"Beauty and the Beast of Thornleigh" by Kate Westwood

Disclaimer: I am a subscriber of Kindle Unlimited, where this ebook is available.

Setting: Regency England.

Synopsis: Capt. Asher Brandt has to find a wife.  His older brother died in battle leaving behind a young daughter.  The girl's maternal grandmother will take the girl away unless Capt. Asher marries.  He's desperate, as he was seriously burned in the same battle in which his brother died and his face is badly scarred as a result, his attempts to find someone to accept his suit have been unsuccessful so far due to his disfigurement.  As a last attempt, the grandmother suggests someone that might be amenable to marrying him because of the young lady's unique circumstances.

Characters: And this is where my issues with the book begin.  The book is mostly told from the heroine's perspective.  We are regaled to all her motivations, etc.  We are also regaled to a lot about her and her family and friends (many of whom are really unlikeable).  I would dare say 85% of the book is all about her.  Her name is Georgiana Hall... and I really didn't care about her and whatever emotional situation of her own doing, she is in.  The whole book was about her... and sadly, I could care less.

Then we have the character that is supposed to be the hero, Captain Asher Brandt.  He is introduced to us in the prologue as a hero who saved his ship and most of its crew in battle.  As a result of his heroism, he was severely burned, particularly on the face, and he's disfigured.  His main problem is that he has a very young niece who is going to be taken away from him unless he marries.  Though I did want to like him, fact is that the author made it impossible for the reader to get to know him.  Why?  Because she bothered very little in fleshing him out.

Impressions: First, the pace of this book is very slow.  I am okay with that if there is a good story and the characters reel me in.  Additionally, the pacing in a Regency romance is usually slow to begin with, even if the story is engaging.  I am perfectly fine with that.  Sadly, this book didn't accomplish catching this reader's interest.  The story could have been good, but the lack of balance between the hero and heroine's development, what motivates them, etc. really did a disservice to what otherwise would have been a good story.  

The whole Beauty and the Beast trope is nominal.  Yes, the hero is referred to as the beast of Thornleigh early on and his face is disfigured, but that is pretty much it.  He wasn't cruel to the heroine.  I actually felt bad for him because of her.  

Georgiana Hall...I don't even know what to say about her.  I wanted to slap her a few times over.  Initially her reaction to the proposal is understandable, but once that initial reaction goes on and on and on and on and on... I got to the point in which I just wanted her to go AWAY already.  Given the fact that there is so little interaction between her and the hero, I also couldn't understand how in a matter of a few days she suddenly falls in love with him.  Yes, this is something that happens in other books...but in many of those it hasn't bothered me because it was handled well... in this one after being regaled with endless narrative about the heroine agonizing, I just don't buy it.  

In short, it really bothers me when a book I am reading involves less than 30% interaction between the characters that are supposed to be the main characters; gives more attention to one of those two characters (in the case I am talking about, the heroine gets about 85% of "air" time); the heroine is a Mary Sue; and the reader only gets to know about the hero almost as an afterthought by the author.  The story seemed promising, until I started wishing that the heroine would just go away. It is a Regency HR (meaning an attempt at following Austen's style), I don't think I'd dare call it a "romance" as we define a romance in modern times, though. I liked the description/blurb, but ended up quite disappointed.

As a final note, this book has no heat (not even a bit of physical attraction) to speak of.

Bottomline? The author is promising, but she definitely needs to work on her characterizations.  I will not be picking another one of her stories unless it is also available in Kindle Unlimited, as this one is.

Another adaptation of "Emma"... really?

I just saw a post in a FB page mentioning yet another adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, “Emma" is in the works, this time for the big screen.

I found the main character in “Emma” to be bratty, not particularly likeable and, frankly, she is the main reason why I have not been able to read the whole book.  I just can’t stand the character.  My point of view is not that different as it pertains to the movie/T.V. adaptations I have watched (no more than 3, because I can't stomach this story as I mentioned), with the exception of  “Clueless”.  In the case of “Clueless” I didn’t feel as strongly about her probably because the action doesn’t take place in its corresponding historical setting, but rather takes place in the 1990s.  The heroine is an immature, self-centered and entitled high school girl, and I guess that makes me better able to understand her, as I viewed her as a child.  Additionally, the movie really did a good job in showing her as someone who did care, although she was seriously misguided… That doesn’t mean that I actually like the character, though, I just understood her better and appreciated the positive aspects of her personality, something I was incapable of doing with the book for whatever the reason. 

