Book Review- Barbara Cartland- Hungry for Love

Just as the title suggests 'Hungry for Love' is a romance novel by Barbara Cartland that focuses on food. It is not something expected of Barbara Cartland.

The story follows Araminta (a strange but cute name), a poor girl who is a great. After her parents die, she is forced to cook to earn a living because she has not got any other skills. Her influential uncle helps here by placing a bet worth a lot on money on her. She is hired by a Marquis who is willing to pay lavishly to hire her. She amazes everyone including the royalty with her delicious and exotic food. She however, does not get to see the Marquis during their initial meeting. Someone who attends the party takes her to a restaurant and tries to take advantage when the Marquis rescues her. They eventually fall in love and strive towards one of Barbara Cartland's specialities- a happy ending.

The 'gourmet' twist to the novel made it interesting. Romantic development was slow but satisfactory. The name of the protagonist is unusual. The names of many exotic dishes are mentioned during the novel which sometimes make your mouth water.
The story has a complex plot for a novel of that length. The romance was great as expected from Barbara Cartland.

The cover was good with a nice colour scheme and apt title.

Overall, an above average-average book from Barbara Cartland which is a good way to pass time.

Pros

Cover
Idea
Story

Cons

Weak female lead
Typical male lead

Book Review- Barbara Cartland- Who can deny love?

Who Can Deny Love? is one of the seven hundred+ books written by the 'True Queen of Romance', Barbara Cartland.

The story is a unique one for Barbara Cartland who experiments with a woman of higher family rank falling in lvoe with a man of lower family rank.
The heroine of the story forges paintings for a living. Her mother, a duchess married a painter because she loved him. They found it hard to pay for her mother's needs after she fell ill due to which she later died. Now, the heroine forges paintings to make a living.
The hero, a marquis comes across one of her forged paintings of herself when he meets his friend, the prince who loves to invest in paintings. On coming to know that the painting is a fake, he demands the address of the forger from the company that sold the painting and hence lands up in the hreoine's house. She is a dead ringer of the woman in the painting. The marquis begans visiting her frequently and they fall in love. Towards the end, she goes back to her father (a duke) without informing the Marquis. He accidentally discovers her and pleads her father to give him permission to marry his daughter. He refuses because the Marquis' reputation as a flirt preceeds him. In the end, he gains the Duke's trust and they marry.

The painting/art angle to the story was unsual. The heroine was shy and introverted while the hero was frank and open. Characterisation was not all that great but she filled a lot of stuff into a 160 page story. The story has more twists than any of her other novels I have read. It has two parts- one before her disappearance and the second after the Marquis finds her. In case all these titles seem alien to you, you can google it. A Duke is the highest rank that can be obtained by a commoner.

The story's flow was good. It was boring initially but the end covered up for it.

Overall, one of Barbara Cartlands's better novels. She has experimented a bit here with great results. The title like most of her book titles contains the word 'love'.

Pros

Story
Characters

Cons

Cover
Boring initially

Romance Review- Best romance writers

Here are some of the romance writers I feel are the best in their field. These are my opinions only and if you like any other writers, you can share your views by posting a comment. The authors are in no particular order.

1. Barbara Cartland- She is proclaimed the 'True Queen of Romance' with reason. Most of her books are outstanding and her writing style never fails to evoke emotions. Her books are short and most heroes have similar characteristics but somehow, I get so drawn into her stories that I do not notice the flaws. Many of her books are out of print now, but if you ever have a chance, you should try her books.

2. Judith Mcnaught- She is one of the best contempoary writers of romance. I find her writing style quite similar to Barbara Cartland''s. Her stories are more complex, longer and have better character development. They are also unique and different from one another. She is a writer worth checking out.

3. Meg Cabot- Though she writes chick-lit, many of her books have romantic elements. Her style is really refreshing. Her characters are humorous and sensible. Her ideas are very original and she never bores the reader. She has her mediocre books too but overall, her better books more than make up for the so-so ones.

