Romance readers are often accused of giving in to escapism. You’ve heard those critics, the ones you want to roll your eyes at. They don’t get it. They seem to think that escapism is a bad thing! In fact, reading a Romance set in a place or even a time far, far away from your own is the next best thing to taking a long trip and immersing yourself in a different culture. I first started reading Romance in high school, when I was definitely trapped in one spot. My daily fantasies of running away from the mean girls and indifferent boys, hopping a ship, and going to England, where I would hide in the countryside until a handsome aristocrat noticed me met their imaginative match in romantic stories of Regency pirates. The freedom that I found in reading about pirates (the ultimate gateway drug to the world of alpha heroes and feisty heroines) carried me through a difficult time in my life. It also peeked my curiosity about the times and places I was reading about. Traveling the world is a prospect that most of us can only dream about, but just because we might not ever be able…
Fresh Pick for Wednesday, June 18th, 2014 is UNTIL I SAW YOUR SMILE by J.J. Murray #RomanceWednesday Kensington June 2014 On Sale: May 27, 2014 432 pages ISBN: 0758277288 EAN: 9780758277282 Kindle: B00GYLVQAC Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List Romance Contemporary Buy A Copy Amazon.com Kindle BN.com Powell’s Books Indiebound Until I Saw Your Smile by J.J. Murray At Smith’s Sweet Treats and Coffee, you’ll find Brooklyn’s best house blend and the freshest homemade pastries. It’s more than a business to owner Angela Smith. It’s her home and her refuge–one she stands to lose thanks to her gouging landlord. Then a new regular offers to cover her rent increase if Angela lets him meet his clients there. If Matthew McConnell weren’t such a persuasive lawyer–and so sweet, funny, and sexy–she wouldn’t dream of letting him in. Since he left a high-paying, soul-sucking legal firm to go solo, Matthew has been striking out, professionally and personally. The best part of his love life is regaling Angela with date-from-hell stories over steaming, fragrant coffee. Behind her captivating smile is a smart, sensual woman he’d love to get close to. And when a secret from her past is suddenly exposed, he gets…
As a California native, I grew up on the beach. But not the typical beaches you might picture when you think of California. No palm trees, no oiled-up weight lifters, no boardwalk and no laying out for a tan. You see, I grew up in Eureka, happily situated between San Francisco and the Oregon border. The average summer temperature is around 65. The average winter temperature is around 55. We like to call that the temperate zone. As a current resident of Texas, I can’t tell you how much I miss that weather! The beaches I grew up on had one consistent attribute: gray. Gray skies, gray water, gray sand. But it was glorious. My early experiences with going to the beach were in sweatshirts, rolled up jeans and bare feet, soaked to the knees with seaweed between my toes and an ensuing earache. But surfing and swimming…never! There are sharks in those waters, dude. And jellyfish and weirdo slimy, gray sea life that bump against your legs and try to pull you down. Plus, Jaws was, and still is, one of my favorite movies. Needless to say, I have rather polarizing beachy issues. This might be why—to this day—I…