Karen Knows Best

Incest? Romantic? Really?

Sunday, November 11, 2007
Posted in: Incest In Romance, It Takes All Sorts

Apparently, my fave author evah has a new book out, that features two brothers who are involved in a sexual relationship. With each other.

Is this being marketed as a romance? Seriously? Well, she must be doing something right because the book is Total E-bounds’ number one seller.

This is the blurb from the Total E-bounds site:

“For twins, Ryker and Ranger Good, life has never been easy. Kicked out of the house when they were barely eighteen, the brothers started a new life, together. Now in their thirties they are ready to make a commitment, not only to each other but to the woman they’ve waited to claim for four years.

Lilly Bevin has been in love with the Good twin’s for years, only to be treated like a child by them. Now twenty-one, Lilly’s ready to spread her wings. Working in the town bar is just one of the ways she’s declaring her independence, dating is the other.

When the twin’s find out the woman they want is dating a smarmy hustler they try to talk some sense into her, only to be told to butt out. Now it’s up to them to tame their wildcat and bring her into the fold of their love. A wildcat, however, has claws and Lilly isn’t shy about using hers to her advantage.”

Lovely. Anybody going to admit to having bought it?

Thanks to You-Know-Who for the tip-off.

Doesn’t that picture of the baby make you chuckle every time you look at it? *g*

87 Comments »

Tracy
November 13
2:10 am

“she must have a lot of closet fans because I just checked out her site and she has something like 11 releases for 2008!!!”

I wandered over there b/c I was curious. One of the books has this Reader Advisory: “This book contains F/M/M/M/F sex scenes.” What in the world?!?! I cannot wrap my feeble little mind around that one.

Heather
November 13
2:30 am

I have this overwhelming urge to point out, for the record, that I only said the “twin’s” vs “twins” aspect of the blurb was fixed. I never mentioned the poor abused commas and such. What did that poor ole blurb ever do to anyone to deserve such torture?

Okay, I’m done with it. Honest. However, I must make a parting remarks, blatant mistakes in a blurb not only reflect badly on the book it’s attached to but the publisher putting it out as well.

Shiloh Walker
November 13
3:15 am

Did Adam and Eve’s children commit incest?

Q: Was there ever any incest in order for us all to be here from Adam and Eve?

A: Yes, Adam’s children married each other. But incest was not viewed as a forbidden activity until the time of Moses.

I’m impressed. 🙂 I knew the answer to this but I lacked the clarity… and the drive to look up the scriptures.

Side note regarding blurbs… a few people have commented on whether or not some publishers have the author write the blurbs.

It’s not uncommon for epubs. I personally hate and abhor writing blurbs, but eh, I do what I gotta do.

Now honestly, I suck at proof reading. My brain sees what I MEANT to say instead of what is really there.

However, this is a shortcoming I’m aware of. My shortcoming…my book… my responsibility to address. So I use advance readers to help me fix things before I even send my books/blurbs whatever to my editor.

Mistakes are going to happen… but when they are glaring mistakes, excessive mistakes, repeated mistakes, it’s not only going to cost said publisher and author some readers, it’s going to keep some serious minded authors from submitting to them.

Tracy
November 13
4:52 am

Shiloh~do you need any more advance readers? *wink*

I knew the Adam and Eve answer too but my sinus headache warned me not to try to articulate it. LOL

sybil
November 13
5:05 am

I liked the August men. Didn’t know the Adam/Eve answer. Am sad shi never sends me reads to test. And ashamed there is a review up for Lynn’s last (not this one) up at TGTBTU. I didn’t read the book, blame bev(qb). I did like VC Andrews Flowers and Petals in the Wind.

I am not at all sure why incest has an appeal, guess it is the whole ‘forbidden’ thing. maybe… And am ashamed that I have never heard of twincest. Cuz I use to know fanfic damn it!

