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Jan. 3rd, 2020
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Jan. 3rd, 2020 10:38 pm1. In a bit of a reading slump. I tried Courtney Milan's latest After the Wedding part of the Worth Saga, and finally gave up. She tries hard to do a biracial and bisexual romance, but gets a bit too interested in hammering the reader over the head with it, and far too much telling not enough show. The heroine, who is a bit of a whiny wet-blanket, I wanted to smack upside the head, and the hero...sigh, felt a bit on the weak side as well. Also, quite a few items felt off in regards to the historical period. She's doing a biracial romance in a time period in which it wasn't acceptable, and the two characters, a white maid and a black valet are forced to marry by a Bishop and a Rector at gunpoint, in England, during the 1800s. This is a time period in which it was illegal in various countries for people of different races to marry. (I'm not sure about England though.) In addition the heroine is bisexual as is an elderly woman, and they are openly so.
Not sure that works either in the 1800s. Rose Lerner handled a similar plot thread far better, as did Cat Sebastian.
It's not that diversity and racial issues can't be handled well in romance novels -- they have been and are -- I just felt the author was either burnt out or overly self-conscious? Meredith Duran, Sherry Thomas, Alyssa Cole, and various others have handled it better somehow.
What Milan does do is drop the physical descriptors for the most part -- which is key. Now if she'd just scale back on the annoying internal monologues.
Anyhow, I've jumped back to Julie London's A Dangerous Gentleman, which I may or may not stick with.
I'm bored of the books I'm reading at the moment. I tried a sci-fi. I tried a fantasy. I've jumped to various and sundry romances. I just can't find anything that grabs me. I may start reading Crime and Punishment in a fit of desperation.
2. There's a meme going around regarding what "you were fannish about this decade" and I can't remember. Was I fannish? I don't know. I was never your typical fan to begin with...
( Read more... )
3. Been following, albeit briefly, the increasingly absurd Twitter Romancelandia War today on Twitter (the parties got a tad distracted by the threat of an actual War with Iran which they are labeling WWIII. Uhm, apparently they've forgotten that we're still at war with Iraq and Afghanistan, so hey why not add Iran too -- they are all next to each other...before long it can just be called the Persian War. Also, the parties involved don't know as much about the Iran infraction as my mother does -- who felt the need to tell me the entire history and all that was involved in detail over the phone tonight, just after we discussed the soap opera and each other's days.)
Anyhow...as you probably have guessed by now with all my posts, I've been following the battle between the RWA and Courtney Milan et al since roughly Christmas on Twitter. To date it's really just between Courtney and RWA's forms, emails, and responses to members -- since RWA has not tweeted on its site since December 26. Took me while to figure it out. Still trying to. Once I did, I can't help but think that none of the people involved have handled this very well -- and maybe if they could talk face to face and not via social media, it would have been resolved by now?
The latest?( Read more... )
4. I don't really have a four. Make something up? It's been a tiresome two days back to work, not helped by the weather and pesky male project managers who instead of doing what I need them to do, call me for ego stroking and whining. Ugh.
I want sun. Maybe I should take a trip somewhere tropical this winter? Not wait until Spring to do it.
Not sure that works either in the 1800s. Rose Lerner handled a similar plot thread far better, as did Cat Sebastian.
It's not that diversity and racial issues can't be handled well in romance novels -- they have been and are -- I just felt the author was either burnt out or overly self-conscious? Meredith Duran, Sherry Thomas, Alyssa Cole, and various others have handled it better somehow.
What Milan does do is drop the physical descriptors for the most part -- which is key. Now if she'd just scale back on the annoying internal monologues.
Anyhow, I've jumped back to Julie London's A Dangerous Gentleman, which I may or may not stick with.
I'm bored of the books I'm reading at the moment. I tried a sci-fi. I tried a fantasy. I've jumped to various and sundry romances. I just can't find anything that grabs me. I may start reading Crime and Punishment in a fit of desperation.
2. There's a meme going around regarding what "you were fannish about this decade" and I can't remember. Was I fannish? I don't know. I was never your typical fan to begin with...
( Read more... )
3. Been following, albeit briefly, the increasingly absurd Twitter Romancelandia War today on Twitter (the parties got a tad distracted by the threat of an actual War with Iran which they are labeling WWIII. Uhm, apparently they've forgotten that we're still at war with Iraq and Afghanistan, so hey why not add Iran too -- they are all next to each other...before long it can just be called the Persian War. Also, the parties involved don't know as much about the Iran infraction as my mother does -- who felt the need to tell me the entire history and all that was involved in detail over the phone tonight, just after we discussed the soap opera and each other's days.)
Anyhow...as you probably have guessed by now with all my posts, I've been following the battle between the RWA and Courtney Milan et al since roughly Christmas on Twitter. To date it's really just between Courtney and RWA's forms, emails, and responses to members -- since RWA has not tweeted on its site since December 26. Took me while to figure it out. Still trying to. Once I did, I can't help but think that none of the people involved have handled this very well -- and maybe if they could talk face to face and not via social media, it would have been resolved by now?
The latest?( Read more... )
4. I don't really have a four. Make something up? It's been a tiresome two days back to work, not helped by the weather and pesky male project managers who instead of doing what I need them to do, call me for ego stroking and whining. Ugh.
I want sun. Maybe I should take a trip somewhere tropical this winter? Not wait until Spring to do it.