SBD: resistance is futile
Apr. 26th, 2010 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jmc_bksAre there authors you cannot resist? An author whose new release you must buy, despite a string of less-than-stellar books? Or maybe a writer edging into an area that you generally avoid, like shifting from European historical romances to paranormal romance? Or even just a series of books edging into themes that you dislike?
Today I received a notice that two new releases have been shipped and should arrive tomorrow: Lover Mine by J.R. Ward and Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts.
I've been a Nora fan for years, and she's one of a few authors I will buy in hardback automatically. StM is a trade paperback, the third book in the series (one more to go). The first book was okay; the heroine in the second book (along with her friends) seriously irked me, to the point that I had purchased it in paper rather than e-format, I would've tossed the book. Aside from that, I have reservations about the wedding planning industry, the construct for the series. So I'd planned on giving up the series. Except. The book is on sale at 50% off. And this book is about the cake designer/decorator. As an avid fan of Ace of Cakes, I am hooked on the idea of a cake designer as heroine...although I doubt she's going to be as eclectic as Duff and/or Mary Alice and the Charm City Cakes crew.
Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood, well, I bought the first five or six books (all MMPBs) and enjoyed them to varying degrees. As the series progressed, the mythology was undermined, the heroines were dishrags, the heroes were shit-kicking caricatures. I managed to wean myself from the drug, breaking up with the series. And I ignored the BDB series guide and off-shoot angel series. But the low price and lure of John Matthew and Xhex were too much for me, and I pre-ordered a copy of Lover Mine. My name is JMC, and I'm a relapsed BDB addict. (TBH, I'll probably be returning/reselling it right after reading.)
In some ways, both authors are Borg-like (ST: NG) -- resistance is futile. Eventually they draw you (me) in. Maybe one of these books will break my romance reading slump. I can only hope.
Today I received a notice that two new releases have been shipped and should arrive tomorrow: Lover Mine by J.R. Ward and Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts.
I've been a Nora fan for years, and she's one of a few authors I will buy in hardback automatically. StM is a trade paperback, the third book in the series (one more to go). The first book was okay; the heroine in the second book (along with her friends) seriously irked me, to the point that I had purchased it in paper rather than e-format, I would've tossed the book. Aside from that, I have reservations about the wedding planning industry, the construct for the series. So I'd planned on giving up the series. Except. The book is on sale at 50% off. And this book is about the cake designer/decorator. As an avid fan of Ace of Cakes, I am hooked on the idea of a cake designer as heroine...although I doubt she's going to be as eclectic as Duff and/or Mary Alice and the Charm City Cakes crew.
Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood, well, I bought the first five or six books (all MMPBs) and enjoyed them to varying degrees. As the series progressed, the mythology was undermined, the heroines were dishrags, the heroes were shit-kicking caricatures. I managed to wean myself from the drug, breaking up with the series. And I ignored the BDB series guide and off-shoot angel series. But the low price and lure of John Matthew and Xhex were too much for me, and I pre-ordered a copy of Lover Mine. My name is JMC, and I'm a relapsed BDB addict. (TBH, I'll probably be returning/reselling it right after reading.)
In some ways, both authors are Borg-like (ST: NG) -- resistance is futile. Eventually they draw you (me) in. Maybe one of these books will break my romance reading slump. I can only hope.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 11:36 am (UTC)For me, those authors would be Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunters (though I'm admittedly behind on the series, I do plan to catch up and have already bought the books), Madeline Hunter (though this may not be true as I've not bought her newest books yet), Nicole Jordan (comfort read territory), and La Nora (also comfort read). Though for all of them, I wait for paperback (and in the case of La Nora's wedding series trades, USED paperbacks!).
no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 02:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 01:42 am (UTC)Do you want my copy of Savor the Moment once I'm finished? I'm reading the series but not collecting it.
I don't think I've read Nicole Jordan at all, and maybe only one or Kenyon's early books. Worth looking up?
no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 12:02 pm (UTC)Jordan is stereotypical and predictable as all get-out, but for some reason, I love the hell out of her. I still remember The Seduction and The Passion quite fondly, and my
Kenyon's Dark-Hunters used to be like crack to me. A bit like the Ward BDB, in fact, except I loved them without shame and never gave them away. But then they went into hardback and I fell off reading them religiously, and there were a few duds in the mix, etc. The first 5-6 were really good, IMO. One of these days, I plan to re-read the series from book 1 to catch myself up on the universe before I read the new books. This is another of those must-be-read-in-order series.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-29 03:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 01:20 pm (UTC)I tried the Ward Angel book (COVET was the title, I think) and couldn't get far. It was all very grim and relentless and I didn't care about any of the characters. BDB is flawed, but it can be fun because it's OTT cracktastic.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 01:47 am (UTC)OTT crack is okay, as long as the reader and writer acknowledge the crack. I think Ward gets it and plays the camp to the hilt (witness the black glasses and clothes), but some of the BDB fans scare me.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 07:39 pm (UTC)And my "have disappointed me at least once but I'll still always buy" list:
Balogh, Metzger, Quinn, Haissen, Ivory, and about a thousand more.
the "the love sometimes hate relationship which can also include the ack, gack, make me stop" list:
Parker (RIP), that Agatha Raisin author, that damned Jamie Fraser series -- and millions more.
No wonder why my kindle bill is so freaking high every month.
Funny that Nora's on your autobuy list, jmc. I like her but her books haven't grabbed me the way they seem to get to everyone else.
Kate R
no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 01:51 am (UTC)Is Harrison worth trying again? I read her debut but never felt the urge to check out the following books. (And feel pretty much the same about those damn Jamie Fraser books.)
La Nora is the author I've been reading longest. The oldest romance novels that I own, that I purchased new, are old NR categories. Some of her backlist is really hit or miss for me, and since I've read nearly all of it except the very old stuff, it patterns are *very* familiar. I think that familiarity is the draw. Also, I love her heroes. At the same time, there are things about her writing and her style that I don't love. But the comfort outweighs the not-love.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 07:42 pm (UTC)I have only read Hambley's Benjamin January historical mysteries. They're fantastic--her portrait of New Orleans is beautiful. I keep forgetting to go check the fantasy section for her stuff.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 06:52 pm (UTC)Megan Whalen Turner has never failed me even if her latest is my least favorite of the bunch, it's still better than most books out there. :) I was just in the bay area for two of her author events and it was a great time!
I'm also in a romance reading slump. The last one I read that I really loved was Lessons in French. I can't even remember the titles of any I've read since. I just found out I'm getting Elizabeth Chadwick's latest for review so I'm hoping that will end my slump. Course I didn't check if it was one of her romances or one of her historicals... hmm, must check that!
no subject
Date: 2010-04-29 03:24 am (UTC)Oh, Elizabeth Chadwick. Several of her books are in the TBR pile. I should dig them out...
no subject
Date: 2010-04-29 05:03 pm (UTC)