Jennefer’s Comments (group member since Mar 12, 2010)

Jennefer’s comments from the Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous group.

Karla wrote: "Yeah, I also like that new rule of one author per year in the Group Read!"

Good :) I think that will help mix it up a bit hopefully. Going forward I have also decided not to send out a group invite to the poll, I am hoping this way it will be only the people who participate in the group reads regularly who will be the ones who vote. So be sure to keep an eye out for it around the 15th every month!

One more small change this year that I forgot to mention in the message I sent out yesterday is that I started a Member Reading List Folder for members to help keep themselves organized.

Anyway.... I hope no one thinks I'm fishing for compliments because that is not it at all! Just trying to keep my finger on the pulse of the group :) I hope you all feel welcome to post suggestions here anytime or PM me!

Sharon wrote: "I too think the site is great Jennefer. I was thinking about playing a new game.
1. This game involves selecting your favorite scene from a BR you have read. The scene must be one that knocked y..."


That sounds like a fun game idea! Let's give it a try! I started a thread for the game in the games and challenges folder here Go for it Sharon! We will let you start it off! :)

Thanks Sharon for the fun game idea!!!

1. This game involves selecting your favorite scene from a BR you have read. The scene must be one that knocked your socks off, or ripped at your heart, or rocked your world (get the picture?)
2. Write out the scene, then members must discover which Title that scene comes from.
3. The first member who gives the right answer is next to write out their favorite scene.

Ok Sharon... Go!

Good job everyone!!!

Congratulations to everyone who participated and at least attempted the challenge :)

Special congratulations to:
SmittenKitten with 3 Crosswords and 3 Sudokus completed and a total of 25 books!!!
Amanda with 2 Sodukus completed and a total of 6 books!
Jennefer (me) with 2 Crosswords and 1 Sudoku completed and a total of 10 books!
Joeera with 7 Crosswords and a total of 23 books!!!

Good job everyone!!!

Wow! Jen and Pamela, you two are already done?!? I haven't' even had a chance to go pick up my copy from the library yet!!! LOL

I will be getting to this one in a week or two. I have enjoyed (but not loved) everything I have read by Johanna Lindsey so I am looking forward to this one. Should be a nice entertaining read :)

January 2011 Reading

1. Flowers in the Blood by Gay Courter (dead-tree book) my review

2. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (e-book) my review

3. Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer (audio) my review

4. Vathek by William Beckford (e-book) my review

Current Challenges

Last year I kept a reading list over at the Romance Readers Reading Challenges group but since I spend so much more time in this group I thought I would rather keep my list for this year over here!

Thought some of our members might like to keep a list here as well. Of books you have read, are planning to read, reading challenges you are participating in etc... you know, give you a place to write it all out and keep yourself organized. Just start your own thread or two for your personal reading list and/or book reviews in this folder to use as you see fit! :)

I had an awesome year of reading in 2010! I discovered GoodReads late in 2009 which of course led to a huge bump in my reading and TBR. Well GoodReads and my Kindle. I read 80 books this year and although I have never kept track before I am pretty confident that is more than I have ever read in one year before!

I gave 19 five stars this year and 3 one stars (all DNF). I discovered Georgette Heyer and Gimone Hall this year, new big favorite authors, and also read more BR's than ever thanks to all the great rec's in this group!

I think my top favorites for the year would have to be....

Hide My Savage Heart by Gimone Hall my review

The Jasmine Veil by Gimone Hall my review

Where Passion Leads by Lisa Kleypas my review

Faking It by Elisa Lorello (I need to write a real review for this but it was amazing)

Ordinary World by Elisa Lorello (again need to write a real review, also amazing but very different from the first)

Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer my brief review

Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence my review

I can't wait to see what I discover in 2011!!!!

What was your absolute favorite read this year??? How many 5 stars did you give this year? How many 1 stars? :( Read anything twice this year? Any big pleasant surprises? Find a new favorite series/author/genre?

Let's hear all about your year of reading!!!!

Happy 2011 everyone! The New Year seems like a good time to ask the group... How are we doing???? What do you think is working in the group and what is not? What have you seen other groups do that you would like to see here? What would make this group more fun/useful/helpful??? Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions? Let's hear it!

I started Flowers in the Blood the other day and it is awesome! It does cover several decades, but it is maybe not so much a family saga as I thought from the book description. It is the first person and it is really about one woman and her life story. It does cover the trauma that her family goes through but all from her perspective. As I get further into it we will see how much info we get about her children and the next generation.

Either way I am really enjoying this book. The historical details about the lives of Jews at the time in India is really interesting to me. The info about the opium and tea trades are really interesting as well. Not to mention lots of angst and drama in this one! We already have a murdered mother, 2 evil step-mothers, death, an attempted suicide, a gay husband... It's really good! And I still have about 400 pages of tiny print to read! :)

I will come comment more when I am done.

Carolyn F. wrote: "I tried to do this one - I suck at both crosswords and sudoku, so I gave up :("

LOL Oh well, maybe the next challenge will be more your style Carolyn :)

Welcome to the group Jen! You poor thing! I can't imagine living someplace without a library! I would go nuts!

This Month: The 80's Potboiler! (Thanks for the idea Tammy! I think this one will be fun!)

Definition: According to Wikipedia "Potboiler or pot-boiler is a term used to describe a poor quality novel, play, opera, or film, or other creative work that was created quickly to make money to pay for the creator's daily expenses (thus the imagery of "boil the pot"[1], which means "to provide one's livelihood"[2]). Authors who create potboiler novels or screenplays are sometimes called hack writers. Novels deemed to be potboilers may also be called pulp fiction, and potboiler films may be called 'popcorn movies.'"

