Colorful Reviews - Back Again For The First Time

Dear Readers,

Happy June! Damn, where DID the year go?

This is how things will be going down in June: I’m all about the quickies. I’ll occasionally review a full length story if a) I come across one that strikes me as either really bad or really good or b) it comes in as a review request.

To celebrate June, there are 3 themes for you to choose from (on the sidebar under Archives now at the top, under About Me).

Bitch, Please is my blue, centered theme. I like that one a lot. This one is for those who like the centered look because they browse at ridiculous screen resolutions (I see you, J!).

Check Yourself is the first theme to grace this site and will become the default. It’s appropriate because I think a couple of readers and authors really need to do some self-checking this month.

Glorify Me is the second theme you’re familiar with. A tan theme that’s a bit low-key but I felt didn’t necessarily have the vibrancy I was looking for. Didn’t want to trash it either so it stays as an option.

I believe if you have cookies enabled, your browser will remember your preference, but whenever you are looking for a change, you can go ahead and make it.

Now I’m going to take my own advice to check myself and do some work. I’ll have a new review for you by end of day (that just so happens to fall into category A of the quickie exception).

Peace, Solaine

Karen Scott has blogged about how at times she’s bored with mainstream romance novels. In that vein, an interesting discussion occurred at the AAR board regarding why some readers are drawn to “sub-genre” of erotic romance. Here are some of my favorite responses:

1. I read them becaue they put me in the mood for sex. I have been a cold fish for over ten years. Hobby’s number one complain is not enough sex. Since I picked up reading romance, our sex life is great. I never had orgasm after being married for 18 years, now I tell my hobby what to do and I have orgasm regularly. Our marrage is much better now we are good in bed. - Julie H

2. I think that for me it touches a bit with both reality and fantasy. In many erotic romances, I think the sex is somewhat more realistic than in mainstream. In my lexicon a c*ck is a c*ock, not a manhood…If my husband refered to his anatomy as a manhood, I’d laugh my butt off. It’s messier, and sweatier in many erotic romances.

But it also has to do with fantasy. In mainstream romance, the s*x depicted is s*x I’ve had(blush). I’ve been there in my own reality. In erotic romance I get to “walk on the wild side” so to speak. Things that in real life I would never do, but my fantasy self has wondered about, are depicted. And when it works, it works for me very well. - Samantha

3. I’d like to read about more heroines who are in charge of their own sexuality, heroines who don’t need to experience their first orgasm or their sexual awakening at the hands of the hero. And I’m hoping that the popularity of erotic romance will lead more writers to take a chance on sexually confident heroines, especially in historical romance, where it is currently very difficult to find them. - LFL

4. I have enjoyed some titles from Ellora’s Cave. I know this sounds like a guy’s explanation for reading Playboy and all, but I read it for the story…with a whole lot of sex thrown in. Seriously, the book has to have a plot that appeals to me. Also, I have to be in the mood for erotica. I have quite a number of Ellora’s titles and some Black Lace that I have yet to read. On the other hand, I’ve tried to read The Sleeping Beautry Chronicles by Ann Rice and they were way too kinky and weird for me. There are many levels of erotica. The ones that appeal to me are still very close to straight romance…like Ellora’s Cave. - Rose

(more…)

Dear Readers,

Ok, so between the Extasy dramah and AAR funny cat fights, I’ve been diligent on my quest to find quickies to fill up the cold June months. So far I’ve I’ve got three (just enough to keep my Sidebar TBR category presentable). They are, in no order,

Malachi - Shiloh Walker , Samhain Publishing
Take Her Home - Tierney Linn, Venus Press
Wolf Dance - Ann Vremont, Changeling Press

I’m still taking requests - and you can email: colorfulreviews@gmail.com, if you’d rather submit suggestions that way.

