by hollandrae | Jul 27, 2020 | Characters, Harry Potter, Heroines, Humor, Industry, Inspiration, Musings, My Books, Reading, Regency, Research, Romance Novels
“What’s my problem, Mila?” he asked, all the more intimidating and enticing for the lowness of his voice. “What’s my problem, tell me. I want to know.” The above quote is from my current work in progress, In My Sights, and though it doesn’t squarely follow the...
by hollandrae | Jul 20, 2020 | Characters, Heroines, Historical, Industry, Musings, My Books, Regency, Research, Romance Novels, Series, Women
A Jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one I recently engaged in a lively family discussion about misquoted idioms. As with curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back, the modern concept has come to mean the...
by hollandrae | Jul 6, 2020 | Beauty, Characters, Heroines, Industry, Inspiration, Musings, Reading, Romance Novels, Women's Rights
I think there was a time when pop culture and mass media realized that women could be mean. They discovered the secret like it was the Holy Grail and turned it into a trope that would never die. The Mean Girl. The Villainess. The Bitch. The Witch. The Slut. The Prude....
by hollandrae | Jul 2, 2020 | Characters, Heroes, Heroines, Industry, Intersectional Feminism, Musings, My Books, Reviews, Romance Novels, Women, Women's Rights
I know, it sounds dirty. But DNF stands for ‘Did Not Finish’ and I don’t do it often. In fact, I didn’t even do it while I was reading this most recent book, by a famous, renowned romance novelist, whose work I’ve enjoyed in the past, but whose latest release is, in...
by hollandrae | Jun 22, 2020 | Characters, Industry, Inspiration, My Books, Research, Romance Novels
Sometimes, the beginning is the easy part. In fact, sometimes it’s the only part I know. Story inspiration comes to me in myriad ways, snippets of dialogue, a flash of a setting, a character’s tragic backstory. Sometimes it is wide brushes of character arc and plot,...
by hollandrae | Jun 15, 2020 | Characters, Heroes, Heroines, Industry, Musings, Regency, Romance Novels, Women, Women's Rights, Writing
Yes, I’m defending romance novels again. But it’s a little different this time, I swear! (I hope.) See, recently I’ve been coercing my new neighbor into reading romance novels. She’s been alive for more than three decades and she’s never enjoyed a single romance novel...