Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels

Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels

Sarah Wendell

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The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name... We do it in the dark. Under the sheets. With a penlight. We wear sunglasses and a baseball hat at the bookstore. We have a "special place" where we store them. Let's face it: Not many folks are willing to publicly admit they love romance novels. Meanwhile, romance continues to be the bestselling fiction genre. Ever. So what's with all the shame? Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan -- the creators of the wildly popular blog Smart Bitches, Trashy Books -- have no shame! They look at the good, the bad, and the ugly in the world of romance novels and tackle the hard issues and questions: -- The heroine's irresistible Magic Hoo Hoo and the hero's untamable Wang of Mighty Lovin' -- Sexual trends. Simultaneous orgasms. Hymens. And is anal really the new oral? -- Romance novel cover requirements: man titty, camel toe, flowers, long hair, animals, and the O-face -- Are romance novels really candy-coated porn or vehicles by which we understand our sexual and gender politics? With insider advice for writing romances, fun games to discover your inner Viking warrior, and interviews with famous romance authors, Beyond Heaving Bosoms shows that while some romance novels are silly -- maybe even tawdry -- they can also be intelligent, savvy, feminist, and fabulous, just like their readers!


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  • Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    For me, this was hilarious laugh out loud material. I started it on the way to visit a friend across the country and even though I was less than 50 pages into it, we talked about it and the romance genre quite a bit during the visit.

    I found the author's voices to be hilarious and spot-on. It is already a bit dated at ~10 years old (no mentions of Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey), but as a romance reader myself I really enjoyed the commentary and critiques of the genre.
    I had plenty of laughs and appreciated the literary analysis of romance.
    Plus I added probably a dozen authors/books to my To Read list!

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