Rebecca Hunter's Blog, page 14

Conquests: An Anthology of Smoldering Viking Romances

  I’ve been looking at shorter romances, trying to figure out what makes these stories work. As I’ve mentioned before, I think that short romance is the toughest to do well. Almost every story I’ve seen under novel length (including my own) gets the following criticism in some form: “I wish it were longer so I could see the characters developed more.” So aside from the serial model, is romance simply not a good match for shorter form?   Is it simply not possible to develop internal and external

Spin (A Mafia Romance) by CD Reiss

  Gritty, dark, sexy and a little disturbing - all of these could be said about CD Reiss's Corruption Series. Rich society girl Therese, just on the heels of the scandal of her fiance's very pubic infidelity, meets the very guy she shouldn't pursue: Antonio, mafia capo and all-around dangerous guy... dangerous, as in people from all angles are trying to get rid of him in one way or another. But of course, he's hot and much better in bed than her previous boyfriend, but it's not just that.[image error]

The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne

  Good historical romances always feel like guilty pleasures for me - overindulgent but ultimately satisfying. The Spymaster's Lady is no exception, and you don't have to look any further than the cover for a hint at what I mean:) But in a refreshing twist, though the plot is filled with melodrama, the characters themselves are rather understated for romance.   The book places the classic spy vs. spy love trope in the time of Napoleonic France. Annique and Grey find each other in a French prison[image error]

The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne

  Good historical romances always feel like guilty pleasures for me - overindulgent but ultimately satisfying. The Spymaster's Lady is no exception, and you don't have to look any further than the cover for a hint at what I mean:) But in a refreshing twist, though the plot is filled with melodrama, the characters themselves are rather understated for romance.   The book places the classic spy vs. spy love trope in the time of Napoleonic France. Annique and Grey find each other in a French prison[image error]

Quick News!

Three quick pieces of news to share today:   First, I just got word that I was the top blogger for September on the Romance Lives Forever blog! Here's the post with the announcement (I don't have a Twitter account, so the headline went to the #2 person!): http://romancelivesforever.blogspot.c... ... and here's the interview that created the traffic in the first place: http://romancelivesforever.blogspot.c...   Second, my article for BonBon Break on the

Depravity by M.J. Haag

  Oh, my. Has it really been over a month since I’ve written an entry?? I’ve been busy finishing up a new Stockholm Diaries story as well as a free gift story for my newsletter subscribers, along with other editing/proofreading projects… and suddenly, September is gone!   But it’s not like I haven’t been reading. In fact, the busier my daily life becomes, the more I’m tempted to disappear into the world of a good story… or sometimes just an engrossing one. Serials seem to lend themselves to the

Led Astray by Sandra Brown

  I'm going to generously subtitle this post, "The problem with writing contemporary romance," though if you read on, you might not feel quite as generous. The topics that I'm tackling in this post aren't very romantic.   But first, a brief overview of the plot: Small-town Jenny Fletcher has been slated to marry Hal since his family took her in years ago. She'll make the perfect wife in the parsonage where she lives with the rest of the family - except the black sheep of the family, Cage. But

The Far End of Happy by Kathryn Craft

This book is at the far end of romance. It is about a failed marriage and divorce, but every good divorce story orignates from a love story. Craft has written a story about love that dies a slow death.  Since the tragedy of any divorce is grounded in the loss of true intimacy, as a romance writer, this premise is worth looking at.   The story takes place during the course of the day of Jeff, the husband's, suicide standoff. Ronnie, our protagonist, has filed for divorce from the man she still

Just Over the Mountain by Robyn Carr

Dr. June Hudson is content with her small-town Northern California life, surrounded by family and quirky, familiar friends… and an often-absent secret lover on the side. But she gets a curveball in the form of Chris, her high school boyfriend, who had returned from big city life, divorced and pushing for another chance.   Well, that’s the official blurb, but this reading writer would say that the book is just as much about the bones found in June’s batty old aunt’s back yard, the secrets behind[image error]

Rosalyn's Ring by Alina K. Field

If you've been following my posts, you know that one of my interests is the novel vs. the novella: what are the different reading experiences of the two forms, and, ultimately, how does a writer craft a good novella that isn't just a novel with fewer words.   Rosalyn's Ring won the Book Buyer's Best Novella award in 2014, which suggests it has potential. The book is historical romance, as were the last two novellas I discussed, so I figured this would be a great story to study--apples to apples.