Sarina Bowen's Blog, page 34
June 18, 2018
Signed Paperbacks for Sale Here!
Speakeasy by Sarina Bowen
My inventory of paperbacks is up to date, including copies of Speakeasy. And US is finally back in stock! You can get yours here.
June 11, 2018
Sexism and the Romance Stigma
This post was originally published on the Kobo Writing Life blog.
It’s a fascinating moment to write romance.
Here we are in a rapidly shifting #MeToo environment. Women are finding the voice to speak out against abuse, discrimination and unfavorable sexual politics like never before. And yet it’s also the same season when more than one mainstream media venue has felt free to take a swipe at romance readers.
Just days before The New York Times published groundbreaking journalism which would out Harvey Weinstein as a sexual predator, they published a completely disdainful “roundup” of romance novels by an eighty-four year old man uninterested in how the genre is evolving.
To add to all the fun, RealSimple magazine just published an article with the abominable title: 7 Romance Novels You Won’t Feel Embarrassed About Reading.
Thanks, guys. We get it. But do you?
It astonishes me that both publications—which employ a bevy of female journalists—assume their readers don’t also read romance. Internalized misogyny is alive and well in the mainstream media. But I’m here to assure you that the same people who buy romance novels are likely to get their news from the Times and their recipes from glossies like RealSimple.
Let’s look at some demographics. Nielsen, the media tracking agency, reports that romance readers have an average household income that’s just above the national average. And—more to the point—romance readers buy more books than readers in most other genres. They buy books at a faster rate than any other readership.
Romance readers identify as readers first. In the immortal words of Austin Powers, reading is their bag, baby. Is it really such a leap to assume they also read mainstream media? According to the Nielsen/RWA study, at the bookstore “romance buyers also read mystery, general fiction, cooking/food books, young adult, and erotic fiction.”
In other words, they read broadly. Like every other sort of reader.
Facebook is also helpful in deciphering the demographics of my romance-reading fanbase. Seventy-two percent of the people who “like” Sarina Bowen on Facebook went to college or grad school. Eighty-five percent own their homes, and the majority are married.
And still major news organizations assume there’s no readership overlap, so why not take the occasional swipe at romance fans when you need a cheap laugh?
If living well is the best revenge, then romance authors are going to be fine. As the brilliant Jennifer Weiner once put it, we’ll just weep into our royalty statements. Romance is usually the number one or number two genre in fiction sales, depending on who’s doing the sampling.
When numbers are the focus, the media does a better job of assessing the genre. The Economist recently wrote that “romance novels and the genre’s saucier subdivision, erotic literature, continue to drive sales and innovation.” They are on point to add that the stigma remains. “Such hostility is probably due, at least in part, to old-fashioned sexism.”
You don’t say!
Contemporary romance is threatening to the status quo. Critics will tell you that romance is “formulaic.” But the only certainty in a romance novel is the ending—it will be happy, and the couple will resolve their differences and end up together.
(Note: Since the ending is known, that actually makes the middle of the book harder to write, but never mind, critics! I’ll just plug a couple of variables into my romance formula machine, set it to the automatic spin cycle and eat bonbons until the book pops out fully formed.)
It’s not the structure of a romance that’s threatening to critics. Rather, it’s that a woman is often the most important protagonist. Her needs matter. She has agency and makes her own decisions. She may or may not be straight, genderqueer, LGBTQ, asexual or interested in kink. But by page 300 she will own her own choices, and demand that her partner does the same.
I didn’t always write romance. My first published novel was women’s fiction for a Big Five publisher. The book got great trade reviews and then died a fiery death at the bookstore. My publisher wouldn’t pick up a second novel from me. It was time to switch gears.
When I wrote my first romance, I felt that stigma, too. I was fearful of telling people about my new venture. I thought my friends from college would assume I’d failed at writing and, as a consequence, was now wading in the shallow end.
I think I believed it, too.
Fast forward four years. I now have ten publishers on three continents. I’ve won what is arguably the highest award in romance. Most crucially, I support my family as a novelist. In romance I’m earning a living as an author.
