Download or read book Reading the Romance written by Janice A. Radway and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2009-11-18 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1984, Reading the Romance challenges popular (and often demeaning) myths about why romantic fiction, one of publishing's most lucrative categories, captivates millions of women readers. Among those who have disparaged romance reading are feminists, literary critics, and theorists of mass culture. They claim that romances enforce the woman reader's dependence on men and acceptance of the repressive ideology purveyed by popular culture. Radway questions such claims, arguing that critical attention "must shift from the text itself, taken in isolation, to the complex social event of reading." She examines that event, from the complicated business of publishing and distribution to the individual reader's engagement with the text. Radway's provocative approach combines reader-response criticism with anthropology and feminist psychology. Asking readers themselves to explore their reading motives, habits, and rewards, she conducted interviews in a midwestern town with forty-two romance readers whom she met through Dorothy Evans, a chain bookstore employee who has earned a reputation as an expert on romantic fiction. Evans defends her customers' choice of entertainment; reading romances, she tells Radway, is no more harmful than watching sports on television. "We read books so we won't cry" is the poignant explanation one woman offers for her reading habit. Indeed, Radway found that while the women she studied devote themselves to nurturing their families, these wives and mothers receive insufficient devotion or nurturance in return. In romances the women find not only escape from the demanding and often tiresome routines of their lives but also a hero who supplies the tenderness and admiring attention that they have learned not to expect. The heroines admired by Radway's group defy the expected stereotypes; they are strong, independent, and intelligent. That such characters often find themselves to be victims of male aggression and almost always resign themselves to accepting conventional roles in life has less to do, Radway argues, with the women readers' fantasies and choices than with their need to deal with a fear of masculine dominance. These romance readers resent not only the limited choices in their own lives but the patronizing atitude that men especially express toward their reading tastes. In fact, women read romances both to protest and to escape temporarily the narrowly defined role prescribed for them by a patriarchal culture. Paradoxically, the books that they read make conventional roles for women seem desirable. It is this complex relationship between culture, text, and woman reader that Radway urges feminists to address. Romance readers, she argues, should be encouraged to deliver their protests in the arena of actual social relations rather than to act them out in the solitude of the imagination. In a new introduction, Janice Radway places the book within the context of current scholarship and offers both an explanation and critique of the study's limitations.

Download or read book Book Lovers written by Emily Henry and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-05-03 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “One of my favorite authors.”—Colleen Hoover An insightful, delightful, instant #1 New York Times bestseller from the author of Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation. Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by Oprah Daily ∙ Today ∙ Parade ∙ Marie Claire ∙ Bustle ∙ PopSugar ∙ Katie Couric Media ∙ Book Bub ∙ SheReads ∙ Medium ∙ The Washington Post ∙ and more! One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming... Nora Stephens' life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby. Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute. If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.

Download or read book Romance By The Book written by Sarah Ready and published by W. W. Crown. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Book-loving, librarian Jessie has loved Gavin Williams for practically her whole life. So when a psychic predicts that Gavin is Jessie's one fated soul mate, she's ecstatic. There's just one itty bitty little problem. Gavin's engaged to marry another woman. What's a book lover to do? Easy. Check out dozens of romance books, study the (totally realistic) way characters fall in love, and make a foolproof plan on how to win her soul mate (in one week). Meet cute? Check. Dance under the stars? Check. Kiss in the rain? Check. Romance books don't lie - it'll all go perfectly. Except, there's another problem. Gavin's twin brother: William Williams IV. Jessie has hated William for as long as she's loved his brother. William is grump to Jessie's sunshine, stand-offish to her extrovert, cold to her warm. And when William learns of Jessie's plan to derail his brother's engagement he swears that he'll do anything to stop her. But after William and Jessie (unwillingly) share a dance...a romantic dinner...a kiss...Jessie starts to wonder, is William actually her soul mate? Or is this just another one of his games? She's can't tell, because this romance definitely isn't going by the book. Romance by the Book is Book 3 in Sarah Ready's Soul Mates in Romeo Romance Series.

