The Readers Have Spoken
The folks over at All About Romance are conducting their annual Reader Poll. They are posting interim results daily so that everyone can see the difference voting makes to the results. Last year Lucy Monroe’s The Real Deal showed up in both the Best Romance and Worst Romance categories, making this poll an irresistible form of procrastination.
In this year’s Worst category (as of January 31st) we have:
A Fine Passion by Stephanie Laurens - never read her
Come Up and See Me Sometime by Lucy Monroe - haven’t read this, but I liked The Real Deal
Passion by No Freaking Idea - do you have any idea how many 2005 romance releases have the word passion in the title?
Surrender to a Wicked Spy by Celeste Bradley - no idea
The Lord Next Door By Gayle Callen - no idea but I’ve heard of the author so that’s something
The Trouble with Valentine’s Day by Rachel Gibson - I thought everyone loved Gibson
To Die For by Linda Howard - who I wish would return to her romance roots
Wait Until Midnight by Amanda Quick - I refuse to believe she belongs on this list
What Do You Say To a Naked Elf? by Cheryl Sterling - maybe people just hated the dumb title
Honestly, I had to look some of these up on B&N because I had no idea what they were. Others are big romance names. Is this a case of people not liking the usual favs or something else? Not sure. I’ve only read one - Amanda Quick’s - so I can’t comment on whether I’d put all of these in Best or Worst or neither. I do own 2 other than Quick’s and now must find time to read those.
February 1st, 2006 at 7:51 am
I’ve a feeling that it’s Passion by Lisa Valdez. I’m reasonably sure it’s the only book titled Passion that people have been talking about in the last year.
Gibson’s inconsistent, which may explain why that’s on the list–I’ve not read that particular one.
February 1st, 2006 at 8:23 am
Interesting list. Some of these, I believe, actually received good review at AAR. Also, I’m pretty sure that most of them got good word-of-mouth reviews.
February 1st, 2006 at 10:34 am
I’ve taken a look at the list, too, and have several titles from both the Best and Worst lists on my TBR pile. Problem for me is that I don’t read enough that was published in 2005 to feel qualified to vote and therefore abstain.
But what I find most telling is how many titles show up on both the Best list and the Worst list. Clearly this is a case of hype leading people to expect something, only to be so disappointed that the book receives even lower opinions than it maybe deserves. If I’ve heard that some book is just the greatest, read it to find it only mediocre, then I would be tempted to say it was horrible because I’d expected something so wonderful.
February 1st, 2006 at 2:49 pm
Celeste Bradley’s “rogue spy lord ton regency brotherhood, etc.” series has gotten a lot of buzz. I suppose this is the latest entry.
I’m also betting that Passion is the one by Valdez. It seemed to be a love it or hate it thing.
February 1st, 2006 at 4:37 pm
It’s definitely Valdez’ Passion and it’s definitely a love it or hate it thing. I haven’t read it but I’m waiting to see what she does in Patience that will top Passion’s breastfeeding sex.
The stupid title for the Cheryl Sterling one was the least of it’s problems. Hmm, I might have to go vote now.
February 1st, 2006 at 10:45 pm
Breastfeeding sex… Now that’s a visual image that’s going to stick with me. What the hell?
February 3rd, 2006 at 10:51 am
I need to finish Passion. I haven’t gotten to the breastfeeding sex that’s at the end. I think they’r still having sex behind the screen where I’ve stopped. And the whole hitting my womb thing was getting old. And I found the language and a few other elements to be rather inconsistent. ANd this was just in less than the first half of the book.
February 3rd, 2006 at 10:53 am
CUASMS (anyone find that acronym suggestive besides me?) was my least favorite Monroe book. I also liked TRD.
February 3rd, 2006 at 11:26 am
Why is it odd that the same books show up on the best and the worst?
I don’t get people wondering about that. The poll, is a just that a poll, of many different readers. ssssooooooo it would be different tastes…
Hell if we were to poll just the people on this blog we could come up with books that some loved and others hated. I don’t think it has anything to do with hype, reviews or word of mouth. Just different people like different things.
Maybe I am wrong…