Historical vs. "Historical"

I wasn't as productive with the book tonight as I would have liked. I spent far too much time playing around on Wikipedia, abandoning my recent tactic of putting [CHECK] after any dubious or uncertain historical fact while writing the first draft. This tactic is a good one, since it encourages me to stay out of the interweb and away from doing a 'quick' lookup that leads into a three-hour journey down a variety of rabbit-holes. But I was debating whether to give Ferguson a fan, since the most over-the-top dandies seem to have some sort of ridiculous affectation, and that led to a lot of reading up on fashion websites.

The problem is that there is real history, in terms of contemporary accounts, well-researched nonfiction, etc. And then there is 'romance history' -- the world that Regency romance has built up over several decades, with 'rules' and 'facts' that are now accepted as the gold standard by most readers, but that just aren't very historically accurate. For instance, the waltz -- it wasn't danced at all in the early Regency, was still seen as very risque during the mid-Regency, and only came into wider acceptance in 1815 or 1816 (or later, depending on your source). But every Regency romance has the hero and heroine waltzing with each other, because the other dances of the time were more group-style (think country line-dancing, only without the boots, plaid, and awful music), and group dances where the hero and heroine are only together for bits and pieces aren't conducive to flirty conversations.

So now I have a dilemma on my hands. Do I write a romance that is as grounded in fact as possible, even if that means doing away with conventions that are accepted (and even expected) by most readers? Or do I ignore some of this and accept that these romances aren't historically accurate anyway, and just write stories that are fun and engaging? What do you prefer to read?

Newly-minted RWA PRO Member!

I received a confirmation email from the Romance Writers of America staff that I've been approved for PRO membership. While I'm not yet eligible for PAN (the Published Author Network), I can join PRO because I have a completed manuscript and proof that I've submitted to an agent. Of course, that proof was that I was politely rejected, since I sent in my application before I heard back from the agents who requested partials last week. But, it feels good to make tangible progress towards a goal, even if PRO membership is not a guarantee that I will get published anytime in the next decade.

Meanwhile, I'm trying hard to keep my creative juices flowing in my subconscious while I'm slogging away at my real job. I switched offices this week, and since I have an office to myself, I took the opportunity to decorate in ways that remind me of my ultimate writing goals while contributing to the 'fun/unique' culture expected by my current employer. While I may sometimes wish that I could skip out on my day job, I must admit that it's pretty sweet to work someplace where I'm actually *encouraged* to put up things like a vintage Bon Jovi poster, several postcards of romance novel covers, and a fiber optic bonsai tree. At least I can get a few moments of visual escape in my office when I'm up to my eyeballs in Excel spreadsheets or management meetings.

What do you do to keep yourself sane at work? I use stress balls, interesting decorating principles, and the occasional Nerf blowdart -- but what do you use?

2008 Reading List Recap

2008 was a so-so year for reading. I read 28 books (plus parts of another 5 books that I didn't finish) -- good for a usual year, bad given the fact that I had six months off and should have read much more than this. But here's what I read, in reverse chronological order:

VISCIOUS CIRCLE - Mike Carey

THE BELL AT SEALEY HEAD - Patricia A. McKillip

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK - Neil Gaiman

THE LIVES OF THE ENGLISH RAKES - Fergus Linnane

MR. CAVENDISH, I PRESUME - Julia Quinn

THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO - Ann Radcliffe (dnf)

THE DEVIL YOU KNOW - Mike Carey

ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT - Stephen King

FORTUNE'S FOOL - Mercedes Lackey

CHALICE - Robin McKinley

NEW MOON - Stephanie Meyer

TWILIGHT - Stephanie Meyer

THE DARKEST PLEASURE - Gena Showalter

THE DARKEST KISS - Gena Showalter

THE DARKEST NIGHT - Gena Showalter

WOMEN & MONEY - Suze Orman

WHITNEY, MY LOVE - Judith McNaught

THEN WE CAME TO THE END - Joshua Farris

HOW THE SCOTS INVENTED THE MODERN WORLD - Arthur Herman (dnf)

SEX IN GEORGIAN ENGLAND - A.D. Harvey (dnf)

GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE - Amanda Foreman (dnf)