Although I really didn’t like the book, it seems to be quite popular among fans of Jane Austen, as the adaptations just keep coming.  There are quite a number of adaptations of “Pride and Prejudice,” which is understandable given the fact that it is Austen’s most popular and better known book.  There also seem to be a few adaptations of her other works as well, with maybe the exception of “Northanger Abbey”; but by far “Emma” seems to be at the top of the list of remakes of her stories into movie/T.V. adaptations.  Frankly, I wish there were more adaptations of my favorite book of hers, “Persuasion”, rather than adaptations of “Emma”. 

My journey creating a reading journal - Part 1

For many years, I had been meaning to start a reading journal in which to keep a log of the books I’ve read, as well as comments/thoughts on the books and authors that wrote them.  I reviewed for over 6 years, and not even then I got motivated to start a reading journal.  The reviews are not available online anywhere anymore as the sites I reviewed for, are gone.  I truly regret not having done so then if only to at least have a list of what I read and reviewed.  I reviewed hundreds of erotic romances and later on, other subgenres of romance as well, particularly paranormal and historical romances.

In late 2018 I joined a group in FB that caters to lovers of Regency romance.  At that point I decided that it was time to give it a roll and stop procrastinating about it. 

I researched online for reading journals, reading journal ideas and reading journal printables.  I found a couple of websites: The Modern Mrs. Darcy and author Roni Loren's  and I got the templates for the reading journals they offered.  Those web pages also discuss reading journals in general, and introduced me to bullet journaling (bujo).  I have to admit I have yet to try using a bullet journal for this, or anything else for that matter, as it seems bujos are THE thing nowadays, but more about that later.

My first hurdle in book journaling was the fact that I am not creative and/or artistic.  I can’t draw a straight line without a ruler, and even with a ruler my lines sometimes go up and sometimes go  down.  In the situation I am currently in (still trying to figure out the creation of a reading journal) it is a bit frustrating to say the least.  Creative types have embraced them to such a degree that it is almost embarrassing for the rest of us, ordinary human beings, to feel motivated enough to even try… of course, that is if you do what I did, research the topic online, and then get feelings of inadequacy even though you are putting together a reading journal for your own personal use and enjoyment, and are not planning on taking screenshots and sharing it with the world…I know, I sound petulant…

Continuing with the research, I realized that there are other ways to make a personal reading journal look pretty, even if it’s only for your own use.  I admit I like pretty things and I have always had a thing for stationery so I was determined to make mine functional AND pretty (to me).  I was elated when I discovered washi tape [link].  I also realized there are other things I can use to make my journal look pretty, i.e. stamps, colored pens and pencils, and stickers.  I was like “now we are talking” when I continued my exploration of resources for the artistically deficient like myself, and the more I looked, the more I found, the more I wanted… and the more I have had to force myself to stick to a very  limited budget, as my husband and I just bought a house. 

After looking for a bit longer, I opted to try washi tapes.  I found a set that I really liked at a good price, and I also bought a set of plain colored ones in which I can write.  I also got a set of thin-line pens in multiple colors, and dug out older pens that I already had.  For writing, I am using a Lamy fountain pen.  I adore fountain pens and have several, though the Lamy ones have the type of nib that I prefer so I own several of them.  My favorite ink color for writing is blue/black.

I have been keeping a reading journal since December 30, 2018.  Almost three months now.  I am still finding out what I prefer and how I prefer it, but so far so good.  I will post separately about what I am using for my journaling.

