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Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase - The Combo Plate Approach

Two days ago I finished a very unlikely romance novel-- Mr. Impossible  by Loretta Chase. Now, I do have a short list of go-to romance authors, and Loretta Chase is not on that list (it's a very short list), but the setting caught my attention, and it was on sale for $1.99. Since I'm waiting anxiously on the edge of my seat for the release of a non-romance novel ( The Golden Enclaves  by Naomi Novik), this seemed like a good one to pass the time. I have read novels by Loretta Chase before--her "Dressmakers Series." Though they were completely implausible and sort of absurd, I read all four. If memory serves, the characters were interesting and they were suitably steamy, plus the sewing motif was compelling to me. This book proved to be similar, if a bit less absurd: good characters, steamy enough, and an interesting premise. But it was also truly weird in some ways. The book was published in 2005 by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin. The Dressmakers Series is Avon, and s...
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What I Read, Who I Read, How I Read

I'm picky about romance novels--but also predictable. As I've binge-read romance novels, I've noticed certain patterns in my reading. I don't have any strict rules about what I read,**  per se . But I have noticed that I am more likely to be drawn to, engaged by, and finish romance novels, not to mention emerge satisfied, if they meet certain criteria. Some of these criteria are not easy to pin down. For example, they have to be "smart." Now, what do I mean by "smart"? I haven't a clue. Not self-consciously smart. Not necessarily anything that pushes boundaries. And not really something that makes a point of challenging the norms of the times in which they were written--or at least, not in a way that is implausible. But written in a way that respects my intelligence as a reader, and written by an author who is deliberate about the craft of writing and researching (without making it sound like a research paper with smooching, because research can ...
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Why a Reluctant Romance Reader?

Romance novels aren't for everyone. They were certainly for my 10th grade English teacher. She was lending paperbacks to a classmate when I decided to give one a try. I think I read two that year: one involved pirates, I'm almost certain. The second had the respectable daughter of a petty nobleman who was accidentally raped in a stable ("Is this part of kissing, too?") by the new groom who was actually a prince in disguise, and couldn't understand why her father was overjoyed to hand her over to someone lower than her. I wasn't easily hooked. Harlequins and romance novels were cheap and tawdry, and I was devoted to real  literature. The next year might have been when I read The Mists of Avalon  about 6 times. So it wasn't the sex or seduction that I didn't like. Far from it. Also a sub-genre, and a popular one at that, but fantasy seems to have more legitimacy, somehow. In college I sought out some erotica that felt more transgressive--the diary of Joe...
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