NORTHANGER ABBEY - Jane Austen

NATURAL BORN CHARMER - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

DARK DESIRES AFTER DUSK - Kresley Cole

DARK NEEDS AT NIGHT'S EDGE - Kresley Cole

WICKED DEEDS ON A WINTER'S NIGHT - Kresley Cole

NO REST FOR THE WICKED - Kresley Cole

A HUNGER LIKE NO OTHER - Kresley Cole

TO WED A WICKED PRINCE - Jane Feather (dnf)

THE ART OF SEDUCTION - Robert Green

THE LOST DUKE OF WYNDHAM - Julia Quinn

LAMB - Christopher Moore

BREATHING ROOM - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

This doesn't count the rereads that I did of several of my favorites (THE GRAND SOPHY, DEVIL'S CUB, THE MASQUERADERS, and THE UNKNOWN AJAX by Georgette Heyer, SUNSHINE, BEAUTY, THE HERO AND THE CROWN, and THE BLUE SWORD by Robin McKinley, and various others). It also doesn't count the bits and pieces I read out of a variety of historical research books, or the travel guides that I bought, or some items that ended up languising on my TBR shelf. I bought 47 books from Amazon alone, not counting items that I picked up at Borders or used bookstores, so I did my part to help the publishing industry stay afloat.

For 2008, my favorites were:

Best romance: A HUNGER LIKE NO OTHER by Kresley Cole. It was paranormal, but I thought her world-building was outstanding and she's created enough interesting scenarios for many intertwined books. Book six comes out this week and I've already ordered it from Amazon.

Best research book: THE LIVES OF THE ENGLISH RAKES by Fergus Linnane. The thought of treating syphilis with mercury vapors made me a bit ill, but it provided some great background into the crazy people of aristocratic England.

Best fantasy: THE BELL AT SEALEY HEAD by Patricia McKillip. I prefer the linguistic stylings of Robin McKinley (and loved CHALICE), but THE BELL AT SEALEY HEAD had a fantastic story, a wicked sorceror, a kind princess, a shy innkeeper and his rich, bookish love interest, and all sorts of other interesting characters. Highly recommend, even if you aren't usually into fantasy.

Best fiction: THE DEVIL YOU KNOW by Mike Carey. Actually, this may be fantasy -- but it's more of a noir detective story, it just happens to have ghosts in it.

The overall trend seemed to be that I was into paranormal-type books. Other than the research books and a couple of random contemporaries, almost everything I read had vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons, or some mishmash of everything.

For me, I think I have trouble reading historical romances when I'm actively trying to write, which was the state I was in for much of the year. But paranormals provided me with the romantic elements I craved, while avoiding the historical elements that made reading historicals seem like work rather than pleasure.

What were your favorite books in 2008?

On the "Hero's Journey" in Books and Film

Several months ago, I picked up a copy of Christopher Vogler's THE WRITER'S JOURNEY: MYTHIC STRUCTURE FOR WRITERS. While the fact that he managed to use 'writer' twice in the title was indicative of his generally weak writing style, I thought it was an interesting look at how stories are formed using common archetypes and story arcs. He draws heavily on his experience as a screenwriter to demonstrate how most stories -- particularly blockbusters like action, fantasy, and romantic comedy -- follow a familiar cycle in which the hero/heroine goes off on a quest and must find their own holy grail before returning to their known world.

This all seems quite obvious and not worth the $17.79 that the book currently runs on Amazon (full retail is $26.95, which is steep for a paperback). However, I recently reread it, and as I've watched movies and read books over the last few days, I have been struck by how accurate his analysis was. Between yesterday and today, I watched BRUCE ALMIGHTY and FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL and read THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman (which I shall review sometime soon). While the stories were quite different -- man at a crossroads dealing with faith issues in a comedic manner, man on a mission to forget his ex and find love with the new girl, and small boy raised in a graveyard until he can take revenge on his family's killer -- all three of them had structures that adhered closely to Vogler's analysis of the ideal story framework.

