Romance and Me: The Office Romance

Hey Everyone!

In today’s post I’d like to talk to you about another trope I like a lot: office romances!

There is just something so exciting about having colleagues, or a boss and his/her employee try to fight their attraction and then sneak around trying to keep their relationship secret 😀 For me “office romances” don’t necessarily mean the hero and heroine have to work in an actual office/boardroom, I expand this category to any two people working together and falling in love: they could be co-workers in a hospital, bartender and restaurant owner, wedding planner and cameraman, etc. My only requirement is that somehow their meeting was due to them having to do work together.

When thinking of the different “office romance” stories I looked through the books I’ve read and made a compilation of the office romance books I have …

Romance and Me: New Year’s Eve Romances

Hey Everyone!

In my last rant post I told you how I hated New Year’s Eve, well guess what: in the past 2 weeks, novels set around that time of the year kept coming my way.

I read two of Entangled Publishing’s latest releases: Melting the Millionaire’s Heart by Linda Morris and Yours at Midnight by Robin Bielman, which are both true, 100% New Year’s Eve romances: the hero and heroine share a memorable and crucial moment during those famous countdowns before we ring in the New Year.

And despite not being a fan of the holiday (cough, understatement of the year…), I very much enjoyed these stories, which I believe is due much more to the captivating stories and the great writing, than the time they are set in.

Until now I can’t recall having …

Romance and Me: The Holiday Shopping List/Wishlist Edition

Hey Everyone!

Christmas/the holidays are fast approaching and I sincerely hope you have already started your gift shopping, but in all the buying presents for others do not forget to compile your own wishlist and even maybe treat yourself to one or two great stories 😉

By now you know what a huuge Christmas-aholic I am, which also includes my enthusiasm for holiday romances. You want to know why I love this sub-genre  Easy, it encompasses two of my favourite things: Christmas and a love story. The holidays are always portrayed in these stories with their magical ambience that you can easily picture: the snow flakes falling gently, the fire roaring in the fireplace, the hot cocoa smelling tempting and the vibe of the holiday cheer and love permeating everything. (Ok, I can see how this can be too syrupy sweet for some less Christmas-enthusiasts so be assured …

Romance and Me: Being Snowed in Romances

Hey Everyone!

The holidays are within sight (yay!) and the weather has turned icy as well brr.. Yesterday it snowed, so we spent about 2 hours shovelling snow from our sidewalk so we could access the gate and the door, which reminded me of how much I love “snowed in” romances! You know the kind where the hero and heroine get snowed in and have to spend a couple of days in close quarters and due this forced companionship their attraction sparks to life 😀 I just love that cozy feeling of reading about the elements being wild out there while the characters enjoy the quiet and warm inside, with a roaring fire some hot chocolate/mulled wine and their own personal entertainment 😉

So now that I remembered how much I love this setting I’m looking for some good “snowed in” recommendations, and I hope that’s where …

My Experience with the Romance genre: Draconismoi Reads a Romance. From Start to Finish.

Wow, crazy month. Full of firsts.

First wedding I didn’t want to object too. First time off work. First completely spontaneous vacation. First time in New Mexico. First time separated from my laptop. (I know, I’ve been neglecting my fellow book lovers. But not my glorious books. 🙂 )

During my trip, I found an old school book exchange. Predictably filled with romances. Not one single non-romance title. And there I was, stranded, for two hours. What to do?

…

Is it possible that I am unfairly biased against an entire genre based on a few notoriously ridiculous tropes? This is my chance to give romance a fair shake. I WILL READ A ROMANCE! One without rape, iffy issues of consent, minors, or hideously awful misogyny.

There go the historicals and bondage. Which leaves me with two choices. One of which involves a cowboy. The other a chef. Cheffing it is! I am hungry, so we’re …

The BLI Holiday Reading Challenge 2012 – Sign Up

Today we are interrupting our usual Romance & Me feature to make a festive announcement.

It’s time to bring out the Christmas decorations, eggnog recipes and your holiday reading, because

the BLI Holiday Reading Challenge starts today!!!

Ready, steady, go! 😀

You might remember the BLI Holiday Reading Challenge from last year, we read a lot of holiday set books, got in the festive mood and had tons of fun, so we thought why not do it this year as well, only amping the fun and prizes? 😉

Truth be told as you may remember I’m a Christmas-aholic, so I’m counting back the days ’till the holidays from the moment January rolls around, so I was excited and impatient to finally start the challenge again! 😀

So please join me in Book Lovers Inc’s second annual Holiday Reading Challenge! *throws …

Romance and Me: The Halloween Romance Edition

Hey Everyone!

Happy Halloween! To get in the festive mood what kind of creepy story are you reading?

As you can see in our dual review this year Marlene and I, we read the Entangled anthology which features 11 paranormal novellas from plenty of fantastic authors and all proceeds of the sales go to breast cancer research, so if you haven’t read it yet, take a look, we enjoyed it a lot!

And while most paranormal romances/urban fantasy novels suit the genre and mood of Halloween, here are a few of our own selected favourites:

The Shifter series by Rachel Vincent, and if I already mentioned one of her series I should also recommend the other one as well: her Soul Screamers series. The first is an action packed adult urban fantasy series with a strong romantic …

Romance and Me: I HEART Series!

Hey Everyone!

As you can see from the title I LOVE series! Be the individual novels connected via the characters (siblings, friends, etc.) or a place (the residents of a small town, co-workers of the same restaurant, etc.) I just love it. Why? Well there are several reasons for that.

First and foremost because if I enjoy an author’s writing style and loved one of their books I just want more of the same goodness 😀

Secondly because once an author has established a world with well-developed (secondary) characters, I want to revisit the place and see how their life is going and what happens to them. Also, I just find it a great bonus to have an epilogue HEA to the previous book’s couple and see what they have been up to since we waved them goodbye at their happy ending. 😀

And …

Romance and Me: Werewolves Forever!

Hey Everyone!

In honour of today’s guest author (Michele Hauf who is celebrating the release of her latest novel: Forever Werewolf) I thought it was time we talked paranormal romances and more precisely about my favourite paranormal creatures: werewolves!

Though they weren’t the first supernatural species I discovered or read about (those were vampires), when I read Bitten by Kelley Armstrong (I think maybe the 4th paranormal/urban fantasy I’ve come across) it changed everything. It opened my eyes to a new world and Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series became one of my favourite UF series and werewolves my favourite supernatural creatures. I even championed them when Moira Rogers held the epic contest between vamps and wolves.

You want to know why werewolves are dear to my heart? Let me tell you just a few of the reasons:

werewolves are warm …

Romance and Me: Historical Romances – The Foreign Edition

Hey Everyone!

We have discussed different aspects of historical romances: our favourite eras, what we like the most about this genre, why we read HR novels, we have even discussed gladiators, HR pet peeves and erotic historical romances but there is something we haven’t talked about yet, and that is foreign or exotic historical romances.

About 99% of historical romance novels are set in England, in smaller part France or Scotland, a couple are even set in North America (and one or two in Ancient Egypt), but historical romances set outside of these usual locations are few and far and between. Can you think of any which take place in South America? Africa? Asia? Australia? Oceania? Or we don’t even have to go that far, any historical romances set in other European countries …