Dream Lover: Paranormal Tales of Erotic Romance was reviewed by the lovely and stylish Lucrezia Magazine. It’s a bit more than your average book review, with some history of the romance genre and classic tropes. I disagreed with the reviewer on a few general points as it relates to the genre-- in terms of language usage and what constitutes a romance-- but overall it’s a thoughtful, balanced review. Here is a snippet:
It is difficult to approach the subject of the paranormal without traversing familiar themes, the authors within this anthology visit familiar and new territories. Within Dream Lover there are familiar creatures such as mermaids (and mermen) as well as ghosts. ‘Love Resurrection’ features a Ghost and Mrs Muir relationship with a contemporary sexual twist. ‘Dreaming by the Sea’ features the erotic reunion of a mermaid and merman. These themes are all fine and well and -in terms of the sex – indeed erotic, but I was also looking for different takes on the paranormal, and hoped that I would not come across a tome that was partially dedicated or obsessed with romantic vampires. Thankfully Dream Lover features a variety of dream creatures or paramours. ‘Devil’s Food’ stood out in terms of its alternative setting, a bakery in Hellsedge, featuring a baker heroine who encounters a ‘dark’ broody customer of the fairy kind. ‘Living Off Lovers’ opens with suspense and a vivid psychological journey from the perspective of the heroine, whose tone deviates from the standard romantic (submissive) heroine commonly found in romantic fiction.
(Thanks to Nikki Magennis for the link to the review!)
Well, almost. I love the Academy Awards and faithfully watch it every year, no matter how late it runs or how boring some of the speeches are. (I’ve been known to rewind to a speech I liked to skip over a dull one.) Last year, I had not seen any of the nominated films (pregnancy and baby pretty much ate up my movie going time, sadly), but this year I’ve already seen five of the ten nominated movies and I’m planning to see at least two more. Here are this year’s nominees and I’ve linked to the ones I’ve seen. What else should I see before February 27th?
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
Of the fivemovies I’ve seen so far (and all five were very good, though I feel like Black Swan was overrated), I think my favorite was Inception. I am not a big Leonardo DiCaprio fan, but I loved the premise from the first time I saw the trailer and the cinematography was amazing. But my Oscar pick for Best Actress in a Supporting Role is Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit. What an amazing performance.
... your name and your sweetie’s name carved into a tree. I love this pillow-- it’s sweet and sentimental and no trees were harmed in the making of this tribute to true love.
I’m totally crushing on Jay Chou right now. The Green Hornet was a fun movie and Seth Rogen is funny as the bumbling Green Hornet, but Jay Chou made the film worth the $13.50 I paid to see it in 3-D. Sleek, sexy and multi-talented… I know he’s a successful pop singer in Taiwan, but I hope he’ll be turning up in more movies-- perhaps starring in a film that will make the most of all his talents.
Oh my.
What’s it all about?
Life. Love. Writing. Editing. Sex. Books. Romance. Movies. Friendship. Photography. Teaching. Coffee. (Lots of coffee.) Travel. Feminism. Academia. Insomnia. Memories. Experiences. Rants. Raves. Reviews. Babies. Pregnancy. Motherhood. Insanity. Musings of an insomniac writer. Want to know more?
