The lucky winner of these four books is…
flchen1
Whose comment started with:
I don’t remember the first romance I ever read–I know I started probably in junior high with Sweet Valley High and Silhouette First Love and the like.
Congratulations! Please email your mailing info to contests at thebookbinge dot com as soon as possible so we can get these books out to you.
And to everyone else, thanks for playing. It was fun to read all the responses!
Everybody has one, right? This author tells us what she’s thankful for in the romance community.
I’m thankful that no matter what your lurve-kink is, you can find it in Romance. Like to read about long cuddling talks in front of a fireplace? No prob. Prefer your couple to fall in love fighting side-by-side? Gotcha covered. Want to watch a couple (or more) get wrapped up in pheromones and down and dirty sex? Absolutely.
More than that, I absolutely adore the fact that spread out across the internet there is such an amazing group of people who will help you find that perfect romance. (Kinda like your own, personal librarians. The cool type, not the type that’ll shush you.) They’ll argue – er, discuss with you, gush with you, and then commiserate when you read yet another wallbanger. It’s like the ultimate book club.
-Lorelie Long
Everyone Needs a Spare
I’ve been a big fan of The Book Smugglers since I started reading romance blogs. I’m never much of a commenter, but I love reading what Ana and Thea have to say.
When Sybil and the Bingers started talking about the Bingeaduckia we were quite intrigued and when we were invited to participate on this fantabulous event, we were surprised and …..thankful. So I guess this is the first thing we are thankful for –for being included in this event that could only be organized by members of the romance community. Because one thing that we realized over the course of these few months since we started The Book Smugglers is how the romance community do have this sense of…togetherness. It is an open-minded, heart-warming community and we are thankful for that: thankful that we have been welcomed with open arms when we started our blog, thankful for everyone that leaves comments – even after 11 months, we still celebrate every single one of them – and thankful for you all being so cool and open…we have made some good friends.
-Ana
*high fives Ana* What Ana said. I began the year totally alien to the romance genre, a skeptical reader that was distrustful of the man-titty covers. And yet, for all my prejudgments of the genre, when Ana and I started The Book Smugglers, the first thing I noticed was how open, awesome, and welcoming the romance community was–even to a non-reader, like myself.
For this, and for opening my eyes to the genre, I am extremely thankful.
Even if I’m not a romance reader per se, I have discovered some gems of books this year in the genre–from Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels to Lisa Kleypas’ historical and contemporary novels. And we have also made many, many new friends–passionate readers, bloggers, and authors alike.
And, for all that, we owe the Romance Community a big one. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! It’s been a fantastic year.
-Thea
ETA: Don’t forget – The Book Smugglers are celebrating Smugglivus right now! Go over and check it out. They have awesome stuff going on. – Holly
The first romance novel I ever read was Message from Nam by Danielle Steel. Though I don’t read Danielle Steel anymore, that book holds a special place in my heart. It started the journey that led me to where I am today.
The author who is indirectly responsible for getting me hooked on romance forums/blogs is Judith McNaught. After I read all her books, I went looking for when her next book would come out. Judith is a somewhat elusive author and finding news on her was not easy to find. It eventually wound up at the Judith McNaught Bulletin Board, which was the beginning of the end for me. That is the place where I discovered how many other amazing authors were out there. I also met other women like me; Women who loved romance as much as I did; Women that I am now life-long friends with.
I am a pretty fast reader and I soon found myself surfing Amazon.com for new authors. I would skim lists, read reviews, anything to find another great book. That led me to start reviewing on Amazon. Some authors that I love today were discovered by reading an Amazon review. So I wanted to do the same for someone else. Amazon reviewing has changed somewhat since then and I haven’t reviewed there in years.
So how did I come to start blogging? I met this girl online about five years ago. She lived almost right next door to my aunt in Southern California. After we got to know each other through email and phone calls, I went down to visit my aunt and then met Holly for the first time. I think Holly will agree that our first meeting was a little strange. It’s not every day that you meet someone that you’ve only talk to online. We hit it off as well in person as we did online. A few years after that, Holly asked me to join Book Binge. She wanted to use me for my reviews. g
And the rest is history.
Leave a comment introducing yourself and how you became a part of the romance blogging community (whether as a blogger or a reader) and you have a chance to win the following:
If we had favorite readers, Carolyn Jean would be one of them. I completely agree with her on the generosity of the romance community.
I’m thankful for this community’s generosity of spirit
Sometimes I think this community kind of runs on generosity. People supporting each other’s blogs and caring about fellow bloggers’ personal struggles, authors supporting each others books, bloggers getting behind books, purely out of a love for great reading. And there are all the little contests where everybody just gives prizes to each other. I love that! And yeah, there are squabbles, but they frequently seem to end up on a good note, with the community learning something about itself or progressing in some way. Is it because most all our books end happily, and with good sex? Who knows!
-Carolyn Jean
The Thrillionth Page