4. Johanna Lindsey- She mainly writes historical romances and sagas. I just started reading her books recently but was hooked immediately. Her books are very real and full of adventure. Her characters come alive. She is famous with reason.

5. Harlequin/Mills & Boon- Now, Harlequin is not technically an author but it never fails to deliver extremely good romantic novels every month. Most of the writers who write for Mills & Boon write well. I have no particular favorite writers. All of them are quuite good. It is amazing how they deliver such a vast array of romantic novels in a single month. It is no wonder that Mills & Boon is a firm favorite among romance readers.

Nora Roberts is a really popular writer and I have reviewed many of her books but I don't think she is that good. Her romances are unusually shallow with heroines who fall easily. Her plots are extremely unoriginal. Another writer I have not included is Sophie Kinsella because her style is quite similar to Meg Cabot's. I don't really like Stephanie Meyer either. Janet Daily is mediocre at best.

Books Review- Barbara Cartland- Lessons in Love

This is one of the generic governess novels by Barbara Cartland. The governess-employer romance semms to be one of her favourites since I have read five books from her with the same story. This one's a little better version of some.

Lady Marisa Berrington-Crecy (Marisa for short) inherited her father's hatred for the corrupt and heartless high society and is determined to reveal their low behaviour through writing a controversial book. She masquerades as a governess, Miss Mitton and eneters the house of Duke of Miverley, who has a lonely child.

Marisa tried to teach the child with love and patience and in no time becomes good friends with her. However, she finds the duke's lack of interest in his own child annoying and insulting. The Duke is always busy with ladies and seems to pay no attention to his daughter. Marisa's determination to write the book is cemented by the disinterest of the Duke towards his own daughter.

However, one unfortunate day, the Duke discovers Marisa's manuscript and in infuriated. When she enters her own room, she is shocked to see him standing there with her manuscript. He tells her that his life is loveless and such behaviour is only justified. He also confesses to her and they share a kiss.

The next day she decides to leave the Duke's residence and return to her house. Without informing the duke, she leaves which leaves him furious and he searches for her.
Finally, they are united. He marries her and his daughter accepts. They live happily ever after.

Yeah, pretty classic.

This one was quite the classic Barbara Cartland novel. The story picks up towards the end but starts out plain and boring with little interaction between Marisa and the Duke.
The love is passionate when it actually takes off.

The heroine is a little inconsistent and weak willed. She didn't go ahead with publishing the novel. She is swayed by emotions are becomes weaker progressively. Not very work oriented.
The hero was rather detached. He didn't show any feelings until the ending.
Supporting characters were not any speical. The child was too easily influenced but I guess that is okay because this is not a human drama and is a romance novel.

Overall, still a good read for something light.

3.6/5

Pros

Romance

Cons

Genric
Slow
Weak heroine

Best bargains-

Rare as all other books. Can be found only on some sites like ebay.com and flipkart.com.

Book Review- Barbara Cartland- Tears of Love

You must be thinking I am crazy reviewing one of Barbara Cartland's seven hundred+ books. This one is one of the best ones from her that I have read. I will obviously not review all her books but I'll be reviewing some.

Well, the story is a little different from her other books.

Canuela lives with her poor, sick mother and has no money to pay her mother's hospital bills. She is the beautiful daughter of an Argentine aristocrat who was banished from his country because of rumours that he had betrayed his own country. Her father died soon after the unfortunate incident and her mother fell sick. Canuela is forced to take on the job of a secretary to pay her mother's hospital bills. She hides her beautiful eyes under tight fitting black glasses.
She obtains the post of secretary to the famous Ramon de Lopez, one of the famous argentine busniessmen who abandoned her father in his hour of need. She hates him and makes it very clear that she is working for him only because of the unfavourable financial circumstances. She is always hostile towards him.

