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Of all the interesting paradoxes that exist in genre romance the oddest, or most absurd perhaps, is that paranormal romance has taken the creatures of the night and turned them into heroes and heroines. To be fair, the vampires, witches, and werewolves that once played the roles of monsters have undergone an image makeover that left them not so monstrous, but rather, toothless, without much power, and neutered. It’s understandable really: a hero viewing a heroine as a tasty meal—and not the sexual kind—isn’t too sexy, or a good basis for a love story. Unfortunately, some important elements of these other beings have been lost to the image overhaul. For example, what’s exciting and compelling about werewolves is the classic man against beast conflict which leads so eloquently to man against man conflict. But, in the toothless version that is so often presented in paranormal romance, werewolves are shape-shifters not enslaved to the full moon, not possessed to bite and kill people, and therefore not in danger of being killed themselves. Not only does this watered down version lack inherent conflict, by taking away the gruesome, helpless aspect of lycanthropy the compelling reason for it to exist in a story is also removed. What’s left is a man or woman who can shift into an animal. What is the purpose of that?

Wendy: Romance’s greatest strength lies in its numbers: the number of readers it claims, the number of sales it racks up, the number of authors who forge a career in it, and the number—the sheer volume—of romance titles released each year. While many of those titles are familiar retreads of what has come before, there is always a gem awaiting discovery. Just when it seems every angle and possibility has been played out, a new voice, a new perspective comes along to breathe new life into the old constructs and to play hard and fast with the old rules. These discoveries don’t come along often enough, but when they do, they are something more than simply a good read: they are a reminder of all the reasons why romances are passionately consumed and lovingly cherished. J.R. Ward’s The Black Dagger Brotherhood series of paranormal romances are those rare gems, full of heroes that are a higher order of Alpha Male, heroines that bring those heroes to heel, and stories that are obstacle and conflict rich.

I am, or so I believe, a great proponent of escapist fiction. I’m not particularly opposed to reality in my fiction, but it’s not really a big issue for me. If I can, for example, settle into a coach seat during an east-to-west coast flight, open my book, and not notice “Everybody Loves Raymond” on the monitor, it’s a good flight for me.

So, yeah, when I was anticipating the flight home from Washington DC after BEA, I sorted through my loot for the perfect escapist read. Being one who found the first “Shopaholic” book quite entertaining, I chose Cocktails For Three by Madeleine Wickham aka Sophie Kinsella to be the book in my lap as we taxied down the runway. Alas, I should have recalled that the subsequent Shopaholic books were lacking that certain je ne sais quoi.

Which is to say that I found them unreadable.

HelenKay: In this second book in the series that started with Kitty and the Midnight Hour and is already slated to run for two more adventures in 2007, Vaughn proves one thing: politics can suck the life out of anything and anyone.

Wendy: It isn’t often that an author or book emerges from the vast ocean of yearly romance releases and stands outs as a talent or story that must be given attention. In any genre, talent is at a premium, and the argument that more books are released than there are capable writers to pen them is an easy one. That is an especially easy criticism of romance where there are so many books and so few authors offering originality. When J.R. Ward hit romance shelves a year ago with Dark Lover the impact was immediate. There she was, that fabled romance author with the skill to build an epic world of her own and the writing chops to lure readers into it. Then, six months later with the release of Lover Eternal it became clear that not only could Ward lure readers in, she could keep them in the palm of her hand as well. Perhaps then, it shouldn’t be surprising that a mere year after the first of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series came out, the third, Lover Awakened has Ward bound for New York Times bestseller list glory and a place among the upper echelon of genre writers.

There are times when I feel like I need to confess the awful truth to Wendy and HelenKay (and, well, Lorna and L.J.). This is one of them. When it comes to picking books for review, I have almost no process. I pretend I do, and sometimes that pretending leads to an actual thoughtful choice.

But mostly it’s a matter of serendipity mixed with my desire to read where no reviewer has read before. But it’s the serendipity that seems to lead me to the most interesting books. In the case of Lady Anne’s Dangerous Man by Jeane Westin, I was poking through the teetering book pile, desperately seeking something new and different to read. Not even for review. I just wanted something that would let me escape for a little while. I was aiming for disposable but interesting.

Wendy: In the last year, HelenKay and I, like so many other romance readers, have turned into unapologetic, drooling J.R Ward fangirls. Our reviews of the previous Black Dagger Brotherhood entries have been nothing short of a breathless, gush-fest wherein we extolled the greatness of the writing, the characters, the universe, the… well…everything. We just love these books. Which is why we’ve treated Lover Revealed to a back and forth discussion instead of the point-counter-point style we usually use for new releases.

Lover Revealed is the fourth installment of J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series. This time the focus is on the perhaps unlikely duo of human ex-cop Butch O'Neal and Marissa, the one-time-would-be shellan of the vampire king Wrath. Butch and Marissa met in the series' opener and continued their almost relationship through the next two books. At story's opening, their star turn finds them apart and at odds for all the easily-resolved-if-only-they'd-talk-about-it reasons that this couple has previously faced. After Butch is captured by lessers, tortured, and given a parting gift by the Omega himself, Marissa rushes to Butch's bedside to nurse him through recovery and their romance begins – or continues as the case may be – in earnest.