So this is pretty much a free for all, if an author was popular and working full time as an author in the 80's it counts! Think Judith Krantz, Nora Roberts, LaVyrle Spencer and Danielle Steele etc...

To participate: Simply pick any book that could be considered an 80's potboiler! Post here what you intend to read and pop back in when you are done and let us know what you thought!

Discussion questions: Oh my brain is tired and questions are hard to come up with.... Just tell us if you enjoyed your brain candy :) Why do you think the book you choose was so popular/money maker at the time? <--- there you go, one question this month!

Our first group read of 2011! Whoo hoo!
Prisoner of My Desire by Johanna Lindsey 1991

'Everybody Loves a Lindsey'... well maybe not everyone, but she is a sure thing for a quick easy read! Should be a fun one!
Average GoodRead rating: 3.88
GoodReads description: Captive Of Love
Spirited Rowena Belleme must produce an heir — or incur the dangerous wrath of a ruthless stepbrother who stands to forfeit his ill-gotten wealth. And the magnificent Warrick deChaville is the perfect choice to sire her child—though it means imprisoning the handsome knight. . .and forcing him to bend to her amorous whims.
Slave Of Passion
Vowing to resist but betrayed by his virility, noble Warrick is intoxicated by Rowena's sapphire eyes and voluptuous beauty. Yet all the while he plans a fitting revenge — eagerly awaiting the time when his sensuous captor becomes his helpless captive. . .and is made to suffer the same rapturous torment and exquisite ecstasy that he himself has endured.
Availability: This one is currently in print so super easy to come by from Amazon new or used or from AbeBooks

Discussions: The group in the past has comment on Lindsey's simple and straightforward style, did this fall in line with those observations? This story has a bit of a twist on the captor/captive scenario, did Lindsey pull it off or did it not work for you? What did you think of the plot and flow of the story? What was your favorite scene? Favorite character? How would you rate this book on a BR scale of 1-10 (1 being very tame 10 being WTF OTT!)?

Please be considerate of others and use 'spoiler spaces' when revealing key plot elements.

If you celebrate it, Merry Christmas everyone! (And if not have an awesome weekend!)

Fair Maiden of Spank-Me-Lots wrote: "So I started yesterday. (I am home sick with the Plague) And I could NOT put it down until they got it on...I figured that was a good stopping points... I am ..."

Oh one of my favorites! It's so good! And that first love scene, oh I could melt "look how they hurt you" *sigh* OMG I love it!

When you are done you have to pick up Whitney, My Love ASAP! It's is a continuation of the story about one of their descendants several generations later.

Well thanks Grace :)

And yes, I can see how that could happen to an author very easily, especially on a first novel.

*The comment contains some spoilers!*

Ok, I finished this a few days ago but am just now getting around to comment here :)

I am having a hard time deciding what I thought of this one. I agree with some of the other that the excessive back story in the beginning was a bit tiresome and it was a bit too much 'tell' and not enough 'show'.

McBain really seemed to focus on all the wrong things. You get the whole set up with her aunt and the back story there could have been a whole story on it's own. Then the whole thing with his mistress which kinda comes up later I guess, but there was too much set up with that for a little of a part as she played later on. Just that there was a mistress is all you really needed to know, not all the details of their relationship. But then all of a sudden her brother shows up and is involved in some plot to uncover smuggling ring? That was too big a part of the book to not have a bit more of a set up in the beginning! No back story for Elysia's relationship with her brother? No historical set up for the smuggling going on at the time? It was all wacky. Too much time setting up things that didn't matter, to little time setting up the things that did.

And speaking of things that didn't get enough of a set up... the romance just kind of came out of nowhere! We have them meet and hate each other at the inn, marry for no real reason (am I meant to assume he loved her at once? maybe), and then they are barely on page together again until they get it on. And then *poof* she loves him! Huh? Up until then I had kind of gotten the impression that they didn't spend anytime together whatsoever except at dinner (and not a single cute or funny or even awkward dinner scenes on page, just told that it happens). Unfortunately this is not all that uncommon in romance as a whole, but I really felt like I was not shown nearly enough of their time together and chemistry early on in the relationship.

Now on the other hand, I couldn't stop reading it! The plot moves along and it kept me interested enough that I really wanted to know where it was going to go. So I think as a first book it shows a lot of promise and I will be reading some of her others for sure.

So questions...
This was Laurie McBain's first romance novel which lead her to a very successful career.... what did you think? Guess I pretty much covered that one above. It was fairly obvious it was a first attempt, but I can see her skill and some of her strengths shine through.
Did you find the writing immature or is this a strong first novel in your opinion? There are some weaknesses, but really this is a pretty strong first attempt. I can see why she took off.
What did you think of the authors style? I wish there was a bit more show and less tell but overall I enjoyed her style and the story really moved along.
How did it compare to other bodice rippers you have read? Pretty tame for a BR. There is the kidnapping/forced marriage but overall pretty tame.
Other romances? This could just as easily been written this year. Pretty PC nothing that would offend the typical modern reader.
What was your favorite scene? Gosh, I don't know! Not really any memorable on page scenes or interactions with the characters! Maybe when he catches up to her when she rides her old horse. Or maybe at the end when he confesses his love to her, it was pretty good but would have been better if more had been built up between them earlier in the book
Favorite character? Elysia, she was a good heroine. But then again, you didn't really get to know any of the other characters so who else could you pick!?! Hmmm... maybe Denny (was that it? Deny? Dany? Don't have my copy near by), she was fun.
How would you rate this book on a BR scale of 1-10 (1 being very tame 10 being WTF OTT!)? Maybe a 2? Pretty tame.