The other day, I was reading a post Imogen wrote at The Writing Groove about the first romance novels she remembers reading, and it got me thinking about how many of us romance readers got started when we were kids. As I told her, I remember very little about the plot of my first grown-up… Continue reading No one forgets their first (vicarious) sexual experience
Tag: What is romance?
What hits your hot button?
(Note: the hot button I’m referring to isn’t related to our previous discussion on how to heat up the fictional bedroom. Sorry if you’re disappointed.) Last week I randomly clicked on a link to a review for Judith James’ Libertine’s Kiss. (I can’t find that link now, so if this description of the review sounds… Continue reading What hits your hot button?
No poop, dope-smoking amateur detective
Women want men who are financially secure, committed and ready to make babies. This is the conclusion of two Canadian researchers who analyzed 15,019 Harlequin romance novels to see if they match theories of evolutionary psychology. The Guardian says these two educated people speculated that Harlequin titles: would be heavy on words such as baby, father… Continue reading No poop, dope-smoking amateur detective
Romance in the 90s
[Note: this post is not about sex for nonagenarians. If that’s the sort of thing you’re looking for, try Google.] For most of the 1990s, I was in junior high and high school. Being an independent, intelligent girl (read: a chubby girl with braces and a feathered mullet courtesy of Super Cuts), Barnes & Noble… Continue reading Romance in the 90s
Why men suck at childbirth
There’s a documentary series running on Channel 4 that I’m slowly becoming obsessed with. The makers of One Born Every Minute stuck a bunch of cameras in a maternity ward in England, and sat back to let the good times roll. I watched the first episode two weeks ago, when my husband was away on… Continue reading Why men suck at childbirth