I got my little christmas package today. I got a love inspired historical - Dakota Child by Linda Ford. I also got a flower brooch but had to throw it away because the crystals contain lead and I have two kids. They know better than to put it in their mouths but I would rather not chance it.You know what they say better safe then sorry.  I have never read a love inspored romance. It's free I will give it a try.. and really I will read anything at this point since my books are packed away since my house is on the market.

What did everyone else get? The same thing? Something Different? Nothing yet?

I got the same thing.. If you havent got it yet, they will be sending an email wanting you to do a survey about the book. When I opened my package I thought to myself, good, its just a christmas gift, I don't have to read the book, but then a few days later I got the e mail. I personally do not care for the love inspired line of books, uts like being beat over the head with a bible, but this book wasnt too bad.

ahh .. yep haven't gotten the email with the survey yet.

got the same thing....threw it away cause it was not my kinda thing lol

am thinking of stopping with it, I am not into the books they send....they don't seem to realize they have other lines, I always get the same ones it seems.

I received the email but not the package  yet

I got the package, same thing.  I too threw away the brooch.  I can't think of where I'd ever wear it or whomever I know that would like it.

My siggy line's been full of the free Harlequin books for a couple of weeks now.  No nibbles though, no one seems to want them.

I really wish they had an option to send us the books in ebook form, that way I'm not stuck with all these extra books that'll end up going to the library or Goodwill.

I just quit.  I always seemed to get either Love Inspired or Intrigues. I don't read those lines.  Everytime I'd do a survey, I'd say let us try another line for pity's sake!  I got the books but haven't opened yet.

I got the same package.  I, too, threw away the pin, and those  books do not appeal to me in the least.  I like my romances edgier if you know what I mean.  I do pass them around, but I feel weird about doing it, so I think I'll take a page from Ani's book and resign from the program.

They usually send me SuperRomance, I think they even sent me a Blaze before. Most of them are hit or miss. I don't even read Harlequin books except for the onces they send me. Maye they are trying to convert me so they send me a lot of variety? I like free reading so I am going to keep at it. I am always honest on the surveys anout whether or not the premise of the book is stupid but they keep sending  them.

Yeah, I have been brutally honest with them when they send horrible books. They should know by now that I HATE the Love Inspired line. There is nothing they can change about the line to make me like it. the whole concept of the line is religious, and I dont want religion mixed up in my romance. Geesh, it's like being beat over the head with a bible.

I got my package today.  I am keeping the brooch because I tend to wear things like that on sweaters and things.  It wouldn't have been my first choice, mine was a pointsetta, but I like it.

Ugh...I received Love Inspired as well.  This is a historical one that invloves kids.  Sorry, but romance novels with kids are not my cuppa. 

I kept the brooch and I'm wearing it today. But I like flashy jewellery. Like so many others, I don't care for the Love Inspired line. I'm a Jew and that line is definitely Christian-leaning. I've told them that before but they didn't pay any attention. When I got the last shipment, that's what made me say Enough is Enough. A free book that I won't read does nothing for me.

Yeah I can now say that I really don't like christian romances. I like sex or at least some really great  sexual tension.  That book wasn't for me at all. At least I tried it. I'll try anything once.... well I'll try reading anything anyway. 

Ugh...I received Love Inspired as well.? This is a historical one that invloves kids.? Sorry, but romance novels with kids are not my cuppa.?

Diana--I've found a kindred spirit in you.   I, too, am totally uninterested in romance novels with kids in them. In fact, if there is a kid on the cover, I absolutely will not buy it.  Romance/kids--isn't that an oxymoron??  

Kids don't bother me in romance novels...They are just part of life. Like Jessie said though, I want some sex, or at least sexual tension in my romance novels.

Have you actually read the LOVE INSPIRED line?  At all??   They are hardly like "being beat over the head with a bible"    I am not religious and am not offended by the occasional quoting of the bible and/or the praying to God.   Which is horrors apparently. 

Holy cow!  I didn't put that many question marks in my original post.  Sheesh!

I'm a Blaze, Intrigue and Silhouette Romantic Suspense reader.  In the last go around, I did get an Intrigue, but I had already read it.  It was by Paula Graves, one of my favorite authors.  I've never gotten a Blaze to distribute.  Maybe they are trying to get some of the lines with lower overall sales into the hands of new readers.  

Oh well, I'll still be a series romance reader, but have quit the Harlequin Ambassador program, too.