Download or read book Unseen Messages written by Pepper Winters and published by Pepper Winters. This book was released on 2017-01-27 with total page 783 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York Times Bestseller, Pepper Winters, comes a USA Today Bestselling survival romance of epic proportions. “I didn’t know him. He was just a surly stranger sharing a flight with me. But in the end, he was my water, my air, my shelter, and my only chance at survival.” Estelle is tired from a career on the road and craves a tropical island getaway. Empty beaches, endless sunshine, and exotic delicacies is exactly what she needs to recharge. Galloway is running from a past that threatens to steal his freedom. A new start is exactly what he needs, far away from his mistakes. They board the same flight and they crash on the same island. Estelle is unharmed but Galloway is severely injured, and it falls to her to source water, find food, and build shelter, all while being nurse to a man who finds accepting help difficult. As Galloway’s injuries slowly heal and they still aren’t found, desire complicates their precarious existence. Months turn to years and as their desire grows, they’re forced to understand how fragile love truly is. They’re alone but at least they have each other. But what happens if one of them dies? From New York Times Bestseller Pepper Winters comes a timeless love story answering the question of what happens when everything is stripped away. STANDALONE ISLAND ROMANCE

Download or read book The Lotus Palace written by Jeannie Lin and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2013-09-01 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maidservant Yue-ying is not one of those beauties. Street-smart and practical, she’s content to live in the shadow of her infamous mistress—until she meets the aristocratic playboy Bai Huang.

Download or read book Nothing But This written by Natasha Anders and published by Montlake Romance. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A married couple yearns to rediscover lost love in this novel about forgiveness, reconciliation, and emotional growth. It's always been complicated between Libby Lawson and Greyson Chapman--and married life isn't any simpler. But when Libby gets pregnant, she at last sees a bright future ahead. There's just one problem: Greyson says he's sterile. Furious, Greyson abandons the young family. Equally furious and deeply hurt, Libby cuts all ties with him. After all these years, it seems their relationship has finally expired. But love is resilient and endures even when you don't want it to. Greyson still longs for Libby, and though Libby's heartbroken by Greyson's lack of trust, she holds out hope for a complete, happy family. And so they embark on the journey back to each other, wary of all the obstacles between them. It's been a long road already--one strewed with fear, doubt, and misunderstandings. Will they keep looking to the past, or will they look to each other and walk hand in hand toward a broad new horizon?

Download or read book It Happened One Summer written by Tessa Bailey and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-07-13 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first in a spicy and unforgettable rom-com duology from #1 New York Times bestseller and tik tok favorite Tessa Bailey, in which a Hollywood “It Girl” is cut off from her wealthy family and exiled to a small Pacific Northwest beach town... where she butts heads with a surly, sexy local who thinks she doesn’t belong. Piper Bellinger is fashionable, influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. When too much champagne and an out-of-control rooftop party lands Piper in the slammer, her stepfather decides enough is enough. So he cuts her off, and sends Piper and her sister to learn some responsibility running their late father’s dive bar... in Washington. Piper hasn’t even been in Westport for five minutes when she meets big, bearded sea captain Brendan, who thinks she won’t last a week outside of Beverly Hills. So what if Piper can’t do math, and the idea of sleeping in a shabby apartment with bunk beds gives her hives. How bad could it really be? She’s determined to show her stepfather—and the hot, grumpy local—that she’s more than a pretty face. Except it’s a small town and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there’s an undeniable attraction simmering between them. Piper doesn’t want any distractions, especially feelings for a man who sails off into the sunset for weeks at a time. Yet as she reconnects with her past and begins to feel at home in Westport, Piper starts to wonder if the cold, glamorous life she knew is what she truly wants. LA is calling her name, but Brendan—and this town full of memories—may have already caught her heart. As seen on E!Online, PopSugar, CNN, EliteDaily, Vulture, Buzzfeed, Bustle, the Nerd Daily, PARADE, LA Magazine, Country Living, USA Today, and more!