What I find interesting about writing romance is that there is such a clearly defined set of rules for the genre -- particularly for historicals, the hero and heroine can't be involved with other people while involved with each other, the story must explore two people falling in love, and the story must end with the hero and heroine either married or engaged (almost always married). The challenge is to take a set of rules and write a story that adheres to the strictures while still feeling fresh and original. The rules provide a form that sets the reader up to be pleased and prepares them for a happy ending -- but the writer must get to that happy ending through several hundred pages that create doubt about the ending and provide the reader with a satisfying emotional journey as the hero/heroine grow through the power of love.

This is all a lovely challenge for me; when I started writing AN INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE, I only had the first section and the last mapped out. The rest all came to me while I worked through the manuscript, resulting in extensive rewriting during the second draft to fit all the pieces together. But as I begin to plot out book number two, I think THE WRITER'S JOURNEY could at least help me to set things up in a slightly more unified way, even if the process of writing itself will still lead to a massive overhaul after I finish the first draft.

I'll keep discussing craft and storytelling as I begin work on book number two. Meanwhile, what's your favorite story? What do you love about it?

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Either people think that books make excellent holiday gifts, or else I've trained my family well. For Christmas this year, I unwrapped the following books:

* The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia McKillip
* The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
* The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (technically I didn't unwrap this -- it was in my stocking)
* Vicious Circle by Mike Carey
* The Gentleman's Daughter: Women's Lives in Georgian England by Amanda Vickrey
* Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics by Ina Garten
* Book of Soups by the Culinary Institute of America

Hmm. Cookbooks, fantasy, literature, and history -- it's no wonder that my brother indicated that I'm turning old and lame before my time. He had corroborating evidence in the form of my other gifts, since I got a heating pad, a teapot warmer, and several kitchen gadgets, all at my request.

But so what if I'm old -- hopefully I've done my small part to help the publishing industry this year. Between the seven books I received and the six books I gave this Christmas season, I feel rather proud about fulfilling my civic duty. Now I'm going to curl up under the covers, listen to the ice cracking outside my window, and start one of my new books. Merry Christmas!

eBook Readers - Resistance is Futile

From the NEW YORK TIMES today: "Turning Page, E-Books Start to Take Hold"

And you can hear the tortured screams of bibliophiles everywhere. Personally, I'm holding off on getting a Kindle or any other ebook reader -- while I love the feel of hot new technology in my grasping hands, I feel that it's prudent to wait for the product to improve (and to clear out the 70+ TBR books on my shelves before adding a device that will make my TBR woes worse).

However, while I will always have a soft place in my heart for printed books, and while I will likely want to have them in copious amounts even if I start using a reader as my primary content provider, ebook readers are the way of the future. I think at some point in the future, we will all just have a handheld screen with us that serves as our television, our movie theatre, our stereo, our library, and our online lifeline. If you read sci-fi, you may also see it as a grim, new-world-order harbinger of the days when our global overlords will use it to provide an endless stream of propaganda, but I'll take my chances.

And really, is this that much different than the advent of the printing press? I would bet you a copy of my yet-to-be-published book that when the Gutenberg Bible first arrived, there were legions of monks who were (piously, quietly) up in arms about the death of the hand-printing industry, with all the same concerns about quality, look-and-feel, and relative cost as we're hearing from the publishing industry today. And yet what ended up happening was a revolution in terms of availability of information to the masses, information that would change the world. Ebook readers offer the same promise -- give kids excellent stories on the same screen that currently provides them with movies, and you might see a reading rebirth that no one could have predicted when musty old paper volumes were the only path to readership.

What do you think? Are you rushing out to buy a reader, or are you holding out until the last page is ripped from your hands?

Apparently I'm Destroying My Life...

Check out this article in TIME magazine: "Are Romantic Movies Bad For You?"

My favorite quote: "'Idealism has a role to play — it can convince us that no matter how misshapen, decrepit, or dull we are, there is someone out there for us.'" I love that a fellow at the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy implied that romantic comedies were good for the misshapen, decrepit and dull. That really just makes me want to go out and salve my wounds with half a dozen viewings of LOVE ACTUALLY.

Really, I do want to watch LOVE ACTUALLY now. Sadly, it's in my apartment in California, and I'm in my parents' house in Iowa for the holidays. But I think it's one of my favorite romantic comedies ever, possibly because the characters are mostly absurd and some of the stories end on a melancholy note. Or possibly because some of the characters seem "misshapen, decrepit, and dull" themselves, which trumps the ridiculous machinations of some of the impossibly-perfect heroes and heroines in general boilerplate romcoms.

