Happy New Year!

And so another year comes to an end. I hope it was a good one for all of you, and that an even better one awaits.

That is the extent of my rumination on the New Year.

I'm a little out of sorts, like I usually am between books. I finished Anne Calhoune's novella Breath on Embers a few days ago and was blown away by how good she is. I suppose I ought to just go and buy everything else she's written that I haven't yet read, but I kind of like keeping those for days when I'm really desperate for something good. I'm not actually desperate yet.

Actually, I've been reading a collection of Nora Ephron's writings called The Most of Nora Ephron, and it's really great. Most of us know her as the screenwriter for "When Harry Met Sally" (one of my all-time fav movies) and "Sleepless in Seattle." But she did so much more that I wasn't aware of, a lot of journalism, but journalism that's written with her opinions and voice. The articles about the women's movement of the late sixties/early seventies are particularly fascinating. So I've been reading that in bits and pieces while searching for my next book to devour. No luck so far, just a couple of not-so-exciting samples read. I may just have to go back to an old favorite and re-read it. Which isn't such a bad way to fill the time. I often find new things to appreciate when I do that.

My husband and I have both been home together for four days straight, give or take some outings and errands, and we've been getting on each other's nerves a bit. I've been kind of twitchy and I feel bad about it. But we still come together when it counts, like when it's time to watch TV. We recently discovered "Friday Night Lights," a show that went off the air in 2011. The amazing thing is that it's all about football and yet not really about football at all. It's just a beautiful, wonderfully written show and I want everyone to watch it. In fact, it's a great lesson in good writing, because (at least in the first season, which is all I've seen so far) all the drama comes out of the characters' experiences and feels real and authentic. It's people dealing with life and it's not over the top or more dramatic than it needs to be, just dramatic in the best sense of the word. It's also charming and really funny. It keeps me riveted. It doesn't hurt that Kyle Chandler is a hottie and there are a bunch of hot football players. My husband loves Connie Britton, who plays the coach's wife, and I love her too, so I don't mind. There's something for everyone.

Anyhoo, that's what I've been into since I last posted. That, and writing. I'll tell more about how that's going another time. ; )

Make it Deep

There are many types of romances out there for us to read, but I'm just recently realizing the main thing that sets a romance apart for me. Good sex scenes are part of it, a big part of it, but good sex scenes grow out of emotional depth. That depth is what I want in a book, even one that's supposed to be sexy and escapist.

By emotional depth I don't mean just the ups and downs and agonies of falling in love, which anyone can write in a surface way, but an understanding of the complexity of people's motivations. A romance author has to throw together two people who are perfect for each other but aren't able to come together until the end of the book. Doing that in a way that makes sense and doesn't get annoying and contrived isn't easy. You have to be a sort of amateur (or maybe armchair) psychologist.

It takes a mature writer to understand the contradictions people have in themselves and how those interact with another character's, how that creates conflict and tension. I want an author who can take me into the depths of people's dreams and fears in an authentic way. When they do this, the sex is great because great sex grows out of the passion, fears and desires the hero and heroine bring to it.

The last few books I've really loved have all had this, and they were by three of my favs: Anne Calhoune, Cara McKenna and Ruthie Knox. These lovely ladies write crazy sexy romances with interesting characters whose motivations make sense and don't change in the middle of the book (oh how I hate that).

Right now I'm reading an historical romance – Where Dreams Begin, by Lisa Kleypas – that I didn't even know existed. I don't know how it's possible since I've been a fan of hers for years and always kept and eye out for her new ones, but there are actually several that I didn't know about. The amazing thing about Where Dreams Begin is that it will probably end up being a favorite. The hero and heroine are so likable and wonderful and the reasons keeping them apart make sense and are also layered in a way that feels real and difficult. Not all of this author's books have this same depth, and the ones that don't lose their tension partway through the book because of this. But when an author can sustain it, even after the h/h have sex, you have a winner.

I'm also psyched about this book because frankly, I have not been having an easy time finding historicals that I like. It's a genre I love, but I haven't fallen in love with one for quite a while. What I need is to discover an author who's been publishing a while so that I can lose myself in the dozens of titles she's already written. If anyone has suggestions, please send them to me!