Comments on: Focusing on the Best

By: Trish Morey

Trish Morey — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:00:46 +0000

Wow, what a fabulous batch of feedback – makes for great reading!

Anna, I just wanted to send you a huge thanks for your lovely words! Just the inspiration I need as I go head to head with the latest wip!

And Maire, if you loved Karedes, watch out for Dark Hearted Desert Men, coming soon! It’s the follow up mini continuity series and starts in the US in April I believe. If you’re in the UK, it starts this month with Carol Marinelli’s Wedlocked: Banished Sheikh, Untouched Queen.

By: Maire Aine

Maire Aine — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:33:20 +0000

I loved the House of Karedes and I also a huge fan of continuity series. When first introduced you feel like your a member of the family. With each new book in the series you become more and more involved with the characters. It is wonderful that so many different authors can bring the whole scenario together with great results.

By: Francine Howarth

Francine Howarth — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:05:57 +0000

Ros,

Just had to come back on this (rape), which really isn’t good in a contemporary novel, no argument about that because one has to remember girls as young as 12 read these novels and what sort of message is (a rape in which the heroine falls for the rapist) being given to young impressionable girls. Like it’s okay, so long as you fall for the guy, or liked him before he went too far!

However, in a historical I reckon it passes muster!

Hee hee, in a poll conducted by a broadsheet newspaper a few years back, rape was the most popular fantasy women like reading about, but fantasy and reality are worlds apart or should be!

best

By: Maurine

Maurine — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:29:13 +0000

Also I’d like to suggest that not every book that takes place in Australia needs a picture of the Sydney Opera House on the cover! I read a few books that take place in Australia and except for maybe one, the opera house was on the cover. I thought that a bit much. More focus should be on the couple, not the background.

By: Maurine

Maurine — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:24:01 +0000

I agree with lidia about the proofing of books. I have found too many grammatical and punctuation mistakes. Sometimes I have to read a sentence several times because it does not make sense and after having reread I discover what it was trying to say and that the sentence was missing a much needed comma. There was also a book where a relationship between characters was incorrectly stated and that confused me until I realized it was a mistake. I shouldn’t have to think so much when reading! So if reducing the number of books put out will mean that more time is spent on proofing and editing, I’m all for it.

I recently got back into reading H Presents and they are the only line I read. The titles now are quite different from Presents I have from the 80s. I too think today’s titles are a bit much, misleading, repetitive, but I just figured, that’s Harlequin, so it’s not a problem for me. Although sometimes I’ll think I’ve read a book only to find out that I haven’t because the titles are so similar.

I couldn’t get into the Karedes line, but I have enjoyed trilogies by Lynne Graham (Pregnant Brides and Virgin Brides, Arrogant Husbands) and Sandra Marton’s Sheikh trilogy and her ongoing Orsini Brothers line. I’m not so sure about 2-in-1 books because what if someone is a fan of only one of the authors?

Overall I think HP does a good job.

By: Mary F

Mary F — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:38:56 +0000

Ros – a little late in the day I know – but may I dare to stick up for Sara Craven just a little bit?

Yes, her latest book made me wince too, but she also wrote one of my favourite romances: One Night with his Virgin Mistress. In this book, the heroine actually wants the hero to relieve her of her virginity but he refuses (initially) with a witty response along the lines that Tuesday is not his day for deflowering virgins. (And any heroine who finds her mother secretly reading wedding cake books and considers “stabbing her with her own icing nozzle” gets my vote!)

It seems that when Ms Craven writes a British alpha male she gives them a wonderfully dry wit, whereas her Mediterranean heroes often behave in a way that is borderline sleazy.

By: Sun Chara

Sun Chara — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:45:52 +0000

The beauty of the classic Presents love story is depicting not how it is, but how it could be. The best of the best! Francine, see if you & your girls can get a hold of Anne Mather’s Leopard in the Snow (this one was made into a movie), Janet Dailey’s To Tell the Truth, Violet Winspeare’s Lucifer’s Angel…all classics! The library should still carry them… Then, there’s the ageless Betty Neals…just imagine ‘modern’ stories like that…winners every time! Why is it that readers still talk about these authors/stories…my take is that they touched the heart!

I’ve also heard and hope it’s true that Classic Presents and Modern Heat/Presents are going to be individual lines. The talented Modern Heat authors are delivering stories that are simply not Presents…at least not the classic brand Presents that outsells every other line!
Blessings all!
Sun Chara

By: Ros

Ros — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:51:30 +0000

Sorry, that second link was meant to be to the Dear Author post: http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/02/22/review-the-innocents-surrender-by-sara-craven/

By: Ros

Ros — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:09:45 +0000

I'm another Presents fan, and I'm interested to hear how the line is developing. I'm a bit disappointed to see that you plan to have more 2-in-1's (at least I think that's what you were saying). Since the Romance line has been sold in that form I've bought hardly any of them because I really resent having to buy a book I don't want in order to read the one I do. There are some Presents authors I'll always buy and some I never want to read again and likewise there are certain plots I love and some I can't be bothered with. So, I hope that you'll continue to sell most of the Presents books separately. On another note, I really want to draw your attention to what people have been saying about Sara Craven's latest book. Rape storylines really aren't romantic and I know that I was not the only reader shocked to discover that these books are still being published. x

By: Francine Howarth

Francine Howarth — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:13:54 +0000

Hi Sun Chara,

I’m probably about to shoot myself in the foot and ensure I never get published by HM&B. That said, I do consider honesty to be important no matter one’s ultimate goal.

I’m not against ‘secret babies’ as such, but they are becoming a cliche and, to the unpublished aspriring author (like myself) a secret baby is seemingly a ubiquitous requirement!

If the’ Presents’ line is to move on with present times and be less formulaic in content, then might not originality of imagination be more likely and draw back a younger readership as well as those who’ve been followers of M&B since the early days of Charlotte Lamb and are equally fed up with tired cliche’.

I have a daughter who never wants children, and who am I to question her decision or that of her husband equally happy to be just a couple!

I have a teenage granddaughter dating seriously, her and her boyfriend determined never to have children.

Both these girls have read M&B novels, both declaring the books are now too samey, and too out of touch with modern thinking young women!

As an example of niggling little gripes:

To quote Lynne Connally who gives “Bought: Damsel IN DISTRESS by Lucy King a glowing review, she does add the following:

… yes, Emily does get pregnant later on. I just want to know what brand of condoms Harlequin heroes use, because you can almost guarantee they won’t work. I really don’t want to come across that brand…

Reviews of HM&B at: http://goodbadandunread.com/