Download or read book Act Like It written by Lucy Parker and published by Carina Press. This book was released on 2020-07-13 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Romance takes center stage as West End theatre’s Richard Troy steps out with none other than castmate Lainie Graham “Lucy Parker’s books are all fabulous. Her writing voice never fails to make me giggle, while the chemistry between her characters makes me swoon.”—Frolic Richard Troy used to be the hottest actor in London, but the only thing firing up lately is his temper. We all love to love a bad boy, but Richard’s antics have made him Enemy Number One, breaking the hearts of fans across the city. Have the tides turned? Has English rose Lainie Graham made him into a new man? Sources say the mismatched pair has been spotted at multiple events, arm in arm and hip to hip. From fits of jealousy to longing looks and heated whispers, onlookers are stunned by this blooming romance. Could the rumors be right? Could this unlikely romance be the real thing? Or are these gifted stage actors playing us all? London Celebrities Book 1: Act Like It Book 2: Pretty Face Book 3: Making Up Book 4: The Austen Playbook Book 5: Headliners

Download or read book Robot in Love written by T. L. McBeth and published by Henry Holt Books For Young Readers. This book was released on 2018-12-24 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A shy robot falls in love and works up the courage to speak to its crush.

Download or read book The Unwanted Wife written by Natasha Anders and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Delicate, titian-haired Theresa Noble has met her father's associates in the past, but the gorgeous, Italian-born Sandro De Lucci leaves her speechless. Eighteen months into their marriage, however, Sandro has turned to ice. Desperate to escape a relationship that has proven to be as stubbornly passionate as it is cold and hateful, Theresa summons up the courage to ask for a divorce. But before he'll grant her request, Sandro demands something from Theresa: a son. The stalemate sickens her. Never mind that Sandro has yet to introduce Theresa to the large family that means so much to him. Or that Theresa overhears her husband on the phone with a mystery woman. Most damning is that Theresa senses, in Sandro's treatment of her, the behind-the-scenes machinations of Jackson Noble, her cruel father. From the depths of her anxiety, Theresa must seek an empowering truth about the husband who calls her, with such cold affection, his cara, his beloved.

Download or read book Beach Read written by Emily Henry and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-05-25 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION! "Original, sparkling bright, and layered with feeling."--Sally Thorne, author of The Hating Game A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters. Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast. They're polar opposites. In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block. Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She'll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he'll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.

Download or read book Reading Like a Writer written by Francine Prose and published by Union Books. This book was released on 2012-04-01 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and tricks of the masters to discover why their work has endured. Written with passion, humour and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart – to take pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; to look to John le Carré for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue and to Flannery O’ Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail; to be inspired by Emily Brontë ’ s structural nuance and Charles Dickens’ s deceptively simple narrative techniques. Most importantly, Prose cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which all literature is crafted, and reminds us that good writing comes out of good reading.

Download or read book Falling in Love with Close Reading written by Christopher Lehman and published by Heinemann Educational Books. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Love brings us in close, leads us to study the details of a thing, and asks us to return again and again. These are the motivations and ideas that built this book." -Chris Lehman and Kate Roberts You and your students will fall for close reading. In Falling in Love with Close Reading, Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts show us that it can be rigorous, meaningful, and joyous. You'll empower students to not only analyze texts but to admire the craft of a beloved book, study favorite songs and videogames, and challenge peers in evidence-based discussions. Chris and Kate start with a powerful three-step close-reading ritual that students can apply to any text. Then they lay out practical, engaging lessons that not only guide students to independence in reading texts closely but also help them transfer this critical, analytical skill to media and even the lives they lead. Responsive to students' needs and field-tested in classrooms, these lessons include: strategies for close reading narratives, informational texts, and arguments suggestions for differentiation sample charts and student work from real classrooms connections to the Common Core State Standards a focus on viewing media and life in this same careful way. "We see the ritual of close reading not just as a method of doing the academic work of looking closely at text-evidence, word choice, and structure," write Chris and Kate, "but as an opportunity to bring those practices together to empower our students to see the subtle messages in texts and in their lives." Read Falling in Love with Close Reading and discover that the benefits and joy of close reading don't have to stop at the edge of the page. Read a sample from the book to learn more about Chris and Kate's close-reading ritual for students and for an annotated text that shows how it works.

