Monday, April 27, 2020

Romance has gotten much sexier. How do we rate sexy?

Couple kissing in water

As you know, I've recently been reading a lot of smut. Yes, really! I'm drowning in sexiness and smuttiness, but I'm also discovering that I might need to update my heat rating system because it's not quite covering what I'm reading now but I'm not entirely sure what to do.

Thursday, April 23, 2020

The future of books

Earth

The world, as we know it, has changed. For how long? I do not know. We can no longer go to the shops at the drop of a hat, we can no longer go to the movies, theatres, plays, musicals, or opera. Restaurants and cafes are closed. Everything is either take out, delivery, pick up, or online ordering.

Monday, April 20, 2020

What Helen Read #47: March 2020

Hello! How is everyone doing? It's a little late in the month for our regular What Helen Read since originally, I had scheduled this post for this time because of my travel plans. Then the world changed. In the meantime, since coming home, I've been adjusting to what we are calling the new normal, I've decided to keep to what I have scheduled.

With this, I hope you are settling into a routine and that you and yours are doing well. My gratitude and appreciation to those of you who are working on the frontline. You are true heroes. I hope you get some down time between all the crazy and that your romance pick takes you away to a wonderful place. Much love, xoxo.

Here's what Helen read for the last month.

Saturday, April 18, 2020

Quarantine and lockdown romance. On-trend or tacky?

Girl in mask

I know I talked about reading (or not) a virus pandemic romance where the setting for the romance is during a time of a virus pandemic. It's not something I'm particularly attracted to since it hits a little close to home right now with everything going on. That said, I am starting to notice a number of authors take advantage of what's going on and beginning to release quarantine or lockdown romances. How do I feel about that?

Monday, April 13, 2020

What Deanna Read #50: March 2020

As I am writing this, it is Easter Sunday. It's a long weekend and what a difference it is this year since we can't go to Easter services at church. My church has uploaded the Easter service onto YouTube and I will be watching that later. During this time, I want to wish everyone all the best whether you celebrate Easter or not. Blessings to you and yours. I'm finding it to be an emotional time what with everything going on and I hope everyone can cling to whatever joy, whatever hope, whatever happiness they have and that each day is a blessing.

On the reading front, March was a slow month since I was away on holiday for part of the month. The trip, as you will now know, was cut very short. What was a six-week trip turned into a three-week trip. While we enjoyed every bit of time we had away, getting home was rather stressful but we are grateful we got home safely. Even the fourteen-day quarantine was not too bad since we tend to be introverted and don't people much at the best of times.

I managed to read a few books while away and then a few more when I got home while we were quarantined. I was pretty jet-lagged so I didn't read as much as I would have liked and I'm only slowly getting back into reading more between catching up on work and some extra home chores that we are finding we need to do.

I hope everyone is well. My thoughts are with you all. Stay safe.

Here's what I read for the month.

Thursday, April 9, 2020

Would you read a virus pandemic romance?

Cabin

I had a little look at dystopian romance recently and was wondering if there'd be an upsurge in demand for those books given current times. This led me to another thought. Will romance change under the new conditions we have to live under? What are authors going to write next? Romance has always been trendsetting in its content and changing with the times. We certainly saw that with the #metoo movement and how authors adapted their writing with regards to consent. Will this new world we are living in have an impact on how romance will be written?

Thursday, April 2, 2020

Cheating in romance. Is it okay or not?

Menage threesome

I'm in a particular book group where cheating in romance seems to be a hot topic or a trigger for most people in it. Every time someone recommends a book, you can bet your bottom dollar the first question asked is "is there cheating?" I saw so much of it that it made me curious about the topic and how it is viewed in a romance novel.