How did that happen? The moment I stopped trying to write as the wisest, cleverest girl in the room, I began writing novels that critics call clever and wise. I stopped drinking the mainstream Kool-Aid and wrote straight from the gut. And readers responded.
I’m here to tell you that you can have a brain and still enjoy books with kissing in them. You can also have an economics degree from Yale and write romance novels. You can build a career on entertaining smart women and men with uplifting storytelling.
You can include a set of washboard abs on the cover or not. It’s your choice. And you’re a real novelist either way.
May 31, 2018
Another freebie at all vendors!
Haven't read the True North series yet? You can fix that for free! Pick up your copy at:
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May 29, 2018
May 26, 2018
Audio Giveaway!
Enter to win one of four MP3 copies of Good Boy & Stay. The Rafflecopter is below. To get 5 entries, you'll want to sign up for the audio newsletter.
a Rafflecopter giveawayApril 27, 2018
April 25, 2018
Five New Books That Excite Me!
Happy spring! I'm still staring at patches of snow out my window. But not for long!
It hasn't been easy to get any reading done lately because I've been writing too much. But I did manage to squeeze in a couple, and they are awesome.
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren. I loved their entry into the women's fiction market! This is a wonderful and plotty story and I loved every page. The writing is, as always, exquisite.
Hello Stranger by Lisa Kleypas. Wow. When I'm working on a contemporary book, sometimes I just need to read something totally different. And this book was seriously impressive. Sharp, snappy dialogue and terrific characters. And now I'm dying for the next one, because she set it up so well.
Squared Away by Annabeth Albert. My goodness this series is so good. In my opinion it's her very best work. Great, fully-formed characters with real world problems. I have loved every one of them.
Shopping for a Billionaire's Baby by Julia Kent. I just discovered this author this year and she is hilarious! (Ahoy, matey! I'm still laughing.)
Long Shot by Kennedy Ryan. Note: this isn't an easy read, as it includes sexual violence against the heroine. It is an epic love story and well worth the trouble.
April 10, 2018
Your Questions about Studly Period Answered
Q: Do I need to read The Ivy Years books first?
A: Not at all. The narrator of Studly Period is a freshman at Harkness college, and she doesn't know anyone, either! So it's totally find to read this one as a standalone.
Note: the first Ivy Years book is free right now! At Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook | Google
Q: Who is Pepe again?
A: He first appears in The Understatement of the Year as a freshman. Then his funniest scene is in The Shameless Hour. (I put an excerpt here if you're curious.) He's also dancing on a coffee table in The Fifteenth Minute, with Lianne.
Q: How many chapters will Studly Period be?
A: Seven, plus an epilogue!
Q: Why aren't any of the chapters in Pepe's point of view?
A: Pepe is a native French speaker, and that presents a unique narrative challenge here. In English he has a very distinct voice, which is captured in all his dialogue. But he thinks in French. So if I wrote his point of view in English, it wouldn't sound like Pepe, because Pepe has no accent and is very articulate and grammatically accurate in his mother tongue. So in order to avoid having alternate chapters sound so different, I'm telling the story in Josephine's voice. Bonus: Josephine is a hoot!
Q: Are you going to publish it as an ebook later? Are you going to publish it as a paperback?
A: At this moment I'm really not sure. It depends on the total length and on whatever else my publication schedule will bring. We'll see!
Q: How could you end Chapter Four like that?
A: Honestly I didn't know I was a meanie until I began publishing this serial. I think it brought out my dark side. BUT TAKE COMFORT: There are four more chapters, and only one more cliffhanger. So you'll only be angry at me 25% of the time.
March 8, 2018
Good news! A free Ivy Years serial delivered right to your inbox!
Studly Period by Sarina Bowen. Read it for free.
STUDLY PERIODA free newsletter serial by Sarina Bowen
There are 1016 people in the freshman class at Harkness College. I can’t be the only socially awkward nerd girl virgin among them. Right?
It’s time I learn to talk to guys without blushing and stammering. So I take a confidence-building job at the student tutoring center. Twelve bucks an hour, plus human interaction. What could go wrong?
