Introduction

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!