Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

You will love him by the end!! *grin*

lol...ok, I trust you...lol!

I've just finished The Private World of Georgette Heyer. It's a fascinating glimpse into her mind - and research.

If you've been following the Ashes series (sports series - cricket between Australia and England) - then this note from Heyer makes entertaining reading:
'Isn't it nice to listen to English batsmen making Australian bowlers look like three penn-orth of bad cheese?'

And, her advance outline for Frederica: 'Why on earth the Trade should Want to Know what This Book is about I cannot imagine, for the dim-wits ought to know by now that my books aren't About anything; and also that all my faithful public wants to know is that it is the Regency mixture as before.'

Yep, sad that the cricket is repeating itself. As I'm typing we are 9 down. The end is nigh.

Sandra wrote: "Yep, sad that the cricket is repeating itself. As I'm typing we are 9 down. The end is nigh."

Just over. Now I get to wallow in NZ v Pakistan. Thank goodness for cricinfo!

I loosely follow the cricket. Australia has been (mostly) dominant for some time so it is sort of nice to have to rebuild - just wish it wasn't quite such a whitewash!!

Yeah, it's boring if we win all the time, still, this series was pretty bad!!

Very true... hoping NZ pull themselves up in the first test.

i miss cricket at times...i can never find it on any channels in the states...although I do occasionally run into aussie rules football

IMO, the best part of the cricket on the ABC radio is hearing Kerry O'Keefe giggling over some stupid anticdote that is only loosely related to the action/players! :)

I have to admit I know next to nothing of Aussie Rules... :), and only marginally more than nothing of League or Union! But my husband and brother-in-law keep me up to date on key results in all areas. :)

@Delicious Dee: Sometimes you can listen to cricket online... NZ is radiosport.co.nz.
@Jane: maybe I'll have to tune in online to hear Kerry O'Keefe!
I miss Henry Blofeld and the seagulls.
The sad thing was trying to find a radio which had both FM and AM frequencies. Most of the shops looked at me funny. All so I could listen to radiosport to and from work during cricket/union seasons!

Delicious Dee, Aussie cricket on-line -

http://www.abc.net.au/sport/cricket/

ABC also does all the footy codes as well.

And I agree about Kerry O'Keefe, he'd have to be my favourite too!

ohhh cricket...lol! i remember being in a bar in Bahrain a few years ago and they had cricket on and little 'ole me was trying to explain it to a bunch of sailors...haha!

anyways, I finished up REgency Buck - was def. different, I had sorta figured out who the bad person was, but she was really engaging in how she did it because I nearly switched my opinion to it being Worth at one stage...so I guess i'm going to read another one of hers ;)

I like her writing style and her character interactions and conversations - some of them really crack me up!

yeah, they were pretty good...lol! i can't believe i've never read her

I must of been about 14 when I discovered her, thanks to a very good librarian. I'd already read out a lot of the library and I think she was getting desperate as to what to recommend next. LOL.

ahh, yeah...i gave up listening to my librarians when I was like 12, because they refused to believe that I was reading adult stuff and kept pushing me back towards the YA section...and they had a crappy romance section (unless you wanted danielle steel)...actually its still like that today

I think I was about 14 or 15 too when I read my first GH. I had read all the classic Australian authors, plus LM Alcott and LM Montgomery etc, so finding Heyer was a godsend - she has such an extensive catalogue that it kept me going in the school hols for quite a while...

I don't think I have EVER read a Danielle Steel! LOL! Perhaps I should add her to one of my challenges sometime. Any suggestions?

(At the same time, a lot of girls were reading those Virginia Andrews "Flowers in the Attic" but I still haven't read one of those either. I think the plot creeped me out as a teenager... Probably still would!?)

I must admit I'm still a Danielle Steele & V.C. Andrews virgin.

Annie, sad news about the NZ game.

umm, if i were to say pick a danielle steel it would probably be Message from Nam...its probably one of my favorites and doesn't have the complete ass-hole-ish people that appear in some of her other works

Thanks DDee. I'll add her to the TBR GR list and see if the book fits in somewhere (and assuming my library has it).

Sandra wrote: "Annie, sad news about the NZ game."

Tell me about it :(
Now all the Aussies know what NZ supporters have gone through...

Delicious Dee Challenge Addict wrote: "yeah, they were pretty good...lol! i can't believe i've never read her"

Welcome to the fan club!

Delicious Dee Challenge Addict wrote: "ahh, yeah...i gave up listening to my librarians when I was like 12, because they refused to believe that I was reading adult stuff and kept pushing me back towards the YA section...and they had a ..."

Oh DD - I'm never one of those librarians!

yay! somedays, when I get out of the military, I consider going back to school and doing a MS in library science...or owning a bookshop! I was mentioning to a friend the other day, that I think bookstores may lose business on occasion (at least my local borders does) because they carry such a huge backlist of popular authors (roberts, steel, even kleypas to an extent) that they don't have new stuff and so I don't shop there...would love to own or work in a store where I had some say in the buying

Oh DD - I'm never one of those librarians!

Sounds ideal doesn't it?

My sisters and I dream of having a cafe / bookshop / craft shop (beads, scrapbooking, knitting...) by the beach some day!

As a 13-year-old who read Jackie Collins and Dennis Wheatley - there's no way in hell I'd dare tell any teen which section of the library they had to stay in.

That said, I try and persuade a lot of adults to read YA!

@Jane - I think I was about 13 for my first GH (probably Powder and Patch), thanks to my mother.

I was one of those teens that had a letter from my mom at the front desk saying I was allowed to take out "adult content"...

Delicious Dee Challenge Addict wrote: "I was one of those teens that had a letter from my mom at the front desk saying I was allowed to take out "adult content"..."

I hate that! My niece had to do that, too, just recently! How judgemental... Our policy was pretty much, parents have to deal - and if they have a problem, then they can let us know and we'll add a note to the kids' record, rather than banning all kids!

My books are pretty much open to my nieces (now all +14) but I keep my Christine Feehan books hidden - but only because I don't want them ruining them! LOL! I can get pretty particular on the wear and tear on my favourite books! For some reason, I can't interest them in Georgette Heyer, so I haven't had to warn them on those. They read all the paranormals... Some get a bit fruity - but oh, well... They hear a lot worse at school!!

Delicious Dee Challenge Addict wrote: "yay! somedays, when I get out of the military, I consider going back to school and doing a MS in library science...or owning a bookshop! I was mentioning to a friend the other day, that I think b..."

I think I'd like to own Book Depository!! :)

I must be too old, or we had different librarians. I've never had one tell me I couldn't read something.

I must of been 14 maybe 15 when I read and not a word was said. Incest, necrofilia but still nothing was said.

And Jane I'll go you halves in Book Depository!!!

BD's a deal! :)

Mum was the one that monitored my reading as a teenager - she actually bought most of the books that I read 'cos I couldn't find interesting books in our local library (which is currently featured on many Australian TVs as part of the floods in Toowoomba!!)...

Gotta love mums! I think the closest mine either came to 'censorship' was telling my oldest sister that it might be a good idea to read the next bit of a Dennis Wheatley story in the morning, ie not before bed. Ah, satantic rituals et al. Good ol' Dennis.

Can I play book blind-date host at BD?

I think we need to undertake a corporate raid on BD. My brother, currently incarcerated with me, is into corporate finance in the UK... I'll have a chat with him before I let him leave. *grinning evilly and rubbing hands*

Book blind-date sounds interesting... what is that??

my mom was the one who introduced me to romance (harlequin when I was about 11) and then erotic romance (a black lace when I was like 15)

Lucky duck. M&Bs and Harlequin were ridiculed by my mother. I hate to think what she would say to erotica! LOL!! (Mum will only read biographies, preferably autobiographies - all fiction is a waste of time.) But despite this affliction in her literary tastes, she a pretty great mother :)

i think my mom just got sick about me complaining about having nothing to read and it was all she had in the house one weekend when the library was closed...

LOL - sheer desperation! I can relate to that. Might have to stuff some romance down the throats of some of the people in my house at the moment! :)

LOL! Luckily my mother was friendly with the lady up the street, who had a subscription to M&B. Mrs V gave mum all the books after she'd read them cause she only had unmarried sons.

So I had access to many thousands from mid 70's to about mid 90's when Mrs V (very old by then) passed away. I've still got a lot of them in my shed. I'm slowly going through them and passing them on to the various people who've shown an interest. LOL.

How nice of Mrs V :) I only remember snotty-nosed boys with dirty fingers in our neighbourhood. No nice old ladies ready to pass on treasure like that! You WERE lucky.

Yep, I used to inhale them. At least one a day sometimes 2. I used to stay up all night reading even then. LOL.

@ Jane... blind-date - sorta like pick-it-for-me, or in Library Land - readers advisory... I could do.

@Judy... welcome to the club! I'd say Devil's Cub. Good strong female lead, and slightly sinister hero. She even shots him! What's not to like?

My oldest sister moved back home when I was in my early teens, and she had a sub to HQN, I inherited her collection. And, now, she teases me about my romance reading habit/s!!! Sheesh! That said, she did devour Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series, and I feed her Nora Roberts habit from the library :)

Yay, Judy, Frederica is one of my favourites, just like Annie said 'What's not to like?'

I second her rec of Devil's Cub, followed closely by Friday's Child. Enjoy!

Jane (PS) wrote: "I think I was about 14 or 15 too when I read my first GH. I had read all the classic Australian authors, plus LM Alcott and LM Montgomery etc, so finding Heyer was a godsend - she has such an exte..."

I thoroughly recommend The Gift by Danielle Steel, I cried my eyes out (definately the best thing I've read by her so far).

I'm tempted to join this challenge, as I really enjoyed Why Shoot a Butler? and have a couple more of her crime books on my shelf (along with The Black Moth (which was very cheap on Kindle).

*puts fingers in ears* no, no - don't listen to the voices........must stop joining so many challenges - la la la, I can't hear you.....

ROFL Charlotte, just include them in the monthly challenge. LOL.

LOL Charlotte(BIB)!! You KNOW you want to join! Just mix it up with your other stuff. C'mon!! *shouted with a clenched fist a la Leyton Hewitt* (Smiling - Do you follow the tennis??)

Thanks for the DS rec. I'll check it out. Hmmm ...Would it classify as a love story for the 101 Romance challenge??

@ Judy: I 'third' Devil's Cub. It is right up there as one of my favourite GHs.

@Annie: Older sisters were put on earth to tease the younger ones. My sister has scarred me for life on board games and cards. I won't play them now 'cos she used to force me to play with her up until the age of 13 (when I learnt to stand my ground) and then 'crow' each time she trounced me. She was 6 years older than me! What chance did I have??

ROFLMAO Jane. As the oldest by 6 yrs also, my sympathy goes to your sister!!