Milking The Cash Cow

I don't have anything against Taylor Lautner.  Anyone who can go from this...

to that...

seriously gets some credit.  (Give me a call, kid, when you hit twenty-five.)  But, despite his ability to harness puberty better than 99.9% of the population, he's not the best actor out there.  I mean there's a reason we've got meme's like this one popping up:

So I wasn't quite sure whether to laugh or cry when I saw this trailer:

Milking the cash cow are we?  No, Taylor Lautner isn't the best actor, but casting him in action/thriller films that blatantly bank on the Twilight crowd wanting to see them isn't going to help his career.  There's a reason actors like Jason Statham and Bruce Willis usually take those roles- because when a nineteen year old does it, it looks kind of dumb.

Under The Influence

Now that Kris has gotten ratings on my mind, I've gotten to wondering, what influences you?  Or doesn't influence you?  Ok, maybe you're one of those people who manages to keep all of their reviews and ratings completely subjective.  Good for you.  But I think most of us are influenced by a lot of factors when making decisions, even ones so seemingly simple as rating a book.

1. Profession
This may seem like an odd one to put at the top of the list, but I know it has the biggest influence on my ratings.  I'm a college student (as if I haven't mentioned it enough) and something that really bugs me is grade inflation.  To me, a 3 star rating is average and by definition most books you read are going to be average.  I know it must feel horrifying for an author to be told their book is average or worse (at least I would be horrified) but it's not meant as an insult.  For me, the problem is if everyone is out there rating most books at 4's and 5's ratings become so much less reliable.

2. Other reviews
I suffer from review hype.  I seriously do my best not to, but if I've read too many good reviews for a book, it will impair my ability to judge the book for myself.  One the one hand, I'll be so prepared to love it that I might give it a 5 when otherwise I probably would have given it a 4, or I'll have been expecting so much from it that, when it doesn't deliver what I wanted, I downgrade it.

3. Author/Series
This isn't something I do, but I sometimes wonder about other people.  Does loving an author or a series mean you automatically love all the books by that author or in that series?  Here's an example.  I love love LOVE the BDB.  Can't get enough of them.  But I don't love all the books equally.  I gave Lover Eternal, Lover Enshrined, and Lover Avenged all 3 stars.  They would have been given less if not for the side plots and heavy appearances by other characters I did like.  But I'll go on Goodreads and see people who have rated all of the books in the series 5 stars.  Really?!  You think they're all that amazing?

Does anyone else feel they get influenced?  Do you have a method for only assessing your own feelings when rating a book?  Or worse- are you a grade inflator?!

Rating System

Lately Kris over at Kris 'n' Good Books has been on a kick about ratings, and I realized I've never set up an official rating system for my blog.  I have one in my head of course, but I thought I ought to publish it as well so everyone knows I'm not making everything up!

5 stars:  I can't stop thinking about this book.  I likely stayed up all night to read it.  I was wowed by  the originality, characters, plot, or development.  I would recommend this book to everyone.  I will buy from this author in the future.

4 stars:  The book ad no problem passing the set down/pick up test.  I love almost all of the plot and characters and thought any flaws were negligible.  I would recommend to almost anyone.

3 stars:  A completely average read.  Some good things and some bad things.  I might recommend it to a friend depending on what exactly their tastes are, but it probably won't stick with me personally in the long run.

2 stars:  The book struggled (or failed) to pass the set down/pick up test.  There were major flaws and/or plots that annoyed me.  I would not recommend it to anyone.

1 stars:  I can't stop thinking about this book.  I likely threw it at a wall or trash can.  I was wowed by stupidity, typos, lack of character development, bad dialog, or simply the fact it was published at all.  I will avoid this author in the future.

You like me.. you really like me!

I don't normally follow any type of Awards shows, but the 2010 Rita Finalists are up and I thought I'd comment.  I don't have top picks for all categories, but here's who I'm rooting for:

2010 RITA for Contemporary Single Title Romance Finalists:

Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl

2010 RITA for Historical Romance Finalists:

Not Quite a Husband by Sherry Thomas

2nd Pick:

To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

2010 RITA for Young Adult Romance:

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

(You can read my review for this a few posts back here)

Grade Inflation

I'm quite excited.  What The Librarian Did just arrived from Amazon today.  I'm hoping I'll get a chance to read it in the next week or two.  I'm still swamped with work.  I'm just coming off of mid-terms, which is why I haven't been posting much recently.  It looks like for the next two months things are stacking up, so I might be going a week or so between posts.  *Sigh*  This semester is turning into a total roller-coaster.  Summer is looking more beautiful by the minute...


Something which popped into my mind earlier today when I was browsing on Goodreads is grade inflation.  And I don't mean the academic kind (though I really wouldn't mind if someone pumped some air into my chem grade o.O).  Goodreads has this nifty little stat on everyone's profile that says what their average rating is.  Mine is 3.40, which is fine considering 3.00 is about average.  In my boredom I began to hop through my friend's profile's and look at their stats and I began to see a trend.  Not only was the average "average" rating well over 3.00, but most were over 4.00, and even 4.50!  I know everyone has their own way of rating a book, but come on, is every book really that good?  What's so wrong with rating a book as average?

