Gladys Nubla's Book Corner

I have been a romance reader for over fifteen years now, and I have become set in my ways about what I like and don't like. I don't limit myself to certain kinds of stories and plotlines, but I cannot stand weak weepy heroines and overbearing rapist heroes, which thankfully are no longer acceptable in today's world of romantic publishing. (I do remember reading a couple of books like those during high school, but they were older books by then, handed down to or found by some of the girls who promptly passed them around to other girls as part of our sex ed. Shudder. I think those books may have scarred us for life.)

The minimum bar that I do set is for good writing. I dislike awkward phrasing or syntax because my brain automatically pauses to correct it; overpunctuation like too many exclamation marks, ellipses, or em-dashes; excessive repetition of the author's favorite words or phrases; and inappropriate usage of idiomatic English, as in, an early 19th-century British heroine wouldn't say "That sucks" for something she didn't like.

But that's only about the mechanics of writing. Many of the authors whose books I run out to buy have a deep love of words and a poetic, sometimes quirky, and sometimes funny understanding of the English language. I like comedy a lot, because I think it is much harder to write than drama, but most of the books I like have an excellent combination of the two. Particularly in regard to historical romance, I like exacting historical detail to provide context, but that's not totally necessary. A good love story is all you really need!

This is a trivial note, but I seem to be drawn to writers who have PhDs or other advanced degrees in literature, history, or art history. And many times I don't learn this about them until after I've finished their books. On the one hand, I think there may be a new trend of PhDs writing romance these days, but on the other hand, it's possible that the authors' educational credentials are only recently starting to be an acceptable part of their PR. Who knows?

Finally, I am categorizing the books in alphabetical order by author's last name, then the series and single titles chronologically. I'll eventually have brief descriptions about each of the books, but bear with me as this is a huge time-consuming project. All that being said, enjoy!

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

This was a recommendation that I found on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books (via Smart Bitch Candy), and I have to agree that Chase produces language that somehow sounds authentic for early 19th-century England. Um, not that I know exactly what that sounds like, but I've read literature from the period, and Chase does an excellent job making the language her own. Her characters are also fully and sometimes exquisitely drawn, with lots of sexual tension (none of these early Regencies actually portray consummation). The six novels I've read so far:

Jennifer Crusie is laugh-out-loud funny; she is the funniest romance writer I've ever read. Her characters are refreshingly imperfect, but even if they're not gorgeous and young, they're still sexy and fun and people you want to root for all the way.

I especially like Suzanne Enoch's novellas in the anthologies below. She knows how to plot shorter works for maximum romantic conflict.

Madeline Hunter writes what she calls "linked" books rather than series per se. Her writing so far focuses on two historical periods: her first books are Medieval historical romances and her more recent books are Regency and post-Regency historical romances. You can go to her web site to learn about how her books are related to each other.

Liu is a great find. It's always a joy to find a romance writer with such an interesting voice, who doesn't sound like all the other romance writers out there. I really like her characters and the way she crafts her sentences, and the plots keep me turning the pages. She writes romances with strong paranormal/sci-fi elements, and the romances themselves are nuanced and complex, just like the characters. Excellent.

Spencer was my first favorite romance writer when I was a teenager. Some of the plots of her novels are a little unconventional (you can read them through the link above), but she manages to make the stories seem more than plausible. Some of the themes in her books are also very mature and difficult -- adultery, child abuse, father-daughter incestuous rape -- yet somehow I always managed to learn a lot about tenderness in love, about opening up emotionally to the one(s) you love, and about what I would like my ideal relationship to be. Yes, it can be a bit sappy at times, but the characters allow you to fall into the stories. Spencer especially excels in tales of spinsters who find love and in wounded female characters; these complex female heroines are probably the biggest reason I read her books. I stopped reading in the mid-1990s because high school got more intense, and then later on I moved on to other sub-genres. But LaVyrle Spencer still has a special place in my romance-reading heart.

Susan Squires does not flinch from grittiness, and I appreciate that a lot. Her romances are generally very dark, but her characters are incredibly sympathetic. She's very true to historical context in her Dark Ages and Regency novels, which actually provides much of the conflict in the novels and suggests how well-crafted her stories are. She also has her own particular, thought-provoking twists on vampire myth and premodern/prehistoric magic. She is one of the most thoughtful romance writers I've ever read.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood series - the series caught a lot of buzz from the very beginning, and to be honest I don't find the buzz all that warranted (overbearing alpha males can get boring after a while, and the fact that these big white guys speak in the mode of the rap and hip-hop music they listen to is questionable); the myth- and world-making of the Brotherhood was interesting at first but I had to stop reading mid-series when I got tired of the constantly overwrought characters and stilted dialogue