Rent-a-book.

 Because I know a lot of readers enjoy books they rent to read via KU, I decided to add my romantic, suspense contemporaries to that list. To do that I had to make sure they were not widely distributed, which takes a bit (some wide spots also allow renting them but Amazon's rules for KU is they just all be exclusive for independent writers, like myself.

I don't know how to advertise they are there; but if you use Kindle Unlimited, here are the titles. They rent for free but it does take a paid, monthly membership.

As usual, you can click on the link of the title to read its blurb and a free sample. 

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Desert Inferno-- Landscape painter, Rachel O'Brian finds a dying man on her family's remote desert ranch and Border Patrol comes to investigate. Jake is an ugly man and no way is he looking to fall in love with a beautiful woman where it can never be. He doesn't know it's not just Rachel who is looking for an ending-- just of a different sort than Rachel has in mind. It all is settled on the desert where only the toughest survive.

A Beauty and the Beast story with a psychopathic villain to fuel the challenges to Happly Ever After.

Evening Star-- When Portland attorney, Marla Jamison, meets Randy O'Brian, she wants nothing to do with the younger, handsome cop. She has a spoiled cat-- what else does she need? What we need and want, aren't always the same thing. Marla falls in love, but Randy has secrets that endanger both their lives. She needs to find her inner warrior. ( wrong person, wrong time and Fate)

Bannister's Way-- David Bannister has been undercover before but when he takes a job in Oregon and reconnects with his artist wife, Raven, undercover takes on a new meaning. David was in Desert Inferno. Characters from Evening Star show up in this book, totally set in the Portland, Oregon area, with art, mystery, suspense, and a game playing killer riding along for the unexpected twists. 

(Think ..a difficult soul-mate story) 

Moon Dust-- For her emotional and physical health, Susan needs a divorce from her husband, Dane, a Portland high school principal. is facing more than heartbreak as tensions with a militia leader escalate. If Dane can't open up to his wife about his own secrets, an attack by a madman will not be the worst of what he faces. This story is about more than whether love can be healed, but also the impact of brainwashing, when people no longer realize that it was done to them.

(The wounded hero, and rebuilding a relationship)

Second Chance-- Psychologist Barrett juggles being a
single mother with an invasive ex. She cannot afford the complications a truck driver, animal rescuer, much younger man would bring to her daughter or her. This book follows up secondary characters in Moon Dust. Judd has done all he can to rebuild his life from early mistakes. He's long been in love with Barrett but it was an unrealistic dream-- or is it? Well, he better survive long enough to find out.

Hidden Pearl-- Architect, S.T. Taggert needs to find his sister, who it appears has joined a dangerous cult. S.T. does not want the complications of a beautiful photo-journalist, who has come to Oregon to do a series on younger men doing important work. As they both delve into the world of a fanatic, they are soon on the run for their lives with a need to stop someone from killing again.

Her Dark Angel-- Katy has come to Reno to help her uncle while his receptionist is out. Dill, because of a perilous situation, is

determined to make her visit a short one. Beauty better be prepared to fight for her beast if she wants a happily ever after. Reluctantly, Dill has been involved in working undercover for the government. He has made a dangerous enemy. His fear is it will end up hurting those he has come to love. The other thing he has worried about keeping safe is his adopted stray cat.

(A different Beauty and the Beast with an opposites attract take and a improbable marriage of convenance.)

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These books are all full length novels of at least 80,000 words. They  were written in the 90s, updated and reedited recently. Some have strong, connecting characters like Moon Dust and Second Chance, but none related by family, more interests and caring. I brought them out in 2012 when they had sales, but none recently. That has led me to think maybe renting is the way to get readers, but where it comes to marketing, who knows. They are also listed in my website. I have other contemporaries but these fit together. Without knowing much about KU, this is an experiment. All the rest of my books are wide-- well, not the fantasy contemporaries, but not sure yet what to do with those. The joys of writing, when it reaches the marketing stage... Writers want others to find and read their books and therein lies the mystery.

You can find how to rent these books by clicking on the link, going to my website along here, hit the link, or with a search for their titles and Rain Trueax on Amazon. 

 

 

Defense of the romance genre

 

image from Canstock

So what do romance novels give to women like I was and those who read the romances today, the women I'd like to interest in reading mine? In the sociology studies I have seen, they are frequently read by women with high stress jobs, sound marriages, families, and a lot of pressure. The books aren't a substitute for reality but just provide a break from it.

If someone thought they are generally read by lonely spinsters at home waiting for their Prince Charming, the studies say they are not (leave that to social media-- wait don't.

Romances are mostly read by women and men with very active lives, most frequently satisfactorily married. They are very unlikely to have a hero/heroine like those in the books and they wouldn't want them. They are pretty satisfied with what they do have. They aren't plotting when they will run off for their dream. Like men's Tom Clancy novels, it's just a break to travel into someone else's life for a few hours where it's exciting.

For women, it's a bit like the Barbie dolls that some feminists had a fit little girls were being ruined for life if they played with them. It doesn't make those girls want to have a figure like Barbie. She just represents glamor, imagination and play. I think that's a lot of what the romance books represent-- a break from reality and not in a bad way.