Some musings on "meltdowns"/"tantrums" due to "bad" reviews

I started writing this article in 2011.  At the time, there had been several very public author meltdowns, and they seemed to be more and more frequent.  Thankfully, I now see that they are not the "thing" anymore, and indie authors (who were usually the main perpetrators) have assumed a more professional attitude and take those "mean"/"bad" reviews in stride by not reacting.  Though meltdowns are not frequent or restricted to the romance genre, as thankfully most authors with more than two brain cells either vent to their friends/family in private, rant in a private venue, or choose some other discreet venue, they were happening back then with a certain frequency in multiple genres/sub-genres.

Of course most meltdowns have to do with reviews or lack thereof.  Some of these ranty, FU expressions of displeasure involved "bad" reviews, the operative word here being "bad".  You see, some of these people have blown up on a very public way about allegedly "bad" reviews they received.  Now, that wouldn't be a problem if the reviews read like this one.  That particular review caused a stir online a few years ago.  Frankly, I still cringe when I think about it.  Though the reviewer was definitely not attacking the author personally, it was so incredibly harsh that I was a quite shocked.  I think that was the first time (aside from Mrs. Giggles' reviews) that I read a review of that nature.  I'd never be able to write any reviews like that.   And yes, I've hated books that much, but not even if the book was a purchase, would I be able to do that.  It's not in me.  But I digress.  (The author of that book is no more, her website is down.  The publishing company, Ellora's Cave, is not in business anymore.  Just an FYI).

The reviews being complained about that I am talking about were actually quite well thought out reviews, non-insulting, definitely not harsh; and the reader of the review could tell that the reviewer was struggling when writing the review .  The reviewers even gave some good points to the book, and explained what didn't work for them. 

That being said, I am a former reviewer and it's things like meltdowns what keep me from returning to that activity in any significant (for me) way.  I now stick to this blog when I want to make public commentary about a book, or stick to the FB groups I belong to. 

Happy New Year!

It's been 4 years and 3 months (more or less) since I last posted anything to this little blog.  I really have never been consistent with it or disciplined enough to write on it regularly.  I've always been the sort of "as the mood strikes"... hence, no consistency whatsoever on anything I do, except as it pertains to work.

During these past few years I've been through multiple episodes of not being in the mood to read anything.  I found myself more and more fastidious regarding what to pick for reading so, to make the story short, until the middle of last year (2018), I was mostly "sticking" to my tested and true favorite authors rather than going out exploring offerings from authors that I am not familiar with.  One funny thing is that I continued "hoarding" ebooks, even when I know full well that more than half of the ebooks I get, I will likely never read... and I don't plan on stopping this practice  😁😁

Last year I joined a few groups on Facebook related to historical romance, Jane Austen, and specific English historical periods (Victorian, Georgian, Regency).  Through those groups I decided to venture into uncharted waters to discover new authors.  I subscribed to Kindle Unlimited as well, to further my journey.  I am happy to say that I consider the quest, a success.  Yes, I encountered many that had me puzzled (i.e., authors that don't give a fig about basic historical accuracy -- since when were there governesses in Medieval England, just to give an example of whattheeffery; typos, misspellings and grammatical errors galore -- and English is my second language so you can imagine how bad it must be in some cases; words that didn't belong -- wonton in place of wanton...yeah, that one was extra special and very funny, etc.)  Either way, the results were good enough that I decided to continue trying authors new-to-me.  I've started a running list of authors because now I am having a hard time keeping up.  I went from less than 6 favorite historical romance authors to about 15, and my memory is not what it used to be, so I do need to keep a list. I'll probably share it here, on a separate post.  I am also starting a reading journal, and for this topic, I am already in the process of writing a new post.

I am done with New Year's resolutions of any sort.  By now I know that I will never follow through.  All I accomplished on previous years was putting pressure on myself and then feeling bad because I wasn't able/willing to follow through with my resolutions. 

Regarding the future of this blog, aside from what I mentioned already, I am not going to post what I plan on doing next as now I do know better.

Goodreads and assorted thoughts on reviews

Here I am, still trying to get into Goodreads, if not for anything else, at least to keep an online catalog of my books.  I never felt particularly inclined to "friend" anyone though now I have a few people in my "friends" list.   I pretty much gave up on trying to import my whole collection of titles using Calibre, but I am going to try again.  I have well over 3500 ebooks (and I am not done yet "organizing" the collection).  I really don't feel like manually entering those that are not "recognized" by their search engines.  In short, I have been organizing the collection in my own computer using Calibre.

