RWA, New Adult, and Cora Carmack

     To top off my Summer of Smut, I was lucky enough to be part of the RWA (Romance Writers of America) Librarian Day in Atlanta this year. Making the road trip with several of my friends and meeting up with more friends there was a wonderful way to get away from Summer Reading (plus I got to meet Nora Roberts, Linda Howard, Sylvia Day, Tessa Dare, and many many more amazing authors).

      There were 4 workshops with the first one of the day being titles “Let’s Talk: Young Adult, New Adult, and “Adult” Romance. There was a panel of authors including Roxanne St. Clair, Cora Carmack,  and Christie Craig aka C.C. Hunter. To me though, Cora Carmack really shined through on the panel. I had only heard of Carmack when researching some of the authors that were presenting. I had looked up her first book, a self-published new adult title, Losing It. I loved the synopsis of a soon to be college graduate who hasn’t lost her V-Card. She decides that it must go but at the last minute backs out and leaves a very naked British boy in her bed…who turns out to be her new professor. How could you not want to read that?

But before I get to Losing It , I just want to talk about Carmack’s take on New Adult. I have read several new adult titles including Easy by Tammara Webber, Abbi Glines’ Too Far series, Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, Hopeless by Colleen Hoover, and On Dublin Street by Samantha Young. All were fine and some were even pretty good (Beautiful Disaster), but all had one major factor in common: major angst.

      So when Carmack started talking about New Adult genre I was glad she mentioned this common denominator. She also stated that her series are pretty low on the angst level which intrigued me. All I knew about the New Adult genre was what I had picked up from reading the titles. The panel, mainly Carmack, went on to explain that while Young Adult materials focus on teens who are still stable and secure in their parents’ worlds and regular Adult romances usually focus on people who are stable in their own lives, New Adult tackles that particular age between 19 to 25 when we are on our own, looking for jobs, trying to survive college, or figuring out how to pay the bills. A question was raised by a librarian in the audience who wanted to know if New Adult was defined by the age group or the situations of the characters. The panel stated that the age group played a major part, but also the situation and storyline. We also discussed how New Adult has basically come out of nowhere with the rise of self-publishing e-books and for the first time the authors are in control, not the publishing companies. Carmack also mentioned about how if New Adult doesn’t break out of the mold they have created for themselves (angsty romances, usually an abused past, etc.) that they would be their own downfall. She talked about taking new approaches within the genre like paranormal and various other ideas.

     You can read more about Carmack’s take on New Adult on a write up she did on her website here.

I was extremely impressed with her take on New Adult. She was positive, excited, and sometimes it is hard to come across this enthusiasm in libraryland...especially when it comes to something new. She got me excited about New Adult.

       I couldn’t wait to read Losing It when I got home. Based on the previous New Adults books I had read I thought there would be graphic sex and lots of angst. What I expected and what I read were two totally different things though. Losing It is cute, light hearted and impossible not to love. Carmack created a set of characters that are smart, funny, and actually real. There was very little angst, but there was actual conflict and situations that were handled with a sense of reality that I have found lacking in other New Adult romances. Carmack stayed away from stereotypes and made her characters believable and loveable.

     One of the reasons that I think New Adult has become so popular is the fact that the stories jump right in. In today’s world this generation is busy and we don’t have time for long drawn out descriptions. We are in a hurry and we want everything to cut right to the point. The difference with Losing It and other New Adult books I have come across is that the characters in Losing It aren’t so rushed that the chemistry is left out. I also want to note that Carmack did a wonderful job creating chemistry and not being vulgar (ain’t nothing wrong with that though) with the sex scenes. They were descriptive but done with class. This is a great debut and a refreshing direction in a genre that is quickly becoming teeming with stereotypes and predictability.

    Overall this whole post is pretty much stating how much I think Cora Carmack rocks.

    Also, on a side note, I found this great website on New Adult through Carmack’s website called NA Alley, which is run by nine bloggers and writers who are passionate about New Adult. It is definitely worth checking out because they are doing a great job of bringing New Adult to the front burners and it is more than just what you find on Amazon’s top sellers. 

Newspapers? That's for old people!l

Oh the conversations you will hear when Story Time lets out and kids are extra loud in a small library....

Girl (about 3 years old) LOOK! Those are newspapers!

Brother (4 or 5 years old) Old people read newspapers.

Dad (very embarrassed because the whole library heard this): No, no no. Smart people read newspapers.

Brother: No, dad. Old people read newspapers



Boy has a point...

Summer of Smutty Reads: Harlequin Present

   In the last post I admitted my guilt pleasure of reading Johanna Lindsey novels. Since my summers are known as “Summer of Smutty Reads” (where I usually indulge myself in trashy romance novels...how else do you suggest I survive Summer Reading?), I have decided to admit another guilt pleasure: Harlequin Presents.

    If you have never read them, don’t worry there is a pretty basic format. Super rich billionaire (or some foreign equally rich prince) who has either lost his wife, girlfriend, fiance  or perspective female in one way or another. In whatever way he has lost her, it has caused him to despise her and he is usually seeking her out for revenge or divorce. Throw in a pregnancy or a baby or some deep dark family secrets. And don’t forget to throw in a few bullying/blackmail scenes where our “hero” is forcing the female character to bend to him. Usually this is added because the female character is scared that the super rich hero will take away their child that she has mysterious kept hidden or will refuse to grant her a divorce. You get the idea?