I got the books....but I'm pretty sure there was no pin in my box.  I take the bus to work and so I usually leave at least one copy on the seat for somebody, but on more than on occasion the drive has found it and "saved" it for me, because they thought I accidentally lost it.  Ugh....it's like you can't get rid of them.  Next stop is the charity box....wonder how many copies of the same book they end up with?  LOL.  When my grandmother was in an extended stay rehab center, I'd leave copies there too, but they usually prefer large print.

Have you actually read the LOVE INSPIRED line?? At all???? They are hardly like "being beat over the head with a bible"??? I am not religious and am not offended by?the occasional quoting of the bible and/or the praying to God.?? Which is?horrors apparently.?  

Yes, I have. And maybe I've just been unlucky as I understand they're not all as heavily religious as the ones I've read. As for the Bible quotes, they always seem to be from the Christian New Testament which is not part of MY Bible so while I wouldn't consider it a "horror", I find it uncomfortable to read. And some of them play into a character's motives so I can't just skim them.

ETA: Trying to get rid of the dreaded question marks.

I read one Love Inspired book that was so bad, it was the only time I was severely tempted to write a review on Amazon for it. The couple meet, have a growing attraction to each other. But, there are major fundamental differences in how they relate and their values. Then, sudden;y, the heroine finds out the man is religious, and WHAM! everything is going to be okay between them. The end. In 2 pages.

Umm, NO. Fundamental differences don't get fixed just because one discovers the other person believes in God, too. Many religious/spiritual people get divorced for other reasons. They still had the same problems they had at the end of the story.

Maybe it's me, but I feel the editing of Harlequins have gotten worse over time, and the selection of people they allow to be authors has gotten worse. The Harlequin Ambassador program never seems to ask those kinds of questions.

Another Harlequin I jettisoned was where the hero is so arrogant, MEAN, nosy and unlikable at the beginning. I only got 20 pages in. He never changed. Yet, somehow, they found each other attractive that they wanted to jump each other's bones. And that somehow made it okay for the man to have these personality & character flaws. No, what happens later, in real life, when a woman overlooks these huge red flags, is she ends up with a man who is arrogant, MEAN, nosy and unlikable, later on, when the gloss has worn off. Author, Poet Laureate, Maya Angelou is famous for telling Oprah, "People always let you know who they are in the first 20 minutes of meeting them. Our problem is, people don't want to believe what they see."

I have always liked the size of Harlequins. I can polish off a book in an evening and have a happy ending, then be on to the next one. Longer, mass market romances tend to be filled with too much narrative filler just to lengthen the story for the page length requirements. I don't know if, as I've gotten older, I've gotten more wise about nature of relationships and what would really go into a successful relationship, or that the quality of writing in Harlequins has really gone down.

Have you actually read the LOVE INSPIRED line?  Yeah,

At all??  More than one in fact

They are hardly like "being beat over the head with a bible"  I disagree

  I am not religious and am not offended by the occasional quoting of the bible and/or the praying to God.     I'm not offended by "occasional" quoting of the bible or praying, but some of these books are so over the top, its just sick. this last book I read was the best of the bunch and the little one page sample of the story had 3 references to God or praying...in 178 words (yeah I counted them)

   Which is horrors apparently. 
Its not horrors, just annoying... the only religion I want in my romance novels is "OH God, yes...thats it..."       : )

 got the same book, a Love Inspired, and the poinsettia brooch. Gave the brooch to my 7 yo. Never thought of lead! How did you know? 

I should quit the program. They never send me intrigues, I would read those. I don't want love inspired, or blaze, or super, etc. I don't know how they pick books for people. I've told them I would read Nocturne and Intrigue, but they don't send them.

Oh, and as for them sending ebooks, they are probably DRMd, if so I wouldn't want them.

the Love Inspired line has its good and its bad..I've found some authors in that line who are now auto-buy for me and on my keeper shelf(ok I keep  nearly everything but these I'd keep if I didn't) some authors are better than others and some put in more scripture in others..I used to dislike this line intensely - didn't like ANY christian romance -until I found some that just did the trick. And a lot of romances aren't realistic...finding out someone's christian and 2 pages later everything is okey dokey isn't much differernt than having great sex 2 pages before the end and everything's hunky dory!  but for a while I think every singl LI I attempted to read sucked! and one author in that line is extremely popular but I've yet to read one of her books and not be disappointed if not downright pissed.

don't like intrigues much at all either..but I dont' know why they'd keep sending crap people don't want to read and expect them to do a review on it!