I haven't read many romance novels in my life. It's not that I think they're "beneath me" or too trashy or anything like that. The few I have read just haven't led me to read more. From what I have seen, as in true in any genre, the great majority of them aren't very well written.
But when I was reading through the archives of the very funny (and very R-rated) blog by
Dionne Galace, I came across the
Hot Cover of the Week for September 26th, 2006. The book is
Zhang Dynasty: Seduction of the Phoenix by Michelle M. Pillow. The cover art is by Eliza Black.
HO.LY. SMOKES. The cover alone has completely sold me on this book. Look at that guy! Wow. If the guy on the cover isn't based on Takeshi Kaneshiro in
House of Flying Daggers, then he's his twin brother.
There's an NSFW excerpt from the book at
the author's website. But I almost don't care what the book is like. I just like the pretty, pretty cover.