I fully intend to keep destroying my ability to form real relationships by reading romance over the holidays. What are you reading and/or watching?

75 Books Every Woman Should Read - My Picks

Continuing with the theme of procrastinating by posting lists, check out this list of "75 Books That Every Woman Should Read" from jezebel.com. It's in response to an Esquire list of books that every man should read (which, for what it's worth, includes THE GRAPES OF WRATH because of the "titty" -- it's like the magazine stereotypes itself).

List, with my comments, is below. I've read thirteen -- how many have you read?

• The Lottery (and Other Stories), Shirley Jackson
• To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
• The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton
• White Teeth, Zadie Smith - I loved this book - perhaps one of my favorites on this list!
• The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende - sitting on my to-be-read (TBR) shelf, and has been for half a decade
• Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion
• Excellent Women, Barbara Pym
• The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath - not exactly warm and fuzzy, but a great read
• Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
• The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri - I of course felt compelled to read this when I moved to India, but I didn't like it as much as I apparently should have
• Beloved, Toni Morrison
• Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
• Like Life, Lorrie Moore
• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen - I would lose my romance card if I hadn't read this
• Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë - this book is great, even if it's a bit strange to fall in love with someone whose insane wife is locked in the attic
• The Delta of Venus, Anais Nin
• A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley
• A Good Man Is Hard To Find (and Other Stories), Flannery O'Connor - I've read a couple of stories out of this collection, but I won't count this as a full read
• The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx
• You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down, Alice Walker
• Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
• To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee - amazingly, we actually read this in high school, although I believe we also watched the movie; this was one step up from THE SCARLET LETTER, which we watched rather than read
• Fear of Flying, Erica Jong
• Earthly Paradise, Colette
• Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
• Property, Valerie Martin
• Middlemarch, George Eliot - TBR
• Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid
• The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir - TBR, sitting on the main TBR shelf; maybe I'll get to it this year
• Runaway, Alice Munro
• The Heart is A Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers
• The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston
• Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë - I've read this, but don't remember liking it as much as I thought I would
• You Must Remember This, Joyce Carol Oates
• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott - I loved this book; I also loved LITTLE MEN, which took place after Jo married and started taking in orphaned boys, but it's a totally different story
• Bad Behavior, Mary Gaitskill
• The Liars' Club, Mary Karr
• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
• A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Betty Smith - is it bad that I've never read this?
• And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie - I LOVED this mystery, even if the title was originally something that had to be sanitized several times for a more politically-correct audience
• Bastard out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison
• The Secret History, Donna Tartt
• The Little Disturbances of Man, Grace Paley
• The Portable Dorothy Parker, Dorothy Parker
• The Group, Mary McCarthy
• Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
• The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing
• The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank - I've read it and seen her house in Holland
• Frankenstein, Mary Shelley - yes
• Against Interpretation, Susan Sontag
• In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez
• The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck - I adored this book, and wrote some college entrance essays on it -- even though China was worlds away from my small-town life in Iowa, I've always been fascinated by the lure of the land and tales of generational conflict
• Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
• Three Junes, Julia Glass
• A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft
• Sophie's Choice, William Styron
• Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann
• Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford
• Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell - yes
• The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin
• The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera - TBR
• The Face of War, Martha Gellhorn
• My Antonia, Willa Cather - one of the great books I read as a teenager; it also lead to a fierce argument with my best friend's mother over the pronunciation of "Antonia"
• Love In The Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I liked this book, although I'm surprised that it was picked; ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE is perhaps my favorite book of all time
• The Harsh Voice, Rebecca West
• Spending, Mary Gordon
• The Lover, Marguerite Duras
• The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
• Tell Me a Riddle, Tillie Olsen
• Nightwood, Djuna Barnes
• Three Lives, Gertrude Stein
• Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
• I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith - I haven't read this, but I saw the movie and liked it
• Possession, A.S. Byatt

Given that I used to be a completely avid reader, thirteen is nothing to write home about. But, my avid reading phase stopped sometime in college, and many of these books are too depressing for my current, sadness-avoiding tastes.