    Gosh, after writing that I am beginning to question why I read this stuff. Oh, yeah…because they are addicting and pure brain candy. I can read a Harlequin Presents novel by reading maybe a paragraph each page. So why do that? I like the simplicity of the stories. You know what you are going to get. Yes, they are very cookie cutter, but sometimes that predictability is nice when you just want to turn off you brain.

    Though I am confessing this love of Harlequin Presents to you doesn’t mean I am ready to start placing HP on hold at my local library. Remember, I work in a library? Ah, the ridicule and teasing. No thank you. Nor do I want to pay $3.59 at Walmart. Buying them used is too much trouble. So how do I get my grubby hands on them? Netgalley.

    If you have an e-reader and haven’t heard of Netgalley, shame on you! It is a great site that solely deals in e-book ARC (Advance Reader Copy). I can usually get 5 or 6 HP at a time and that will tie me over for a few months. In exchange for the ARC I will give an honest review. Normally, I write a couple of sentences because that is usually the extent of a HP. No long in depth reviews because HP aren’t really that deep in my opinion. I still love them though.

    I will usually give 3 to 4 stars on Goodreads for a HP. 5 stars for a HP is very rare. Like Halley’s Comet rare. I have easily read hundreds of HP and I can count on one hand the number I have given 5 stars too.

   That being said, I wanted to mention a HP that I recently acquired from Netgalley, Princess in the Iron Mask by Victoria Parker. This is Ms. Parker’s debut novel. Here is a summary of the book from Goodreads:

A princess in hiding

   Dispatched by the king to retrieve his headstrong, errant daughter, Lucas Garcia thought this was just another day at the office. That's before he meets Princess Claudine Verbault, who's adamant that returning to the kingdom that banished her as a child is never going to happen.

A barely concealed attraction!

   Hidden from the spotlight, the now-independent Claudia has learned the art of being the anti-perfect princess. But Lucas does not look like the kind of man to accept insubordination! If only she could bargain with this frustratingly immovable man and give him something to distract him from his duty.

    While the summary is a little bland, I decided to give this a try. I was extremely surprised to find myself drawn in by the characters of Claudia and Lucas. Their dialog and chemistry are a perfect combination to keep you invested in the story. Ms. Parker was able to do what a lot of HP writers can’t do. In 185 pages, she had you fully invested in these characters. I really wish she would have focused more on Claudia’s family and their back story. There is a big rift between Claudia and her family and it was a golden opportunity to take this HP one step further. There was actually a lot of potential for this story to be drawn out. In fact I could easily see Princess in the Iron Mask as being a full fledged contemporary romance novel. Kudos to Victoria Parker for creating a unique set of characters and for constructing a HP novel that goes above and beyond the standard. 

SIDENOTE: Are the covers absolutely terrible? Terribly awesome that is. I love cookie cutter covers. I just don't know where to start when making fun of them. Don't get my started on Amish Romance covers.....

My Love Affair with Johanna Lindsey

         

      We all have our guilty pleasure authors. Authors, no matter how terrible their material may have gotten over the years, we are still loyal to. I have always loved reading but my love of romance novels can be pretty much summed up with one author: Johanna Lindsey. The first book I ever read by Lindsey was Gentle Rogue (Malory Family #3). I picked this up at the grocery store when I was in junior high. I had just started reading romance novels, but nothing prepared me for Johanna Lindsey. Gentle Rogue hooked me in forever. Georgina’s and James adventures, family,  and love story captured my inner romantic. I became addicted to her novels. This was right when the Internet was really taking off for the masses so I began scouring whatever I could find on her works. Since I was in middle school when all this started, I was too embarrassed to check out her novels at my local library (this was waaaay before the days of the privacy of self-check out). I had to get my mom to get them at the grocery store or dig through boxes at my local used bookstore. When I discovered Ebay, I was in Johanna Lindsey heaven! 

           So what makes Johanna Lindsey’s writing so wonderful in my opinion? Her characters. All are filled with their own unique characteristics and the way she compliments each couple with pinches of humor, steaminess, and chemistry is utterly awesome. 

       Over the years, I have eagerly awaited every new novel. I always manage to be the first on the hold list at my library or will abuse my librarian power to have cataloging give me the book before anyone else.

       About a year ago, my book club read One Summer by David Baldacci. This was my first Baldacci book so I was very intrigued to see what all the fuss was about. I read it and  I loathed this book. By page 10 I wanted to gouge my eyes out at the predicable and terrible storyline. I ended up discussing my disgust with the person who recommended this book to the club. He said that everyone has that one author who they will read everything they put out because you remember that feeling of how amazing their work can be. This really struck a cord with me because I had been pretty disappointed in the last 3 Johanna Lindsey novels: Let Love Find You (Reid Family #4)  (2012), When Passion Rules  (2011), and That Perfect Someone (2010). All earned 3 stars according to my Goodreads. Each deserved a 2 but my love and dedication to Ms. Lindsey’s previous work guilted my conscience into giving each that last additional star.