Download or read book The Duke Undone written by Joanna Lowell and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An artist stumbles upon a naked duke and an unlikely love story begins in this captivating Victorian historical romance. When Royal Academy painting student Lucy Coover trips over a naked man passed out in an East End alley, she does the decent thing. She covers him up and fetches help. Trouble is, she can't banish his muscular form from her dreams as easily. Compelled to capture every detail, she creates a stunning portrait but is forced to sell it when the rent comes due. What could be worse than surrendering the very picture of your desire? Meeting the man himself. Anthony Philby, Duke of Weston, is nobody's muse. Upon discovering the scandalous likeness, he springs into action. His infamous family has been torn apart by shame and secrets, and he can't afford more gossip. Even a whisper may jeopardize his inheritance and his chance at independence. His plan is simple: burn the painting, confront the artist. Or rather, it's simple until he meets Lucy and decides to offer the bewitching young artist a devil's bargain. He'll help save her foreclosed home, if she'll help repair his family’s brutal legacy. An irresistible passion ignites between them, but when danger strikes, Lucy and Anthony must risk everything... for a love that might destroy them both.

Download or read book Ignite Me written by Tahereh Mafi and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The heart-stopping third installment in the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Hollow City, called "a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love." With Omega Point destroyed, Juliette doesn't know if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are alive. But that won't keep her from trying to take down The Reestablishment once and for all. Now she must rely on Warner, the handsome commander of Sector 45. The one person she never thought she could trust. The same person who saved her life. He promises to help Juliette master her powers and save their dying world . . . but that's not all he wants with her. The Shatter Me series is perfect for fans who crave action-packed young adult novels with tantalizing romance like Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Legend by Marie Lu. Tahereh Mafi has created a captivating and original story that combines the best of dystopian and paranormal and was praised by Publishers Weekly as "a gripping read from an author who's not afraid to take risks." This bestselling series from powerhouse author Tahereh Mafi showcases relentlessly thrilling action, heart-stopping romance, and a war-torn world in which rebellion is the only path to freedom. And don't miss Watch Me, the first book in a new series in the Shatter Me universe set ten years after the fall of The Reestablishment, on sale in April 2025!

Download or read book The Book that Made Me written by Judith Ridge and published by Candlewick Press. This book was released on 2017-03-14 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays by popular children's authors reveal the books that shaped their personal and literary lives, explaining how the stories they loved influenced them creatively, politically, and intellectually.

Download or read book Talk Bookish to Me written by Kate Bromley and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2021-05-25 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A USA Today Best Book of 2021! "Bromley does a deft job at keeping the twists and turns of this reunion realistic and utterly romantic.” —USA Today Inspiration can come from the most unlikely—and inconvenient—sources. Kara Sullivan’s life is full of love—albeit fictional. As a bestselling romance novelist and influential bookstagrammer, she’s fine with getting her happily-ever-after fix between the covers of a book. But right now? Not only is Kara’s best friend getting married next week—which means big wedding stress—but the deadline for her next novel is looming, and she hasn’t written a single word. The last thing she needs is for her infuriating first love, Ryan Thompson, to suddenly appear in the wedding party. But Ryan’s unexpected arrival sparks a creative awakening in Kara that inspires the steamy historical romance she desperately needs to deliver. With her wedding duties intensifying, her deadline getting closer by the second and her bills not paying themselves, Kara knows there’s only one way for her to finish her book and to give her characters the ever-after they deserve. But can she embrace the unlikely, ruggedly handsome muse—who pushes every one of her buttons—to save the wedding, her career and, just maybe, write her own happy ending? "A fun and sexy romp, with chemistry that gave me all the feels!" —Jennifer Probst, New York Times bestselling author of Our Italian Summer "Add this book to your TBR list immediately!" —Sarah Smith, author of Faker Don't miss Kate Bromley's new delightful rom-com, Here for the Drama, and stay tuned for Ciao for Now—coming June 2023!