What about you? What do you think is missing? Are there books on the list that shouldn't be?

All-Time Top 100 Romances - My Picks

The final draft of AN INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE is done, so it's time for me to take a break, look at my piles and piles of unread books, and make progress through them (seeing my friends, cleaning my apartment, and vegging out with some movies would also be nice). Tonight, I happened to stumble across this: the top 100 romances of all time, judged in 2007 by a poll at AAR ("All About Romance"). The poll results change every time they have one, but these are the most recent results.

I've listed the top 100 below with my thoughts -- what do you think?

1. Lord of Scoundrels - Loretta Chase

I haven't read this, but it was tops in the previous poll too, so perhaps I should check it out!

2. Dreaming of You - Lisa Kleypas
3. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Adore, of course, particularly now that I can picture Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy!

4. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon

This has been recommended to me before, but I've never read it

5. Flowers From The Storm - Laura Kinsale

I am leery of this -- Ms. Kinsale also wrote PRINCE OF MIDNIGHT, which my best friend and I mocked relentlessly for a) the hero named S.T. who had vertigo, b) the wolfhound sidekick named Nemo, and c) just about everything else. But maybe I should give her another try?

6. Slightly Dangerous - Mary Balogh
7. Devil In Winter - Lisa Kleypas
8. Bet Me - Jennifer Crusie
9. Welcome to Temptation - Jennifer Crusie
10. The Viscount Who Loved Me - Julia Quinn

YES. I loved this book, even if the beesting-related forced marriage was a bit much.

11. Lover Awakened - J.R. Ward
12. Mr. Impossible - Loretta Chase
13. The Duke and I - Julia Quinn

Half-yes -- loved the characters, although Simon and Daphne's approaches to childmaking (or not-childmaking) were, on third or fourth read, completely insane.

14. It Had To Be You - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

I remember liking it, although it didn't become a "keeper" for me like some of SEP's other books

15. Lord Perfect - Loretta Chase
16. Romancing Mr. Bridgerton - Julia Quinn

YES. I love love love Penelope Featherington.

17. The Bride - Julie Garwood

DOUBLE YES. One of my favorite medievals of all time!

18. Mr. Perfect - Linda Howard
19. Naked In Death - J.D. Robb

I haven't tried J.D. Robb's books, but NAKED IN DEATH is on my to-be-read shelf

20. A Summer To Remember - Mary Balogh
21. Nobody's Baby But Mine - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

This may be my top contemporary book -- perhaps because I'm such a nerd, so the idea of a physicist marrying a smart, sexy NFL quarterback is my dream come true

22. Dream Man - Linda Howard
23. The Raven Prince - Elizabeth Hoyt
24. Paradise - Judith McNaught
25. As You Desire - Connie Brockway
26. MacKenzie's Mountain - Linda Howard
27. Dark Lover - J.R. Ward
28. The Secret - Julie Garwood

I've read this, but can't remember it

29. Son Of The Morning - Linda Howard
30. Lover Eternal - J.R. Ward
31. Devil's Bride - Stephanie Laurens

YES. Ms. Laurens' Cynster series got a little repetitive, but when I read this one it was all fresh and lovely, and Devil Cynster is a great hero.

32. A Knight in Shining Armor - Jude Deveraux
33. Heaven, Texas - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Good, but not my favorite SEP

34. To Have and To Hold - Patricia Gaffney
35. Almost Heaven - Judith McNaught
36. Match Me If You Can - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Eh, not so much

37. The Shadow and The Star - Laura Kinsale
38. Cry No More - Linda Howard
39. A Kingdom of Dreams - Judith McNaught
40. Over the Edge - Suzanne Brockmann
41. Sea Swept - Nora Roberts
42. Ravished - Amanda Quick

I'm sure I read it, but can't remember it

43. Then Came You - Lisa Kleypas
44. To Die For - Linda Howard
45. Something Wonderful - Judith McNaught
46. This Heart of Mine - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

YES. I loved this book; again, the idea of a children's book writer falling in love with a smart, sexy NFL quarterback (sense a theme?) was lovely. But in this book, the emotions were a bit more heartrending, which I enjoyed tremendously.