     So when I read that her 50^th novel would be coming out this year (6/11/13), I was excited. I prayed that she stepped it up and would return with a comeback novel that would make me fall in love with her writing all over again.

      Once I discovered One Heart To Win on the processing cart yesterday in the cataloger’s office I begged for her to immediately process it. I went straight home and dived right in. To my joy, I discovered that the Johanna Lindsey I remember was coming back! Though it wasn’t up to par with my favorites, One Heart To Win did a great job of stomping over Ms. Lindsey’s recently novels. The characters had chemistry, humor, and a wonderful sparkling repartee.

     Though it was a well improved step above her recent works, Ms. Lindsey did forget one teeny tiny part in One Heart To Win: the sex.  No I’m not saying that Ms. Lindsey went all conservative on me and left out the sex. The characters do have sex…well I’m pretty sure they did…it was super short (about one paragraph) and so vague I had to reread that one scene a few times to make sure I comprehended what was going on. I’m not saying that Lindsey’s work is up there with the descriptiveness of some of today’s erotica, but it definitely wasn’t flatlining either. I was quite surprised that Lindsey just copped out on this. I felt that by skipping a love scene(s) Lindsey was shortchanging her fans. Don’t get me wrong, I still stand by my statement that this novel is a definite improvement over her recent ones. Cake is still good without the icing, but icing always makes it so much better.

      Every summer, I completely forget everything on my to-be read list and indulge in nothing but smutty romances. My summer, I do what I want! That being said, I have included a list of my favorite Johanna Lindsey novels. If you never have read anything by Ms. Lindsey I encourage you to dive on in. Though she has had her ups and downs, most of her novels are truly wonderful and I cannot recommend them enough.

  

     Enjoy!

Top Favorite Johanna Lindsey Novels

1. Gentle Rogue(Malory #3) – Though this is the 3^rd in the series, you can easily figure out the family structure without reading in order.
2. Once  A Princess (Cardinia’s Royal Family #1)
3. Man of My Dreams
4. Paradise Wild
5. Tender Rebel(Malory #2)
6. Secret Fire
7. Fires of Winter
8. You Belong To Me(Cardinia’s Royal Family #2)
9. Angel (Wyoming #3)
10. Prisoner of My Desire
11. A Gentle Feuding
12. Glorious Angel(Southern #1)
13. Captive Bride 

Who has time for that? Not me.

Part of my job as Reference Librarian is to scan documents for people with my simple desk scanner. It doesn't happen often. Maybe once or twice a week, so I really don't mind.

Soon after I started a woman called asking if I would scan a 22 page document for her. I promptly said no because that would take  me FOREVER. She was not happy, but this taught me a valuable lesson....to set a page limit. My staff knows I won't scan more that 5 pages, but I will do up to 7 if the person is nice.

The other day, I get a call from a woman and this is how the conversation went....

Patron: Hi,...um do you have a scan and could possibly scan something for me?

Me: Sure.

Patron: REALLY? (she was super happy which set off tons of alarms for me) Great!

Me: Wait! How many pages to you have (I have learned to usually ask this first but I forgot)

Patron: Just 67.

She wasn't too happy when I said no and directed her to Kinkos.

Just like twilight?

Earlier today I had a woman come up and asked me to put a few books on hold for her. It turned out that these books all belonged to different series and she was getting them all out of order. Luckily, I have a librarian's best friend ready to sort all this out: Goodreads

We were able to figure out which books she needed to read first. While looking at the series, I noticed that they were all paranormal romances with strong female characters. I decided this is the perfect opportunity to share my new found love of Jeaniene Frost, who is the insanely talented author of the Night Huntress series.

This series and Frost's other works have consumed my live since January. I have even started pre-ordering her books. Yup. That is how you know I love an author...spending money on them.

Anyways, I started booktalking the Night Huntress series, especially the first book Halfway to the Grave.

Here is how the story went....

Me: I don't think I can rave enough about Halfway to the Grave. Cat is such a badass (sidenote: I may not have used the term "badass" since I was at work, but you get the idea). She is half human half vampire, but her mission in life is to kill as many vampires as possible.

Patron: (very excited) Ooooh, so it is like Twilight?

Me: (shocked) What? No!

This totally caught me off because I sure don't remember saying anything about a spineless female character who decides to forgo everything she has in life to follow such a pathetic excuse for man/vampire as Edward.

Who knows if she will decide to read it, but after comparing it to Twilight, I don't know if she deserves the awesomeness of Cat/Bones and eventually...Vlad. *swoon*.

Also, for those who do read Jeaniene Frost, can we all just agree that Twice Tempted (Night Prince #2) is just beyond delicious? (sidenote #2, is delicious an okay term for a book?) I left a concert early because I couldn't wait to get home and read my just delivered copy of the second installment in the Vlad/Leila story. Don't judge me....look at this cover!

See? Delicious. 

Forget the Chicken or the Egg...

Patron: Excuse me, which came first...Word 2007 or Word 2010?

Me: >_<