Ramon de Lopez finds her a very efficient secretary because she is well versed in many languages and produces instant and amazing results. He requests her to accompany him to Buenos Aires and she refuses directly. However, her mother needs to go to Switzerland for medical treatment and she is forced to take on the job.
Throughout the journey, there is a clash of egos and unfortunately, Ramon de Lopez sees her beautiful eyes without glasses once. He then requests her to not hide them at least in front of him.
On reaching Buenos Aires, Ramon de Lopez has a grand party to which Canuela is invited but she refuses directly saying that she is only a superior servant and his esteemed guests would not want to mingle with the likes of her. However, she secretly attends the ball.
The next day, he is abducted and she saves him from guerillas. She later decides to flee to England but he finds her, clears misunderstandings, and as ever, love conquers all. Happy ending.

What is different about this book is that the heroine is strong. This is something that is rare for Barbara Cartland. More importantly she is constantly strong. Some heroines become weak as soon as they find love, but Canuela always stays strong and egoistic. The mind duels between her and Ramon de Lopez and their clash of egos is quite amusing.

This is a classic novel of the hatred-turned-love type. I enjoyed it very much mainly because of the passionate hero, strong heroine and plenty of conflict. Even though I knew from the beginning that love would conquer all, I found it a good and memorable read. This is rare for Barbara Cartland novels. Her novels are too short to be memorable but I enjoyed this one so much that I read it four times and I can still read it more.

This kind of book will appeal to Hana Yori Dango fans and those who like happy ending romance books with a strong heroine.

The novel, like most of Barbara Cartland's works, had plenty of emotion and love is not forced or fake. It is every bit emotional, true and fulfilling. It is one of the very good romance novels.

The cover art was not very good. Barbara Cartland books usually have good covers but this was rather generic. Also, there was a little political talk which is not very romantic or appealing but it is minimal and never gets in the way of the story. In fact, that's one of the good things about Barbara Cartland- she doesn't give too much importance to historical setting and detail and her books can be understood by everyone.

Overall, a great book to enjoy. It is only around 188 pages, still, it is wonderful.

Pros

Characters
Conflict
Not generic

Cons

Cover art (what was the artist thinking?)

As for best bargains, most of Barbara Cartland's books are out of print (it is not easy keeping 700+ books in print). You can find it on ebay or flipkart.com since the indian publisher Rupa is reprinting the books. Here's a site that gives information on all her books.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/barbara-cartland/tears-of-love.htm

Best Selling Fiction Authors

Again, I decided to show some statistics. This list might be able to help you decide which author to try out.
Again, this list is borrowed from Wikipedia and is constantly updated. Be sure to check it out occassionally to keep in touch with the latest developments.
I am only mentioning the top ten authors. Stephen King, Nora Roberts, Erle Stanley Gardner, Stephanie Meyer, RL Stine, John Grisham and other authors rank below ten and hence are not mentioned.
I have provided a link to the wikipedia page at the bottom.
I am writing author name with sales and genre.

William Shakespeare 2 billion- 4 billion Drama and poetry
Agatha Christie 2 billion- 4 billion Detective, mystery
Barbara Cartland 500 million- 1 billion Romance
Harold Robins 750 million Adventure
Georges Simenon 500- 700 million Detective, Maigret
Sidney Sheldon 370- 600 million Thriller
Enid Blyton 300-600 million Children's
Danille Steel 500-600 million Romance
Dr. Seuss 300- 500 million Children's literature
Gilbert Patten 125- 500 million Adolescent adventures

So, those are the top then best selling writers. You might have heard most of the names. I've done an author review of Barbara Cartland. You can check it out if you want.
Writers like Charles Dickens, Jack Higgins etc. were not included because of no proof of sales.

Who doesn't know Willian Shakespeare- the king of drama? His books have been popular ever since I can remember. His works are taught to English graduate and post graduate students. Even people who have not heard his name have heard of his famous works like Romeo and Juliet (I bet there's no one(almost) who doesn't know the name of this play), Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer's Night Dream, Macbeth and many others. While all his plays are tragedies, he was an equally famous writer of comedy.
He is a little outdated and his language might seem archaic but he truly deserves this top position because of his great story writing. Romeo and Juliet is the ultimate love story. His other works are equally witty and popular. He has given birth to numerous popular saying through his work and is without doubt the most influential writer ever born (up till now).
While his language might seem a little flowery and overdone, I recommend this writer because his stories are filled with substance. Who can write such epics but William Shakespeare?



