Answer the trivia question below to be entered to win a free copy of one of Janet Dailey’s Americana romance novels and win the grand prize – a designer case for your Kindle, Nook, or other electronic e-reading device!!!

With her classic, breezy, entertaining style, she instructs the uninformed and enlightens the already educated with a bit of science and a lot of blunt truth about the hows, whys and special variations of sex for fun – in or out of wedlock. From “The Nitty Gritty” to “The Other Side of the Bed”, Now That You’ve Got me Here, What Are We Going to Do? is an advanced course in the art of love and the pleasures of sex.

After years of personal research, Dickson offers pointed advice on becoming a happy and successful Other Woman, covering everything from the selection, capture and care of a married lover to his ultimate release. She leaves no stone unturned, discussing every aspect of the affair, up to and including the problematic Wife. Wrapping things up with an informative Q&A, Married Men Make the Best Lovers is must reading for any woman who treasures both her single status and the enjoyment of a rich, fulfilling sex life.

E-Reads re-releases this classic, smart and sassy advice book from the 1960′s. Published in the heyday of the sexual revolution, it’s as entertaining and pertinent as it was on publication date. And Dickson, one of the movement’s most outspoken leaders, still displays the same wicked mind, razor-edged wit and freewheeling attitude that made her one of the most popular writers of the day.

A few weeks ago we picked up on a piece in The Awl  suggesting that romance is the lowest form of literature. Now, in Salon, we’re told that chick lit may be dead altogether. Coincidentally or otherwise, both charges were leveled by women.

“Less than a decade after commentators clucked at bookstore shelves lined with cartoon high-heels and pink cocktail glasses,” writes Laura Miller in this latest sally, “the only debate that the once-flourishing genre inspires now is over when to run its obituary.”

To Miller’s credit, she realizes it might be a good idea to define her terms. She seems to be referring to the spate of shopping-and-screwing novels published at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st. This variant reflected an overheated economy whose excesses were exemplified by glam fashionistas and their Masters of the Universe lovers. ”As the first species of popular fiction to treat its heroines’ professional aspirations as seriously as their romantic prospects, chick lit flourished at a time when ambitious young women poured into a robust job market, seeking both love and success, often with a heaping serving of pricey commodities on the side.”

This trend, says Miller, “smells decidedly off in the face of 8.3 percent unemployment.” That may be true to a degree, but the mutual attractions and sexual tensions between gorgeous, ambitious women and alpha males are not ever going to give way to commonplace characters, shabby settings and humdrum sex.

No matter how you define them, the themes and formulas that have sustained popular women’s fiction for centuries have varied only slightly and will not vary in the foreseeable future. Romance continues to thrive as a genre and sustains the trade book publishing industry to the tune of 25% of its sales.  Survey the lists of such romance powerhouses as Harlequin or Kensington and you’ll see that chick lit is alive and well, thank you very much.

Perhaps Laura Miller is looking for love stories in all the wrong places?

Richard Curtis
Note to readers: Digital Book World has invited me to post my blogs initially on its website before releasing them on E-Reads, and this content is re-published with DBW’s permission. Click here to view the original posting.

E-Reads has seven more: Big Bad Wolf, Someone’s Been Sleeping In My Bed, Cinderfella, One Day My Prince, Jackie and the Giant, Let Me Come In, and Let Down Your Hair.

If Into the Woods hooked you, try Someone’s Been Sleeping In My Bed.

Of late, life had hardly been a fairy tale for the lovely, golden-haired Maddalyn Kelly. Nearly killed in a stagecoach robbery, the beautiful blonde escaped deep into the forest of Wyoming. This was a far cry from the simple life she had planned for herself as a modest schoolteacher. Hungry, lost and weary, Maddalyn finally came upon a cozy mountaintop cabin. There were three of everything: three delicious meals, three comfortable chairs, and three warm beds. She couldn’t help dozing for just a moment … Maddalyn quickly learned that the cabin belonged to three burly and intimidating brothers: Karl, Conrad and Eric Bartlett. She had eaten Eric’s food, slept in Eric’s bed. He seemed a wild animal, but did his gruff manner belie a softer side? Feisty Maddalyn was determined to find out…

For more fairy tales for grownups and other Linda Jones romances, click HERE.

Perhaps Maria Bustillos, writing in The Awl, doesn’t share the “widely reckoned” opinion that romance writing is “just a notch above the writing on Splenda packets”, but she doesn’t seem to be straining to rebut it, either.

Her critique, posted (intentionally we suspect) on Valentine’s Day, trivializes romance writers – and readers – in the guise of a serious analysis of the popularity of the genre. Though she purports to seriously delve into the psychology, philosophy and sociology of the phenomenon, she reveals her true hand when she writes “Everybody knows that they are written and read just for kicks.” The writers of romances “are in no way trying to win a Booker Prize,” Bustillos says. As for the readers, “One is supposed to be embarrassed to have a taste for it.”

