Dishing on Romance

Today we welcome four of our buddies in as our guests! We're celebrating the launch this month of the new blog The Romance Dish by four veteran bloggers. Welcome, y'all!

Thank you so much for inviting us to spend the day in the Lair. We are very excited to be here and are planning to have a fabulous time with the Bandits and Bandit Buddies! And before you even ask, PJ has been working up a storm in the kitchen and there are turtles for everyone. Yes, enough for everyone!!

We hope Sven and the Gladiators have rested up and are ready for us.

Oooooh boys, where are you??

What is The Romance Dish, and who created it?

The Romance Dish is a blog and review site where we "serve up our thoughts on books, romance and life." We came up with the idea for The Romance Dish while the four of us were attending the Moonlight and Magnolias Conference last month in Atlanta. As reviewers at RNTV, we enjoyed sharing our love of romance, and when Marisa and Maria decided to close the site, we decided to begin our own blog. And thus a blog was born.

What's the long-term goal of your new blog?

Everything happened so quickly! It has only been 7 short weeks since we decided to run our own blog site. It has been a whirlwind adventure and things have not slowed down one bit. We have been so busy we have not even thought of long-term goals for The Romance Dish.

What are the regular features?

Besides reviews, guest author spots and the occasional recipe, we have many monthly features at The Romance Dish. Around the first week of the month, we have Andrea's New Releases, where she lists tons of new releases by sub-genre. On the 10th of every month, Trish Milburn brings us her Teen Menu, where she features the latest in YA romance and movies. Buffie, the Queen of the Hotties, shares her latest hottie with us in her Hot Dish on the 15th of every month. And on the 24th of every month, Anna Campbell gives us a Second Helping review of a book we may have missed.

What are the reading preferences of the various Dishers?

(Andrea) The first romance I ever read was a historical and I was instantly enraptured, which is funny because I hated learning about history in high school. Now I realize it must have been the teacher. For many years, historicals were all I ever read, but in recent years I have discovered straight contemporaries (both full length and categories) and I love them as well! I also enjoy a little paranormal and urban fantasy.

(Buffie) Drawn into reading romance on a fluke, the first romance novel I read was an historical, a medieval to more precise. Needless to say, the historical genre is my first love, and within that genre medievals are at the top of my list. I love to escape to another time and place and who doesn’t love a Highlander in a kilt!! After I started reviewing books, my eyes were opened wide to the joy and fun of other genres. Now I pretty much read everything.

(Gannon) Historical romances are my first love. They were my introduction to the romance genre. Honestly, I'll read just about anything. But my favorites are historical, paranormal, and contemporary. Reviewing books has allowed me to discover some fabulous new authors, which I so enjoy. Who doesn't want to add more books to their TBR pile? Mine is reminiscent of Mt. Everest!

(PJ) I rotate among a variety of sub-genres. Historicals were my first love and, if forced to choose, I would probably still list them as my favorite. I also enjoy reading contemporaries, romantic suspense and what I call paranormal "lite". I've recently begun venturing into urban fantasy and some SciFi/Futuristic romance. I also enjoy reading mysteries and political thrillers.

Could each of you tell us what drew you into blogging about books?

(PJ) I've always enjoyed sharing my love of romance through my comments at various boards and blogs. About two years ago, Maria and Marisa at RomanceNovel.TV approached me with the suggestion that I formalize the thoughts I had been posting at the RNTV Forum by writing book reviews for them. I discovered that writing reviews was not only challenging and rewarding, it was fun!

(Gannon)--I was a regular commenter at SquawkRadio--may it rest in peace ;)--as well as Eloisa James and Julia Quinn's BB, Romance Novel TV and of course, gullar sahir. *g* After about a year of posting at RNTV, the M's asked if I would like to join the review team and I, of course, said "Heck, yeah!" It was the best of both worlds: reading fabulous books (and getting those coveted ARCs) and sharing my love of romance. It was a win win situation.


(Andrea) My story is similar to Gannon's. I was a regular visitor/lurker at various sites like the Avon Authors BB, Squawk Radio, the EJ/JQ BB, the gullar sahir and Romance Novel TV and loved talking about the books that I've read and loved. It was nice to have a place to share my love of romance novels with others who felt the same way, because no one in my "real life" read romance (though, my sister does now. *g*) When Maria and Marisa (from RNTV) asked me if I'd like to formally review books, I jumped at the chance and haven't looked back!

(Buffie) Several years ago, I found the Avon Authors BB and was so happy to find a large group of women who loved to read and talk about romance novels. I was astounded at how much they knew about authors and books. I believe I actually fell out of my chair when Julia Quinn herself answered one of my questions about her books. I couldn’t believe that authors actually visited boards and chatted with readers! Then I found my way to other boards – Squawk Radio, Romance Reader at Heart, Eloisa James and Julia Quinn BB, The gullar sahir, and finally RNTV. I think I smiled for days after Marisa and Maria asked me to review books. There’s nothing like sharing my love of romance with everyone!

Are you interested in guest bloggers? If you are, what do you want to see from people interested in being guests?

Oh yes, we very interested in guest bloggers. We love it when authors stop by and visit with us for a day. It is always nice to hear about a new release directly from the author. But we also enjoy reading about day to day activities in a guest blogger’s life. Sometimes the smallest thing impacts the most people. Anyone interested in being a guest blogger at The Romance Dish can contact us via email at theromancedishATgmailDOTcom.

Now here are a couple questions for all of you. What do you enjoy reading most on a blog? Is it a great review or the chance to talk with your favorite author? What subject draws you out of your shell and makes you comment?