Long and Short Reviews

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❁	Marianne - Director of Operations and Reviews
	She's a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom who figured she had a little spare time, so promptly filled it. Between writing romantic fiction, editing, and building and maintaining this website, she no longer has time to be bored. Or to sleep.

❁	Judy - Director of Marketing and Promotion
	Judy has had short stories and poems published electronically and in print, and had a brief stint as editor for ShadowKeep, an emagazine of speculative fiction. She is currently working on a romantic suspense novel and trying to keep her head above water as she does whatever Marianne tells her to do about the website.

❁	Michele - Assistant Reviews Coordinator and All Around Big Help
	She's a mom, a wife and a part-time office manager a/k/a Jill of All Trades for a legal office. She lives on the East Coast; the land of the Nor'Easter, lobsters, the Red Sox and the Patriots.

❁	Chris - Assistant Reviews Coordinator and All Around Big Help
	Chris is a stay-at-home Mom living in the Southwest who loves to read and write. Her DH likes to say that she went from an Office Manager to a Household Manager and never looked back. He would be right. Being the mother of boys, not much flusters her... which serves her in good stead when dealing with reviews and whatever else Marianne wants to throw at her.

❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ Our Bouquet of Reviewers ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀
❀	Acacia - Concealed Love, Beauty in Retirement, Chaste Love
	Bio coming soon

❀	Aster - Love; Daintiness
	Aster is an avid sports-enthusiast & reader. Her husband says she’s “freakish” about her sports. She has an uncanny ability to recall details that serve absolutely no purpose and is filled with what her family refers to as, “useless information,” but she’s always fun at parties! A former bookstore manager and library clerk, Aster loves to get lost in books whenever time allows.

❀	Begonia - Beware
	Bio forthcoming

❀	Black-Eyed Susan - Encouragement
	Black-eyed Susan is a happily married author (25 years of true romance!) and is the proud mother of 2 adult and 2 home-schooled younger children. She is an avid reader who regularly pores over the Bible, magazines, library books, classic literature, medication labels and cereal boxes. She has taught creative writing classes for home-schooled kids in grades K-12 and has even forced unsuspecting chemistry students to write fiction for extra credit. Black-eyed Susan has not yet been paid for her own writing, but she feels a rush of joy whenever she pushes that "Publish" button on her blog or Squidoo page.

❀	Camellia - Gratitude
	After ranching for most of her married life, Camellia and her husband moved into the citified part of Texas. At that time, after teaching for 27 years, she retired and set out to pursue interests she’d put on hold while life’s activities had absorbed my time. Now, she does volunteer work, reads, writes, and, while watching TV with her husband, does handcrafts. She has rough drafts of three novels and works on memoirs off and on all the time. She's had a number of articles published and won a few contests. She considers writing hard but pleasurable work and hopes to get better as time goes along.

❀	Chamomile - Initiative and ingenuity
	Chamomile is single professional in the technology field, managing all types of projects for her company. Having given up on television for providing enjoyable entertainment, she reads in her spare time, averaging over two hundred books a year. She recently started writing romance herself and is enjoying learning the craft.

❀	Cherry Blossom - Female beauty and sexuality
	Cherry Blossom was born in Europe, lived in Morocco, and now resides in Texas. She reads almost everything, writes science fiction and fantasy, and raises two daughters with the help of her husband of twenty years (although who helps whom do what is sometimes unclear). She has taught college, worked as an interpreter, and is a published author. One thing has remained a constant in her life: shelves overloaded with books in several languages.

❀	Daffodil - Regard, Rebirth, New Beginnings
	Daffodil is a married mother of three boys who lives in Big Sky country. She is a mild-mannered computer instructor by day, and aspiring novelist by night. An avid reader, she prefers romantic suspense and paranormal stories. Her hobbies include growing heirloom tomatoes and hot peppers for homemade canned salsa.

❀	Daisy - Gentleness, Innocence, Loyal love
	When she's not providing information and entertainment to a grateful public at her local library, or dodging attempts on her life from her homicidal Siamese mix, Daisy writes mixed genre fiction and now, reviews. She runs a writers' group, makes jewelry, and plays the occasional video game in her spare time. And sometimes her big mouth gets her into trouble. She and her very patient husband live in Middle Tennessee.