47. The Serpent Prince - Elizabeth Hoyt
48. Suddenly You - Lisa Kleypas
49. The Proposition - Judith Ivory
50. Honors Splendor - Julie Garwood

I read this and remember liking it.

51. Saving Grace - Julie Garwood
52. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Yes, although not as much of a "yes" as PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.

53. When He Was Wicked - Julia Quinn

Yes, although it didn't encourage me to read it again and again like ROMANCING MR. BRIDGERTON

54. Persuasion - Jane Austen
55. All Through The Night - Connie Brockway
56. It Happened One Autumn - Lisa Kleypas
57. Born In Fire - Nora Roberts

I think I liked this one, but preferred BORN IN ICE

58. Thunder and Roses - Mary Jo Putney
59. Kiss An Angel - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Eh - I wasn't a big fan of this one

60. Out Of Control - Suzanne Brockmann
61. After The Night - Linda Howard
62. Lady Sophia's Lover - Lisa Kleypas
63. The Secret Pearl - Mary Balogh
64. Once and Always - Judith McNaught
65. More Than A Mistress - Mary Balogh
66. Untie My Heart - Judith Ivory
67. See Jane Score - Rachel Gibson
68. The Rake - Mary Jo Putney
69. Dragonfly in Amber - Diana Gabaldon
70. Perfect - Judith McNaught
71. Whitney, My Love - Judith McNaught

Read this summer on the recommendation of a friend -- they sure don't write them like they used to. The super-alpha older hero and the young girl has gone out of fashion, which is probably a good thing, but I like reading throwbacks sometimes.

72. The Duke - Gaelen Foley
73. One Perfect Rose - Mary Jo Putney
74. Shattered Rainbows - Mary Jo Putney
75. The Windflower - Laura London
76. Dream A Little Dream - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

I liked this one, but it was almost too heartrending -- a widow and a widower (who also lost his child) are just a bit too heavy for your average contemporary romance.

77. Frederica - Georgette Heyer

I love Georgette Heyer, and this was a good one

78. Passion - Lisa Valdez
79. Voyager - Diana Gabaldon
80. The Lady's Tutor - Robin Schone
81. Morning Glory - Lavryle Spencer
82. Worth Any Price - Lisa Kleypas
83. Winter Garden - Adele Ashworth
84. My Dearest Enemy - Connie Brockway
85. Where Dreams Begin - Lisa Kleypas
86. Devil's Cub - Georgette Heyer

DOUBLE YES. Love the hero, love the heroine, love the setting (England + pre-Revolution France), love the hero's family (particularly his father, the duke of Avon, and his mother Leonie, who both starred in THESE OLD SHADES). If only Heyer had written sex scenes :)

87. Gone Too Far - Suzanne Brockmann
88. Anyone But You - Jennifer Crusie
89. For My Lady's Heart - Laura Kinsale
90. Rising Tides - Nora Roberts
91. Lover Revealed - J. R. Ward
92. Open Season - Linda Howard
93. Born In Ice - Nora Roberts

I loved this one - innkeeper of a small Irish bed and breakfast falls in love with the brooding writer who stays with her for the winter. Great stuff.

94. Ransom - Julie Garwood

Yes!

95. Venetia - Georgette Heyer

Yes!

96. Miss Wonderful - Loretta Chase
97. Ain't She Sweet - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

YES. I adored this book, and think this might be SEP at her peak. Some of the scenes are visceral and difficult to read, since they are flashbacks to rather awful high school experiences, but she does a great job with making the hero and heroine both flawed and incredibly lovable. Must read.

98. The Notorious Rake - Mary Balogh
99. The Prize - Julie Garwood
100. Slave To Sensation - Nalini Singh

Clearly the top 100 doesn't have everyone's favorites. For me, the biggest miss is Johanna Lindsay -- where is GENTLE ROGUE? Where are the other Mallory books, the Viking books, and the only Westerns that I ever liked? The other big miss for me is Catherine Coulter -- perhaps not because the books had real quality, but the Sherbrooke books and her absolutely hilariously ridiculous medievals will always have a fond place in my heart.

What are your favorites? Who do you think is missing? Do any of these surprise you?

