You cried during the Royal wedding? LOL! That is so cute ;-)

This is going to sound random to everyone here, but it’s a very important question to me and I can’t believe no one has asked it yet. Where did you get your glasses? They are fabulous and I want them! That’s all, not book related but I've been dying to know.

Oh! And to answer the question, I always worry about animals in books, especially cats and dogs (sorry other animals!) and if the book has one I always try to find spoilers to at least be prepared in case something bad happens to them. Also, animal brutality almost always results in a DNF for me, can’t stand it.

One of the reasons I started reading m/m romance was because I kept seeing gay characters in mainstream romance and I was curious about it, but I was annoyed by how poorly they were portrayed. It seemed to me that the only reason they existed was to fill in a quota of diversity and maybe as comic relief (gay characters are always the sidekick, never the hero).

Then there were authors like Suzanne Brockmann who gave her gay characters very important roles and even their own books and romantic interests, but still managed to define their characters just by their sexuality. Her very popular gay character Jules, was a successful FBI agent, a fantastic operative, intelligent, etc. but he was first and foremost gay (not to mention that he started as the heroine’s sidekick). So I felt like the author was trying to say that he was either successful because he was gay or in spite of being gay, and I’m not sure which one is worse (and I’m saying this as a huge fan of Ms. Brockmann).

Then I discovered m/m and found a whole new world filled with characters whose sexuality was still an important part of their lives but it wasn’t all of it. The problem is that there’s a lot of prejudice, coming back to Ms. Brockmann, when her gay characters finally had sex it was a fade-to-black scene, while her heterosexual sex scenes were fairly graphic, and she mentioned once that she wasn’t sure about how her readers would take a more graphic scene, which I get and respect. I think we have come a long way but there’s still a huge road ahead of us, and I think that the first step we need to take is start to say no to all those ridiculous stereotypes in books, not only romance or urban fantasy, but in general.

Fantastic post!

I’m so sorry to hear that, Alexis. Take all the time you need, since we are not going anywhere!

I think the success was also due to your hard work. Students are smart and can tell when someone truly cares about them, and so I think they responded so well because you made it engaging and interesting. I’m guessing they won’t forget your class and that you did make a difference in their lives, even if just was small one.

Yes, I could finally view the blog and also read her post. I’m sad to see that she’s feeling down, hopefully she will get better soon!

I totally get what you mean. I don’t mind about cliffhanger endings as long as there’s the promise of a happily ever after, and I also like to see good things happening to the characters, even if it’s just a tiny moment in the middle of all the drama and misery. In The Hunger Games the first book ends on a promising note, not necessarily happy, but you know that all the suffering will eventually pay off, I’m not sure if it really does, but at least the bad aftertaste came by the end of the series. Now in this case this is book 1, right? So imagine what’s to come. It seems like this is a trend in YA novels, there’s the not-so-happy cliffhanger ending, the almost dystopian feel and the love triangle. It’s like they are following a recipe instead of writing an original piece of fiction.

BTW, and this is completely off-topic. Are you having problems viewing Jade’s blog? It keeps giving me error and I’m not sure if it’s me or if her website it’s down….

I just started the book and OMG! That first part is so heartbreaking, with the stupid boyfriend and the little girl, oh no! I feel so bad for the heroine. I really can see the similarities between this author and Sarah Addison Allen, so far so good! I’ll let you know once I’m done!

I just got this book! And by I just got it, I literally mean that I read your review and bought it (this is exactly why Kindles are dangerous…) So if I don’t like it I’m blaming it on you! -I’ll probably love it because it sounds just like the type of book I like-.

PS. You really don’t know what Chicken Milanese is? LOL I’m not judging you though, I love cooking shows and books, and I pretty much know the name of everything, but when it comes the time to actually cook I’m so lazy that I end up eating a sandwich, and not a fancy one either, just plain grilled cheese (without the grilled part because I really am lazy!)…

This series has been on my TBR pile for years and I never get to it. The last book I read by this author was Love in the Afternoon and it was very good but I prefer her contemporaries, crazy right?