“I have often wondered whether romance novels mightn’t generally serve the same purpose for women that pornography does for so many men,” she reflects. Fighting words for writers and readers.

The canard that popular literature is written by hacks for low-minded readers goes back as far as Greek and Roman times, and wherever it turns up, including its latest propagation in the hands of Ms. Bustillos, writers and readers need to speak out.

Several years ago we did. “The belletristic establishment regards the world of popular literature as a subculture,” we wrote, “but one could seriously argue that it is really the other way around. Very few ‘serious’ writers make enough money from their writing to support themselves without having to moonlight. Their audiences are often modest in size and elitist in taste. Their work is frequently inaccessible, intellectual, experimental, and sometimes incomprehensible.

“The lives of professional genre writers differ in many significant ways from those of their more literary brothers and sisters,” we argued, citing that among many virtues they are businesslike, disciplined, and sensitively attuned to their readership.

“It is vital for the writing establishment,”to realize that literature is far more than a ladder with junk at the bottom and art at the top. Rather, it is an ecosystem in which the esoteric and the popular commingle, fertilize one another, and interdepend. Principally, if it were not for the immense revenues generated by science fiction, romance, male action-adventure, and other types of popular fiction at which so many literary authors and critics look down their noses, there would be no money for publishers to risk on first novels, experimental fiction, and other types of serious but commercially marginal literary enterprises. Furthermore, from the aspect of the writing craft itself, there are many extremely important lessons for literati to learn from their genre comrades in arms, if only the former would take the trouble to study them.” (See The Two World of Literature: What Serious Writers Can Learn from Genre Comrades in Arms.)

Huffington Post blogger Pauline Millard has another view of chick lit. It has evolved into a more thoughtful and better written form of mainstream women’s literature. “In the past year,” Millard writes, “a different breed of chick lit has appeared with smarter writing and characters. It’s notable not just for the content, but also for what it says about women, and what they are willing to read in their leisure time.” (See Chick Lit Grows Up)

Join the debate. Read Romance Novels, The Last Great Bastion Of Underground Writing by Maria Bustillos.

Richard Curtis
Note to readers: Digital Book World has invited me to post my blogs initially on its website before releasing them on E-Reads, and this content is re-published with DBW’s permission. Click here to view the original posting.

Outraged author Jessica Scott created the #iamnotaslut hashtag

Jessica Scott, an officer in the US Army and author of Because of You, a military love story published by Ballantine’s Loveswept imprint, hit the roof when she heard Rush Limbaugh’s misogynistic remarks in response to a female student’s testimony in Congress.  So Scott created the hashtag ‘I am not a slut’.

It “went viral,” according to an interview with Scott in Buzzfeed. #iamnotaslut’ generated a flurry of anti-Limbaugh tweets and may have been responsible for the suspension or cancellation of advertising for his radio show.

Read more about Scott’s outraged reaction.

And for more about Scott and her recently published novel, see A Star is Born.

Richard Curtis

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When Random House decided to relaunch its Loveswept romance line it sought authors whose gifts matched the company’s ambitious vision. And one of the first authors snapped up by publisher Sue Grimshaw for Loveswept’s list of original e-books was Jessica Scott. Today Jessica debuts with Because of You, an unflinching portrayal of two wounded souls struggling with self-doubt and self-loathing to find companionship, trust and, finally, love. Scott knows her military: she’s a career army officer. Read her unique bio here.

The advance raves for Because of You read like a Hall of Fame roster of romance greats.

# “Jessica Scott is an exciting new voice in romantic fiction who bursts upon the scene with an unputdownable debut novel! ”
New York Times Bestselling Author Robyn Carr

# “Edgy and current—and a truly satisfying love story. Put this book, Jessica Scott’s, BECAUSE OF YOU, on your “must read” list.”
New York Times Bestselling Author Suzanne Brockmann

# “Jessica Scott writes with a soldier’s heart. Because Of You is touching, authentic and a fantastic read.”
New York Times Bestselling Author Cindy Gerard

# “Crackling with realism, sizzling with sexual tension, and pulsing with emotion, Jessica Scott has penned an unforgettable military romance that delivers heartache and hope on every page.”
New York Times Bestselling Author Roxanne St. Claire

# “Authentic, emotional, and edgy, Jessica Scott’s sweeping military romance is a vivid snapshot of love, war, grief and–above all–hope.” –
Allison Brennan, NYT Bestselling Author of If I Should Die

# “Because of You is a powerful debut – emotional, heartbreaking and uplifting all at once, it’s a romance not to be missed!”
New York Times Bestselling Author Stephanie Tyler

