Reading Stuff

[shipperx]

Okayyyyyy....

I may have now pushed my limit in my romance binge.  I am now stuck reading one with a full-blown pretty pink princess ingenue heroine!  And her condescending alpha male.

This could be a less than enjoyable experience.  I'm not even half-way through and beginning to understand why the PPP's sister is bitchy.  I'm beginning to think the heroine must raise rainbow-colored unicorns in her spare time (though perhaps not, as that would at least be novel).

Comments

[usedtobeljs]

Oh dear! That sounds less pleasing. :(

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Seriously (and I am not making this up) she's tried to rescue drowned kittens...

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

What are you reading???

LOL!

Seriously, there are better romance novels out there. Try Laurie McBain's Moonstruck Madness...or Connie Brockaway's All Through the Night...both are about female thieves.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I actually have read both of those (though long enough ago that I have forgotten them. At least I think it was that one of Brockway's. It was either one I've read it, or it's the one currently on my kindle.)

This one at the moment is on audible by an author I don't recognize. The primly innocent heroine has so far rescued a puppy and cried beautifully after trying to rescue drowned kittens... Seriously!

It's making me retract most of my criticsm of "Luckiest Lady in London" (or at least appreciate it far more) because whatever its flaws at least never made me roll my eyes at the heroine!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yes, you read enough really bad ones...you start to think, you know this isn't that bad. Unfortunately the much maligned romance genre is maligned for a very good reason. It got to the point - in which I wondered - doesn't the publisher bother editing?

Insanely, the 1970s boddice rippers and 1980s/1990s semi-boddice rippers are better written. And had much stronger heroines. They just took forever and well...there was all that rape (which after a while is grating, I had issues with Whitney, My Love - that story's plot just did not work).

There is another thief story out there - that is hilarious. I can't remember the name of it though. It's not greatly written.

I got burned out on romance novels over Xmas - my re-read of Laurie McBain's Moonstruck Madness (which I couldn't remember and hadn't read since I was 16) was the last one. It has no rape in it. But is not well written.

Switched to Liane Moriarty's contemporary women's fic/best-sellers. And now, reading a sci-fi erotica romance between two guys (which reads like crack-fic) and Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin (crack sci-fi meets PD James by way of Edith Wharton).

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yes, you read enough really bad ones...you start to think, you know this isn't that bad. Unfortunately the much maligned romance genre is maligned for a very good reason.

Yes. I think I've read so much of the genre over my lifetime that when it is too by-the-book and overly familiar, I begin inwardly snarking. I enjoy it if there's a little experimentation or trope subversion. It's the old axiom about an author knowing the rules well enough to know when and where to break them. I want the story to remain close enough to formula that it's not genre-breaking. I like the comfort-food aspect of the genre, but I don't want it to be so on point that I start writing inward parodies as I read it.

And, for God's sake, heroes and heroines that are more than the sum of a set of cliches. Even if I complain about some aspect of a hero or a heroine, if they come off as an idividual it's STILL a plus.

Barb's idea of blood-thirsty unicorns (below) has its appeal though. At least it would be unexpected. ;)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It's the old axiom about an author knowing the rules well enough to know when and where to break them. I want the story to remain close enough to formula that it's not genre-breaking. I like the comfort-food aspect of the genre, but I don't want it to be so on point that I start writing inward parodies as I read

Yep. You want the candy without the heartburn. Or something along those lines.

I need the women in these things to be bit stronger...some of them are so wimpy. Smartbitches (a web site that provides reviews and discussion on romance novels), stated once that there's a lot of internalize misogyny in some of these novels. The genders get exaggerated.

Then there's the Mary Sue heroine, who is good at everything and you just want to smack the writer.

Or...what you state above...you find yourself rolling your eyes.

It's a weird genre. Yes, the mystery, sci-fi, fantasy genres all have similar issues...but not to quite the same degree.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Hah! Just realized that all through the night is BOTH a book I read ages ago and the unread book on my kindle. Apparently I have the old paper back of it.

[rahirah]

I suppose it's too much to hope that the condescending alpha male follows her into the unicorn barn and is gored for not being a virgin. (Or better yet, exposed as a virgin when the unicorns flock to him.)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Hee! All of which would be improvements!

A bit of trope subversion or a dash of cut-to-the-point reality goes a long way towards grounding these things. This... lacks all that.

(Or better yet, exposed as a virgin when the unicorns flock to him.)

Now, see, you're already coming up with a novel that I would prefer!

But this would require that the hero be more than a romance hero cliche (which thus far is about all I can say of this guy. I don't know that he has a personality beyond generic romance tropes. (And as far as I can see 'falling in love' in this one amounts entirely to being in lust because they know squat about one another).

I have actually read two virginal heros during this two week 'binge' (One of the Sue London novels and one of the Courtney Milans). I liked THOSE heroes (for one thing, they actually had personalities!) Those guys interested me (as did the disastrous 'first time' sex scenes in those two books, both of which were entertainingly awkward and emotional and led to some fun experimentation.) I do have a thing for a bit of trope subversion.

Generic Alpha Hero and Pretty Pink Princess have me inwardly snarking at them. It COULD use some goring unicorns!