The second position, to the surprise of some, is currently occupied by Agatha Christie. Her sales is more or less recorded and though she has not been very influential, she has been famous and commercially popular. Her work 'And then there were none' sold over 100 million and remains the best selling mystery novel. While Sherlock Holmes is very popular, Poirot and Margret and popular too. Her works are igneous masterpieces that can be understood by everyone. Though she starts off very slow and boring, the conclusion to her mysteries is always mind blowing and unexpected. Every book of hers is unique and doesn't copy plots. Agatha Christie had one very big advantage over Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown and that was the universal appeal of her novels. The solutions to Sherlock Holmes mysteries are scientific and are sometimes not understood by common people. Agatha Christie's novels don't contain any scientific work except 'cyanide' which is a poison. She presents all the clues to the reader and doesn't try to hide anything. Her plotting is wonderful and she does each detail perfectly.
One very big problem I find with her books is that they are very very slow. She wastes time in idle chit chat and petty conversations. Though these are clues, they make her stories boring sometimes but the ending is worth the patience.

Barbara Cartland is my favourite author and one of the earliest romance authors and one of Britain's most popular celebrities. Vogue called her the 'true queen of romance'. Her books again, anjoy good slaes because of universal appeal. Her books are not to girly, though they are aimed at women and contain no adult content and can be read by anyone. Most Barbara Cartland readers these days are teenagers. She has written a lot of books and most are just a derivation of the other. While Barbara Cartland lacks orignality, she makes up for it with her writing style which is easy to understand and emotional. Her romances are generally categorised as historical. She doesn't give too many historical details and complicate issues. Generally, her heroines are weak and heroes are perfect. In fact, Barbara Cartland was the first one to invent this formula which most romance writers follow these days.
Her books are very short and don't contain too many side characters. They are the kind of novels that can be finished in one or two hours and leave the reader satisfied. Her novels are very emotional, something that romance writers these days are not able to write. Her kind of love is pure and fulfilling. You can read her complete author review on this site. I did it last month.

I have never read anything by Harold Robins in my life but I have heard his name. He is the first american author on this list. Check out his Wikipedia entry to find out about the kind of books he writes.



Georges Simenon is another writer I haven't read. He seems to be a popular French Writer. If you have to say anything about this writer, please add it in the comments. He writes detective fiction.



Sidney Sheldon is up next. This list was updated recently to include his name. He is really popular in America for his cliffhanger suspense/ thriller novels. Sidney Sheldon's novels contain strong adult content and so are not advisable for young readers. He is very popular as a master storyteller and is one of the pioneers of thriller. His stories are engrossing and can't be put down once you pick them up. He is known for his use of cliff hangers at the end of every chapter. His novels are about strong women. He believes that men cannot live without men and women are strong characters. Most of his fanbase comprises of females. He is known as one of the best contemporary novelists. He has written only around nineteen books and most of his fans have read all of them (I know many of them). He is always striving for perfection. 'Mediocre' is a word that doesn't exist in Sidney Sheldon's dictionary.

"I try to write my books so the reader can't put them down," he explained in a 1982 interview. "I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It's the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter."
-Wikipedia



Enid Blyton is the most popular children's writer. She has written lots of famous children's series like Secret Seven and Famous Five. Enid Blyton's stories are mostly good memories for all those kids who grew up reading her stories. Her stories vary in genre and theme but are aimed at children.



Danille Steel is the only living writer on this list as of 2010. She writes romance novels. I have read some and I don't find her anything spectacular but my cousin is crazy about her. A good writer for romance fans. Some of her works are not romance but she generally sticks to romance. She is still writing and her books still top the bestseller lists.


Dr. Seuss is another writer I haven't read. He is a children's writer so many kids might have grown up reading his books. One of the good things about being a children's writer is that your novels, if they are good, will always be a part of children's hearts. People are influenced by what they read in childhood so maybe being a children's writer is satisfying (just pondering). He is known for his imaginative characters. National Read Across America Day is held on his birthday in his memory.

