AAR

[tearose]

Either overall or currently...

The blog post about series dominating the market got me to thinking. I haven't picked up a romance novel & completed it in quite a while, unless it was a vintage one or a YA one.

This is what I dislike:

1. It is a formulaic. You can guess everything from the backcover, there is practically no suspense.

2. I don't always want a HEA. 'Gone with the Wind' is considered a romance novel, yet it didn't have one.

3. I'm fed up with the Regency/historicals focused upon the nobility, dresses, balls, etc. I don't care about these people.

4. Plots are thin, characters two-dimensional, & it's more telling than showing. What I mean is that it should be fleshed out more.

5. Short courtship, then marriage... C'mon! I don't believe most of these characters actually love each other. They have no reason to whatsoever. It's called lust, not love.

6. I don't like series, because I think that authors seem lazy. Basically, you could take most series & relabel them as stand alones without much effort. After the 4 or 5th book in a series, I stop caring about their easy matchmaking. A series (IMO) should grow with the same characters, adding a few new ones in other time like other book series do.

7. The heroes are usually tall, dark, & white... it's the same people almost every time. It's boring.

8. Lack of conflict between hero & heroine... I don't want them to meet & *poof* it's a love match. I'd rather they actually get to know each other, even dislike each other at first before they fall head over heels.


That's all the complaining I can think of for now.

I'm currently reading this vintage romance novel called 'A Woman of the Century' set during the Edwardian Era. It's beautifully written, the characters seem real, the author clearly did her research, & it isn't in that 12pt or higher font that's in most novels now with about 32-33 lines per page. It's 700 pages with 39 lines per page.

http://www.amazon.com/Woman-Century-Eleanora-Brownleigh/dp/0890838623/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327431485&sr=8-1

It does have the nobility in it, also the gentry, but the main character is an American heiress who happens to be a doctor as well. The hero is a reticent man who is inexperienced in romantic matters & a virgin. (I'm not certain if she ends up with him, as the backcover doesn't give it away.) It doesn't skip over social boundaries, class prejudice, or sexism that a woman of this era would have experienced even from her wealthy background. I've only read 150 pages, but I can already tell this is going to be a good book. Books like this should be on shelves today.

[xina]

I don't think that Gone With The Wind is considered a romance novel. Certainly, it is a novel with a romance in it.
As for complaints...the only real one I have with most all romance novels are the silly covers. As for the rest, I deal with each book individually. Pick and choose. Works for me.
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"As you wish"
~The Princess Bride

[Eliza]

[KayWebbHarrison]

[erika]

I don't like the overabundance of nice, prefect, good, fake rake heroes and fiesty alpha nonvirginal heroines. I don't like fake historical romances.

[cheri]

Tea rose, LOL, you need to switch your location reading, try a western, switch to more angsty books, try Balogh's The Secret Pearl, Gaffneys To have or to hold, or Barberi's Wings of a dove, where it takes the H/h the entire book and their lives to get together which makes the love all the more better for having to work at it. And if that doesn't work you may not be a romance reader because we love our happily ever afters. and I agree with xina, I would not categorize GWTW a romance EVER! I wanted to throw that book at the wall when I was done reading. And as far as not liking things, I would say silly covers and long drawn out love scenes that make me roll my eyes, I know, I know, it's romance but please!
Cheri

[tearose]

[Kristie(J)]

[Lynda X]

I LOVE the fact that you can count on romances to end happily. I adore knowing that I don't have to worry when I read a romance that I will be filled with angst over a weepy ending.

What I Hate About Romances:

1. The embarrassing covers.
2. The stupid, generic, meaningless titles.
3. The immediate sex, without consideration of the dangers.
4. The constant virgin and the rake, set in Regency or Victorian England. No one in a romance is ever of middle or lower class.
5. The contempt of most people toward romances. Actually, this should be #1.

What I Love About Romances:

1. The happy ending.
2. The great heroes, especially. (Most of the time, the heroines are pretty generic).
3. Reading a great romance is about the closest feeling you can get to actually falling in love.
4. The history in them.
5. The wit of so many romances.
6. Romances are optimistic and totally relaxing, IMO.

[Eggletina]

[Jane A]

I read romance because of the HEA! Beyond that, I judge each book individually, as Xina said.

[cheri]

This is the reason I switched Scenery to westerns lately. I was getting burned out on balls and the Ton and I guess the same formula. Here are 2 more books I can recommend.

Karen Ranney- A Promise Of Love, a romance but no formula to it. Beware it is quite violent and the Heroine is very damaged. Great read, it is OOP.

Jonathon Hull's Losing Julia- Not a Romance even though most of the books features a wonderful but heartbreaking romance. Nor is there a HEA in sight.

Cheri

[cheri]

[quote="Eggletina"]

[Islandgirl2]

My one gripe is the female is usually the last to know and the one always assuming the wrong thing in the majority of the genre where as the hero seems to have known all along and is the one that intricately solved everything. In most not all of course. That said.

I don't have issues with this genre which is why I guess I love it so much and mostly read it.

But as others have stated of course if there are issues it depends on the individual book and it's author.

I think there are many romances that offer something for everyone some have more internal conflict others deal with character layers and some have intricate plots again just depends on what you are looking for. You just have to dig and find what pleases you but I think that goes for any genre.

As for the formula I think the only formula guaranteed is a HEA. And that's something I want otherwise I'll read something else not a Romance so it's why I appreciate it all the more. It's my pick me up to feel good.

Too many romance writers have broken the standard "formula". So I just don't think it can apply these days.

And I'm reading it for the relationships and falling in love subject matter. Otherwise call it a novel. And if that's what you are interested in basically you can't go wrong.
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Romance my favorite reading pastime.

[JudyZ6666]