❀	Dandelion - Oracle of Time and Love, Faithfulness, Happiness
	Dandelion is a high school English teacher living with her husband in the northern New York City suburbs. She’s had a soft spot for love stories and happy endings since the time she could read. When she's not writing, shoveling snow, or grading papers, she’s traveling the United States and Europe in search of sunshine, back roads, and the perfect little pub.

❀	Freesia - Spirited, Innocent
	Freesia is a freelance writer and avid reader. Typically, she reads two to three books a week and it's not unusual to find her digging through the shelves at second-hand stores looking for books to add to her stacks. She lives in a small town in eastern Washington where she enjoys hiking and photographing the nearby wildlife refuge. Other hobbies include cross-stitching, rockhounding, camping and visiting museums. She is currently doing some historic research in her local area with the hopes of archiving the information for future generations.

❀	Fuchsia - amiability, taste
❀	Fuchsia is thirty-eight years young and a long time reader. The first book she can remember reading is The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen Woodiwiss (who was a great writer!). She is now a fulltime caretaker for her mother. She lives across the pond, carries a brain full of trivia and a love of Literati on Yahoo. She also loves cats, and has three. Dogs are okay, but they need attention. And walks.

❀	Gardenia - grace, subtlety, and artistry.
	Gardenia works days, her husband works nights, and both children are away at school. She needed to find a hobby and fast! After browsing the Internet for more information on favorite authors, she stumbled upon a writers workshop. In the sidebar was an exercise to write a conflict scene between two characters. She gave it a try, and showed the finished product to her daughter. The response surprised her. Her daughter wanted to know about the characters. That was enough for Gardenia. She grabbed the keyboard and submerged herself in research, loving every minute of it. What better way to spend her time, combining history and romance? Unless it is reviewing the stories she loves to read!

❀	Heather - solitude
	Heather lives in the Catskill Mountains in New York. She's been married for twenty-two years and has a son who is twenty-one. She works as an accountant (her practical side) and loves to write (her creative side). She began writing little romances for her friends at the age of fifteen, starring them and their latest crush. She loves to write, read, and watch sports .

❀	Heliotrope - Toward the sun
	Heliotrope started her writing career with a weekly newspaper in Lancashire, England, and progressed from there to working for a large regional daily in Canada, and working freelance for magazines and publications in the US, Canada, Ireland and the UK. Although she has written in many different areas, from hypnotherapy scripts (she's a qualified counselor) to romantic suspense she fears she will be most known for such children's books as The Pebble People Save The Day and The Giant Turnip. She teaches creative writing, law, and journalism for adult students, and has worked with disadvantaged children in literacy programs. She currently divides her time between people watching in suburban Ireland and the wilds of rural Ontario, Canada, where she watches bears, raccoons and muskrats from her back porch.

❀	Hydrangea - Thank you for understanding
	Hydrangea is a Midwesterner whose Naval career took her far (Philippines) and wide (Florida panhandle) before settling her back in the Midwest with the Navy pilot she kidnapped along the way. Her pilot husband continues to globetrot for a formerly-bankrupt-but-now-hopefully-solvent airline while Hydrangea devotes herself to volunteer work, crafts and her burgeoning career as an unpublished author. She first fell in love with romance novels by trading Harlequins and Emilie Loring novels with her girlfriends. But her most memorable reads were the novels she found hidden in her mother's bookcase, which is why Hydrangea 's memoir - if she ever writes it - will be entitled, "Everything I Needed to Know about Love I Learned from Kathleen Woodiwiss."

❀	Iris - Wisdom, Faith and Hope
	A self-proclaimed bookworm, Iris has more books then she cares to admit to. She started reading very young, when her grandfather wanted to learn to read. Their first book was "See Spot Run" and she's been an avid reader ever since! She's a huge fan of historical romance, with favorite authors being Bertrice Small, Julia Quinn, Karen Marie Moning just to name a few. She's a farm girl at heart with horses, dogs, cats, cows and pigs to round out the 'zoo' at home.

❀	Ivy - Fidelity, Friendship and Marriage
	Ivy is a SAHM with two monsters (one of each), who keep her very busy. She loves to read! It is her #1 hobby and she can do it anywhere, anytime. Her other hobbies include traveling (trying to see all 50 states) and scrapbooking. She also loves to go to sporting events such as football (Go Steelers!) and NASCAR (Go Bobby Labonte!) with her husband and kids.

❀	Jasmine - Amiability and Cheerfulness
	Jasmine loved to read and write even as a child. Now she has combined both together to become a reviewer. Her earliest memory of reading involves a Nancy Drew book and a flashlight underneath the covers. Her first memory of writing was penning a poem in the dark of night as she struggled to see the paper through the moonlight slanting in through the window. Other than being a reviewer, she keeps busy pursuing a bachelor's degree in college.

❀	Larkspur - A Light Spirit and Much Laughter
	Larkspur has been a reading maniac since grade school and reads on the average 6 books a week in all genres. She has worked for the military for twenty-five years as a Psychologist and currently teaches college online. When she is not reading or teaching she is trying to keep ahead of her 3 year-old granddaughter who is also a reader. Her other interests include working with the elderly, traveling and spending time with her family. She has been doing book reviews for 6 months.

❀	Lily - Majesty and Purity, Virginity
	Lily is a SAHM who is addicted to her kids, reading and coffee. Born with a book attached to one hand, she has learned to adapt. She reads while cooking, cleaning and even driving gulp. She loves reading anything in the romance genre and would rather receive a new book than a dozen red roses -- though chocolate is always welcome. And who knows? Maybe she’ll venture into writing down the line and finally get those crazy stories out of her head. For now she’s happy doing reviews for LASR, reading for pleasure and trying to maintain a blog.

❀	Magnolia - Dignity, Splendid Beauty
	Magnolia lives in the mid-west with her husband, son, and various pets. Her hobbies include needle crafts and card making, but her true passion is reading and writing....she has led writing workshops, been published in the True magazines, and several anthologies.

❀	Narcissus - Egotism, Formality
	Narcissus is a writer, a reader, a blogger and now a reviewer settled in California. At the age of nineteen, she is already accomplished a life's dream: she's published with Torquere Press. A fan of erotic romance, she can be found either working on it (some might call it playing but what do they know?) or nose deep in it. She's currently working on becoming a Ultrasound Technician, a (hopefully) Nora Roberts-caliber author and then finally making her way through the Great To-Be-Read Pile.

❀	Orange Blossom - Your Purity Equals Your Loveliness, Innocence, Eternal Love
	An avid reader her entire life, Orange Blossom can’t remember a time she wasn’t involved in one book or another—usually several at once. She’s a big Jane Austen fan and loves classic literature. Her reading tastes are varied though and she especially enjoys romance--particularly inspirational, historical and fantasy. Anything with an HEA will tickle her fancy. A previous history teacher, she now stays home, writes, and homeschools her children. She currently resides in the state of North Carolina with her two boys and husband.

❀	Orchid - Delicate Beauty
	Orchid is 79 years young. Because of health issues she is not very active. She retired for the second time at age 75 and has three daughters. She and the library are very friendly, and she checks out a dozen books each time she goes. She is not a TV watcher but does read constantly. She is originally from Indiana but has lived in Florida for 13 years.

❀	Peony - Bashfulness, shame, happy life, happy marriage, good health, prosperity.
	Peony doesn’t remember a time when she didn’t love the feeling of being lost in a good story. Reading came early to her and having her nose buried between the pages of a book is one of her favorite places to be! She also enjoys sewing, gardening and writing.

❀	Poppy - Generally means Eternal Sleep, Imagination; a yellow poppy signifies wealth and success.
	If you believe the stories her mother tells, Poppy was reading proficiently at the age of two -- and can't remember a time she didn't have a book in her hand, so reviewing romance stories is a perfect fit. She's not picky about genre -- any will do, as long as it includes a Happy Ever After.

❀	Rose - All roses symbolize love, but certain colors of roses can take on special meanings
	Among Rose's earliest memories are telling stories to a captive audience of her pets and making up problems for her dolls to solve. Things haven’t changed much, except now the captive audience includes her husband and children. Reading and writing help to keep Rose sane, and working as a reviewer is a dream job.