Regards, Solaine

Dear Readers,

While the Ja(y)nes at Dear Author are working on increasing the buzz around ebooks, Solaine at Colorful Reviews caters to the ebook veterans. Of course, print books will always be the leaders of the pack, but the reality is that erotic romance stories in print are hard to come by in South Africa (that’s where I live, btw). For those of us who’ve been on the ebook bandwagon for a while now, the issues are beyond “are ebooks as good as print books.” I’d like to address the increasing prices of ebooks: at $5.95 for a 150 page book, I have to wonder if I’m getting the bang I seek for my buck. More importantly, you can’t throw an ebook at the wall, re-sell it, donate it to the the library, or even use is as fuel to stoke the fire during the cold June/July months. At $2.99 a pop, a quickie that turns out bad almost seems worth the effort (Sure glad I didn’t buy a full length novel from that author). So for the month of June, I will be reviewing quickies, shorts, heatwaves, whatever you want to call them, as long as they are $2.99 or less! Hopefully by the end of the month, I’ll have a couple more full length stories to add to my TBR pile. At the very least, I’ll know who NOT to buy full length novels from.

So, any recommendations?

Dear Readers,

The whole rabid fangirl controversy in our romance community blogosphere has given me the impetus to blog about my personal pet peeve as a reader — authors who pimp their work all over another author’s site/blog/forum. I call them “Rabid Freeloaders”. And I only have one word (two syllables) to describe these menaces to readers’ sensibilities: TACK-Y!

As a reader, what do you do when authors begin attacking you because you aren’t supportive enough? Or because you have a difference in opinion about characters?

I was once a lurker/reader at Lora Leigh and Veronica Chadwick’s forum and I had to leave after two somewhat popular B-list authors started taking over the forum with excerpts, posts and contests. In fact, the worse was when Ms. Leigh herself came out the woodworks to COMPLAIN that readers weren’t praising these author’s excerpts enough. The general sentiment was, “We provide these free excerpts for you and work hard and when we don’t get reader feedback, it makes us feel like ya’ll don’t appreciate it, so please comment if you like the excerpt.” I’m paraphrasing HUGELY, but all I could think was: “Did we just get scolded for not kissing these “guest” authors’ asses.” If I wanted to read excerpts of B-list authors I’d join their loops or blogs, but when I am on say, Emma Holly’s blog, I don’t want to read excerpts from say, Lora Leigh. No matter how much I love Ms. Leigh’s work, please believe if she started pimping herself on Emma Holly’s blog, I’d want her to fall back, too.

Now there’s a difference between highlighting an author, interviewing an author or recommending one of their stories. But these authors literally began to take over, posting all the time, even engaging in arguments with Ladies of the forum over how to write stories, after one particular author was criticized for one of her characters. While I have enough fodder for days about authors who are freeloaders, I’m just wondering which is worse — readers who are rabid fans or authors who are such rabid fans of their own work that they pimp their own stuff all over other people’s sites?

Regards, Solaine

Dear Readers,

It’s been a long time, I shouldnt’ve left you … without a good review to step to. So here goes:

I’m a member of Rhyannon Byrd and Madison Haye’s Pure Magick newsletter (who isn’t?) and saw they’ve spotlighted author Dawn Madigan. She’s already published three books at EC, yet I’d never heard of her. Then again, I left the EC yahoogroup loop a long time ago and tend to live in my own secluded reader world. I half-assed looked around to see if the ebook buzz had her name anywhere and didn’t see much of it. Ms. Madigan was one case where I’d have to do my own research.

First stop: Ms. Madigan’s site. While it had a bit of a Delilah Devlin feel to the design, I was impressed with Ms. Madigan’s skill – a medical doctor who writes and designs her own site seems cool already. After browsing her offerings, I decided to take a safe bet and purchase her new quickie over at EC, Ryality Bites. I found the excerpt the hottest of the ones posted, and a quickie is always a great way to decide if the author is one I’d enjoy.

