Q&A with M.L. Hamilton discussion

Recently, I read that the Kindle and other ereaders have been a boon for the romance genre because people can covertly read them without others knowing.

So I want to know, what is one guilty pleasure read you've indulged recently and did you feel the need to hide it from your more high-brow peers?

Haven't had a guilty pleasure read in a WHILE! (pretty sad)

Any recommendations??

I haven't had one in a while, but my favorite guilty pleasure author is Jayne Ann Krentz.
I didn't feel like I needed to hide it though. Her covers aren't naked men. I think if you know who she is then you know it is romance, but otherwise to the unknown it's a mystery.
I did feel a little embarrassed when I read the 'House of Night Series' by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, but I wouldn't say it was a guilty pleasure.

What is the House of Night series about?

I wish I could remember the name of the book, but it was a Native American romance once that I thoroughly enjoyed, but it was quite the romance.

When I was a teenager, I absolutely loved the Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger. I must have read it seven or eight times.

The House of Nights Series is a young adult vampire series. I wasn't embarrassed because it was a romance, but because I was reading a young adult novel. I guess I still consider myself to be a YA, but no one else would. It does have some romance all of which is PG.

Ah, I see. Well, I read and devoured all of the Harry Potter series, shamelessly, and I'm definitely not YA. ; )

I was just thinking that I need to get some audiobooks. My son is away at college and it would be nice to have something to listen to when I go to visit him.

I can't listen to audiobooks. I have to read a book myself or I won't understand it. In grade school, I always hated it when teachers felt the need to read books out loud and then give you a quiz on it, because I never understood what the teacher was reading to me.

I agree with Natasha. If I'm not actually reading the texted, I go off on my own daydream and don't hear a word of the audio.
Sometimes when reading a book I have the same experience. If there is something in the book I read and then I find myself daydreaming about something else similar. That is when I know the book doesn't keep my interest and possibly not worth reading. Most the time I force myself to finish it anyway.

I love to have someone read to me as long as he or she does it well, but I still like to reread on my own, especially if I'm going to be tested, which hasn't happened in a lot of years. As a teacher, I might start my students off by reading to them, but I feel they need to do most of the reading on their own.

I think it depends on what type of learner you are. Natasha, you probably aren't an auditory learner, so it's difficult for you to retain it without being allowed to interact with the text yourself visually and probably kinetically.

Candice, I agree with you. If I find my attention wandering to how much laundry I have to do (for instance), I've probably got the wrong book. ; ) And like you, I tend for force myself to keep reading, hoping I'll be pleasantly surprised and proven wrong. Sometimes I am.

My guilty pleasure read is a series by Anne Rice writing as A.N. Roquelaure called "The Sleeping Beauty Novels" I have to admit I have read the series twice, and it is steamy!!!

My favorite sort of guilty pleasure is Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. Having grown up in small town Maine I really got sick of the antiquated ideas people sometimes hold about what it's like to live in a small town, and I love how this book exposes many of the problems of small Maine towns.

I've read The Sleeping Beauty Novels =) I like them aposed to other erotic books which do not seem to have a plot whatsoever.

My guilty pleasure is reading books either written by or written about rock stars. I can blame it on picking up a book about Jim Morrison and the Doors when I was in high school (mind you this was 1990). I fell in-love with the idea of getting "to know" the long dead vocalist and his band mates. I do not actively search these kinds of books out, but if they fall into my hands, I eat them up. My absolute favorite is Slash by the man himself. It probably has something to do with my family being absolutely stuffed full of musicians, but I love the genre. I may be trying to find people like my grandfather and uncles or trying to find those more out there than my family ;-)

I read a book I believe called Rock Star when I was younger and remember wishing there were more books like that. Then this year a friend found "how to kill a rock star" and I devoured it....which is how I found "Ravensong" lol who knew there was an entire genre of rock n roll romance?! And no, I am not a romance reader, or a smut reader ;-) These are just my guilty pleasures.

I think that's why I wrote Ravensong. So many musicians in my family. They are a different breed of animal to be sure. I also grew up in the 80s with the big hair bands, so they definitely influenced my youth. Not to mention my brother's rock bands who filled the house with heavy metal and the requisite visits from the cops. ; )

Ha! When my son graduated high school 2 years ago, we had a huge cookout and allowed his band as well as 4 other bands to preform in our back yard. We told all of our neighbors, but had no idea we needed a "noise permit." The police showed up twice complaining that the noise could be heard over a mile away. We informed them that it was mostly family and just a safe fun place with absolutely no alcohol or anything like that. The reply? "We don't care about any of that sort of thing, just keep it down." What?!? Apparently a kegger would have been preferable.

