Romance review sites

Villiany wears many masks, none of which are more dangerous than virtue.

-- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Washington Irving

It's occurred to me that I'd regularly visit only these web sites: Mrs Giggles, All About Romance and The Romance Reader. So, I decided to branch out a bit to see what's out there. Or at least, re-visit sites that I hadn't seen for a while. Here's a selection of what I have found so far: The Historical Gazette "A bi-monthly newsletter for readers and writers of historical romances. Each issue is a light-hearted look at a different time period, with articles and illustrations of fashions, homelife, transportation, social customs, and interviews with authors, as well as a bibliography of resources and a list of books set in those times." Subversion It doesn't say what is the site about, but it looks to be a mixture of author interviews, authors' essays, reviews, history factsheets, readers' resources and such such. Author-friendly site. Historical Romance Club Site owner Ingela Hyatt says, "I began my love affair with historical romance novels back in 1988, and my interest has never waned. After creating so many other websites, it seemed like a natural progression to create my own website devoted to the genre." I can't tell if this is a review or author promotion site. What puts me off is the number of offers for authors to promote books through this site, implying that it offers advertorial service. Either way it seems to be an author-friendly site. We Really Dig Romance Novels "For Romance Novel Information. From contemporary to historical from paranormal to time travel, cover art, synopsis, links to authors/artists/ models, and more romance related issues." Pretty much an author-friendly site. Slake It's basically a book database with a few cool features, ranging from The Pedestal / The Wall to Quotes, attached. The jewel in the Slake crown has to be Categories. Unfortunately, the site rarely tells you when it's updated or what the site is truly about. It has an eccentric schedule and the devil-may-care attitude. I found this site about five years ago, and today it looks exactly how it looked back then, but I do think it's a great trivia site for readers. A Romance Review "A Romance Review is simply a group of people who have been brought together by their passion for romance! Whether reading it, or writing about it, we are all dedicated to the idea that a pleasure shared is a pleasure enhanced." A friend of mine once called this site "The Stepford Wives' Favourite". Heh. Either way, it seems to be very much an author-friendly site. BookaHolics of The Book Clique Cafe "These Bookaholic boards are for the use of active readers interested in the reading and discussion of our various book selections in multiple genres. We Think that REAL BookaHolics don't need a 12 step program... They simply need a gang that understands them...LOL! :)" If you scroll down the page, you'll find the Romance section that has message boards for readers of Nora Roberts, Linda Lael Miller, Julie Garwood, Lavyrle Spencer, Historical Romance, and Romantic Suspense. Paper and Lace "Paper and Lace is a site that specializes in paranormal romance and fiction." Hmmm, all reviews that I could find were written by Harriet "I'm Human. Really." Klausner. Author-friendly site. Dangerously Curvy Novels "The one common thread is that all of the books [reviewed here] have strong female protagonists who don't fit the current mold for beauty. They are described as being either real-sized or plus-sized, or they are not described at all but are simply 'everywoman' characters whose appearance is left completely to the imagination of the reader." Web site owner is ~Jen~, a regular RT poster and a real sweetie. [**note: it's down. Does anyone know the new URL?] ADDITION: Beth came up with the correct URL: http://www.curvynovels.info. Cheers, Beth! Chick Lit Books "This website features chick lit book reviews and information, as well as forums where you can express your opinions, favorite or least favorite book discussions, or whatever takes your fancy." Other Chick Lit sites are commerically driven, but this one seems to be done by Rian Montgomery, a fan of the genre. Impressive. Her essay What is Chick Lit? is worth reading. Sheikhs and Desert Love "Sheikhs and Desert Love features romance novels with a Sheikh (or an Arab or desert prince) as the primary male character. Though most of the novels in the database take place in Middle Eastern countries, it is not a requirement for inclusion. In most cases, the heroines of these stories are women who hail from progressive countries, such as the United States, Canada, Australia or Great Britain. The majority are slender, with long fair hair." But it had a very nice design, but it seems to have a different design now, which I don't really like. It does, however, have interesting features: articles, book database, reviews, message board and "Fictional Arabia". Romance Reviews Today "Romance Reviews Today is dedicated to providing insightful, honest reviews for the discriminating reader." Yet another author-friendly site. Word Museum Reviews Its ratings say it all: "1 rosette: Nice Addition, 2: Pleasant Discovery, 3: Unique Acquisition, 4: Rare Find, and 5: Collector's Treasure". Warm fuzzies! Definitely an author-friendly site. Ach, I'm stopping because I'm starting to get sick of seeing sooooo many gushy reviews. I find the majority of romance review sites unuseable. Almost all have ratings of five stars and 'a must read!!' reviews for almost all books reviewed. This doesn't make sense to me. Are they really saying that every romance novel they read is that good? Because of this, I don't trust these sites that gear heavily toward authors. I suspect that the majority strive to make their reviews pleasing to authors in order to keep review copies coming. This is the only logical reason I could come up with. I may be wrong [please do correct me if I am]. Frankly, most reviews I read online are nothing more than press releases, which I suppose they are at the end of the day. Either way, it's largely because of this, I no longer read romance reviews. Still, I think it's a mistake to focus on pleasing authors when it should focus on readers - the very people that buys romance novels. I think authors are greatly mistaken if they believe that bad reviews will affect their book sales because from what I see, bad reviews don't stop readers buying their books. If anything, I believe balanced [for some authors, it reads "harsh"] reviews help readers to feel confident enough to buy these books because they feel they are going in with their eyes wide open. More than not, they get a jolt of pleasant surprise to discover it is not as bad as a reviewer says. I strongly believe this is why Mrs Giggles's reviews are so popular with readers. It makes sense, really; you are likely to be disappointed if it doesn't live up to high expectations, but if you read with low expectations, it is likely to be better than you expected. Then again, this invisible drive to protect authors' feelings has always been the case. By this I mean, there is a real sense that authors come before readers, which is short-sighted, but it's a lot better than it was a few years ago, though. When I first came online I was shocked to find how geared it was toward romance authors and that there is a mentality that if you are critical of a romance novel, you simply aren't a 'true' supporter of the genre. More on this later. If there is a romance review site that do publish balanced reviews, please give us a shout. Link of the Day: Sequels and Prequels for Romance Novels Be good, be bad & be safe.