The last writer on this list is Gilbert Patten. I again, haven't read his books though a lot of people have been recommending his books to me. They are hard to find. He is a writer of dime novels. He is famous for his Frank Merriwell series.

The writer right after him who just missed the list is Leo Tolstory famous for his epic War and Peace. He is the best selling russian writer (where is Anton Chekhov?).

So, that's all for today. Many writers as mentioned above have not made it to this list due to disputed sales.
I haven't read many of the writers in this series and that is a signal to start reading more. I hope you'll enjoy reading this writers. I have read only six out of ten writers. If you have any suggestions or comments on this post, please don't hesitate to write.

Happy reading!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_fiction_authors

First Author Review- Barbara Cartland

Hello, this is the first author review posted on Review Carnival.

Barbara Cartland- Have you ever heard this name?
Some might have vaguely heard it while others have no clue about this person. She is not a very recent writer so many of you might not be knowing about her.
Let's start with biography.

Barbara Cartland was born on 9th July, 1901 (a cancerian). She is a British author and the highest selling romance novelist (shocking data. Wait until you hear the next line). She has sold one billion books worldwide and is outsold by only Shakespere, Agatha Christie and the bible. She is famous for charity and fought for better salary and living conditions for nurses and midwives. She was a very popular celebrity during her golden years and is noted for her preference to pink, heavy makeup and fast writing speed. She was once the author who released the most number of books in a year (25, I think) certified by Guinness. She was described by Vogue Magazine as the 'True Queen of Romance' (no argument there. She died in 2000 at the age of ninety eight or ninety nine.

I started reading Barbara Cartland when I was eleven or twelve. Though I did not like the first book I tried, I liked the second one. As I expanded my Barbara Cartland collection, I grew more and more fond of her books. Now, she is my favourite author.

Her genre is historical romances. Some of you might stop reading at the sight of 'historical' since she was from the victorian era. However, her language though pleasing and sophisticated is simple and she does not complicate the story with too many references to history.
Most of her heroines are pure and innocent while a small potion of them are rebellious and bold. Her heros are usually rich and perfect and even if they are poor, they become rich eventually by acquiring a dead relative's property. Lots of her books have stories of governesses and Marquises.

She has writen over seven hundred novels in her career so many of her stories are similar. Also, her novels are very predictable and have that happy ending we all love.
Idealism is prevelant in all her novels.

Her novels are filled with emotion and that is why I like them very much. Even if half of her novels are copies of the other half, they still never lose the magic, the beautiful feeling of love, joy, satisfaction, discovery and happiness (which Stephanie Meyer's novels greatly lack).
Her novels are clean and contain no adult rated matter.



Rating

Story- 2 (rehashed plots)
Writing style- 4.9 (wonderful!)
Overall- 4.7 (recommended)

However, I must tell you about the cons too.
Thirty percent of her novels are nothing special and you might begin to hate her if you read that 30 percent.
Her plots as I alrady said are too repetitive. They are only wonderful because of the feeling and emotion Barbara Cartland stuffs into the story.
Most of her heroines are extremely weak and innocent. Although innocence is refreshing, weakness is not very encouraging especially coming from a feminist like her.
Her novels are very short (150-230 pages)so, not particularly memorable that's why I reviewed the author and not individual books.
Her novels emphasize on innocence and true love as spiritual and fulfilling and not physical.

Overall, I would recommend this author. She is much better than Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel, Janet Daily and other recent romance writers who do not live upto her standards. If you want to try romance, she is the right author to start with. She absolutely deserves to be the highest selling romance writer because she is, as Vogue said, 'The True Queen of Romance' and delivers quality. If there's a shining star in the world in the world of romance, it is Barbara Cartland.

Pros

Emotion
Her deep perception of love
Short novels
Great cover art
language/expression
And of course, the happy endings

Cons

Repetitiveness
Slight inconsistency
Weak heroines