And now to the topic of reviews in Goodreads.  The reviews system in Goodreads reminds me too much of the system in Amazon.  Anyone can up vote or down rate a book, books that are not even out yet are either given 5-star ratings or 1-star ratings, people post as a review an actual complaint about the formatting of a book or any random thought based not on their having read the books, but rather on personal opinions based on a blurb, or a cover, or whatever.  A lot of people love Goodreads, they find it useful, they are active in the communities, etc.  I don't have enough time in the day to tend to all of my personal interests as I work full time and have a husband, so I have to admit I haven't gotten into any of the actual communities/groups, there.

All this being said, there is a further element that has been putting me off, that element is author meltdown.  A few years back, there seemingly was an increased number of author meltdowns, particularly by self-published individuals.  One of those meltdowns ended up in what has to be the most disturbing online author v. reviewer incident I've had the misfortune of witnessing in my 20 years of my being online.  I don't know what has happened to the poor reviewers that were viciously attacked in that incident, I suspect some may not even review as they used to any longer.  Other reviewers in the blogger communities had a rather nasty wake up call as well.

There are a couple posts online that are very well written and do a great job of explaining things.  My favorite can be found here.  DA has an epic thread here, though sadly, the comments thread seems to be broken.  I think every major romance-related and YA blog dedicated articles to the incident at the time.

Some people tried to "justify" the actions of the authors involved in the creation of the nasty, bullying website (which no longer exists as it originally was, by the way, as they "sanitized" it substantially with the bad backlash they received, not to mention threats of legal action against them).  The argument was that people should write "nicer" reviews, that the reviewers "brought it upon themselves" because they were rude.  The reviewers (all participant in Goodreads) were also accused of creating mobs of followers and "harassing and bullying authors in Goodreads", etc.

This is the incident that ended up making me decide that Goodreads was not for me.  A site in which you are supposed to be able to share your thoughts and opinions about books you read, civilly of course,  ending up being controlled by "special snowflake" types of authors is not the place for me.  This is also what caused my decision to stick to writing my reviews in either Amazon (yes, even after what I said above about Amazon) or here, if I ever feel the need to review anything.  I was a reviewer for years, but frankly, things have changed from how they used to be back when I still reviewed, and I don't give a fig about any author whose work I review giving me grief because he/she didn't like what I said, no matter how politely I have expressed the thoughts.  My opinion is: if you put your book out there for all the world to see, IT'S ON YOU if you end up with a review from someone that hated it.  No amount of tantrums and bullying is going to change that fact.  It has always been like that since books became mainstream centuries ago.  Even Jane Austen and Charles Dickens received horrible reviews.  My advice to those types of authors: DEAL WITH IT OR WRITE FOR YOURSELF.  If your work is good enough it will survive anything thrown at it.

Reviewing is not easy, no matter where your review is "published": a blog, a website, Goodreads, Amazon, etc.  Reviewing styles are as varied as writing styles.  Some reviewers are very blunt and unapologetic about it, others prefer to use more tact.  If a reader buys a book and gets sorely disappointed in it, and wants to share his/her opinion online, no one can tell the person not to do so and, much less, how to do so.  Period.  Again, you write a book and decide to put it out there... It's ON YOU, so deal with it and own it.  The rest of us don't owe you anything and you should be thankful that we even bothered to get your book.  I don't know when the dynamic started changing (some would blame millennials, though I know better), but it is plain wrong and does no favors to readers like me, who are constantly looking for new authors to love.

My reading milestones

Claude Monet, "Woman Reading"

I learned how to read and write on the summer I turned 5 years old.  I remember it distinctly because I felt I was being cheated on, as my sisters were playing and having fun while I was forced to sit at a table to learn my letters.  After the first couple of attempts by my tutor (both of which ended up in rebellion and much moping and whining on my part), my grandmother started gifting me illustrated fairy tale books and comics.  They were slim volumes suitable for a 4-5 year old.  I got used to the bribery, and I wanted to be able to read them on my own, instead of only looking at the pictures.  Next thing I knew I had learned how to read... and write!  That was the first milestone of my life as a reader.  It was life changing enough that even though I was so young, I remember how it all happened to this day, 51 years later.