Allow me to wax nostalgic . . .

When I first began reading romance some twenty years ago, I fell into the habit of haunting a local independent, one stocking both new and used books, for their monthly shipments of category romances. The small store had a romance friendly - and romance knowledgeable - staff who introduced me to the works of Linda Howard, Erin St. Claire (Sandra Brown), Barbara Delinksy, Elizabeth Lowell, Diana Palmer, Jackie Weger, Sandra Canfield, and more. For years those books published under both Harlequin and Silhouette imprints fed my romance reading addiction. And, yes. I still have many in their original category format, the ones that have since been released in mass market or hardcover as their author's star continues to rise. I learned that there is a satisfaction found in a well-written category romance that is hard to duplicate in any other form. The stories are pure romance, their focus clear. There is little room in the shorter format for anything other than the developing relationship between the hero and heroine. There is the frame of an external plot that gives structure to their love story, but the spotlight is, quite simply, theirs.

Kitty Norville might not need an introduction – at least not in the universe author Carrie Vaughn created for her werewolf DJ heroine. Kitty has, in the course of two books, been the mark of a hit man, brought down a rogue werewolf, dismantled the organization of a madman (or a something, anyway) who called himself a prophet, lost her place in her werewolf pack, and rose to national stardom via her paranormal-focused radio show “The Midnight Hour” all before an unscrupulous government scientist broadcast her transformation from woman to werewolf to a rapt national audience. What she might need after all that, is a vacation and Vaughn provides her with one (well, sort of) in the third installment of the Kitty series, Kitty Takes a Holiday.

We long ago decided that it would be interesting for us here at PBR to pick romance novels off our respective "keeper" shelves and give them a second joint look. Inevitably, one person's keeper was another person's "never heard of it." But, that added to the fun...or so went the theory.

The idea was to engage in a little discussion about romance novels of the past. However, every now and then a title gets bandied about for one of these joint fav reviews that makes the person for whom the novel is not a fav cringe. The Outsider by Penelope Williamson falls into this category. To be fair, it is not alone in the category. Something about a Plain heroine and 500-page oldie read made one of us (HelenKay) engage in a bit of eye-rolling. Then some stalling. Even a period of denial. Now, this is not a reflection on Ms. Williamson or her book. Frankly, the eye-rolling came before the actual reading and amounted to one of those "not my thing" responses. To be fair, the other one of us (Wendy) has come up with an excuse or two to get out reviewing some "not my thing" titles she did not choose.

But, this is a partnership of sorts and we agreed, so...

I have to come to believe that there is a karmic balance to reviewing. You hit a patch of bad books, you think that’s what life will be like forever, and then, bam!, good books galore. It gives one (me) the strength to go on.

I think I mentioned that I came late to historicals in my reading career. Something about all those bosoms seemingly desiring to bust free made me nervous. Sort of like I was one bad bra strap away from social disaster. Also, those covers were just plain awful. Embarrassing. I mean, I read in public.

So my historical thing came about when I found the tasteful covers of Amanda Quick. Then I realized that, frankly, I sort of liked them. All things being equal, I preferred the Regency era to, oh, medieval times, but that’s due to the fact that personal hygiene was greatly improved in the 1800’s. Also, people weren’t so much eating with their knives and indoor plumbing was just around the corner.

I freely admit a great deal of my anthropological and societal education has been gleaned from the pages of historical romance novels. I know, for instance, that a woman in England couldn’t inherit a peerage, but she might be a peer in her own right. I’m aware that while a pelisse was an absolute necessity for a young woman rushing off to meet a shady character in Hyde Park so she could save the hero/her mother/family estate/world, she wouldn’t typically be in need of a man of affairs. That’s because she didn’t have affairs. Men handled money and business. Women stayed home to serve tea and have babies. For certain, other than kick-ass chicks like Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great, women generally had less-than-powerful lots in life until about 1982, when Boy George burst on the scene and forever altered the face of masculinity, forcing women to revolt and change their lots from less-than-powerful to more-powerful-but-still-not-great.

The boys are back in town. The boys in this case being the six-foot-six hulking vampire giants who make up the Black Dagger Brotherhood. The town being every shelf in every bookstore everywhere. The hype, excitement and anticipation being palpable.

The basic ingredients in the newest installment to this popular and provocative series remain the same. The over-the-top names have not changed. The family histories of the Brothers sound more horrifying with each telling. The Brothers continue to talk in a sort of shorthand street lingo. The females weave in and out of the story but never slip into a headline spot. The read is as fast and compelling, though imperfect, as the previous books in the series.

In other words, if you did not like the Brothers before, you will not like them any better this time around. Likewise, the rabid fangirls who refuse to entertain any talk of missteps in the series likely will hold on to that loving feeling no matter what occurs. Those who live to tear down someone as successful as J.R. Ward will do so whether or not they bother to actually read the book. That leaves everyone else to read through the 500+ pages of backstory, brotherhood, worldbuilding and romance and assess the finer points of Vishous' story. The end result being a weak romance set in a fascinating and ever-intriguing world of vampire family drama.