Or, its based on a few like-minded participants on a forum agreeing that something is a trend. Jill Sorenson now writes as Jill Cliff. I havent tried a Meredith Duran novel yet, but it sounds interesting. Cyber dating abuse represents a new form of dating violence that has been gaining worrying dimensions. And although Ruthie Knox was never in my Pantheon of favorite writers, Ive enjoyed a number of her books and I dont think shes published anything in a while either. Thanks! I have brought this up many times before, and often received backlash for saying it. QUITTING WHEN A PERSON HAS SUCH, I so miss Duran. As you mention, Im a relative newcomer to the publishing scene, so I have very little inside information. If Im feeling reluctant to start writing, the best medicine is to read prose that excites and surprises me. Someone already mentioned her but Ill second Suzanne Brockmann. Deborah Smith has written some books I loved (Gentle Rain and When Venus Fell are my absolute favorites!) Just trim away all the fat and floweryness from your writing, and youll do fine. Still didnt work for me.). I dont mind it in contemporary romance or even a time travel, but I really dislike 19th century bluestocking heroines that write like modern bloggers.. However, I would like to know if she is on a permanent hiatus in relation to the IAD series or if she plans on actually release more books. I love Thomas, Bourne, and Hoyt and would love to add another author to my auto-buy list! And as others have said, there are some authors who are still writing but whose work isnt what it once was, and I miss them, too. Thanks for making the reading so special. Thats just a sin. See if your friends have read any of Meredith Duran's books. (Au contraire, I am wholly flattered that you compare James to Nardi! And I read Patricia Wrights books. I suspect the many fans of the author and narrators, many of whom have never read/listened to m/m before will be squeeing to the hills. Charismatic, powerful, and wild, he had the world at his feetand one woman as his aim. Amy, do check out Bourne! Three of AARs publishers are buzzing literally about Bound by Your Touch, Meredith Durans new historical novel to be released at the end of June. It's true-she writes historical detail and human emotion like no one else. Were probably all watching some form of the news right now. Anne Mallory, Liz Carlyle, Julie James, Courtney Milan, and Joanna Bourne all havent published anything recently much to their fans dismay. One writer I miss is Lauren Blakely. Kinsale is on Twitter but never mentions writing that I can see. 2012 A Lady's Lesson in Scandal. I hope that the influnce of Harlequin Historicals rubs off on to the AVON books and not the other way around because I really would hate to see them turn into Regency only publisher. The death of her (much older) husband Peter Dickinson in 2015 was a huge blow and I wonder if she will ever recover. Always at the center of the crowd, widely adored despite his own best efforts to scandalize, he can do as he pleases and face no consequences for it. Okay, Ill shut up now, but I cant wait for the rest of the world to read these books. And availability often shapes most peoples choices. Im finding heroines today from a wide range of authors to be quite interesting and complex. Still Casting Shadows B. Clay Shannon 2006-05 Breaking with the traditionally white-centric and politician-, military leader-, business magnate-dominated . I also suspect the fact that the narrators have a long-running, frenemies bromance going on on Twitter has a lot to do with the reasoning behind this book. And yet, many if not most of the authors I read are reviewed her. So she is writing but in a different genre, at least for this one. So I get to explore and perhaps find new reads by old favorites. Among self-published erotica authors, the standard is $2.99 for a short up to novella length. I imagine that there are people in their teens or 20s who want deep, lyrical, meaty romances and people in their 70s or 80s who prefer fluffier wallpaper historicals. Id love to read more by Judith McNaught, Deborah Simmons and Lyn Viehl as well. Ill have to look for Duke of Shadows too. I can understand why some authors said enough and gave up. You mentioned in your last post that your word count would be about 100,000 125,000. Id been toying for a while with writing the tale of a cynical Prince Charming who falls in love with the Ugly Duckling. What worries me on a macro level is that peoples opinions or generalizations are accepted as fact (and even facts are debatable!). I know that is one of the big reasons why a lot of authors dont want anything to do with someones unpublished manuscript and I dont blame them. Even over Sarah MacLean and more than Judith McNaught, who I have loved for 20 years. I miss Judith Duncan the most, closely followed by Paula Detmer Riggs, Helen Bianchin, and Laura Moore. If she comes back to romance she'll be better than ever. I think publishing is pursuing a general trend, either rightly or wrongly, of pushing lighter, more ironic and sarcastic heroines because either the public wants it or they think the public wants it. Just looking at the first 10 pages of their most recent HR releases, I see a ton of Regency, titled heroes and/or heroines, some Vikings and Medieval, and a smattering of Victorian. I tried it for a while, but I found most choices to be pretty lame so I cancelled. Meredith was born and raised enamored of British history. if (this.auth.status === "not_authorized") { I too miss Anne Calhoun. Jacquie DAlessandro (8 years) Cant stand them. Id love to win a copy. I also think its a sign of a talented writer when they can overcome individual considerations like that and I find myself relating to a character far outside my own experience. Meredith Duran's debut work, The Duke of Shadows was one of my favourite reads of 2008: it had an unfamiliar setting (India circa 1857) and an unusual pair of protagonists with a very nurturing hero and a heroine suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Meredith Duran is an English author of romance and historical fiction books. Im back to devouring romances after a several year dry-spell and this sounds like just the sort of author whose books I really want to read. They didnt mention click farms specifically, but that is yet another scam. However theres also room for variety were happy to publish stories from ancient Greece all the way through to World War II, though we have ceased publication of Westerns as of January 2019.. She does still write essays and things at Word Wenches that I like to read for a taste of her writing. I am really looking forward to Meredith Durans new books especially as several AAR staff have good things to say about them. Bourne has definitely been working on a new book because she had posted a few things about it over the years its a Medieval setting, which is quite a departure from her Regency spy works. It seemed like a large number of historical romance authors started writing in genres like paranormal for example and in many cases it was not totally by choice. I had been keeping up with the blogs about it. He moves on from his maudlin reflection very quickly, because he generally tries to take nothing very seriously, least of all himself. Like anything else, authors come and go for untold reasons (much to my dismay), but life goes on. She was the Pulitzer Prize-finalist TV critic for the San Francisco Examiner, and a founding staff member of Salon. The LaurasLaura Moore and Laura Florand. [CDATA[ Also, I have noticed a larger range of heat levels between different Avon books than with Harlequin HR and some of their other categories. Im going to review it for AG, so well see. I tried with work because at least I thought I had chance though I think that it may have been too long and complicated for the word count. These new full cast recordings sound really odd, because while there are lots of voices, there are no sound effects! I would love to read this book. I too wish shed write more romance! Total immersion, fascinating experiences and interesting points of view from our heroes and heroines, even amazing and difficult and heartrending Redemption of thorough villians-dang, may have to go start re-reading.. Id like to see Deanna Rayburn continue the Lady Julia Gray series! Its not that I think Joanna Bourne, Anne Stuart, Loretta Chase, etc. Inspiration is exactly the right word for it. Through AARs reviews and words of mouth from the people here, Ive discovered wonderful new-to-me authors to fill the HR void. Its one thing if writer such as Elizabeth Darrell DIE and leave us with more of their excellent story telling skill, but just to quit on us..so sad. So, Im getting pickier, avoiding the Lauren Blakley-type writing, and doing a lot of relistening because Im not finding much that appeals. Years ago, when I first started reading romance, I read a lot of books in the Signet Regency line, and among my favorites there were Nancy Butler and Diane Farr. However, I worried that her devotion risked coming off as obstinacy, or, worse yet, as stupidity.And my greatest nightmare is writing a TSTL heroine. He smiled. Which is crazy when you think about it considering someone else is using their characters without permission in the first place. The blog entries she posted at the time were heart-wrenching. Those are the ones that end up on the shelves at Target and Walmart, Costco, CVS and other places where people will grab a paperback. Longer doesnt always mean better or denser or more interesting or more critical, etc. She also purposefully writes only middle-aged heroines because she tries to disrupt stereotypes of ageism in our culture. I also miss Cecilia Grant, who hasnt shown up on Twitter for quite a while. Also, I recently discovered Carla Kelly. Now, either these authors have stopped writing in this genre, have retired altogether, or write at a much, much slower pace. Now it seems that 80k is about the max and the has not helped the books. The only worry is that Harper Collins bought them out a couple of years ago and they own publish AVON the line that started the endless Regency trend in historical romance. A 100-125k word book about the Holy Roman Empire sounds fascinating. the ask@AAR: Should older romances (and books in general) be redone? Are readers suddenly not interested in reading complex books? I enjoyed the first two. Not just twice, somehow it all repeats again and again weirdly as I said, no big deal, just a small annoyance. The articles are there, but the design isnt. And I miss authors who may be an image of my youth, they might not work for me anymore, maybe: Iris Johansson (I do not like her crime books, same for others that come up), Judith mcNaught, Catherine Coulter, Tami Hoag, Elizabeth Lowell, Suzanne Brockmann, I just remember my enchantment when a new book came out . I just cant cope with the romance community as it is right now, and historical romance sales have gone right down since the Amazon scam authors moved in. wont ever write again but that they are no longer the commanding presence they once were in the genre and that I am pleasantly surprised when I hear of a new book from them. I have not read your books yet but they sound awesome! . Writing snarky humor that is actually funny is a gift and a lot of the copycats think that merely making the heroine swear a lot or be sarcastic in situations that might get them killed substitutes for clever writing. Im happy to keep trying out newish authors who are still full of creativity and whose style hasnt worn out its welcome for me. I really miss Meredith Duran, and hope she returns. I have reservations I wont go into here, and quite honestly, think LB is simply jumping on a band wagon.