Romance Is In The Air

I hate impulse purchases. It always makes me feel rotten afterwards, whether or not it's a good buy. I will still have a tough time nursing my guilt :p

An idea formed in my head awhile back that I thought I'd blogged about it. I wanted to look for a suitable quote to use as an example for the said entry. The best are to be found in romance novels, especially regency ones. Looking at my bookshelf, I saw only three regency era romance books.

I thought I had more.

I couldn't muster any interest to read Lisa Kleypas's Devil in Winter, neither was I up to read Judith McNaught's (JM) Whitney, My Love. Simply because the latter is a 577-page hardcover book. A little bit tedious to just flip through, you know. So I chose McNaught's Something Wonderful instead.

However, it wasn't an easy task. To get the best, you need to read the whole story, yeah? And so I did just that. And then I got pulled into reading more regency romance novels. I couldn't get enough of it, really.

I love regency romance stories. There's just something about the whole era setting that appeals to my foolish imagination. The ball gowns, the soirées, the carriages, the Dukes, Marques and Viscount, oh my!

However, you got to be selective because most authors writes very explicit sex scenes bordering to porn. They're very graphic and you know how powerful our mind and imaginations are ;) I prefer to read something non-apparent but seductive and sexy. More artful lah.

So far, JM's books are the safest bet.

Thus, I paid my first visit to Borders last Wednesday to purchase another book by JM, Until You. To tell you the truth, I've read all of McNaught's book except her latest two books. Most of them I read from books that I borrowed a few years ago (that Mobile Book lady). The only copies that I've purchased myself are Whitney, My Love and Something Wonderful.

I finished reading Until You in two days. But I need perhaps one more to satiate my hunger for regency romance.

Inasmuch as I had resolved not to shop anything from MPH, it'd be a little silly of me to not use the RM5 voucher given by Mr Gadget before he left for his holidays. With that in mind, I visited that store on Friday to look for another book from JM.

It just so happens, I chose the wrong entrance. I used the one which has a 'Buy 3, Get 1 Free' shelf right smack at the entrance. It's the first thing you see, really. And the promos that they're running now are for books by JM and Julia Quinn (I think, can't exactly remember now. Could even be Jude Deveraux's).

Oh. My. Gawd!

How could I NOT buy the lot of them? I went in with an intention to purchase ONE book, but I came out with FOUR! Bloody hell. Impulse purchases are teh devil!


So yeah, I am happy that I got all the four books that can keep me occupied over the weekend, but it officially made me broke. A hundred ringgit doesn't bring you far this days, have you noticed? I tried so hard to control my spending but at the end of the day, it's still gone just as fast.

As the the norm, I especially like to read my favourite books repeatedly. Just like if you were to purchase a movie on video, don't you watch it again after some time? The only difference is, a movie might just take you two hours to complete whereas a book takes a longer time.

Rereading a book felt like you went visiting an old friend. I had fun meeting my favourite characters again. They're all dark, notorious, rich, smart, brooding, misunderstood heroes (which always are in a regency romance novels) namely Jordan Townsende, the Duke of Hawthorne in Something Wonderful; Stephen Westmoreland, the Earl of Langford in Until You; Jason Fielding, Marquess of Wakefield in Once and Always and Ian Thornton, Marquess of Kensington in Almost Heaven.

I can't decide who I like best -- Jordan or Ian.

And the heroins, whom the stories revolved around them -- strong willed, courages, free spirited, witty with quiet beauty. Alexandra Lawrence, an innocent country girl; Sheridan Bromleigh, an American teacher becomes hired companion; Victoria Seaton, Countess of Langston and Elizabeth Cameron, Countess of Havenhurst, respectively.

Out of all four of them, Victoria is my favourite. She's the only one amongst them who has the ability to think with logic and not act on impulse when presented with hearsay :p

I was surprised, though, to find a touch of comedy in Almost Heaven. I don't remember it to be such when I first read it years ago. It has quickly becomes my favourite book so far in regency romance category.

Of course, my other all time favourite JM book would be Paradise.

Her infamous Whitney, My Love; not so much. I'm not really fond of Whitney, but the hero Clayton, is a different story altogether. Hehe.

Now, I'm on the my next book -- Kingdom of Dreams. A story about the Westmoreland's forebearers, Royce and Jennifer Westmoreland, the first Duke and Duchess of Claymore. Although, I so like to read Almost Heaven again...

Oh! And MrDJ gave me a book as my Christmas gift, Mr Manny. Isn't he the sweetest?

xoxo

Comments

nong said…
FOUR????????? Oh my!!

errr.. can I pinjam afterwards?
larawannabe said…
strange, is it not? either i have none or so many! LOL!

but of course, you can pinjam. which one you want to read first?
i oso nak pinjam la...hearing those names brought back such sweet memories for me too...i can't remember the story, but i can remember my feelings...
NORA ANSHAR said…
long live mcnaught!! i have her whole collection and they are almost lunyai being reread by moi.

i personally love ian a.k.a hawk. so arrogant but dashingly handsome and he draws too!
larawannabe said…
NY: yar, i can remember the feelings too. that's why i borong all the books in one go. hehe.

Nora: ian is, like, the smartest / brainiest hero of all JM's book, but regency era lah. there were others too like Matt Farrell and Cole Harrison. altho i think they were more of a business-genius kind.

le sigh.
Anonymous said…
Wow, we are alike when buying nooks. Whenever I like a book written by a specific author, I usually try to buy the author's other books as well.

My book collection consist mostly of psychological/mystery/suspense thriller with some gore and a lot of mind games.

Oh, I get these from bargain book stores, rarely would I get brand new books, except for new releases :)

One thing about my blogging though, it took sometime away from reading books.

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