Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels, Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan

I wasn't sure what the book would have to offer that the website didn't already, but it was pretty fantastic. Some of it's silly (the coloring pages are hilarious but useless) while other parts are awesome (the choose-your-own-adventure which I won without cheating three times, tyvm). They do a lot of good critical analysis of the genre and the history of the genre (why IS there so much rape, honestly?) and how to respond to people who look down on you for reading the best-selling genre in fiction because it's just "porn for girls." I read whole sections of it out loud to my sister. I could do with more analysis and fewer footnotes about porny puns, but hey, I couldn't stop reading it, either.

Grade: B

Originally posted 2010