So, I read 3 Kaye Dacus books - The Brides of Bonneterre series - Stand-In Groom, Menu For Romance, and A Case for Love.  In my opinion, they got progressively worse as the series continued.  The romances were so flat that I was bored with them.  the couples just never seemed to come together.  I never got that *happy* feeling for them at the end.

So, the last one (A Case for Love) I wrote a review for on Amazon (giving it 3 stars) and I am getting ripped on it.  My guess is the author and her cronnies are marking it unhelpful because it says she should not write romances, but still with just families.  I also pointed out an editorial error and she is an editor, so she probably doesn't like that.  I wrote it yesterday and this morning I have 6 people who have marked it as "unhelpful."  If I knew it were really people who were looking to buy the book marking it that way, I would be fine, but none of the other reviews have 9 people who gave it a helpful/unhelpful mark, I know this is because I did not give it a glowing review.

Has anyone else read her books?  How do you feel about the romance?

I justed looked at her web page...looks like I made her blog.  I'm actually pretty upset about this.  I don't like to upset people. I also think that authors should accept that not everyone is going to LOVE their books.

I haven't read any of these books...but I have read some christian romance in the past.  For the most part I come away disappointed.  I feel that typically the characters are pretty one dimensional and cheesy...and lets face it...we all want the happily ever after unless there is a GOOD reason for it.  There are one or two Christian romances that I've really enjoyed, but most of them feel pretty flat for me too...

Don't worry about people being upset about your review...you are titled to your opinion whether they like it or not :)

She's being unprofessional and ridiculous.  She would be entitled to complain if you'd made personal attacks, but an author has to cultivate a thick skin.  And complainining because it was a review copy aroused my ire so much I commented -- hope she will let it through the moderation.

I commented on the review copy thing, too.  I had another of her books to review, but I said I won't do it out of respect for her (and for me because I don't want to deal with her anymore!).  Why do authors feel the need to insult readers????

I have read lots of other Christian romances and I love them.  I've read Amish romances (hey, those are about as tame as they get) and felt more romance. 

I was just curious if anyone else had read her books and how they felt about them.  Maybe it is just me?  Was I being overly critical of her work? 

Laura, don't sweat it. You are entitled to your own opinion and alot of people value honesty over stroking an ego. i am alot more apt to look at a 3 rating over a 5 star, just because there are so many fangurls and friends that would give crap a high grade for a friend or relative. I remember one time I gave a 3 star rating on amazon and it was removed immidiately. Now I didn't know that, I thought that I had a glitch and redone the review. Again it was removed, by that time I caught on that someone had marked it unhelpful and had it removed. I didn't try again and I never bought the author again. Which I would have, had my review stayed. ABB's only hurt themselves in the end.

I've never heard of this author. I've managed to find some christian romances I've liked but it did take me a while and I still come across what I consider a dud here and there though that's true with any romance unless it's a tried and true author for me.

Laura I wouldn't worry about it.  I've read alot of Christian romance and honestly, I've never even HEARD of her.

Ok, time to move on, right?  She responded to me, but it sounded condescending.  ugh. 

I also wrote to netgalley (where I got the book to review) and told them what happened.  I asked if it was okay to write an honest review that might not be glowing.  they replied that it was completely acceptable and that some authors are just touchy. :)

I revised my review a bit to change wording, but not the meaning.  I wanted to get across the point of how the book made me feel.  I also wrote a note on the review that said I insulted the author, so I reworded it to take out things that might be misconstrued, but the basis was still the same.