I’ve alway’s poo-poo’d the Harlequin Romance books as being very un-literature-like and not very well written. Recently, I actually picked one up and read it. It was great! Modern, sexy and with great suspense. Now I am hooked. The series I am reading is called Harlequin Blaze, and you can find them at your local bookstore, drugstore ($5.75 Canadian) or used at Value Village (2 for $0.99). The one I am reading right now is called “Beyond Seduction” by Kathleen O’Reilly.
Despite the success of her sultry Red Choo sex blog, it would take serious buzz to put Mercedes Brooks’s first book of erotic fantasies on the bestseller list. And that meant agreeing to another
showdown with her nemesis, the super-sexy TV pundit Sam Porter.
This time, though, the on-air innuendos were just a dress rehearsal. What happened later between the sheets was actually the main event. If the tabloids got wind of their night together, Sam’s career would self-destruct. But the real shocker was that even with a prime-time scandal hanging over their heads, one night was not enough!
One problem with the books is the half-nekkid men on the covers. I don’t want to have such a book on my desk at work, or in my face in public. I would rip the covers off, but then it’s hard to hold the book. I think I’ll try to find a book-cover before Monday. These books will be great to read while I’m sitting with Derek at his long chemotherapy appointments.
In case you’re wondering, the books are sexually explicit. And there goes my Google hits again.
I’m hoping these are laughably good? At least some of the time?
My mom said she met a Harlequin novel writer once. He said that there were strict rules about how explicit they could be, which seemed to be mostly romance and tease and none of the hardcore banging. I wonder if things have changed? It does seem like everything’s gotten so sexualized in the last decade or so, or maybe it just means I’m getting older.
I lol’d at the use of the word “fanny” for ass. But, yes, there is hard-core banging in these books. I think that’s what the “Blaze” must stand for, becauase not all books are this explicit I don’t think.
Nothing wrong with a little well written smut to get you through the day.
My daughter has this contraption that goes on her paperback books. It’s two hard covers with an elastic spine that you stretch around to fit any size paperback. She likes it because it makes the book easier to hold than the flimsey paper covers. She got it at a local drug store.
see André Benjamim