shipperx: (Elizabeth and Dudley)
[personal profile] shipperx
Once upon a time, I used to read romance novels fairly regularly. I'm not sure exactly what happened (probably life), but somehow I read fewer and fewer and then for the past decade or more, virtually none. Over the holidays I got the urge, but it wasn't as easy as it should have been. I'm not sure whether the industry has strayed from the ones I like or whether in my years of reading them I became overly familiar with the tropes... or whether it's that I recognize the authors and pretty much know the books they each write, or I DON'T recognize the authors and have no idea what they write so I'm back to reading the blurbs.

While Kindle browsing, I noticed there's now a whole division of "billionaire" romances which... no thanks. I know I'm judging books by their covers (which we're not supposed to do) but the combo of cover and blurb made it unappealing. I mean, the truth is, most billionaires are entitled assholes (truthfully, how many people make a billion dollars without exploiting the hell out of something or someone? I'm betting it's significantly less than 10%) And it feels like it may be a '50 Shades of Gray' trend which -- HELL NO.

My problem with urban fantasy romance is...why bother? I read BtVS fanfic if I'm in that mood. It's free and scratches the exact same itch (plus, Spike) And in the non-romance Urban fantasy I read Dresden Files, so I'm covered.

I don't want to read about Afghanistan or Iraq, so I shy from soldier-mances. Cowboys are not my kink (I can read it, but... not my kink.) Neither are bodyguards and various and sundry 'agents'. (I'm always persuadable by a good book, but they don't really jump out as 'my thing.')

PWP erotica are only worth bothering with for short stories. They run thin on plot, so when stretched to novel length tend to become repetitive and dull (or become 50 Shades of Grey and... lets just stick to short stories, okay.)

Gee, with all of these 'don't likes' I'm beginning to understand how I wandered from the genre. I seem to have a very specific 'type' and even in that 'type' I've worn out my rut and my romance author lists.

So poking around, I ended up doing Kindle's 'download a sample' option to see whether any samples would pull me in. I did the same last month and got one that, while it subverted some tropes (something I remain fond of), I remained both bored and detached. Since the purpose of a romance is to play the emotions, remaining overly detached is pretty much a fail, even if there's some interesting trope subversion going on. This weekend I lucked out, finding a sample/new author that hit my "likes" (which as you can see from the stuff written above is trick in itself. Hey, we like what we like! Might not suit everyone, but WTH). I liked it so much I immediately read its spin-off/sequel which, while not quite as good was still pretty darn enjoyable.

What I like? Likeable leads, UST/sexual tension being well-paced (bodice ripping quasi-rape non-con does not apply), humor/wit, and potential for a functional pairing once all the obstacles to true love are overcome.

Got it. I think the part where I decided I really liked this one was after the "Oh no, we're going to have to marry to avoid a scandal" bit (it was a Regency romance, BTW), I had the idle thought of "Bejeebus, please, please, please no bodice ripping 'have to consummate the marriage that night or else' non-sense!", only for the hero to think (in less modern terms) "this marriage is for the rest of my life, there's no rush, and we have chemistry. We'll get there. Give her time to figure out what she wants" and-- bingo! I'm in. It worked quite well for the UST/sexual tension of the story too. It even got funny/fun when it reached the point that what was holding the 'event' up was that there was a certain degree of awkwardness in formalizing the whole thing that way.

Anyway, it was nicely done such that there was a nice build-up, some UST, and when they did get around to it, it was hot and consensual.

I also liked what became an obstacle in the last part of the book.Not a misunderstanding or mis-assumption. It was his politics. She got tipped off by the hero's best friend that the hero had quashed a bill for female rights in Parliament (though, again, it's Regency England we're talking about). His doing that blew her mind. And he didn't deny doing it. In fact he defended having done it, which provoked an argument between them. Did he see her as property? As "just a helpless woman"? Less? By that point in the relationship he had reached the "No, not you, love." stage. "You" are special. It's... y'know... women as a gender." Which, of course, was not an acceptable answer to her. Extended argument ensues.

Plus ever since the mention of smugglers, I knew it was a Chekov's gun thing. But it was fun when it turned out to be a gender-reversal with the hero being the one who got kidnapped and needed rescue.

