The Most Dangerous Duke in London, by Madeline Hunter
Madeline Hunter is not a romance novelist I read consistently, but she is high on my “reasonable impulse buy” list—the authors I save for beach vacations and particularly unpleasant head colds. Her books never blow my mind, but they never offend with hideous anachronisms or insane behavior, either, and sometimes that's all you can ask for...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Most Dangerous Duke in London, by Madeline Hunter
This week's Book Giveaway is Madeline Hunter's latest Regency romance, The Most Dangerous Duke in London. A full review will follow shortly, but spoiler: if this guy is the most dangerous duke in London, London's dukes are a singularly mellow bunch...
Couldn't they wait for the Black Panther movie trailer, at least?
A mere two issues in, Marvel has apparently decided to cancel Ta-Nehisi Coates and Yona Harvey’s Black Panther spin-off, Black Panther & The Crew. Marvel is citing poor sales, and that might well be true, but this decision is depressing as hell...
Carbs!
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of E. L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler, the Guardian has devoted one of its ongoing "Novel Recipes" segments to New York Pretzels...
Overdue
WHAT IS THIS? A new book in Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series?!? It's been so long since her last book (2010's A Conspiracy of Kings) that I will have to completely re-read the entire series, but this is still GREAT news. The Queen's Thief is one of my all-time favorite YA fantasy series, and the only thing that...
I'd prefer a print edition, but...
Okay, this is awesome: there seem to be some fancy-looking (or at least non-cheesy) eBook editions of Mary Burchell's classic mid-century romance novels...
Best of luck
According to the Romance Writers of America, Harlequin is planning to shutter five series lines next year: Harlequin Western (June 2018), Harlequin Superromance (June 2018), Love Inspired Historical (June 2018), Harlequin Nocturne (December 2018), and Kimani Romance (December 2018)...
Octavia E. Butler's Kindred, adapted by John Jennings and Damian Duffy
Octavia E. Butler's Kindred is a classic for a reason: it's memorable and dramatic and utterly terrifying. And in Damian Duffy and John Jennings's excellent graphic novel adaptation of Kindred, you don't need to imagine the horrors in Butler's novel, you can experience them via full-color illustrations! (The better to keep you up at night.)
Weekly Book Giveaway: Octavia E. Butler's Kindred, adapted by Damian Duffy and John Jennings
This week's Book Giveaway is Damian Duffy and John Jennings's graphic novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler's 1979 book Kindred. A full review will follow shortly, but take warning: this book literally gave me nightmares.
Comparatively famous
According to Variety, Rosamund Pike is set to star in a film adaptation of Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout, Lauren Redniss’s 2011 nonfiction graphic novel. This movie will feature some big names in the graphic novel world: not only was...
The creepiest
The trailer is out for Cary Fukunaga's miniseries adaptation of Caleb Carr’s bestselling 1994 novel The Alienist, starring Daniel Brühl, Luke Evans and Dakota Fanning. It looks like what Crimson Peak and Penny Dreadful tried (and failed, despite using fantasy elements as a crutch) to be...
In tribute
In honor of the 50th anniversary of E.L. Konigsburg’s classic children's book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the Smithsonian recently published an article claiming to tell the "true story" behind the novel...
Still ew.
The fine people at Pajiba have identified the main problem with that KFC/Colonel Sanders-themed romance novel we mentioned a few weeks ago: it's that the book has no sex in it...
The anti-Scarlett
There's a great interview over on Jezebel with romance novelist Alyssa Cole. Cole, an African American woman, decided to write a Civil-War era historical romance inspired by Mary Bowser, a former slave who became a Union spy in Jefferson Davis's White House...
Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America, by Michael Ruhlman
We mostly review fiction here at Wordcandy, but there are a handful of nonfiction topics we consider of universal interest: money, history, and (most of all) food. Michael Ruhlman's recent book Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America actually touches on all three of these subjects, so it's right up our alley...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America, by Michael Ruhlman
It's been a while, so it's time for one of our rare nonfiction reviews: this week's Book Giveaway is Michael Ruhlman's Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America. (That's a biiiig subject for a short book, but whatever.) A full review will follow shortly...