I hear you on the big hair, we should compare sometime ;-) I saw a lot of hairband type references in Ravensong =)

My guilty pleasure reading: Hans Christian Andersen. I enjoy re-reading the most popular fairy tales from my childhood but I especially enjoy discovering the obscure ones for e.g. I really like "The Elf of the Rose". I never tire of reading his 168 tales. There are many contemporary translations of Andersen tales in omnibus editons to keep you enjoying them all over again and again.

Ok, so my guilty pleasure books are a little naughtier than some lol.
My most recent guilty pleasure has been, like some of you, rockstars. (which is what lead me to find Ravensong too!). I actually got hooked after picking up
I read every genre(my favorite being Urban Fantasy), and just recently started giving erotica a chance. I have found so many good books with amazing storylines(that being said the above mentioned were a little extra heavy on the sex and I wished for a little more character developement but still well written). I never would have thought the genre to offer what it does. Some of them aren't any dirtier than romances or pnr that I've read.

While I love all YA, especially if there is a cute book boy involved and I read more YA now than I ever did when I was a YA, my guilty pleasure read it....I can't believe I'm admitting this in semi-public....Pretty Little Liars. I'm up to book 8 and will read in between waiting for new releases or a book to be delivered from the library (Yes, my library delivers. How cool is that?!?) Once I was able to get past all the label dropping and the fact that these girls were some pretty mature 13 year olds when everything starts, I was hooked. They are actually pretty suspenseful with a lot of action on pretty much every page. I'm surprised that after reading 7 books, I'm not fed up that we still don't know who "A" is, although I have my ideas. I am also no hooked on the TV series even if it does deviate from the books quite a bit.

hahah, there was this one harlequin story about two detectives of opposite sex observing the same suspect, yet for a while they had no idea who the other was... they met and started a romance... i don't remember the title nor the author, but i know it was very descriptive and i liked it. :)

Beastly by Alex Flinn. My pre-teen was reading it, and I picked it up to check for inappropriate content and got hooked.

My guilty pleasure read would be male characters with tattoos and piercings. Like

Short erotic free ereads some with plots some not so much - could lean towards bdsm, m/m, m/m/f, m/f/m...

Tesha wrote: "Short erotic free ereads some with plots some not so much - could lean towards bdsm, m/m, m/m/f, m/f/m..."

Those are always a nice afternoon treat.

Lately, it's been Paranormal Romance/Erotica. Most recently, I've enjoyed Heart of Darkness, Chaos Burning, and Captured Hearts. My copy of Captured Hearts was a ARC and had quite a bit of typos but I really enjoyed the story in spite of it. I believe the author is a newcomer. She has quite the sense of humor. I'd be very interested in reading it if she did a follow up book.

Candice wrote: "The House of Nights Series is a young adult vampire series. I wasn't embarrassed because it was a romance, but because I was reading a young adult novel. I guess I still consider myself to be a YA..."

Some of the best stories now are coming out of the YA section. Don't be ashamed of what you read. Believe me, others are checking out your book cover to see what looks good and will ask how you are enjoying the book. Readers are always on the outlook for new books and new authors.

My guilty pleasure is Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I know it's a cookie cutter series but I love Grandma going to the funeral home as a social event for her. I always know what's going to happen but I laugh every time.

Sheila wrote: "Candice wrote: "The House of Nights Series is a young adult vampire series. I wasn't embarrassed because it was a romance, but because I was reading a young adult novel. I guess I still consider m..."

I agree, besides the newer YAs have some of the most artistically beautiful cover art.

Kamla wrote: "Sheila wrote: "Candice wrote: "The House of Nights Series is a young adult vampire series. I wasn't embarrassed because it was a romance, but because I was reading a young adult novel. I guess I s..."

It does. It is certainly eye catching which always makes me pick up the book and check out the blurb.

Emily wrote: "Tesha wrote: "Short erotic free ereads some with plots some not so much - could lean towards bdsm, m/m, m/m/f, m/f/m..."

Those are always a nice afternoon treat."

Or breakfast, lunch and dinner ;)

Emily wrote: "My guilty pleasure read would be male characters with tattoos and piercings. Like "

Oh, definitely!! And rock stars!