The romances that I write are involved with history, other relationships, and the difficulty of two people combining their lives as my husband and I did 61 years ago. Like the romances that I write, we've had our ups and downs, but luckily still enjoy each other's company. Romances combine love with real life obstacles.  

who writes or reads romances?

 

One thing that many people don't know is that men also write romances. Some do it under their own name or a pseudonym, but others in different genres. Westerns often have a romance in their story, though it won't be at the core. Examples are Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour.  

The thing is relationships are at the heart of many books, whether key or alongside the action. Because reality is human interactions are what makes the world go round, not just babies but moving forward. My romances are all heterosexual but there are good romances out there which are not. It's all about thee strong connection. 

 Because so many are prejudiced against the idea of romance as a key part of a book, I know I always lose readers here who challenge that as realistic. Romance novels have a bad rap, probably about the equivalent of soap operas. Who reads them? Maybe women a lot like I was when I did.

My first romances (to read that is) came when I was in the end of grade school and began checking out from the library some of those sweet stories like Paintbox Summer by Betty Cavanna (I had forgotten the author's name but still remembered that title which led to the author).

Those books were pretty much like the little films of the time on the Mickey Mouse Club with Spin, Marty and Annette (if you aren't in your sixties at least, you probably have no idea who they were). The stories were sweet. Sex, drugs, and alcohol rarely intruded in the lives of those teens; or if they did, they were shown as negative. I was living a life a lot like those books; so they suited me for a few years.

Then in my early teens came the westerns which really were my first romance reads of an adult sort. I was as interested then in the western life as the romantic parts. The women in Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour, etc. stories were often learning to live a western life and toughen up. The men they were attracted to were as tough as the land.

From this came more grown up fare by authors like Frank Yerby and Ernest Hemingway (yes, he did write stories with romance even though it usually didn't end well). The romances I read during that period had history as more important than the romantic parts, and the endings might or might not have been happy.

It wasn't until I was married and I think had my first baby that I actually read my first romance novels of the bodice ripper sort, which had only recently come into popularity with authors like Rosemary Rogers, and I might add were considered wicked back then. For me, those books were quite enlightening, and I went for enlightenment in a big way for a while.

Then I realized I didn't think it was healthy when any rape was romanticized or glorified which means even by the hero. I still read romances but less frequently and a bit more carefully chosen; until, boom, I lost interest in all of them.

More on this next week as to a defense of the genre. 

Expectations

To be honest, I am of the generation, who never expected to live past 30 and told my future husband as much. Once that date passed I quit predicting and here I am now, October 7th, just turning 82. How the heck did that happen?

 

It's a bummer for me that my birthday turned into such a significant date for the Hamas attack on the Israeli Kibbutzes, but it is what it is, and I will never pass this birthday again without a feeling of sorrow for what happened that day to innocent people. Frankly, there are too many dates like that these days.

 

What did that baby girl expect way back, all those years ago? Certainly, not the blessed life she had and the horrors out there in the world. How do we stay sane? Because was it the choice? To live with anger, fear and rage, no thanks for me. But it's a tough time, way beyond what I expected all those years ago with such great parents and a life full of possibilities. A golden era, I call it-- although with the Cold War, Korean War, and then Vietnam War, it sure wasn't all golden.

 

 

 

romance or love story

 

 

To write about romances is to lose some readers with the very word as the stories have been ridiculed so much, with a fair number poorly written with a formula or using silly wording. Yet, romance is at the heart of many emotions. What makes two people decide to tie their lives together-- including legally? But then again, how many real life romances end, sometimes even in tragedy?  So, when writing such books, to avoid being ridiculed, what should a romance be about?

First of all, separate romance from love story. Love stories don't have to have happy endings. Some examples from the past include Gone with the Wind, Wuthering Heights, and most of Shakespeare's plays. Love can be a violent emotion when is not accompanied by other behaviors. There are many books where love or even romantic feelings are in the story, but they aren't love stories or romances. An example of that would be Where the Crawdads Sing. Different examples of passion for someone but not a love story or a romance.

Romances, on the other hand, always end happily-- or are supposed to. The teasers might suggest they won't, but they will-- or they're not romances.

The issue though for a writer is what makes two people drawn together and then have the probability the relationship will last? A writer can't just set them up and assume they'll fall in love and it will (after some crises) work out. It has to be believable to the reader. Well, unless someone is writing formula and then they just follow the pattern; but what if the author wants it to feel real and bring the reader along for the ride?

All of Jane Austin's books are romances. Her own life never got that happy romantic ending but her lead characters always did-- despite the problems to getting there. 

Romances can be and usually are about more than romance, but it does have to be at the heart of the book. A writer can't just say they fell in love. Readers have to believe it would have happened. I often read reviews for other authors of romances and readers get quite irked when they don't believe those two people would have chosen each other.

One of the things that makes a couple feel real is when they have things in common to draw them together. But, there should also be those opposite elements that lead to conflicts between them. Otherwise, there's just -- and they lived happily ever after. I'll write more about that in the next blog as this one is already getting too long.

You know, relationships are not just about humans. It's what makes the world go round and species survive-- or not.