Anne of Green Gables, Christopher Nolan-style
It seems The New Yorker is not a fan of the recent Canadian adaptation of Anne of Green Gables, which they describe as being utterly (and inaccurately) grim. The author loses me in her final paragraph, which...
If I get very bored, maybe
There's a review up on the NY Times website of the three-part miniseries adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel Decline and Fall. The series will begin streaming on Acorn on Monday, May 15...
From UN ambassador to this
I've been reading a lot of criticism directed at Warner Bros. for their underwhelming promotional efforts for the upcoming Wonder Woman movie, but I don't think having Wonder Woman's face plastered on a bunch of "Think Thin" diet snack bars is the response any of us were hoping for...
Gorgeous
The first full-length trailer is here for Blade Runner 2049, sequel to Ridley Scott's 1982 film, and it looks amazing. I have no idea what this story will be based on (the original movie was inspired by Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), but...
Crazy Rich Asians, by Kevin Kwan
You know that bit in celebrity magazine interviews where they list in painstaking detail the outfit the actress is wearing? Or describe her utterly fabulous house? Well, picture an entire book composed of those paragraphs, and you'd be covering at least 75% of the plot of Kevin Kwan's 2013 novel Crazy Rich Asians...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Crazy Rich Asians, by Kevin Kwan
This week's Book Giveaway is Kevin Kwan's 2013 novel Crazy Rich Asians, the book that inspired the currently-filming movie of the same name. I'm fascinated by the casting process for this film (which has been full of drama), so I thought I'd better read the book. Our review will follow shortly...
Maybe one day he can play Colonel Sanders?
And in the second bit of unfortunate romance-novel news of the day, a male romance novel cover model was arrested in California this week and charged with robbing a series of banks and gas stations in Connecticut...
You get what you pay for
Well, this is nice of them: Kentucky Fried Chicken has written a romance novella featuring Colonel Sanders, and made it available as a free digital download. According to CNN Money, "Tender Wings of Desire tells the story of 'rebellious Lady Madeline Parker,' who falls for Harland Sanders, 'a handsome sailor with a mysterious past...
Just one!
The trailer is out for the upcoming movie adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower. The trailer looks cool (well... Idris Elba looks cool, anyway), but would it kill them to put a couple of girl characters in it? There are a few women hanging around in the background in poses that suggest...
Behind the scenes
There's a great article over on Buzzfeed by Anne Helen Petersen: "The Company Behind "The National Enquirer" Just Bought "Us Weekly" — Here's Why That Matters". The article goes into all kinds of details (everything from solid financial facts to...
I'd go
There's an article on Catapult called "Looking for Anne of Green Gables", about a trip two lifelong Anne of Green Gables fans took to L. M. Montgomery's (and her most famous character's) home. The essayist comes across as a rather unpleasant traveling companion...
Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
I am not a fan of re-editing published books. (This is mostly due to being traumatized by T.H. White's The Sword and the Stone, which has gone through several remodels. My childhood edition of White's book featured a bizarre scene involving singing minstrels in an evil ice cream parlor, but I've never found that sequence in any edition since. I'm 99% certain I didn't make this scene up, but... what if I did?) However...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
This week's Book Giveaway is this amazing new edition of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, which looks like the kind of gloriously trashy 70s paperback you find on the spinner racks in libraries, reeking of ancient cigarettes. A full review will follow shortly, but just look at it: no matter what I say, that's a book you're going to want to read...
Not quite satire, but...
There's a loving tribute up on Bon Appétit to Peg Bracken's The I Hate to Cook Book, the best-selling 1960s cookbook that features step-by-step instructions like "let cook five minutes while you light a cigarette and stare sullenly at the sink"...