And if the first book ended with a bit of gender-reversal, the spin-off/sequel book with best friend of the first book's hero falling for the best friend of the first book's heroine became gender reversal of the Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Melark proportions. Seriously, Book II hero was very beta. Sort of William the Bloody (non-vampire version) and poet John Keats in the movie "Bright Star" (which is a nice if sad movie BTW).

And serious trope subversion.It's not every day that you run across a thirty-year-old male virgin hero (it rather makes sense, though when you get the whole picture) or when the 'deed' does not go as well the first time and the hero/heroine have to experiment to get it right. (The scene where the hero seeks advice from the hero of the first book is pretty damn funny.)

I also liked that the author clearly put thought into back story and motivation. Even though it is never spelled out per-se, after reading the first two novels, it's pretty easy to figure out what the past falling out between Book 1 hero and Book 2 hero was about. Ostensibly it had been about Book 1 hero quashing the bill for women's rights in Parliament a few years earlier. Book 2 hero is... quite the apocryphal liberal feminist BTW. But, as all things are, it's not really about that. It's about why each hero felt the way that they did about the subjectwith Book 1's hero having women issues based on his flighty, difficult mother and Book 2's hero has... far more issues based his father being a Bolton sadistic bastard who had put the hero's mother 'aside' with the mother having had no rights to her own child, and the hero having grown up motherless until his father's death, when he discovered that his mother wasn't dead after all. His father being a Bolton sick pervert, is why the hero is the way that he is as well.

And it was pretty transparent that the hero of the forthcoming third novel was most likely set up in this book. The Book 2 heroine's brother had issues with the Book 2 hero that, it's pretty obvious had to do with both of their fathers being bastards of the first sick order (it being a Regency, yes, a "Hellfire Club" is involved.) Book 2 hero having be deemed by his father as 'too soft' to have been drafted as next generation member whereas forthcoming Book 3's hero seems to have at least gone to an initiation only to learn that it was Bastard Bolton level yick and revolted. Forthcoming Book 3 hero seemingly had issues with Book 2 hero being so clearly above reproach, bitterly referring to Book 2 hero as an 'angel' and...well... there was more. I wouldn't blame Book 2 hero for being long-time pissed at one upcoming book 3 hero. But I'm willing to bet that the underlying resentment from Book 3 hero is that he wonders why he was drafted. He's going to have some angst about some inherent inner flaw that made him darker otherwise wouldn't he have been deemed 'too soft' for this as well. That seems the most likely cause for his resentment of the "angel."


And all this discussion makes it sound very hero oriented, but the female heroines are both smart and self-motivated. They were both likable and perhaps a bit too versed with weapons. :)

Anyway, I read not one but two romances this weekend. It's been quite a while since I've done that, but I did enjoy it (though I preferred the book 1 pairing. It was a bit more quippy-bicker-banter and hotter. Book 2 had more trope subverting, but, while the hero was lovable, it was rather less "hot."

ETA: And Nutmeg pointed out I never gave name or title. The books were by Sue London. The first had Artemis in the title, the second Athena. I'd be more specific, but it was generic enough not to stick in my mind, though the books themselves are quite enjoyable. She only has three books listed on Amazon. Downloaded the third last night, which is apparently a "downstairs" romance involving the butler (I vaguely remember the first book's hero mentioning that Dibbs the elder is the butler on the family estate and Dibbs the younger the butler 'in town,' so I'm assuming the romance is Dibbs the younger.) Hey, its the season for "Downton Abbey" so I'm game.

Date: 2014-01-14 04:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] txvoodoo.livejournal.com
My new bubblegum/popcorn read is cozy mysteries. TOTAL fluff, but oh so relaxing!

Date: 2014-01-14 03:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] shipperx.livejournal.com
My childhood was spent reading Trixie Belden mysteries. (Some Encyclopedia Brown and perhaps a Nancy Drew, but Trixie was my girl. :)

Date: 2014-01-14 11:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] txvoodoo.livejournal.com
There can be something amazingly comforting about reading something written to a formula!

I don't judge at all. :D

Date: 2014-01-14 04:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nutmeg3.livejournal.com
I'm skipping the spoilers, so maybe the info's in there, but how come you don't say who the author is and what the books are?

Date: 2014-01-14 05:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] shipperx.livejournal.com
Forgot? :)

Sue London's 'Haberdasher' series.