❀	Snapdragon - Presumption, Deception, Gracious lady
	Snapdragon has a toe in many worlds, but she is most happy with her hooves planted firmly at home on the farm. While her cubicle is enchanting on cold winter days and the breeze while on the back of the motorcycle most refreshing in summer, it's the view between her horses' ears that never fails to thrill. Writing manages to infiltrate (nearly) everything: these days, instead of toting notebook and pen, her laptop is dragged (and battered) along.

❀	Snowdrop - Hope
	Snowdrop has been an avid reader from a very young age, when her mother introduced her to the local library. In the past two years, Snowdrop has read over 150 books and has no plans to stop anytime soon. Reviewing books just seems like the perfect fit for someone who is never seen without a book in hand.

❀	Verbena -
	Verbena's mom always said reading was the curse of the family. Her earliest recollection is of carrying the Sunday funnies around to everyone in her family asking them to read it to her. No one had the time so somehow she learned to read before kindergarten. In second grade she was discovered reading Pearl S. Buck books hidden behind her reader in school. Once she decided to read the entire library branch collection and every day would get off the bus, return 3-4 books and take out more. She did read the whole collection in order from door to door. Now she is a retired educator. She lives alone with two horses, a rescue dog and a cat. Favorite subjects: food, children and horses.

❀	Violet - Modesty and Simplicity
	Other than being a writer, Violet is a pastor's wife, mother of two, and former missionary to Brazil. She has a degree in Bible and elementary education. A hopeless romantic and history buff, she likes to blend those two loves in crafting her stories. She especially enjoys reading and writing historical romance.

❀	Viscaria - dance with me
	Viscaria is a SAHM/Ballet Instructor living in Las Vegas (yep… Sin City) with her very own knight in shining armor who she met on an elevator. No joke. They are the proud parents of three-and-a-half boys (that half boy is due to be a full boy in February of 2008) who do an amazing impression of rollicking monkeys. Having once lived the "glamorous" life of a showgirl, including but not limited to sore feet, achy muscles, insane rehearsals and touchy-feely tourists, she is perfectly content to "settle down" into the stress-free life of wife-mommy-teacher-chauffeur-nursemaid-cook-monkey wrangler. As long as she can remember, she loves to read about anything she gets her hands on, but has a particular love of romance, with a special place in her heart for paranormals. Their Happily Ever After makes her day every single time.

❀	Wisteria - welcome
	Wisteria lives in the Pacific Northwest, is a retired chef and a prolific reader. Though her preferences usually run to historical and contemporary romance, she reads across the board; the Bible, cookbooks, the classics, and all manner of fiction. She is happy to discover new titles and authors and to share her love of books with others. There is nothing quite as satisfying as getting together with friends, sharing a fabulous meal and talking about books. If she can influence one person to read, or share the emotional connection that can be found in a great love story, she is a very happy woman. She welcomes recommendations of new treasures to be found within the pages of books.

❀	Xeranthemum - Represents eternity and immortality
	For hobbies Xeranthemum enjoys photography, cooking and gardening but her main hobby is reading -- and she doesn't read just anything. Her main passion is for most genres of romance, and she reads every chance she gets. So what if mutant dust bunnies have set up residence in her ever growing "keeper pile"? Now here she is, a reviewer for LASR. For a romance reader, that is a perfect HEA.

❀	Zinnia - Constancy
	Zinnia is the proud mother of three: two kids and a dog. She lives in Gypsum, Colorado about thirty miles west of Vail, doesn't ski and dislikes the snow -- go figure. She is passionate about reading, cooking and reading about cooking. She is married to a firefighter -- gotta love a guy in uniform! She believes that all books are worth our time, but is particularly fond of romance and historical fiction. She works for a veterinarian and was in the Navy, which is where she met her husband.

❀	Your Name Here
	Reviewers Needed! We've had such a wonderful response from authors and now have several books waiting to be reviewed and not enough reviewers! Our reviewers come from a variety of backgrounds and professions, but all have a love of romance novels. Although our reviewers are all non-paid volunteers, they do receive free e-books, galleys and books for review. Reviewers may also review a book they have purchased. Reviewers are expected to complete at least 1 review each month. You do need to be able to write using proper grammar and punctuation, though all reviews go through an editor prior to publication. If you love romance and to talk about what you read, send us an email today!