Tag Archives: Bad Lime

With Apologies, etc.

Hi friends! So … you might’ve noticed lately I’ve been not as great with posting things. I don’t even know for how long, but for a while now we’ve had the lovely and wonderful Sadie helping out with formatting and scheduling, which has been wonderful. (Side note, is there such a thing as green/purple color blindness?)

I’m something of a >.> control freak though, so I do the actual scheduling. And have had some oops.

I’ve tried really hard I think the past year+ but … just to address the all encompassing *waves hand vaguely* but also that we might be on hiatus, and/or I’ll be back dating posts (like this one!), which is the “apologies” part – to the wonderful review crew, and guest authors.

It’s also a bit of a “sorry not sorry.” In that … I really am truly sorry when posts don’t go up as scheduled. I really do try with A Little Bit Tart, A Little Bit Sweet, and I want to keep trucking on. Especially considering the hundreds of dollars (literally) I’ve sunk into this site.

… The “not sorry” part is though … there have been times I couldn’t (or can’t) walk, or times when I’ve literally lost my words. So … sorry (not sorry!) to the authors etc who can’t understand me not being able to talk or have words to me personally, outweighs the importance of their post or edits going up in a “timely manner.”

And sure, some people don’t know about all that shit I’m dealing with behind the scenes. And they don’t have to. But things are what they are. And I just wanted to explain to all of you … there’s just all this shit going on.

So – as it says – my apologies. Thank you for sticking with me. <3 Hopefully this too shall pass with good resolutions and such … and as before and always, I’ll keep on keeping on to the best of my ability. [And also sorry I’m just too tired etc to even find a picture to pretty this post up.]

Much love to you all. <3

Unexpected Hiatus

Hi friends. ALBTALBS has been basically inactive since early October … and hopefully that changes soon, but no promises.

It’s entirely my fault, so my apologies to the ALBTALBS review team that had reviews set, to people with expected posts, and to anyone who expects new content. [The last one is me poking fun at myself because I don’t think there is anyway, but you know, hope springs eternal?]

If you play along with me on social media you may have noticed I’ve been a lot less active there as well. [It might not seem that way, but I truly have been.]

I also haven’t been reading, or basically functioning.

What with work, and constant migraines, and just all the things, I’ve also played countless rounds of the fun game “where is this blood coming from?” [Spoilers: it was always me, and it was never fun.]

Just … wanted to have a placeholder and kind of let people know what was going on. And hopefully have things figured out soon with more regular content, and possible [back]dated posts.

Thanks, all, and much love for hanging in there with me. <3 <3 <3

Smithsonian American Indian Heritage Month!

My gosh, friends, it’s November! How did that happen?! When?! [Shut up – I know, but you know what I mean :P]

… Probably I shouldn’t be online >.> I’ve been causing trouble everywhere. But! I wanted to let you know what on earth this “SAIHM” you’d be seeing this month meant. I know some people might mistake it for “SAHM” which … sooo not the same thing. (SAHM = Stay At Home Mome. SAIHM = Smithsonian American Indian Heritage Month.) Hey – I don’t pick the names. The Smithsonian (I’d imagine) does. If not … is it wrong I don’t care too much because it is just what it is?

Also, you know, government … stuff.

ANYWAY. If you’d like to know more about this lovely Heritage Month this is the official government American Indian Heritage Month page. Which … is titled Native American Heritage Month.

And this is what it says on the Smithsonian page …

So yeah. Anyway! I just wanted to let you know what was up! >.> Especially since so many people still don’t know what “ALBTALBS” means… Or the name of this site… :X

I think you can imagine there aren’t that many Native American/American Indian romance writers or readers out there … so I’ve got a few people lined up, but if you are one, or know of anyone, I’d love to have them guest here! Please and thank you! 😀

Updates, Apologies, TMI, & Ramblings on Happy Endings

Really, the subject covers it all. Obviously you see updates haven’t been happening. I am sorry about that. Please accept my apologies. One reason is … well, general illness. I spent the majority of today just trying not to throw up. (There’s the TMI).

Now for the rambling. Have I ever mentioned that while I read romance exclusively, my other entertainment aspects are more varied? In fact, I don’t like the “romance movies” or “romantic comedies” generally. The sweeping romantic dramas. Generally? Bleh. I love … psychological thrillers. My new show glom is Hannibal.

But, what I want to know is – how do you feel about happy endings? As in – how far must they go, and how much do you demand them?

I have to say – I do. Definitively. I absolutely do not like “happy for now” and would argue that’s not even truly a romance novel. Romances have happily ever after. Does the author have to show it? Well, no. Not necessarily, and I get that it wouldn’t always work. I don’t want forced scenes, rushed or pat endings either. (You see I’m not a very demanding reader at all ;)) What I don’t want to read is the hero and heroine hooking up and being happy – with no true relational background or build up. If they’re just in the flush of ‘hey let’s spend some time together” instead of “I really think this is real and will last.”

