My Name Is Karen And I Don’t Like Romances Where The Hero Has Been Married Before…
Wednesday, July 13, 2011Posted in: random musings, romance heroes
I’m currently reading Rebecca York’s Bedroom Therapy (For some reason I have two copies of the book so I thought I should probably finally make a start on reading it.) and it features a hero who was married previously. The marriage didn’t work out and he got divorced, blah, blah, blah.
I find that I’m not so keen on the fact that he’s been married before. I might have mentioned this before, but I’m pretty sure I don’t like contemps where the male protagonist has been married before. I’m not actually sure why though?
It may be because it flies to close to real life where so many people are on their second marriages, or perhaps it’s because I don’t like the thought that the male protagonist has been in love with another woman before he meets the heroine?
I honestly don’t know why it bothers me so much. Does anybody have any other possible explanations?
Jane A
July 13
9:00 am
Because it means he’s a cheating scumbug.
Dawn Brookes
July 13
12:35 pm
I’m OK with the guy being a widower, but I don’t think I’d like it if he was just divorced. There’s too much scope for the ex to come back into the picture.
And I don’t automatically assume that he’s an adulterer. It might just have not worked out.
Las
July 13
3:03 pm
I think it’s mostly a problem of how first marriages tend to be handled in romance. I’ve yet to read a single one where there isn’t a comparison between the past and current loves, with the current love always being better (always in bed, and often in other areas as well). Or if it’s a divorce instead of dead first spouse, the ex turns out to be some level of psycho. It’s just such a juvenile way to handle it that I avoid any books with previously married heroes/heroines.
Alice
July 14
7:01 am
I don’t know why either. For me, either male or female, I’m not big on those “been hurt by a previous wo/man before ergo hero/ine untrusting, etc. etc. etc.” The divorced, widowed, widower types remind me of such. Also, it always made me feel weird when the main hero/ine would hook up with some really twisted/mean/evil person…like, if this character was so smart, how would they get tricked? Or how can said person can let themselves be scarred to such a degree.
Lastly…why must the other person be bad just to be used as a form of conflict between to the characters? They get so used. Or maybe I’m just thinking too much. lol.
Karen Scott
July 14
7:18 am
@Alice Good point. But seeing as I know plenty of smart women in real life who have ended up with arseholes, I guess it’s not so far-fetched.
I think that perhaps it spoils the ‘One true love’ landscape if there’s an ex in the background, especially one that is all snarly and is hellbent on killing her or his ex.
@Las THIS!!
sallah
July 14
2:21 pm
I think its the “one true love” trope,that those of us growing up on romance novels, have a hard time letting go of which makes books with divorced characters hard to take at times..
I know that I initially had a hard time with romance heroines who had enjoyed an active and happy sex life before meeting “the one” in books, although that was more like my own experience..
I blame cinderella and the magical hooha books of my teen years…