OK so I mentioned, albeit briefly, in my last post that I will be posting details of a challenge I have set myself this year so I am here to let you all off your tenterhooks I just know you were on (!).
I previously did a post about my secret love/guilty pleasure of reading romance novels. It was about 3 posts ago, but in case you missed it here's the link. Along with the love of reading them I am also a very quick, almost ferocious, reader! I devour books! I am a housewife so I have time to read, I usually spend 3-4 hours a day reading (that includes reading at bedtime as well!) Since most romance novels are only around 190-250 pages long I can usually read one a day, sometimes even more!! You might ask, obsessed much?!
Well, whatever!
So, as you may have guessed from the title of this post the challenge is going to be to read 365 books this year. I'm going to start this from Saturday 19th March 2011. Just to give you an idea of how much I read, so far this year I have read, wait for it, 116 books!
Yes, I know its a lot!
As I mentioned earlier, I don't work so you may think it would be easy for me to read this much, and yes in a way it is easier for me to read more. However that is not to say all I do is sit on my bottom reading day in-day out! I have a house to clean and run, a wonderful husband to look after I am also studying part time! I was working full time up until May last year when I got married, and while I miss the independence of my very own paycheck, I don't regret giving it up at all. This way I can focus on my passions and my future. One of those passions is reading, and I also love writing, I am in the process of writing my first book (which will be a romance novel naturellement!) so I guess you could call this little challenge of mine 'essential research'! Also reading this much will help with me with my weight loss mission, since I won't be thinking about food when I'm reading!
With each book I read I will do a posting with a simple review and rating, as well as a cover page picture and the publisher information. I will also include where I got the book from. Most of the books I will read will be from the UK, but most of these will be available in other countries, if interested for the international details then send me an email/leave a comment and I will try and find that information out for you.
I am also going to try and read a big variety of the series/genres available, as well as reading older books that I come accross.
I really hope you enjoy this challenge and I look forward to following it through!
Wish me luck!
Xx
Showing posts with label Romance Novels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Romance Novels. Show all posts
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Saturday, 5 March 2011
A guilty pleasure ...
I am here today to confess to my guilty pleasure of being a massive romance novel fan. Yes, you heard right, I love reading romance novels, i.e Mills and Boon, Harlequin etc!
So many people think that these books are poor quality and read only by lonely 40 year old housewives, well, not true. These books are not only quite well written and edited (not to mention the variety marketed) but they are pure escapism for the reader. Who doesn't want to escape from the minutiae of their everyday lives for a couple of hours a day?! Oh, and I bet you wouldn't guess that over 50% of readers have some form of university and/or higher education!
Also at just over £3 a book, these are very good value. I do read other books and the last time I walked into my local Waterstones (p.s. there are other book shops available including the fantastic Amazon online! lol) a recent best seller paperback was over £10, that's pretty expensive, especially in the current economic climate!
I recently read an article on The Telegraph's website (link) discussing how, with the introduction of electronic reading devices like Kindle, the sales of Mills and Boon books has more than doubled over the last year. Interesting, non!
It also discusses how the use of these devices has taken the embarrassment factor away from reading these in public, I definitely agree with this! While I have confessed to my love of reading these books, the only way I would read these in public is on my faithful iPad (thank you Apple and Kindle for iPad!!) I do read hard copies of these books, but I tend to limit this to my 'alone' time at home!
One thing I like about Mills and Boon (and Harlequin, the US version!) is the variety they offer in their genre lines, yes they are all basically the same structure - girl meets boy, girl and boy fall in love, something happens to ruin it all, girl and boy reunite, and they live happily ever after - but the stories and content are all different. The lines include Blaze (steamy and sexy, best not to give one to your granny!), Cherish (pure lovely and heart warming romance), Desire (dramatic and a bit saucy!), Historical (plenty of hooped skirts and Mr Darcy's!), Intrigue (crime and drama = passion!), Medical (George Clooney in ER lovers subscribe here!), Modern (international locations and steamy passion, plus my personal favourite!!), Riva (the newest line which includes romance very up-to-date with the modern world), Nocturne (werewolves, vampires, succubi, etc a Twilight fan's must read). Also included are monthly reprints of popular books in titled omnibuses in the By Request and Special Releases lines as well as longer based women's fiction in MIRA and Special Releases lines.
There are other lines available from the US version of Harlequin, such as Harlequin NASCAR! Incidentally, Harlequin and Mills and Boon are one and the same!
For those of you still and tiny bit sceptical over the credibility of these books here are some facts from the publisher themselves -
So many people think that these books are poor quality and read only by lonely 40 year old housewives, well, not true. These books are not only quite well written and edited (not to mention the variety marketed) but they are pure escapism for the reader. Who doesn't want to escape from the minutiae of their everyday lives for a couple of hours a day?! Oh, and I bet you wouldn't guess that over 50% of readers have some form of university and/or higher education!
Also at just over £3 a book, these are very good value. I do read other books and the last time I walked into my local Waterstones (p.s. there are other book shops available including the fantastic Amazon online! lol) a recent best seller paperback was over £10, that's pretty expensive, especially in the current economic climate!
I recently read an article on The Telegraph's website (link) discussing how, with the introduction of electronic reading devices like Kindle, the sales of Mills and Boon books has more than doubled over the last year. Interesting, non!
It also discusses how the use of these devices has taken the embarrassment factor away from reading these in public, I definitely agree with this! While I have confessed to my love of reading these books, the only way I would read these in public is on my faithful iPad (thank you Apple and Kindle for iPad!!) I do read hard copies of these books, but I tend to limit this to my 'alone' time at home!
One thing I like about Mills and Boon (and Harlequin, the US version!) is the variety they offer in their genre lines, yes they are all basically the same structure - girl meets boy, girl and boy fall in love, something happens to ruin it all, girl and boy reunite, and they live happily ever after - but the stories and content are all different. The lines include Blaze (steamy and sexy, best not to give one to your granny!), Cherish (pure lovely and heart warming romance), Desire (dramatic and a bit saucy!), Historical (plenty of hooped skirts and Mr Darcy's!), Intrigue (crime and drama = passion!), Medical (George Clooney in ER lovers subscribe here!), Modern (international locations and steamy passion, plus my personal favourite!!), Riva (the newest line which includes romance very up-to-date with the modern world), Nocturne (werewolves, vampires, succubi, etc a Twilight fan's must read). Also included are monthly reprints of popular books in titled omnibuses in the By Request and Special Releases lines as well as longer based women's fiction in MIRA and Special Releases lines.
There are other lines available from the US version of Harlequin, such as Harlequin NASCAR! Incidentally, Harlequin and Mills and Boon are one and the same!
For those of you still and tiny bit sceptical over the credibility of these books here are some facts from the publisher themselves -
- 70% of the books sold in the UK each year are romance novels
- A Mills and Boon book is sold every 3 seconds
- UK monthly readership is over 1.3 million
- Approx. 70 titles are published every month
- 2008 marked the 100th years of Mills and Boon
Perhaps I have convinced you? No, well never mind I still love 'em and always will!
Oh, and one final note, if you do read these books I cannot recommend enough taking advantage of your local library, they always have plenty of books available, some which you can no longer buy and its free, free, free!
Check out the below links for the Mills and Boon and Harlequin websites for more info!
Auf Weidersehen!
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