... you read the following (as I just did), "Just need a few letters done, actually," he said, taking the heavy portable typewriter from her hand.  (Diana Palmer book, 1984). 

LOL!  Yes, and some of her older ones talk about pretty primitive computers too.

how about a woman who's a nerd going ape-sh*t because the new color monitors just came out?! I had to check the copyright date on that one..

Or they talk about "data processing" like its the next big thing.....or cell phones in their cars - "car phones".  LOL  Really dates a book.

... they have to use pay phones to make a call away from home:P

or he rolled up the car window to stop the breeze...........or he put the key in the car door to unlock it for her......

Hey 2 of my cars have windows that have to be rolled up, and all of mine require keys LOL!

When the whole plot would be resolved if somebody just had a cell phone :P

Or how about cigarette-smoking heroes. Don't see that anymore.

Hey 2 of my cars have windows that have to be rolled up, and all of mine require keys LOL!

Sorry, Anne!

Or when the heroine is wearing lavendar eyeshadow which matches her lavendar mohair cowell neck sweater ;p

Author M.M. Kaye wrote that she kept notes when she and her husband were posted to different places around the world, planning to use the material when writing in the future.  I was struck by how she wrote to capture a particular place and time period in her Death In... series,  one she recognized as not existing anymore.  For me, when I read about data processing and roll up windows, I remember M.M. Kaye and her attention to details so I'm not bothered by the appearance of the occasional portable typewriter.

When the heroine is a virgin past the age of 21,  even in a contemporary.  I've read several books from the late 80's-early 90's and the heroine is always a virgin.  She could be a widow and still a virgin for some reason.  If she's not a virgin then either she was raped or her only experience was with the hero and now they are reconnecting.  It's like they were afraid to give anyone a sex life before the hero until the late 90's. 

Oh and when they use an answering machine instead of voicemail.

I still have an answering machine!

I was just thinking, when the hero and heroine are separated for a long time and she marries someone else but of course she never actually has sex with him.

I have an answering machine too and I don't have caller ID :-)  I can't be bothered with wasting the money, ha ha.  I'm saving it for books.

Wasn't the virginity a requirement for the forumula they had to follow? And they had to say I love you by the last page.

I have an answering machine too!

This isn't on topic, but rather a question i've been wanting to ask. 

In almost every book I read, the hero or heroine is able to get out of bed without the other knowing.  Is this realistic? 

I don't think my husband has ever been able to get up without me knowing it.   I'm not a very heavy sleeper apparently, but this seems common practice in romance novels.

I get in and out of bed all the time and my husband doesn't have a clue. He's a very heavy sleeper.

I used to sleep through DH's alarm, him getting up and showering in the master bath.  That was pre-puppy. She starts crying in her crate as soon as she here's DH. So I get up and let her outside to piddle.

Too technical & analytical....I don't even notice these things when reading.  LOL

In almost every book I read, the hero or heroine is able to get out of bed without the other knowing.  Is this realistic?

My husband can do this to me but I can't even roll over without him noticing.

I've read some recent books with smoking heroes, but I can't remember which they were lol

i sleep right through DH's alarm going off and him getting up, and usually through his shower too.

I've read some recent books with smoking heroes, but I can't remember which they were lol

Probably Diana Palmer, LOL.

nah I've never read Palmer lol