Book Boyfriends 2

A week ago I revealed a second round of my favourite book covers, and this week it’s time for some sexiness I think... So here they are my BOOK BOYFRIENDS II

Harry Forbes in One Hundred Proposals by Holly Martin

Harry is supportive, caring, sweet, protective and very sexy. He was there fort he love of his life all the time and the thing he did for her with the proposals was just amazing.

--> BEN BARNES

Ridge inThe Bookshop on the Corner by Rebecca Raisin

Ridge is very hot and successful and he fell for a sweet girl. He was always teasing Sarah, which was so cute. For him everything was about her and he went for it!!!

--> IAN SOMERHALDER

Finn in Beneath the Moon and the Stars by Amelia Thorne

Finn is amazing! A strong and sometimes a bit cold guy, having so much heart, love and care for a woman. He is full of emotions and passion and of course he’s very hot...

--> HENRY CAVILL

Deke Ryan in Chronicles of a Lincoln Park Fashionista by Aven Ellis

He is a bit shy, doesn’t like to be in the focus, but he has an enormous heart, is caring, gorgeous and also sensitive. I fell for him myself and I just enjoyed his personality.

--> JENSEN ACKLES

Sam Pennington in After Wimbledon by Jennifer Gilby Roberts

First of all he is a professional athlete, a tennis player, so that’s a bonus already ;) Sam is full of passion and honesty, a dream guy.

--> FELICIANO LOPEZ

Jack Chelten in Surviving The Rachel by Aven Ellis

Jack Chelten shows that a really nice guy can be very very sexy. The way he treats his girlfriend and the way he says things… I fell in love with him as well. He’s so attentive, passionate, smart, caring, sexy, funny...

--> RODRIGO CALAZANS

Shane in Love Like The Movies by Victoria Van Tiem

A romantic guy, who fights for his girl!!!

--> JAMES MARSDEN

Nico in The Notting Hill Diaries by Sarah Morgan

Just WOW!!! Sexy...

--> FRANCIS CADIEUX

Cal in The Vineyard by Karen Aldous

Oh my, he ‘s just PERFECT. Sweet, caring, funny, attentive, hot, sexy…

--> MATT BOMER

Quinn in Strings Attached by Mandy Baggott

Musically talented, hot, sexy and full of surprises...

--> SEAN O’PRY

Jed in Two Weddings and A Baby by Scarlett Bailey

Gorgeous, down to earth, caring...

--> MATTHEW DAVIS

Jaime in You Had Me At Merlot by Lisa Dickenson

Gorgeous, attractive, sweet. He was great!!!

--> ALEX BELLI

Fitz in Falling For Fitz by Katy Regnery

Fitz is full of drive, passion and determination! Oh and did I mention that he is drop dead gorgeous?! Well, he is... more than ;)

--> ARMIE HAMMER

Wes in Fated For Love by Melissa Foster

He’s fearless, strong, protective, sweet, caring and very understanding, oh and did I mention very hot?!

--> RYAN GUZMAN

Jamie in The Christmas Bucket List by Ella Fairlie

He’s attentive, sweet, smart, sexy, confident… almost too good to be true ;)

--> ALEJANDRO CORZO

Nick in The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Lisa Dickenson

Nick is attentive, sweet, funny, gorgeous, passionate and much more…

--> AARON TVEIT

Speed reads – are you game? by Carla Caruso

Guest post by author Carla Caruso

Just like hemlines, stories appear to be getting shorter this season. Everyone’s dabbling in them!

My beloved Sophie Kinsella wrote Shopaholic on Honeymoon as a free ebook short story for fans at Christmastime — a prequel to Shopaholic to the Stars. Janet Evanovich has penned four holiday novellas for her Stephanie Plum series, dubbed ‘between-the-numbers’ reads. An Aussie writer friend of mine, Leesa Bow, also recently wrote a YA prequel, entitled Jardine, as a ‘teaser’ to her upcoming New Adult romance.

And the rise of mini-skirt-short stories makes sense. People are super-busy these days, thanks to being ‘available’ online 24/7. (According to Fictionfactor.com, by the by, short stories are 1000 to 7500 words, novelettes are 7500 to 20,000 words, and novellas are 20,000 to 50,000 words.)

These tinier tales can be enjoyed on the commute to work, while waiting at the doctor’s office, or before nodding off to sleep. The happy endings can be arrived at quickly when you need a smile on your dial — and fast.  

For a writer, the shorter form can be a time to ‘play’, experiment a little, in between longer projects. They can also allow authors to send out a taste-test of their work to the world, often for free and self-published, in the hopes of attracting new readers. Littler tales, for big-name authors, can keep loyal fans satiated in between heftier tomes, as well. But are readers embracing the shorter form as much as writers?

It seems not all are sold. I wrote the festive novella, Secret Santo, for Penguin’s Destiny Romance imprint last Christmastime. (Actually it’s more of a novelette I’ve since realised at 13,000 words!) Some comments from reviewers included: “This is a great book, my only complaint is that I wish it was longer!” and “This is a nice read but I wanted more” and “It’s a sweet story but I still find that for me [short stories] don’t really fit.”

When Googling ‘novellas’, I came across a post on the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books site, entitled Novella or Prequel?, which echoed this sentiment.

Blogger Sarah lamented about a Victoria Dahl story in an anthology, called The Guy Next Door, which wasn’t what she expected. “I am so p***ed... It’s not a novella. It’s a prequel. It’s a tease. It was SO NOT WHAT I WANTED that when I got to the next page expecting more story and got the copyright information, I made a really strange noise, somewhere between a curse and a growl. Novellas are not prequels. Prequels are not novellas, and should not be sold as such… It really was like the opening chapters of a novel, and you know that rage of the thwarted romance reader denied her happy ending? Yeah. I got that rage RIGHT HERE. DAMMIT.”

Maybe that’s the thing. Readers – especially of the romance variety – like to know what they’re getting before they wade in. To go back to my much-loved Sophie Kinsella… some reviewers have vented their annoyance that her latest book, Shopaholic to the Stars, reads more like a ‘Part 1’, though they didn’t feel informed of this earlier. Blogger Sarah might describe this as “meanly teasing”.

One form of ‘protection’ at least for readers, with novelettes and novellas, is you can check out the page count first to work out whether it’ll be meaty enough for your tastes.

The other alternative is to look at shorter stories like snacks, intended only to keep you satisfied in between the three-course meals. Then they might really help curb the hunger pangs. Happy reading!

Carla Caruso is behind the ‘Astonvale’ rom-com mystery series, involving a neat-freak professional organiser who gets caught up in messy mysteries with a hunky builder. Titles include A Pretty Mess, Pretty Shore, and (out Feb) Pretty Famous. Her shorter works include Secret Santo, Unlucky for Some, and A Groom by New Year’s. Visit www.carlacaruso.com.au, ‘Carla Caruso Author’ on Facebook, or @CarlaCaruso79 on Twitter.