Romance Writer's Phrase Book: The Essential Source Book for Every Romantic Novelist (Perigee Book)

I am so glad i got this book. I wanted to build my writing craft book collection and this came highly recommended. I just skimmed it a bit at first and it has tons of phrases you can use to add some tension to your story. I was reading each phrase one after another and became thoroughly entertained. Yes for me this is a 5 star read and stellar ref book for aspiring authors.

Okay, I know that there is a lot of bad romance writing out there full of embarrassingly melodramatic descriptions and cheesy metaphors. And this book has plenty of silly phrases that I would NEVER use; but it also has a lot of wonderful, inventive phrases and a rich vocabulary. The book is an enormously helpful tool, if you give it the proper chance, and appreciate it for what it is. I don't use it to copy the phrases. I use it to spark my own imagination, to help me come up with my own phrases. So often only cliches come to mind when I try to write a sex scene, or even a passionate kiss. This phrasebook offers such a wonderful variety of descriptions for that kind of thing. It reminds me that the English language is much more interesting than my day to day vocabulary. I might use a verb from one phrase, combine it with a noun on the next page, then maybe add a cool metaphor of my own that I wouldn't have thought of if I hadn't been inspired by something from the phrase book. I highly recommend this book to writers of fiction, whatever the genre. Let it assist you, perhaps even inspire you . . . and feel free to laugh at all the silly stuff. :)

Outdated. And it shows. This book was written in 1980- something. When Fabio was prominent on the bodice ripping covers. The phrases suggested were fitting for the time, but the authors should go back and refresh the book for the 21st century.

Excellent resource for cozy novel writers. Timeless.

I bought this book on recommendation from a friend, but was almost put off from doing so because of the many bad reviews on Amazon. The book is what it is: a list. Nothing more, nothing less. If you are writing and get stuck for a descriptive phrase for a color, a body movement, or if you just need something to help you vary up the way you're trying to describe an emotion, this really is a handy book to have. You don't have to copy the phrases word for word, I'm sure most people wouldn't, and in that respect, I wouldn't recommend doing so. But I do think most writers could definitely gleen something useful from the book. I will admit some of the phrases are outdated, and some are just plain bad. Romance writing has tightened up considerably over the years, and some of phrases listed overuse the word "as"--a grammatical no-no these days. But otherwise, they're good for a general idea if needed. Just don't expect these phrases to create a book for you. In my opinion, the book is well worth it for the price. Too, I would also like to note this book is on the list of recommended reading material for writers at The Passionate Pen website: [...]

The Romance Writers’ Phrase Book by Jean Kent & Candace Shelton _5 Stars I picked up this book based off an author who recommended it. Received it today and already in love. I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting but this book is a great catalog of phrases, tags, and words to use in any book, not just romance. It isn’t smutty in any way so if you need more advanced words for spicier scenes, I will probably recommend the internet but besides that, this book not only has a section dedicated to Sex: Desire, lovemaking, embracing…ex, but it also has categories for Physical Characteristics, Body Movement, Facial Expressions, Humor, Eyes, Voices, Emotions, Miscellaneous and Colors. Which was 100 percent unexpected. I’ve already used it today to find a better word then just brown. Honestly, while I can find all this online across a ton of different websites, it is nice to have it all in one reference place physically. I’ve already tagged a few pages. Some of the phrase’s are a bit cheesy but the rest are words and tags I can see myself using in my books. Totally recommended for anyone writing a book, whether you are just starting out or have been in the game for 10 plus years.

This book was a bit of a life saver. It's helped me to express what I've read so often and wanted to write, yet couldn't find the right words at the moment I needed them. Yes, one could think of it as cheating but really, couldn't we say we've all cheated. Don't we get much of what we write from our own experiences from watching others, from other stories we've heard, and from all those books we've soaked up over the years. Face it, for most of us, writing is a learning experience. One that with time we grow and learn and get better which only comes from trial and error and persistence. Until we get to be the writers we aspire to be, why not use every possible tool we can that's available to us. Eventually you won't need this book but until then it's a way to get over those humps. This was definitely one of the greatest writing tools I've invested in.

This book is arguably one of the best in the business for romance authors. I have the paperback and use it religiously. However, when editing my next book while on a writers retreat I didn't have the book and decided to get the digital copy instead. However, it is not a regular ebook file. Instead, it is small sideways screenshots of the book pages, but only about half a page shows in the screenshot. Adore this book, but not worth the price I paid for the hard to read ebook file.

Quite useful! Specially if you are a beginner

As each page of this book was scanned for the ebook it is very difficult to read. Cannot rotate the pages even in latest kindle app. Do not download!! Virtually unreadable!

If anyone has ever had an interest in writing a story - romance or otherwise - this is the book you need to have at your disposal. Amazing, truly amazing. My next 'need-to-have book' is Master Lists for Writers by Bryn Donovan, but the one I reach for the most, is 'The Romance Writer's Phrase Book'. Can't say enough good things about having books like these handy, and places like Amazon where I can buy them.

Published in 1984 and it shows - in serious need of an update. That said it's a handy tool for when your mind goes blank 'cause you can always do your own updating. Well laid out for reference.

I wish there were more books as useful. If you are writing romance and you don't have this book or something similar, you are making your task way more difficult than it needs to be.