Adjectives I’d use to describe Ryality Bites: hot, short, and well-written. Ryal is a spunky, yet vulnerable heroine who snares her hero with her sexy sweet vibes. A seasoned vampire, Ryal just happens to pick up the most infamous vampire slayer around, an equally sexy and sweet “Norse super stud” named Hayden. I think the plot of vampire and vampire slayer always makes a hot read, don’t you? While Ryal is attempting to replenish her energy, after years of no sex and months without nourishing human blood, she’s also running from the the necessarily evil super vampire, Rubeus, who is hunting her for stealing a powerful ruby from him years ago. When Hayden saves Ryal from death, they learn that their attraction runs centuries deep. Can they find everlasting love while defeating the big bad vampire?

In about 55 pages, Ms. Madigan makes a believer out of me! The chemistry between these two is scorching and Ms. Madigan does a great job of writing both Hayden and Ryal’s sides of the story. I love to get inside the hero’s mind as well as the heroine, since I think it makes the story a bit more realistic and it endears me to both main characters. Ryality Bites is full of witty moments and steamy, believable sex scenes that will have you wondering what else Ms. Madigan can do in a full length story. I recommend Ryality Bites and for $2.99 you can’t go wrong with this quick story.

Happy Reading, Solaine

Dear Readers,

I started reviewing for the free books. I won’t lie. When most avid readers (of modest financial earnings) come to a point where they realize that risky buys can become regretted decisions, reviewing seems to address all issues involved. What’s better than getting free books that may or may not be entertaining? If they bomb, you can perform your duty to fellow readers and warn them to save their $5 to $10. All parties end up happy. Or do they? My time in the reviewing world has revealed a different reality.

Point blank, authors expect positive reviews, publishers expect positive reviews, and reviewing websites expect positive reviews. Of the many reviewing sites I’ve worked at, I’ve yet to hear a power-that-be encourage their reviewers to write more critical, substantial and harsher reviews. Naively, I’ve always wondered why more critical reviews are discouraged; as a reader, I want someone to wade through the ebook crap for me! As a reviewer, I know that writers/publishers use their free copies to barter with review sites. Want banner advertisements? Want more free books? Want a gateway into other areas of paid promotion? Churn out 4 and 5 ratings. Yes, the occasional 3 is sprinkled in to maintain “authenticity”, yet when approximately 80% of the reviews I read are above a 3, I’ve got to ask: can ALL those books really be worth buying?

Now, before anyone admonishes me for a reductive interpretation of reviews, I’ll eliminate the author/promotional element of reviews and skip to the major issue at hand - readers who believe that reviewing actually helps out fellow readers will quickly become disenchanted in their volunteer service. Why? Mainly, most readers barely glance at reviews let alone invest their purchases on them. Most readers pick their new authors, books, and publishers on personal recommendations or lucky chances.

Word of mouth is the most powerful promotional tool any seller can use, and authors would do well to start a newsletter to promote through their readers. Reviews are cute for the website, taglines or to brag about, but the reality is that most readers couldn’t give half a cent what a review says about a book. Most reviewers barely read reviews; as a reviewer I began to read reviews in order to critique their style. More hardcore readers understand the game that author/publisher sponsored review sites play. (Let’s not fool ourselves that there are erotic review sites out there with the “reader’s” interests in mind. They, too, pander to the most popular publishers and authors.)

Yet, while not a writer for profits myself, I can understand the frustration and hurt that comes from a seemingly harsh, unsatisfactory review from a fickle reader. Author friends complain to me that the ratings don’t correspond with the comments or the summary is not accurate. Did the reader just skim? Probably. With so many writers pumping out short, flimsy stories that are shamefully published, it follows that review sites are pressured to get out these automated 3-5 thumbs up ratings with the same haphazard focus.

For this reviewer, the tediousness of reviewing has begun to impact the joy of ebook reading. Or maybe, the frequency of reviewing has revealed the many horrible published stories. Either way, what I wouldn’t give for a site that tells it like it is, with no holds barred and allows readers to really give critical, articulate reviews of these ridiculous books. Rather than quit reviewing, I’ve decided to fill this void and write what I’d like to read.
I hope someone, somewhere out there in the blogging world, feels me and finds the strength to continue reviewing or reading after reading some Colorful reviews.

Sincerely, Solaine