And woot! Home! awesome ep! You know they start to shoot X-Files II in December right? Just saying…

SCULLY: But he also implied that they practice inbreeding. Now we all have a natural instinct to propagate…

MULDER: Do we?

SCULLY: There are theories which pose that our bodies are, are simply vehicles for genes needing to replicate.

MULDER: Yeah, yeah, but there’s no sister. The mother’s been dead for ten years.

SCULLY: But if the instinct and the need is strong enough, they will answer it any way that they can.

Lynne Connolly
November 13
11:08 am

Doesn’t do it for me, and I’m British which means we can marry our cousins if we want to.
I always thought Adam and Eve were metaphorical representations of evolution, not to be taken as literal fact, but that’s the Anglican church for you.
But no. I loved Maya Banks’ “Colters’ Woman,” where 3 brothers share a woman, but the brothers don’t share each other, just the woman. Even that squicked me out a little bit.
I have a sister and the very thought of getting nekkid with her and (sorry, pause for a mind scrub) is not nice. I fought her, argued with her, comforted her, helped her with her homework, we even shared a bedroom when we were little, but – ugh, no, the only time we shared a bed was when we went and stayed with our grandparents and then we kept strictly to our own side!
Genetically and practically, no. Feel romantically or sexually towards my sister?
Pulease.

Shiloh Walker
November 13
12:53 pm

Shiloh~do you need any more advance readers? *wink*

lol… I’m good right now, thanks.

am sad shi never sends me reads to test.

am sad that Sybil is sad. 😛

Ann Bruce
November 13
2:48 pm

Reader Advisory: “This book contains F/M/M/M/F sex scenes.” What in the world?!?! I cannot wrap my feeble little mind around that one.

Maybe Jane and Ned can help with a demo through the power of Lego!

Teddy Pig
November 13
3:11 pm

I just bought HER Riding The Wolf on EC. I gotz cheese burgered!

Teddy, I didn’t realize you’re a masochist.

Well Ann, I am. But besides that I figured how could she ruin Gay Werewolf Romance? I mean it matches her style exactly. Sex in 5 pages or less, no waiting.

I was wrong Ann. So very very wrong, she did ruin it.

Tracy
November 13
3:42 pm

“Maybe Jane and Ned can help with a demo through the power of Lego!” I laughed so hard I almost fell off my chair! Not sure that’s a lego animation I’d want to see though LOL

Laura
November 13
4:32 pm

F/M/M/M/F sex? They must play a game of gangband Twister or something.

Karen Scott
November 13
5:55 pm

I can’t believe that there is such a thing as twincest. I guess you learn something new everyday.

Hey Anon 1.09, you certainly taught me some stuff.

Karmyn
November 13
6:24 pm

I have no brothers, but I do have four male cousins and while they may be nice looking when dressed up, I would never entertain the thought of doing anything with them. Two are married, one is the same age as me so we’re close, but not that close, and the youngest is just 18. I changed his diapers when he was a baby. Not conducive to getting it on.
There’s some natural thing that in most people prevents forming sexual thoughts about somebody you had sibling like relationships with in childhood. Which explains why I never had crushes on any of the guys I grew up with.

Sarah McCarty
November 13
6:51 pm

“Reader Advisory: “This book contains F/M/M/M/F sex scenes.”

Maybe Jane and Ned can help with a demo through the power of Lego”

You know, there are some places I don’t think we need to take legos, and this strikes me as one of them. *G*

lisabea
November 13
7:07 pm

“Reader Advisory: “This book contains F/M/M/M/F sex scenes.”

All at once together like? I have a sordid past and all, but this boggles even my mind. How many folks do we need in a love scene????? Between the brother twin sex and the huge horse dicks, (I’m guessin’ but I’m right. right?) and all these folks swapping body fluids… Ew. Just ew.

M.
November 13
7:21 pm

I miss the times when erotic romance was erotic romance and not smut or something written just for the tittilation (sp?) factor … I can’t even try any new “erotic romance” authors for fear that I am going to end up having to gouge my eyes out. *shudders* Good thing I build a LONG list of autobuy erotic romance authors that started over 4 years ago, before EC went down the drain.

