Just wondering if anyone here's a subscriber?

I'm primarily a romance reader, hence my (rather sporadic) presence in this forum, and  was thinking of subscribing... I have a gift certificate from Amazon and thought this would be a good use for it but can't seem to decide whether to get a subscription or buy more books...so I was hoping to get some opinions and answers to questions from RT readers...

Are the reviews any good? do they review current releases or future releases? (and if they review future releases, how long after they review a book does it come out?)... Do they help you decide what to read? Besides Book Reviews what else does the magazine have?

and do you think it's worth the price?

Thanks for any help!! I keep getting almost subscribing but then talk myself out of it, only to almost subscibe again!

I haven't subscribed yet and not sure if I will or not. I found myself spending more time reading about more stuff to buy than I did the books I'd already bought! though it does have some interesting articles sometimes and has lots of reviews - however I've found at least 3 books they rated 2 or 3 starts that I really liked so it's a matter of taste I guess.

you can get their past reviews on their website free..just not the current ones..not sure how long it takes before they make them available. I'm curious to see how many subscribe and if they think it's worth it 'cause I could easily be persuaded..the issues I've gotten I got froma bookstore near my house.

I suscribed for a couple of years but decided I'd rather spend the money on books than renew again.  They were devoting more and more of the magazine reviewing things I rarely read like suspense, sci fi, and mainstream so more and more just wasn't getting read.  There are so many categories of books now and they try to hit a lot of them.  They also do series romances (Harlequin) and erotica and paranormal ,historicals and contemporaries, which did interest me.  They do reviews of books that are coming out the next month, so the magazine that is coming out this week is on the November releases.  After the reviews are a couple of months old you can read them for free at their website.  Personally, I google reviews for newer books and find a lot of good stuff at various blogs that way.

I did enjoy other parts of the magazine.  Interviews with authors, articles on trends in publishing, articles for people interested in writing and getting published.  But again, I can get stuff like that for free at websites like DearAuthor.  And to me the blogs tend to be more honest in their opinions because they aren't keeping one eye on their advertising dollars.

So while I enjoyed it I enjoyed buying books more, I guess.

edited to say that I frequently did not agree with their rating of books, but I guess it is sort of useful to know that when certain reviewer like something I probably won't, LOL.

I've never seen the magazine, but do run across their reviews while googling and honestly, haven't found them particularly interestingl or informative. I much prefer the (always free) reviews at "All About Romance" or "The Romance Reader."

I've never subscribed or even read Romantic Times.  I've let all my magazine subscriptions go, I just don't have time to read them.  I'd rather be reading a book!

I subscribe and I really enjoy it.  When I get my new issue I sit down with a highlighter and start highlighting the books I want to read and then add them to my WL here.  It's a wonderful resourse for me and one I rather enjoy :)

The first time I picked up a Romantic Times was a couple months ago - and I'm hooked. I do read other genres aside from romance though and I was surprised the magazine did contain reviews for several genres (many overlap with romance I find) that I enjoy reading. 

I bought my second issue this month and I'm thinking about subscribing but I dunno. I'll probably keep thinking about it and keep paying the inflated issue price at B&N for it. lol

But for me, it was a great "find" albeit  it was "discovered" a  little later than most of the population! :)

I'm a subscriber. I don't always agree with their reviews but then I don't always agree with the reviews on PBS either. Like Emily I also sit down with my copy when it comes and add books to my WL. I have discovered a couple new authors thru the book descriptions in the magazine.

Also on their message boards there are a few authors that post. Elizabeth Hoyt is the guest author right now and Lori foster and Sarah McCarty also post on the boards. I believe you can access the message boards without a subsription but you have to have one to post their. I could be mistaken though.

I use the Romantic TImes message boards without being a subscriber.

I buy the bloody magazine every month (and have been doing so for the past 7 years or so) and I do know better.  If I just took the 5 minutes and subscribed, I'd be saving myself $30/year!   Doh!!! 

Just wanted to say thanks to those who replied...

I guess it's a matter of preferences...I'm just not sure where mine lay..I think reading the mag could be fun, but I'm not so sure how useful it would be as far as finding new reads/authors...Most of the reviews I read now are either on Amazon's site or Barnes and Nobles...(B&N is also my favorite Bookseller)

 I've used their messsage boards...especially when I first started reading romances a few years ago..found a bunch of good recs there:-)

 I'm leaning towards subscribing but I'm still iffy about it..I've got time though to decide though, so I think I'll just think about it some more until I think I've  reached a decision ...

and then I'll think about it some more...

:-)

I went to Borders yesterday.  I looked for the mag there.  Could not find it?  Has anyone seen it at Books A Million?  The only B&N close by is about 45 minutes away.

I'm a subscriber and I have to say that I LOVE it.  It's an awesome magazine if you like romances.  It especially helps me figure out when books are coming out.  I get my magazine each month, sit down and write out a list of books that I want to read, then come here and make sure they are on my WL.