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First Time Reading a Romance Novel
I’ve been trying to add some variety to my reading list lately, and it occurred to me that I had never read a romance novel. I asked my wife to recommend one, and she gave me The Girl With the Make-Believe Husband by Julia Quinn. One of the blurbs actually says, “If you’ve never read romance novels, start here.”
The characters are all British, and it takes place in New York during the Revolutionary War. Our leading lady has come to NY to look for her brother, an officer who was wounded and has gone missing. Instead, she finds his best friend, also a wounded officer, who is unconscious in a makeshift military hospital. In order to be allowed to stay with him, she lies and says that she is his wife, hence the book’s title. Of course, he eventually wakes up, and she has to decide whether to continue her deception or to risk everything by coming clean. Complications ensue.
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that she is young, beautiful, and innocent; smart, brave, and determined; stronger than she knows yet moved by powerful emotions of joy and heartbreak. Her pretend husband is a little older, more knowledgeable in the ways of the world (and of the opposite sex), strong and disciplined, but also kind and playful at times. I hope I’m not giving too much away when I say that circumstances bring them together, then pull them apart, and then, when all seems lost, bring them together again at the end.
Now, I’ve watched lots of Hallmark movies with the wife, so this was not unfamiliar narrative territory. It was interesting to see it play out in this longer format, although at times it seemed to move rather slowly. It had a little more bosom-heaving than Hallmark, but not much. I don’t think I’ll be reading any more of these.
I was looking to see if it had a theme described many years ago by Warren Farrell in his book Why Men Are the Way They Are. He wrote that porn for men meets an obvious desire – sexual access to lots of women – but what do romance novels (the closest thing to porn for women) supply their readers? He read a lot of them and concluded that the one consistent theme was that while the female characters were always capable, it was their connection to men that gave them access to opportunities and experiences they couldn’t have had otherwise. He called this being “Flashdanced” after the movie where a great dancer gets into a school she wants, against the odds, because a man is pulling some strings behind the scenes.
I think that applies to this book to some extent, where the main character plays on her connection to the wounded officer to get a place to stay, the benefits of being an officer’s wife, and help in looking for her brother, etc. I’m not sure it quite lines up as well as Flashdance.
In any case, on to other things. Now reading Troy Senik’s book on Grover Cleveland, which is very good. There aren’t many books about a guy who only served as Buffalo’s mayor for one year.
Published in Literature
Dermatology. Allergists.
Yes Matt. That makes sense.
I read romances similar to how many watch TV or sports because it doesn’t matter if I forget the plot. Murder mysteries require me to remember plot points and characters.
Some romance novels are better written than others. Georgette Heyer owns the Regency romance sub genre.
Chick Lit too often depicts the taciturn hero’s transformation into a more-in-touch-with-his-emotions ideal. Unfortunately, that ideal sounds too much like a woman. Ack!
A good romance has the heroine and hero growing into their better selves. For example, in Pride and Prejudice both Elizabeth and Darcy grow: they recognize their faults, learn from the experience, and become better people.
Warning: Straight line is connected to third rail. Do not touch!
Not into romance novels, but I like sci-fi. This apparently has both.
Interesting names on the cover. I suppose, chick-fic.
Like stout Cortez.
Cheesy!
I think this is connected to the Sad Puppies Hugo Awards fracas.
Romance novels are great! Like this one:
Yes, I did read it and yes it is good!
Has anyone read Stacey Abrams’ romance novels? I have a feeling they might be pretty good, too, this one looks interesting (that’s her pseudonym):
I was thinking they got reviewed by Blue Boy magazine.
That’s what most young adult, LGBTQ-themed, fiction is up to. That’s what librarians are putting on the shelves.
Or writes under a pen name.
I have a friend who used to work for a major publishing house, and she was always bragging about how great romance novels sold, especially the Regency romance novels. According to her, at least a handful of Regency ones are released each day. I once received an entire box of these. I don’t think I’ve ever read so much about dukes and duchesses, marquises and earls, and governesses in my life. Add the occasional Scottish lord, French count escaping the guillotine, or American heiress to the mix as well.
I read Space Raptor Butt Invasion, skipping over the mushy bits. The science fiction was pretty appalling.
Did Mayor Pete write a blurb for the cover?
I only got the digital edition. Mayor Pete wasn’t quoted in it.
Not all
dino-pr0ndino romance novels are gay, ya know.You have GOT to be making that up…
As much as an exercise as anything else, I was wrote a romance novel. It was about movies too, to keep my interest. He Saw, She Saw was the title.
It’s free through Kindle if anyone has a morbid curiosity:
Especially with the author’s name I sure hope so.
I thought the civic function I was performing was restoring the legacy of Grover Cleveland.
But if it’s also luring people away from romance novels then I weep, for there are no more worlds left to conquer.
So now that you are a rich author I assume that you’ll want to move to a Caribbean tax-haven island with no Internet and live a life of quiet scholarship.
Unless he ghost-wrote the whole book.
Two words:
Bigfoot Erotica.
Don’t. Just don’t. Next the thread will swerve sharply to discussion of the ultimate big bad, Jonah.
Goldberg? May it never be!
No, this is a thing.
Johan? Did somebody say @Jonah?