In other words, I don’t get the semi-automatic “anti-French, anti-revolution bias” that Jennie at Dear Author says is “common to most everyone but the French”, but that, honestly, I think is really only common to English-speakers.  (Stereo)typically-speaking.  So I’m […]

By |2017-06-23T08:31:41-04:00November 30th, 2010|Categories: Jean AAR, Reading, Romance reading|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |25 Comments
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