I've been thinking about books I used to read and books that are no longer available. If you've been reading romance for any length of time, you know that publishers and lines come and go. Between us, we could probably list 25 different series or lines that have started up and then disappeared. And it's frustrating if you've found books you really like and then "poof" they are gone!
I miss the Precious Gem romances, for example. I got my start there, and so many authors I know went from writing PG's to other places. Precious Gems were great because they were very inexpensive, and I know a lot of women have a hard time buying as many books as they want to read each month.
I miss the old days when Nora Roberts wrote for Silhouette Special Edition. I adored her category romances and couldn't wait until each new series unfolded.
I miss the Harlequin Duets (or Love and Laughter). They were cute and funny, and some great authors wrote for them, including, for example, Lori Foster's "Annie Get Your Guy."
I miss Harlequin Temptation, and I'm glad to hear that Blaze will be including the new mini-line Blaze Blush... more lighthearted, funny stuff, but still sexy.
I miss Dixie Browning... don't know if she is still writing or not, but years back, she wrote some of my favorite Silhouette Desires. And in that vein, I also miss Celeste Hamilton. Family circumstances took her away from writing, but she penned lovely books for Desire as well.
You know I always like to use a photo or two on my blogs, but all my pictures are on my computer that crashed two days ago. Let's hope that the Geek Squad can recover them for me. :)
So, chime in on this subject all you readers out there. Let's take a moment for nostalgia.
And on another note - what with keeping the babies and hubby getting sick and then leaving town for a week, I completely forgot to pick my blog winner from July 16th. Drum roll please - she is Michelle B.! Michelle - I think I have your address, but send it to me just in case, please. (jesm13@aol.com)
Hope everyone has a great week!
Janice Maynard
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13 comments:
I miss Nora Roberts category stories too. I have all of the old ones and I will read them occasionally.
Patty L.
I really miss LaVyrle Spencer. I just loved her writing and was crushed when she retired. The first book I read was "That Camden Summer" and I was totally hooked. I had to read her entire backlist. Her historicals were good, but the contempories were outstanding.
Congrats to Michelle on her win.
I miss Loveswepts, where I discovered Suzanne Brockmann. I miss McNaught's historicals. These are some of my favorite re-reads.
I miss Mills & Boons' earlier book writers: Charlotte Lamb, Carole Mortimer, Stephanie Wyatt etc. They were the ones to hook me on serials and romance in general, until then I had mostly read westerns and what nowadays would be called young adult/teen books :)
I miss Nora's categories as well. I have the O'Hurleys and the Donovans.
I miss the Love & Laughter line, they were cute and funny.
I miss the old Temptations. The Blazes are TOO spicy for me, and short on story.
I, too miss Loveswept, they were the first romances I ever read.
And I think they were called the Kismet line? (The books were black.) In those I was introduced to Sharon Sala.
I guess I am a bit old fashioned. *g*
I miss the Temptation line and Bombshell as well. Those were my 2 faves
I miss Nora Robert's category stories, too. I loved the O'Hurleys, the Calhouns,the Night tales, and the all the rest!
I miss Nora Roberts as well, and used to look forward to her new series. The love and laugh line was a good line, and I miss the Temptation Line.
The new guidelines on some of the lines that have been revamped just don't seem to fit me anymore at Harlequin, which is sad.
Wow, you all are making me nostalgic, for sure. I have a confession to make... I read EVERY Harlequin Presents from 1-1000!! After that, I read them here and there, but by then there were so many other books out there, I spread my reading to other lines and publishers. (And Ilona - I loved Mortimer and Lamb).
Ah, and the O'Hurleys and the Calhouns - that's the mark of a great writer when we still remember those characters!
There is a lot of discussion going on in some of my writers' groups about the "death" of the traditional romance, i.e. single title - no sub-genre.
I have begged my editor to let me write plain old contemporary romance, but she and others tell me it's a really tough sell without something like paranormal or suspense, etc.
One of my faves is Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
I'd really rather have my Janice Maynard books categorized as plain contemporary, because I think the "erotic" tag scares some people away.
My Elizabeth Scott books really are erotic, but the Janice books are just romance with hot love scenes.
Oh well, there are always trends in the publishing world. The latest is that historicals are making a comback!
I'd better quit playing and get back to work.
Thanks for dropping by!
Janice
Wow! I won:D Thanks for the congrats, Barb.
Hmmm, what do I miss. I miss Suzanne Brockmann's TDD series. It's been a while since she wrote one. I miss the all the Young Adult romance series I used to read growing up, too. I'm sure I could go on, but I'll stop there for now:)
I miss the Silhouette Shadows line.
I'm gonna agree with Inez. I sure do miss those Shadows!
And, like Stacy, I miss the Loveswepts--I used to love reading the stories by Iris Johansen.
Hello, you have a wonderful blog, but I can't find your email address, can you please contact me at linkexchange@edenfantasys.com? I have something to discuss with you
Regards, Chris
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