Date: 2014-01-14 08:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] shipperx.livejournal.com
I will warn that e-books desperately need better editing. I'm not even one to notice that sort of thing and I caught several typos in these.

Date: 2014-01-14 02:01 pm (UTC)
usedtobeljs: (Default)
From: [personal profile] usedtobeljs
Have you read any of Courtney Milan's historicals? Or was one of her works the one that threw you out of the story?

Date: 2014-01-14 03:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] shipperx.livejournal.com
I don't think I've read her work. It's been a while since I've read romances, so it's possible, but nothing leaps to mind. I'll have to check her out.

Date: 2014-01-14 06:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
And Nutmeg pointed out I never gave name or title.

I was just thinking the same thing - as they do sound rather interesting. So I'm glad you told us!

Date: 2014-01-15 06:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] shipperx.livejournal.com
I found them to be enjoyably fluffy, which I happen to be in the mood for.

Date: 2014-01-14 09:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] appomattoxco.livejournal.com
Seconding Courtney Milan I think you'd like Cecilia Grant too. Possibly Tessa Dare.

I don't like a whole lot of contemporary romance because I find the small town ones too sweet and the Millionaire ones annoying. Oddly enough I do read sports romances. I hate sports so until I read the Amour et Chocolat romances by Laura Florand this month I didn't get it. Turns out I like heroes that are intensely into their work and good at. These take in Paris and the women are the wealthy halves of the couples. The heroes all have money of their own but aren't interested in being rich they are all chocolate makers.

Date: 2014-01-15 06:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] shipperx.livejournal.com
Trying Milan now.

Turns out I like heroes that are intensely into their work and good at.

Yeah, I tend to prefer that sort of thing myself.

Date: 2014-01-18 08:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] shadowkat67.livejournal.com
As you know, I've been on a romance genre binge for a while now, and am rapidly becoming an expert on the various subgenres..you dislikes made me laugh. Those are mostly the contemporary, which is a mine-field. People think boddice rippers are bad? Please - they have nothing on some of these contemporary and new adult.

Apparently there's a billionaire trope....... And it feels like it may be a '50 Shades of Gray' trend which -- HELL NO

Having read a few of them? It's exactly what you describe. Basically the Beauty and the Beast trope, except the Beast is a billionaire...you'd hate it.

Urban fantasy?

Agreed. I prefer Spuffy fanfic, or I scratch it with a Rachel Morgan or Dresden novel. Most of it is rather silly and too young for me.
(Lots of Twilight copycats out there).

YA dystopia trope

See urban fantasy.

Afganistan/Iraq solider boy trope

Right there with you - not my kink. Doesn't work for me at all. Also it's weirdly right-wing conservative.

There are a few you might like that I've read - Eloisa James is rather witty in places. Sherry Thomas is another really good one, a better writer than Milan, and she likes to examine how marriages go wrong and how people find forgiveness, loves angst though. My favorite is Not Quite a Husband - which is about a doctor who falls in love with a younger man, and they become estranged. So she goes out to India to work, and when one of her family members die, he travels out there to bring her back.
Another rather interesting on is by Meredith Duran, who also goes against established tropes and likes her angst - The Duke of Shadows is about an artist who falls for an Indian/English halfbreed Army Officer in India. They get separated, he believes she is dead...

Lisa Kelypas isn't bad - Dreaming of You is about a female novelist who falls for a gambling/casino owner, who is from the wrong side of the tracks. There's also, Loretta Chase, who has a delicious novel about a female journalist who is writing a romance novel under a pseudyonmye and falls for a rather reluctant Duke. Loretta Chase is rather witty and funny in places, not into angst.

Lisa Kelypas also writes contemporary - she wrote one about a stained glass artist and a builder, which was sweet. She's not a great writer though.

I try to stay away from the ones who do series, which practically everyone at the moment, and all of them have continuity errors.

Since you don't like the billionaire trope? Stay away from contemporary erotica (it's all 50 Shades of Grey, except 50 Shades of Grey was funnier, more interesting, and weirdly better written...I know mind blowing.) Also stay away from Maya Banks - she does either urban fantasy, soliders, or billionaires and she's ever so slightly chauvinistic and misogynistic.

Sophie Kinsella does fluffy contemporary Brit a la Helen Fielding. Jennifer Crusie is the American version.

April 2022

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24 252627282930

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 31st, 2025 02:45 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios