Archives for August 8, 2013

Romance – The Healthy Alternative

— According to a study cited by Dr. Joyce Brothers, women who read romance novels make love seventy-four percent more often than women who don’t read romance novels.

— According to special research from the British Medical Journal, the more orgasms you have, the longer you’re likely to live.

Recently I got one of those emails filled with wisdom on how to live a good life, and since I’m always looking for wisdom, no matter how shady the source, I was reading along and nodding at bromides like, “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,” and “Your beliefs don’t make you a better person, your behavior does.” Then I saw one solemnly given piece of advice that made my hair stand on end. It stated, “Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.”

I … what? Was this a joke? No one could seriously consider picking their books according to whether some unnamed, unknown person would judge them after death. Could they?

Well.

Yesterday I was scanning Twitter, looking for deep and meaningful discourse among my peers … all right, fine. I was on Twitter, screwing around, when I saw a series of indignant tweets whip past.

It appears that, once again, someone posted a blanket, “Romance is stupid,” article, causing outrage among readers, reviewers and writers.

Or not.

It’s become an internet standard that if a psychologist/book columnist/writer of “more important” fiction, wants attention, s/he posts a “Romance is stupid” article. Frankly, the organ that creates my outrage is exhausted. I can’t get excited (again), when someone I don’t know, don’t care about, will never hear of again, bashes my genre.

Early in my career, I realized how silly the whole romance novel debate was when I was in a bookstore autographing THE GREATEST LOVER IN ALL ENGLAND. Some guy came up and picked it up, and said, “I’d buy one for my wife, but she might think that’s what real life is supposed to be like.”

I was … without words.

As you know, doesn’t often happen.

Can you imagine a woman, any woman, walking up to Tom Clancy and saying, “I’d buy a copy of HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER for my husband, but he might imagine he was a submarine captain”?

There is no way to fight willful ignorance and prejudice, so it’s all going to come down to … do you care what other people think of your reading choices?

Let me tell you a true story.

One night, Truman Capote was in a New York restaurant when a female admirer came across to his table, gushed about his work and begged for an autograph. Her very drunk husband objected, staggered over, unzipped his fly, pulled out his penis and said, “Sign this.” Capote inspected it, then said, “I don’t know if I can sign it. Maybe I could initial it.”

Truman Capote was one of the great writers of the twentieth century. He wrote BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS and IN COLD BLOOD. Over twenty films and TV movies were filmed from his books and stories, and an Academy Award winning movie was made of his life.

If Truman Capote couldn’t always get respect, then obviously, in the modern world, fiction primarily written for women by women that features politically incorrect female sexual fantasies, is not going to win respect.

So it’s time for us romance readers and writers to pull up our big girl panties and stop arguing with the willfully ignorant, and stop worrying about whether we are respected.

Instead, let’s all kick back and enjoy our reading. Because remember the studies I quoted at the beginning?

— According to a study cited by Dr. Joyce Brothers, women who read romance novels make love seventy-four percent more often than women who don’t read romance novels.

— According to special research from the British Medical Journal, the more orgasms you have, the longer you’re likely to live.

Assuming those studies are true, we don’t need to “read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” We romance readers are going to outlive all the critics anyway.

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Christina chose to answer just one question, but the answer is so cool, I can’t quibble or complain! ;o) – Bobbi

What is the craziest or ugliest object in your house, and why do you keep it?

Technically, it’s not in the house. It’s beside the house. One day I was looking out of our bedroom window at the open land (we’re on five and a half acres, cut out of the forest) and I said to my husband, “I know it’s weird, but I loved Stonehenge and I’d love to have my own stone circle.” Much to my surprise, he jumped on the idea. I pictured something with stones about knee-high. But he’s a guy, he loves big machinery, and he designed and built a STONE CIRCLE, with the largest stone about nine feet tall and weighing 5300 pounds. You can read all about it and see more photos here on my website. My husband did, by the way, tell me we aren’t weird; we’re eccentric and free-spirited. That’s our story, and we’re sticking to it.

 

Christina is generously donating one book each to five lucky winners (U.S. only, apologies to international readers):
Prize #1: an autographed copy of THE GREATEST LOVER IN ALL ENGLAND
Prize #2: an autographed copy of TAKEN BY THE PRINCE, book 9 of The Governess Brides historical series.
Prize #3: an autographed copy of the hardcover SOME ENCHANTED EVENING, book 1 of the Lost Princesses series
Prize #4: an autographed copy of CHAINS OF FIRE, book 4 of the paranormal Chosen Ones series
Prize #5: an autographed copy of BETRAYAL, book 3 of the Bella Terra suspense series

To enter, either leave a comment here or enter the weekly drawing on the contest page. Or both.  (Only one entry per commenter per post, though – multiple comments on one essay does not give you more chances.)  Comment entries must be posted by midnight EST Aug 8 to be eligible, though winners will be announced the following week.

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New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd builds worlds filled with romance and adventure and creates the most distinctive characters in fiction today. Her fifty novels — paranormals, historicals and romantic suspense — have been translated into twenty-five languages, featured by Doubleday Book Club, recorded on Books on Tape for the Blind, won Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart and RITA Awards and been called the year’s best by Library Journal. Dodd herself has been a clue in the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle — her mother was totally impressed. Publishers Weekly praises Christina’s style that “showcases Dodd’s easy, addictive charm and steamy storytelling.” With more than fifteen million of her books in print, her legions of fans always know that when they pick up a Christina Dodd book, they know they’ve found a story “For the wild at heart!”

Enter Christina’s worlds www.christinadodd.com, join her FREE mailing list for news, exclusive excerpts, and book sales, and chat with her on Facebook.

Buy Christine’s books on Amazon.

Hungry Like the Wolf

I started reading romances around the age of twelve, the same time, according to my mother, that I entered “that awkward stage.” And that was a kind way to describe it. Suddenly, everything I ate fed only my nose, starving my neck, my legs, my arms–all of which were the approximate circumference of no. 2 pencils. Instead of feathering, my thick hair rested in clumps around my ears Princess Leia-style.

Only a forensic specialist could detect the thin line separating my brows…

In a nutshell, I was the girl who held up the wall at school dances.

Eventually I grew into myself, but at the time—this was the early 80s, when the self-esteem movement was but a faint glimmer in our sparkly blue eye shadow—I was miserable.

But then…rescue came, not in the form of Prince Charming but in the squat, brick building known as the Roden Branch of the Chicago Public Library. A very astute librarian, having watched me pick up and put back a Nancy Drew mystery I’d probably read at least a hundred times, asked me a question which would change my life: Have you read anything from the Sweet Dreams series? She held up a book called P.S. I LOVE YOU. A pensive girl with haunted, soulful eyes stared back at me from the cover. She looked like she needed more than a friend–she needed a confidante.

I whipped out my library card faster than you could say “Duran Duran.”

Romance novels became mine to devour.  I read at the breakfast table, on the way to school, in between classes; I’d even lock myself in the bathroom to get in a few more chapters when the house was in chaos. I couldn’t get enough.

Their appeal lay in more than simple fantasy. The heroines in those novels were occasionally perfect, golden-haired beauties, but more often they were regular girls experiencing first love AND dealing with family issues, academic pressures, athletic competition, and simply figuring out who they were and what they stood for. Each novel added to my growing knowledge of how people connected with each other. I didn’t read those books and feel envy (well, maybe a little), I felt hope.

Hope makes you feel good about the world, which is only a short step from feeling good about yourself.

The Sweet Dreams books evolved into the immensely popular Sweet Valley High series. After figuring out how to use a curling iron and tweezers, I changed into someone with slightly more commercial prospects as well. But I never stopped reading romance because I never grew tired of learning about the many ways we find out who we are and how fit into the world, how we fall in love with ourselves and others.

I’ve never stopped hoping.

The only difference is now you’ll never find me hiding on the outskirts of a dance floor—I’ll be right in the middle, smiling from ear to ear and shaking what I’ve got.

 

Recommended authors:

Hanna Martine writes both Paranormal and Contemporary romances equally well. In the New Adult genre, Colina Brennan’s work is hot, hot, hot!

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Questions for Loretta:

What is the craziest or ugliest object in your house, and why do you keep it?

A severely dented tin lunch carrier with a busted handle. My grandfather used it to bring lunch to his job in the steel mills during the 30s and 40s.

If there was a movie made about your life, what would it be called? (And just for fun, who would play you?)

Much Ado About Nothing (oh, wait—that’s not entirely original, is it?) I’d like to say some sultry brunette like Rachel Weisz or Mary Louise Parker would play me, but in reality it would be someone more head-in-the-clouds like Diane Keaton.

What is the best non-monetary gift you ever received?

I feel incredibly blessed, as this is the most difficult question to answer because I have a lot of choices. I’m going to go with something recent: a dear friend gave me a metal badge from the 34th Infantry in WWII. It belonged to her father, whose battalion followed the same Northern Africa to Italy path my character Sal’s does in my novel I’LL BE SEEING YOU.

If you had to pick one romantic scene or couple to recommend to a first-time reader of YOUR books, which would it be? (Any picks for romance novels in general?)

In I’LL BE SEEING YOU, the letters from Rita to her husband Sal, who is serving overseas during WWII.  The strength of their love shines through in those short V-mails.

Loretta is generously donating two copies of I’ll Be Seeing You and  two copies of The Witch Collector (e=published only) to give away to U.S. readers. (apologies to international readers). To enter, either leave a comment here or enter the weekly drawing on the contest page. Or both.  (Only one entry per commenter per post, though – multiple comments on one essay does not give you more chances.)  Comment entries must be posted by midnight EST Aug 8 to be eligible, though winners will be announced the following week.

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I’ll Be Seeing You, Loretta Nyhan’s novel cowritten with Suzanne Hayes, debuted from Harlequin Mira in June 2013. Loretta and Suzy are hard at work on a second book for Mira, Empire Girls (coming June 2014). Loretta also writes paranormal thrillers for HarperTeen. You can find her at lorettanyhan.blogspot.com or suzyandloretta.com

When she’s not writing, Loretta is knitting, baking, and doing all kinds of things her high school self would have found hilarious. She lives in the Chicagoland area with her very patient husband and two wonderful sons.

 

Buy Loretta’s books on Amazon.