Adikshun: I Has It

Somehow over the past two years, reading romance has moved from a pleasurable past time to an addiction. I remember when I used to only read romance novels during a vacation, or if I happened to find a few at a garage sale. I never kept track of authors or series, so my selections were fairly ecclectic. And, after reading and enjoying them a time or two, I would later sell them or donate them to the library.

Now, two years later, I have a collection of two hundred romance novels (seventy of which were '80s Harlequin romances I bought in a lot off Craigslist. Awesomely bad covers). I have lists upon lists tracking the romances I read: by author, by title, by series, by what I plan to buy, what I plan to read but won't buy. Even without those lists I track everything again on Goodreads, which I check more than my Facebook.

All this popped into my head today when I went to the library to return ONE book and came home with THREE. I already had a large pile of TBR books from the library sitting on the floor, not to mention the two shelves of TBR books that I own. I finally understand what it means to have an "addictive personality" >.<

Recent Reads:

I'm fairly apathetic about this book. I didn't dislike it, but I found it too dull to merit a real review. There wasn't much tension and most the events seemed disconnected. I couldn't figure out what was keeping Charlotte and Rafe from getting married way sooner other than contrived stubbornes. 2 out of 5 stars

Where do books come from?

I am (almost) finish with the semester. It is wonderful to have exam week out of the way. To say the least I've had no time to read romance over the past month, but that hasn't deterred me from expanding my TBR pile. Between the public library and various thrift stores my collection has continued to grow. I think a part of me got through exams because of the fact that I had the huge pile of books waiting by my bedside. I could see them, and I was dying to read them. My desire to read romances always increases with stress. But I knew I couldn't touch them until I had gotten through the semester.

Now that everything is coming to an end I can finally resume where I left off. I'm planning to do a review of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. I finished the whole series just before things heated up. I'm probably going to do a combined review of all the books rather than each one individually. I can't say how excited I am for Lover Mine to come out next spring. John Matthew had long been one of my favorite characters. I'm taking ASL next semester, something I've been interested in for years. JR Ward has written both a blind and a mute hero, and for that I think she deserves major points for combining disabilities to romance in a respectful and kick-ass way.

Currently a lot of my TBR pile is coming from the public library. Until recently I never used the public library for reading romance novels. I try to support the economy and as often as I can I buy new. But with the recession I've been finding my means for obtaining romance novels has changed to almost exclusively to thrift and borrowing. This Christmas I'm trying to buy family new books as more of an effort to support the publishing industry, and I'm hoping to get some gift cards so I can get myself new books as well. Has anyone else found there method of getting romance novels has changed? Is anyone else making it a priority this holiday season to try to by new books for themselves or loved ones?

Secret Fantasies and the Asshat Hero

From early romance with Fabio covers to today’s Harlequin Presents, the uber-alpha male is a staple of the romance genre. We’re all familiar with the symptoms: brooding, possessive aggression, a dark past, and controlling the heroine’s life for her own good. For many readers, this is enough to send the book flying across the room. Many feminists are enraged by the use of forced seduction. Many readers are disgusted by the emotionally abusive relationships between virgins and their Greek billionaire tycoons. But one thing is for sure, these books are still selling strong and aren’t going anywhere for quite some time.

I personally fall into the disgusted and enraged category. The last time I read a Harlequin Presents was months ago, and mainly because I was in the mood to write a particularly snarky review. My loathing of these heroes has nothing to do with this post though. What is relevant is my curiosity as to why women love these books, despite all the abuse the heroine is stuck with. After months of thinking and meeting women who love these books, here is my conclusion:

These alpha-males aren’t just assholes and pricks, but a reflection of a secret fantasy. Thinking about yourself and your friends, how many women do you know who have ended up in a relationship with the perpetual bachelor? The controlling prick? The over possessive asshole? The guy who blows hot and cold?

The list of these stereotypes is endless. So is the list of friends of mine who have ended up with one of these men, and still tried to make it work despite those traits. And guess what- they ended up getting hurt.

I’m going to start with the controversial book Twilight. People are all over the place when it comes to Twilight, from screaming fangirls to people who scream if the books get anywhere near them. I ended up going to the midnight release of New Moon with a friend of mine and her guy friend. We leave the theater and she starts to wax poetically about Edward and his love for Bella. In my mind I begin listing all the reasons I can’t stand him. 1) He doesn’t let Bella decide for herself 2) he always insists he’s right 3) he stalks her… I look up to see her with her guy friend, or more specifically the guy she’s sleeping with but 1) won’t date her because he knows she’s still in love with her ex 2) he insists she be more healthy (for her own good) 3) he’s cheating on her…

And it clicks. She loves Edward because the men in her life have the same abusive traits as him. What could be a better fantasy than having a man act that way because he loves you!

I don’t think most women take stories such as Twilight as seriously as she does. I don’t think all the women who read and love Harlequin Presents and The Flame and the Flower are in emotionally abusive relationships. Chances are though that men like this have been in your life at some point. We know these men aren’t going to change, but isn’t it a wonderful fantasy that they act that way because of a strong, compelling and selfless emotion?