Romance, Romance? Or Non-Romance, Romance?
Monday, March 22, 2010Posted in: Reading while bored, romance
Sarah over at Monkey Bear Reviews has a great post up called Falling Out Of Love With Romance. It really resonated with me.
She writes:
I’m finding it hard to motivate myself to read a romance these days, even those I’m sure I’ll enjoy when I get around to them. I’ve always read widely, but romance is the one genre to which I turn when I’m looking for a relaxing, uplifting story…
I’m experiencing the exact the same thing.
Despite the large number of romances published each month, I noticed I have just one on my list of six April releases which I’d like to read. With a couple of notable exceptions, I’m just not that enthused about romances featuring Navy SEALs, werewolves, vampires, shifters, etc.
Ditto. I think I hate most Navy SEAL books with a passion, and longtime readers will know how I feel about vamps and wolfie books.
I remember a recent conversation with Keishon (Avid Book Reader) on Twitter. She said that some of the most compelling love stories she’s read recently were not in romance novels, but in mystery series. I agree with her.
And I have to agree with Sarah, agreeing with Keishon. When I think back to some of my favourite romance couples, quite a few of them are featured in books that actually aren’t just about them and their romantic entanglements. I love the subtlety of a burgeoning relationship in the midst of murder and mayhem. Karin Slaughter (Pox on her for killing off Jeffrey), JD Robb, Julia Spencer Fleming, Patricia Cornwell (pox on her for losing her ever-loving mind and trying to kill off Benton) to name but a few.
The last book that I read was actually a Young Adult book by an author called Jay Asher, prior to that, it was Dorothy Koomson’s The Ice Cream Girls, which is as far from a romance as you can get. Coupled with the fact that lots of books that are being published by the bigger houses are also hystericals, my romance reading options, seem to be getting less, and less. Big. Effing. Sigh.
AND ENOUGH WITH THE FUCKING PARANORMALS/URBAN FANTASY ALREADY!!! BO-RING!!!
For the full post, pop over to Monkey Bear Reviews.
vanessa jaye
March 22
11:19 pm
I’ve always read across the board when in came to various genres, but romance was/is my absolute favourite and in the past that where the majority of my reading fell.
But for the past year or so I’ve been reading more and more non-fiction or other genres. I took 5 books out of the library on Saturday, only one is a romance and I only picked it up because I thought the title (Hired: Sassy Assistant) was silly, but the back blurb looked interesting, the writing (from what I sampled) seemed solid and its a category so a guaranteed fast read when I’m not up to much more. Last book I read was Ender’s Game a sci-fi without a smidgen of a whiff of romance.
kirsten saell
March 23
1:51 am
Ooh! Loved Ender’s Game (and all the other Ender books).
I don’t do much UF or paranormal. I’ll read Stacia Kane’s UF because I love her writing but I don’t remember any other UF I’ve read in the last three years.
I’ll generally only read paranormal if it has some f/f in it. Contemporary has to be erotic, or it’s a no-go, and 3/4 of the contemps I read are f/f or f/f/m. There’s so little girl-on-girl out there, beggars can’t really be choosers, right?
Mostly for romance I prefer historical. I write fantasy romance, but I have a hard time finding ones I like to read–I’m really picky about the fantasy elements in any book. I came into the fantasy romance genre from the male epic/high/heroic fantasy masters–Tolkien, David Gemmell, Guy Gavriel Kay, George RR Martin, etc. Very few fantasies written by women have worked for me (don’t know why), and that tends to carry over to fantasy romance. Too much magical, mystical stuff, maybe, and not enough hacking with swords?
I read a bit of SF, a lot of fantasy (my latest fave: Brent Weeks’ Night Angel Trilogy), and yeah, a lot of it doesn’t have much or any romance in it at all.
That said, I’ve had a hard time reading any subgenre of romance lately. My life right now, well, I’m having some difficulty buying even the most competently written HEA. I keep wanting to tell the heroine to forget the hero and just get a vibrator and a 16 pack of AAs. A lot less bother, lol.
SarahT
March 23
7:56 am
Thanks for the linkage, Karen! I think a lot of us are going through a slump at the moment.
Edie
March 23
12:20 pm
I am a massive UF – para girl, pretty much only genres that I read, but am finding most recent stuff, same old, same old.
Nonny
March 26
10:26 pm
I’ve actually been reading more YA and fantasy titles lately, because I’m tired of the ongoing trend that replaces relationship development with sex. When far too many books that are not marketed as erotics ignore the building of the relationship except for sex… well, I can’t really believe in the relationship, then, because sex is great and all, but amazing sex can’t sustain a relationship.
I have read some great books that incorporated sex into the storyline, like Larissa Ione’s work, but those seem to be few and far between. Far too often, it’s just… gratuitous.
I never, ever thought I’d hear myself say that I’m bored with reading about sex, but I am.