For some reason this thread reminds me of one of the first erotic romance books I read from eXtasy books, it reeked of pedophilia. The heroine had this disease that stunted her sexual development, when the story begins she’s an adult trapped in the body of a very young teenager or even prepubescent girl (or something along these lines). When the hero meets her, he lusts after her … a girl that he believed to be 14 or even younger, as she didn’t divulge her real age to him for a while.

And here I was thinking the eeew factor couldn’t get worse …

At least the publisher warns of the content, which I always appreciate… though this is not conducive to my changing my stance to try out new erotic romance authors at all 😛

I guess that each of us has a different “red” button … incest and pedophilia definitely do not do a thing for me.

Bernita
November 13
9:59 pm

Inevitable, I suppose.
After while there’s no place to go but over the line into what is usually considered deviance.

Anonymous
November 13
10:05 pm

Karen I got thay adam and eve info by googling “did adam and Eve commit incest?” Great how you can find out just about anything on the net.

The weird thing is I’ve never even thought of incest between the two until it was mention above in one of the post,

Anonymous
November 13
11:12 pm

I’m the Anon who brought up the Adam and Eve question and I must say the response from the web leaves me a bit speechless. I don’t think that genetic defects are the result of sin– that would impugn the probably blameless ancestry of children who are victims of genetic misfortune.

However, I did have a wonderful moment in which it occurred to me that if incest (which by the way exists in all cultures to a greater or lesser degree) was part of the Law then after Jesus freed us from the Law by Grace then incest should be no more a sin than wearing clothes of mixed fibers.

However, I also remember from one classics class or another the commentator who stated that one could go half way in Greece (marry a half sibling) and all the way in Egypt (marry a full sibling). Ancient Egyptian love poetry is often addressed to “my sister” or “my brother.” However, that shouldn’t be taken as literal.

One last thing, I was raised on a farm and there is such thing as line breeding which means that healthy stock may be bred with descendants or ancestors to improve the line, so don’t assume that close relatives always produce undesirable offspring.

Anonymous
November 13
11:15 pm

Oops, all of that stuff about grace and law was not meant to offend anyone of another faith. It was just the things I was taught as a child turned on its head. I really wish I had thought of that when I used to argue with my more religious relations. It might have caused some gaskets to blow.

Jenyfer Matthews
November 14
6:33 am

“Reader Advisory: “This book contains F/M/M/M/F sex scenes.”

All at once together like? I have a sordid past and all, but this boggles even my mind. How many folks do we need in a love scene?????”

Not sure about the guidelines of other publishers, but EC encourages authors to write in use of condoms when they can. The idea of trying to write in condom use in a scene like that just melts my brain…

Dawn
November 14
10:21 am

Karen said: “I can’t believe that there is such a thing as twincest. I guess you learn something new everyday.”

My thought was you learn something eeeewww everyday.

I do like to read about guys getting it on together, but brothers? Nuh-uh!

Anonymous
November 14
5:24 pm

I once read a book w/ M/F/M/F/F (I think) scenes in it. But it was written by anonymous and was called “porn.”

–Jackie L.

Anonymous
November 14
5:30 pm

Okay, aside from the atrocious plot to this inane book, I stopped by TEB web site and saw Ms. Lynne’s profile.

Umm…can someone please let her know that she can, and should, dispose of the Aqua Net. I know it’s hard, plenty of us lamented when we had to part with this wondrous hairspray that could second as a blowtorch over a decade ago. But we tredged on!!

And please, oh dear Lord, puhleeze, grow out those butterfly bangs woman!!!

katiebabs
November 14
7:57 pm

In the immortal words of Rocky Horror- Incest is best….
bleck.

Anonymous
November 14
11:25 pm

I have to laugh about this a bit. Incestuous romance may be taboo, but it’s also extremely popular. VC Andrews was the queen of it, and have no doubt about that. If you really think it’s that odd, check out Literotica. Their incest section gets some of the most hits.