Inspirations - "Patterns" by Amy Lowell

I read this poem as part of a literature correspondence course in high school, and it came to mind the other night as I was writing Amelia's first scene. While the poem itself was written one hundred years after Amelia lived, the general sentiment of women trapped in rigid patterns remained the same.

For me, one of the reasons that I read romance is that, even though the genre itself is perhaps a familiar pattern, I'm always eager to see heroes and heroines breaking the rules and creating their own lives. Historicals, and particularly Regency historicals, set up this conflict beautifully -- in contemporaries, there are fewer well-known societal rules, and so there are fewer rules to break. Since books are a form of escape, I would rather see societal conflict that is superficially unrelated to my own life, instead of contemporary stories about women trying to juggle careers and families. Then again, Amelia is in essence struggling with that same issue -- but seeing it in a different time period removes it slightly and gives the reader a chance to view it from a fresh perspective.

Here's the poem:

PATTERNS
Amy Lowell

I walk down the garden paths,
And all the daffodils
Are blowing, and the bright blue squills.
I walk down the patterned garden-paths
In my stiff, brocaded gown.
With my powdered hair and jewelled fan,
I too am a rare
Pattern. As I wander down
The garden paths.

My dress is richly figured,
And the train
Makes a pink and silver stain
On the gravel, and the thrift
Of the borders.
Just a plate of current fashion,
Tripping by in high-heeled, ribboned shoes.
Not a softness anywhere about me,
Only whalebone and brocade.
And I sink on a seat in the shade
Of a lime tree. For my passion
Wars against the stiff brocade.
The daffodils and squills
Flutter in the breeze
As they please.
And I weep;
For the lime-tree is in blossom
And one small flower has dropped upon my bosom.

And the plashing of waterdrops
In the marble fountain
Comes down the garden-paths.
The dripping never stops.
Underneath my stiffened gown
Is the softness of a woman bathing in a marble basin,
A basin in the midst of hedges grown
So thick, she cannot see her lover hiding,
But she guesses he is near,
And the sliding of the water
Seems the stroking of a dear
Hand upon her.
What is Summer in a fine brocaded gown!
I should like to see it lying in a heap upon the ground.
All the pink and silver crumpled up on the ground.

I would be the pink and silver as I ran along the paths,
And he would stumble after,
Bewildered by my laughter.
I should see the sun flashing from his sword-hilt and the buckles
on his shoes.
I would choose
To lead him in a maze along the patterned paths,
A bright and laughing maze for my heavy-booted lover,
Till he caught me in the shade,
And the buttons of his waistcoat bruised my body as he clasped me,
Aching, melting, unafraid.
With the shadows of the leaves and the sundrops,
And the plopping of the waterdrops,
All about us in the open afternoon --
I am very like to swoon
With the weight of this brocade,
For the sun sifts through the shade.

Underneath the fallen blossom
In my bosom,
Is a letter I have hid.
It was brought to me this morning by a rider from the Duke.
"Madam, we regret to inform you that Lord Hartwell
Died in action Thursday se'nnight."
As I read it in the white, morning sunlight,
The letters squirmed like snakes.
"Any answer, Madam," said my footman.
"No," I told him.
"See that the messenger takes some refreshment.
No, no answer."
And I walked into the garden,
Up and down the patterned paths,
In my stiff, correct brocade.
The blue and yellow flowers stood up proudly in the sun,
Each one.
I stood upright too,
Held rigid to the pattern
By the stiffness of my gown.
Up and down I walked,
Up and down.

In a month he would have been my husband.
In a month, here, underneath this lime,
We would have broke the pattern;
He for me, and I for him,
He as Colonel, I as Lady,
On this shady seat.
He had a whim
That sunlight carried blessing.
And I answered, "It shall be as you have said."
Now he is dead.

In Summer and in Winter I shall walk
Up and down
The patterned garden-paths
In my stiff, brocaded gown.
The squills and daffodils
Will give place to pillared roses, and to asters, and to snow.
I shall go
Up and down,
In my gown.
Gorgeously arrayed,
Boned and stayed.
And the softness of my body will be guarded from embrace
By each button, hook, and lace.
For the man who should loose me is dead,
Fighting with the Duke in Flanders,
In a pattern called a war.
Christ! What are patterns for?

What do you think? Why do you read romance?