# “Jessica Scott has written a beautiful love story filled with heart, tender emotion, unflinching honesty and gritty realism. Because of You is a military romance you will never forget!”
New York Times Bestselling Author Christy Reece

Jessica Scott

# “Jessica Scott writes an intense story, packed with realism and emotion. BECAUSE OF YOU will tug at your heartstrings.”
New York Times Bestselling Author
Laura Griffin

# “In BECAUSE OF YOU, Jessica Scott presents a realistic and emotionally gripping tale of life in and around the military. A wonderful debut, and I can’t wait to read the next in this compelling series.”
USA Today Bestselling Author Julie Kenner

# “Watch out Navy SEALS, there’s a new hero in town and he’s wearing Army gray! Because of You is a beautifully crafted, wonderfully emotional debut.”
New York Times Bestselling Author JoAnn Ross

# “BECAUSE OF YOU is a tough and tender romance that proves the one thing worth fighting for will always be true love. Jessica Scott is a vibrant new voice in contemporary romance!”
New York Times Bestselling author of GOODNIGHT TWEETHEART Teresa Medeiros

# “BECAUSE OF YOU is powerful, timely and wonderfully executed. Jessica Scott should be on every reader’s list.”
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Brenda Novak

# Because of You is emotionally heart-wrenching and makes you smile as the characters triumph.
Mandi Schreiner, Happy Ever After – Blog Reviewer, USA Today

# “Military romance just got a whole lot better — Because of You — by Jessica Scott, who has created something sumptuous.”
Anne Woodall, Romance At Random Reviewer

# “I am eagerly awaiting the next installment in her trilogy. I give BECAUSE OF YOU an A.”
E -The BookPushers

Below, a trailer for the book, and an interview with the scintillating author.

Cassandra Beringer would never allow her daughter Cicely to repeat her mistake and marry a man twenty years her senior–even if he is the handsome Viscount Ingelsby, considered by her sister to be the catch of the season.

The memory of her own disastrous marriage to an older man still haunts her, despite being widowed for many years. However, fate and a wet marble staircase interrupt her plans to keep Jeremy Ingelsby away from her only child. How will she stop them when she can’t even remember her own name?

Elizabeth Mansfield fan?  Check her author page for more of her delightful novels.

“Both were blasting through the often less-than-literate listings of online dating sites,” writes Andrew L. Yarrow, “when Mr. Feifer’s e-mail message on OKCupid.com caught Ms. Miller’s eye for reasons less romantic than grammatical. ‘He used a semicolon correctly; that was reason enough to get a drink with him,’ the 31-year-old author of Inheriting the Holy Land recalled.”

The rest is history, as you will see if you care to read details of their wedding announcement.

So, if you’re entering into a relationship and suspect your love object is scrutinizing your emails for solecisms, you might want to refresh your understanding of this subtle point of grammar.

Melissa Donovan in WritingForward.com has this to say about it:

#The semicolon establishes a close connection between two sentences or independent clauses.
#A semicolon can replace conjunctions and or but.
Semicolons indicate a stronger separation than a comma but weaker than a period.
#A semicolon is often used in lists to separate items when some of the items in listed subsets require commas.
#The semicolon is always followed by a lower case letter with proper nouns being the only exception (proper nouns are always capitalized).
#Semicolon use can be applied to separate two clauses or sentences that are saying the same thing in different ways.
#As with other punctuation marks that denote the end of a clause or sentence, there is no space between the semicolon and the word preceding it; there should be a single space after the semicolon.

Example:
#I love music; however, I haven’t played my own guitar in several years.
#I’m fascinated by names and their meanings; Melissa means honey bee.
#There’s nothing like the gentle drum of water hitting against the window pane; I love the rain.

So, lovers, remember this: when you email your beloved, pay heed to those semicolons; they could save your relationship.

Richard Curtis

Miscalculations

In Miscalculations, Viscount Luke Kettering was a Corinthian: self-confident, elegant, with a talent for all the manly arts, and a penchant for taking risks. He was admired by his peers, yet his constant requests for funds to settle his gambling debts caused his mother deep concern. He eagerly accepted her challenge to give him control of his inheritance if he could prove to be financially responsible. All he had to do was act prudently for one month. He did not factor in one detail–that Lady Martha’s financial advisor would be overseeing his accounting for the month–and that he was–a she!

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The Girl With the Persian Shawl

“The Girl With Persian Shawl” was a strangely bewitching masterpiece that had hung in the Rendell household for generations. Kate Rendell graciously let the dashing Lord Ainsworth view the work, and was outraged when he dared to insinuate that the painting came into the family by nefarious means. She was unfazed that Lord Ainsworth left her estate believing she was little more than an arrogant spinster. But everything changed when she discovered that her beloved but flighty younger cousin was to be betrothed to–a rake!

Keep an eye out for more delicious Elizabeth Mansfields on the E-Reads website.