A fun-loving French Canadian hockey hunk, that’s what.
When Pepe St. George sits down at my tutoring table, my brain shuts off and my mouth goes right into hyperdrive. Even the sound of my name on his lips—Josephine—gives me a mini orgasm.
I want to hand him my V-card. But all I manage to hand him is…my thesaurus. And my dignity. All seems lost, until I hatch a plan to get him alone…
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NOTE: If you sign up after the serialization has already begun, your first email will contain links to all the existing chapters. You won't miss a thing!
WAIT. WHO WAS PEPE AGAIN?Fans of the Ivy Years novels will recognize Pepe! He's a French-Canadian hockey player on the Harkness Hockey team in three of the Ivy Years books.
Pepe first appears in The Understatement of the Year:
"That afternoon was the first hockey practice of the season. We were all banging around in the locker room, feeling lucky. Our lineup looked great, too. There were a couple of enormous Canadian recruits, with thick French accents and even thicker beards. We’d known them for all of a half hour, and already one of them had earned himself the nickname Pepe, like the cartoon character Pepe le Pew. And it looked like we were just going to call the other one Frenchie. Because we’re real creative like that..."
Pepe also has a funny scene in The Shameless Hour:One of the chairs had been taken by Pepe, an enormous French Canadian defensive hockey player and one of my on-again-off-again fuck buddies. “Belluh!” he crowed in his thick French accent. “Zhere is no score yet! But your Rangers look like poo poo tonight.”
I walked over and sat down in his lap. He stuck his big feet out onto the coffee table, making both of us more comfortable. And just like that, my seating problem was solved. “Twenty bucks says the Rangers win tonight,” I challenged him.
“Noh,” he said, his accent thick even on the one syllable word. “I cannot take money from a friend.”
I snorted at his overconfidence. He and I had a longstanding Rangers-vs.-Canadiens rivalry, because those were our teams. Pepe and I were the same age, although he was only a freshman. He’d spent two years after high school playing semi-pro on a farm team for — wait for it — the Canadiens. So for him, this game was personal.
Unfortunately, he was right that things didn’t look so good for my Rangers. The score was still zip-zip, but the Canadiens had already taken twice as many shots on goal as the New York team had.
Behind me, Pepe got excited about the on-screen action. “Oui! Oui oui oui!” he yelled at the screen as his team’s forward drove the puck towards the goal again.
“Stop him,” I yelled. But it was no use. The lamp lit before I could even get the words out.
Pepe threw his scruffy head back on his broad shoulders and whooped.
There is nothing cuter than watching a giant man-child get delirious over his team’s goal. Pepe’s hands wandered down my sides, and he gave my hips a squeeze. I felt his erection begin to poke me in the lower back.
Turning to whisper into his ear, I asked, “Pepe, did you seriously just pop a boner because the Canadiens scored?”
“Noh,” he said. “I have zee bonnaire because now we are weening.”
I giggled, while his hand found its way onto my boob, which he gave a single squeeze. Sports, food and sex. Those were the things which made the men in my life tick. It was really that simple.
“I theenk we need a different bet,” he said. “Not money. Les vêtements. Clothing. I score a goal, I choose a piece of yours.”
I turned my head so I could see him. “You want to play strip hockey?”
“Oui. Keep it interesting.”
What a goofball. “Fine. But we’ll have to watch the game in my room if you want to get naked.”
“Not naked. Just take off zee sweater.” Carefully, he lifted it over my head, tossing it aside. “It is itching me.”
“Sorry,” I laughed. It was an itchy sweater. Wearing only a tank top now, I settled back against Pepe’s broad chest. He was excellent furniture, as long as you didn’t mind the sensation of his dick poking at the bottom of your spine.
And I didn’t.
I thought of Pepe as the human equivalent of a black Labrador puppy...
March 1, 2018
Inventory Update: Signed Copies of Brooklynaire are now In Stock
The web store inventory has been updated. (Click here.) Copies of Brooklynaire are back in stock, as well as most other titles. International readers can purchase signed, personalized book plates for global shipping at a low cost.