As to whether it squicks me or not, I suppose it depends on how it’s written. I loathe VC Andrews. I found her stories stomach churning and abhorrent. However, I’ve read some twincenst/incest in my later years that was well written and enjoyable, much to my surprise. While I can’t personally say anyone in my blood family gets me excited, the prevalence of familial sex, whether pedophilia or not, should tell folks that incest not only isn’t rare, it’s much more common than we’d like to admit.

And considering how much inbreeding has been done through the centuries by the human race, there must be something biologic there. As the previous anonymous pointed out, line breeding is quite common – not just with stock. Isn’t that why royalty inbred for so long? And while humanity would certainly like to think themselves above ‘lower’ creatures, our genes mix and match when we reproduce the same way all other mammals do. Meaning that not all line breeding turns out an undesirable result.

Shirley

heather (errantdreams)
November 15
4:10 pm

I just have to say that the baby pic is freakin’ hysterical.

avidbookreader
November 16
12:04 am

VC Andrews books were labeled horror novels, so, the stories were not to be seen in any kind of “romantic” light if you will. As soon as you mentioned incest, VC Andrews name gets mentioned each and everytime. She was a great storyteller.

Hey, I loved the series, personally. The love between the brother and sister was one of the best I’d read and he (Chris) had himself fixed (as he was a doctor) to make sure they didn’t have children. Anyway, more info that you wanted to know as I’m sure most of you won’t be reading it.

Keishon

Karen Scott
November 16
7:38 am

Hey Keishon, Flowers, Petals, If There Be Thorns etc are some of my fave books. And you’re right about the fact that the series was never meant to be romantic. As I recall, there wasn’t even one moment of cheer throughout the books. So dark, but I did love them.

Shiloh Walker
November 16
11:39 am

VC Andrews books were labeled horror novels, so, the stories were not to be seen in any kind of “romantic” light if you will.

I have a feeling if the CL story was written/marketed as something other than erotic romance, this wouldn’t be bothering so many people.

It’s the fact that it’s being sold as a romance… and erotic romance IS romance, that’s got a lot people going huh. The typical romance reader, if there is such a thing, isn’t going to go for incest books.

That doesn’t mean every one of them, obviously there’s a market for it.

I’ve read VC Andrews…the first few books anyway, and I did enjoy her. But I didn’t read it thinking I was getting a romance. It can make a huge difference, IMO.

Karen Scott
November 17
4:25 pm

I just looked to see if the book was still number one, and of course it was. (The things I do for that woman) Anyway, I think they’ve actually increased the price of the book. Sales must be really good huh? *g*

Aline de Chevigny
November 25
12:04 pm

That books was number one on Fictionwise also.

hehe I was checking on my own stadings and am always curious to see what’s #1.

Aline

Silapa Jarun
November 30
6:49 pm

Hello, I first wrote twincest because an e-pub posted the challenge. The result is Katana Duet: Samurai’s Forbidden Love and it has romantic elements but ultimately the story is about brothers trying to avoid or deny their feelings for one another. At the heart of the story is a fear of abandonment and betrayal based on what happened to them as teenagers and to tone down the “sensationalist” aspect of the taboo I compared the twins to another pair of siblings in the story. In any case I understand how readers can get grossed about by incest but I don’t actually advocate it in my story, just sort of lay out the facts. Oh, and I’m not pimping my story either—it hasn’t been sold and may never be published (T_T). In fact, I’ll give it away for free if anyone wants to read it and promises not to copy it. Email me at silapa(at)silapajarun.com to read about twincest, but not told in a “mainstream” way.

christine
October 29
12:37 am

I have read V C Andrews incest-themed Gothic romances and liked them. The incest was treated as clean, romantic(ized) fantasy of forbidden love. No need of scrubbing my memory with rose-fragrant soap after that, so they were OK reading.