When I was in my "tweens" I started reading my mom's books.  I preferred fiction to non-fiction.  I got into mythology from different countries as well.  My parents bought me a collection of beautiful hardbound, illustrated books involving mythologies from the Middle East, North Africa (Egypt), different countries from Western Europe, South America, etc.  I also started reading my mother's paperback Agatha Christie novels.  She only had a few, but I really liked them.  My grandmother started sending me more Agatha Christie titles by mail, until I actually collected every title that Agatha Christie had published.  Later on, in my early teens, I also read my first romance stories: "Desiree" by Annemarie Selinko, "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte, and "Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier.  I also watched on T.V. the movies these books inspired, copies of which I now own on DVD/Blu-ray.  I loved those books, but for whatever the reason, I didn't think of seeking more romance books, so I was mostly reading classics.  Sir Walter Scott with his super long and wordy descriptions was a favorite.  I also read Dumas' "The Three Musketeers".  To be honest, I don't even know why I liked those books back then.  I sure have had no interest on re-reading them... but I digress.

When real life decided to punch my family in the face, with my father's passing at the young age of 55, I had to find a full time job to help my mother.  For several years I really didn't have much time to read or think about reading, but when I switched jobs for the first time one of my co-workers in the new workplace I had started at was a fan of Anne Rice.  I decided to give this author a try and I found that I truly liked her work.  It wasn't romance, but she has a somewhat "romantic" and lyrical writing style, and let's face it, both Lestat and Louis (and later on, Marius, among others) make for extraordinarily attractive characters and, in their own way, they are romantic characters.  Of course, I am talking about the earlier Vampire Chronicles, pre-"Merrick"... and here I am back on the digression boat.  I think I discovered Anne Rice around 1990.

I again went on a reading hiatus, except for Rice's books.  Fast forward to February of 2003.  That year I got a really bad head cold, and I was home, sick, for almost a whole week.  Bored to tears, I had been reading some Anais Nin erotica ("Delta of Venus").  I wanted to read some more erotica, but I was not able to drive myself to Borders (the closest bookstore I had available -- incidentally, I still miss Borders). I was not going to work either, as I was really sick, so I couldn't get myself to 5th Avenue's Barnes & Noble, the closest bookstore to my workplace at the time.

I went to Amazon figuring that maybe I could get something to read in ebook format.  Ebooks were not yet mainstream at the time and I had just learned about them.  As I was researching looking for erotica for women, I stumbled upon a Jaid Black title, "The Empress New Clothes".  The cover was ... erm... interesting.  Sadly, that cover is not available for viewing any longer, as it has been changed at least 4 times since the ebook was first published.  Anyhoo, Amazon didn't have the ebook available for immediate download.  They offered it as a CD that would need to be shipped via standard means meaning snail mail.  That wasn't acceptable either as what I was looking for was instant delivery availability of the reading material because of my illness.

 As I was trying to figure things out, I decided to google the author's name.  Looking around, it did tame me quite a bit of time to find it, but I managed to find the publisher's website.   It was the (now defunct) Ellora's Cave.  I was elated to discover that there was such a thing as an "epublisher".

 For about a year and a half all I read was erotic romance.  It wasn't until later that I started looking at other subgenres of romance, particularly paranormals (time travel, shifter, vampire, ghost stories, etc.)  After that, I started exploring the subgenre that I now favor almost exclusively, historical romance set in England.

I remember that a couple of years after my discovery of romance, a small bookstore opened in Grand Central, which was just one block away from the building I worked at, I used to spend my lunch hour there, and befriended one of their employees, who was a romance fan as well.  We would talk books for a bit every time I went in to browse.

Despite my reluctance on learning how to read (and write), I have to say that it was a life changing experience and even when I had extended "dry spells" of not finding anything that appealed to me, it has been a blessing to develop a love of reading.  I truly can't imagine a life without books.