In fact, a great story will pretty much be ruined in my estimation with a HFN ending.

What about you?

Guest: Solace Ames (With Her Reader Hat On)

I messed up … but I’m dealing with family, so in something of a rage haze. All my contriteness to Solace Ames though, because this was supposed to go up like… a year ago. Or something – one of those tragic family times when it was all hospital and death all the time.

Four Things Solace Ames Loves in a Heroine

Hi! I’m Solace Ames, and I do multiple-orientation erotic romance (which means I’ll read and write just about every combination of letters imaginable). Like all writers, though, I’m a reader, and today I’d like to talk about what I love in a heroine. The companion piece I wrote with Heidi Belleau last year talked about what we love and hate in heroes, but this time around, let’s keep it positive… so no heroine hates. Only love!

I love heroines beyond the margins of fashion magazine covers

The typical romance heroine, like the typical magazine cover model, is 20-30, white, slender, able-bodied, cissexual, conventionally attractive. Even women who do fit this profile are going to age out of it eventually, so it’s just not very representative. Luckily, there are a lot of romances out there that cater to women who don’t fit the profile. The internet and the rise of e-publishing has really helped in this regard. If we want to find a heroine over 40, or who has a full figure, is multicultural, and so on, retail websites and sites like Goodreads make them easier to find. Before the rise of e-publishing, I never saw a single Asian woman on the cover of a romance novel. Not a single one.

I love angsty heroines with a tragic past

Although they overlap, there’s a difference between angst and damage. Angst is something that we readers love to death, even though we roll our eyes when it gets piled on too high. And just like I love angsty heroes, I love angsty heroines, who are, unfortunately, rarer.

There’s nothing more exciting than when a tragic past spurs a heroine to heroic action. One of my favorite series ever is C.J. Cherryh’s Morgaine Cycle, which is more in the science fantasy genre but has some fantastic romantic tension between the warrior-witch Morgaine and her servant/knight, Nhi Vanye. Morgaine had the angstiest backstory I’d ever read—last halfbreed survivor of a dying race, had to kill her evil father, condemned to a neverending thankless mission to save the universe—and I ate it up with a spoon.

I wish more romances had truly angsty heroines, but when I want this kind of fix, I think we have to turn more to urban fantasy and other genres, or to the borderlands where these narratives overlap with romance. Romance tends to prefer narratives where the damaged, traumatized heroine heals through love, passively, which, quite frankly, I find icky (I don’t like the m/m flavor of this either).

I love everywoman heroines

She seems, at first, like the opposite of the angsty heroine. The everywoman doesn’t have an especially tragic past, or superpowers, or a high-powered job, or a face that launches ten thousand ships. Like most of us, she’s just an ordinary person with ordinary problems.

But then something extraordinary thing happens to her. Maybe she falls through a time portal. Maybe two hot firefighters invite her for a threesome. Whatever it is, she rises to the occasion. That’s what makes her unique! This often helps readers appreciate our own uniqueness and unexpected reserves of strength. I love everywoman characters in erotic romance, especially. They’re not blushing virgins; they’re not a cross between Dr. Ruth and Jenna Jameson. Like most of us, the everywoman approaches sex with a complicated mixture of insecurity, confidence, shame, curiosity, fear, and just plain horniness.

One great example is Laurel, the heroine in Cara McKenna’s Willing Victim. The book is infamous for being an exploration of rape fantasy roleplay, but I read the dynamic more as carefully negotiated rough sex… and everything that happens is totally consensual. What I loved about the book was Laurel’s reason for being deeply excited by the kind of rough sex she has with Flynn. It’s not because she has father figure issues, or needs to recover from sexual trauma. She wouldn’t die without Flynn or without rough sex. She’s a little bored, a lot curious, and thinks he’s hot. This makes their interactions more psychologically complicated and compelling to read, because there’s no one single unifying explanation for all the tension.

I love heroines who have meaningful relationships with other women, or feel the lack of such

Reading about women whose lives revolve totally around men gets claustrophobic. I like to see heroines who have meaningful relationships with female friends and relatives. Even when the book doesn’t have space for a lot of secondary characters, even mentioning these relationships helps.

Sometimes—and this is especially the case with angsty heroines—the heroine leads a very special lifestyle and is isolated from normal people. Maybe she’s cursed, or constantly on the run from her enemies, or has killed everyone she ever loved without meaning to, etcetera. In that case, I still want to see her missing not just the men in her life, but the women.

In my beloved historical romance Gold Mountain by Sharon Cullars, Leah, our heroine, has gone out West with her best friend Clara to start a restaurant in the 19th-century western frontier. They’re both African-American women in a white-dominated town and face lots of hardship, including vicious racism. When Leah falls in love with a Chinese railroad laborer, her life gets even more complicated, but her friendship with Clara remains a constant source of strength, and Clara plays an important role throughout the book.

Can you think of more examples? What are some of your favorite heroines, and why?