Sarah Wendell

Last week, the posse of reviewers at SBTB and I took a long, long look at an older Silhouette cover because there were a number of hilarious and odd things about it. Shirtless man with odd shoulder? Check. Cover copy overflowing with intentional and unintentional (we hope) innuendo? Oh, check. Typo on the cover that made the whole thing extra-hilarious? Check check and check!

One thing I learned early when talking about romances online—and books in general—is that ...

It's been a rough and cold winter for many people, and more than a few of us are very tired of being inside day after day. While actual travel is always an option, it takes time, preparation and a bit of lucre to move a person from once place to the other. But taking a journey within a book is a hassle-free and instant method of travel. No checked baggage fees and no security lines? Sign me up. And ...

I'm not sure where you are geographically, but I'm in the northeastern U.S., and like much of the rest of the country, it's been cold and very snowy. Despite really warm temperatures the past 2 days, there is STILL melting snow on the ground. But even though a forecast calling for more snow is making its way across my news feeds, my weakness for romances in which the main characters get trapped in the snow remains ...

Lately I find myself in a reading slump—which I HATE. I've started and abandoned four books in a row, and it's getting me down. Nothing is grabbing me, not even things that I'm pretty sure I would enjoy. I'm having trouble connecting to the characters, and I find that they irk me more than they invited empathy. I keep switching books, starting and stopping my reading one book after another. Plus, I'm easily distracted ...

One of the more interesting pieces of feedback I received from my last post on romance was found in the number of people who really, really liked what I'd called all those contemporary romances that made me laugh: Contemporary Comedy Romances. The fact that I'd named the subgenre something that described it was commented on by several folks via email and on Twitter, with much appreciation.

I hadn't realized I'd done something so noteworthy. I was ...

In a recent podcast interview with author Lisa Renee Jones, Jane from DearAuthor asked Lisa what she thought the next big trend in romance might be. Lisa's answer: romantic comedies. In the movie world, they're called rom-coms, but in the romance genre, I tend to think of them as "contemporary comedy romances." 

(You can listen to the complete podcast or read a transcript of it on SBTB, if you're interested. We also talk about self publishing, trends ...

For the past few days, I've been very tired and a little stressed as a result, all of which I'm attributing to not getting enough sleep. The solution should be obvious: Go to bed. Preferably earlier than I have been. Sometimes that's not possible—I'm the grown up and have to do the grown up things, after all—and sometimes, well….

OK, I'll be honest. Sometimes, I am really not good at going to bed ...

I’m pretty miserly with vowels. Grading vowels, I mean. I use actual vowels in words with no problem, but when it comes to grading books, to earn a vowel, a couple of things have to happen. My socks have to blown off clear across the room and possibly into the back yard so my dogs can happily bury them. Sock-propelling books are rare. Foot coverings metaphorically and perhaps literally fly off only when a story gives me the good ...