Bitchery reader Jessica has a rather odd request in her search for romances to read. In fact, when she first emailed me, I said that I didn’t think what she was looking for was precisely a romance. I’m as much curious about your opinion on that as much as on whether there’s a book that might meet her criteria.
Jessica wrote:
I just get a little bored with the predictability of most romances. Boy and girl meet, are horribly attracted to each other on first sight, but deny it/are torn apart/decide to be attracted to someone else for a while/are in some other complicated situation/etc., lots of stuff happens, boy and girl end up together. You ALWAYS know from the very first page (or chapter, at any rate) who will ending up doinking whom.
So, maybe The Bitchery can help me out. Any suggestions for books where the hero/heroine DOESN’T end up with the first attractive, named character of the opposite sex they see and get moist for? And it’s not because said named character is a ginormous asshole/the villain/secretly their sibling/etc. I’m looking for a little healthy surprise here.
It happens to people all the time. You meet someone and you think they’re just the best thing since BEFORE sliced bread but after a period of time (a date, a few weeks, a month, whatever) you realize that maybe they’re not for you. They’re not BAD or anything, but it’s just not as right as you had hoped. But this other person you met at the same party/event/etc. or shortly afterwards or before, or somewhere along the line is finding a place in your heart.
And I would debate that it COULD still be a romance. The hero or heroine is just not who you would expect. I guess it’s [more the idea of] surprise. I want to NOT be hammered over the head from the very beginning with “these two are going to do the dirty!” I still can’t think of any novels I know of that have the type of plot I’m looking for. But, last night my DH, reminded me of the movie, “While You Were Sleeping.” That’s almost exactly the plot I’m looking for. Still definitely a romance, but the first “hero” she gets excited about is not the hero she ends up with.
I’ve read a few books like this, and it’s a delicate balance for a writer to sustain. On one hand, you don’t want the reader getting all invested in a hero who isn’t going to be The One, but you also don’t want to lose the respect of the reader if the heroine falls for the wrong dude or chases someone that the reader KNOWS isn’t right for him.
While I’m a very big fan of friends-to-lovers plotlines (*sigh*) that’s not quite what Jessica is looking for, but it’s also not merely a triangle “Which one will she choose” romance either. But I’ve read romances where the heroine has, for example, a lifelong crush on Dude A, but then realizes that Dude B is The One – and sometimes the reader knows it all along, while other times the reader figures it out along with the heroine.
What’s your take? Got any books to recommend?
Ooooh—Tamora Pierce’s “Song of the Lioness Quartet” was my FAVORITE of ALL TIME. I dressed up like her for Halloween for years. She’s still my all-time favorite heroine. And YES, the “bait & switch” was fabulous and so perfect!
The latest Eloisa James novel, Desperate Duchesses, starts out with the heroine falling in love at first sight with Not The Hero in a very opening scene of a romance novel kind of way. She ends up falling for the hero in what struck me as a very realistic kind of way, at least for someone as oblivious as myself to my own feelings (heh), and so I quite enjoyed the story. Can’t wait for the next ones in the series to come out!
Regency: “The Duke’s Wager” by Edith Layton. There’s a (seemingly) nice lord, and a (definitely) manipulative amoral lord, and they make this bet about this sweet, destitute young girl…
The first time I read this book, I was totally rooting for one lord but afraid the author was going to stick our heroine with the other! This is probably my favorite Edith Layton.
I particularly love books where the hero isn’t obvious, and some of my favorites are written by Barbara Michaels.
They’re all gothics, and very often the guy you think could be the hero—but you really don’t want him to be—ends up not being him.
Examples include Wings of the Falcon, Search the Shadows, Into the Darkness, and especially—oooh, especially—The Love Talker.
OMG! Madeleine Brent fans! I love it!
Uh, I have nothing other than that to add to the conversation.
Rumors by Alison Tylor
Colleen, I love a good gothic myself. 🙂
I was going to suggest “Mariana” by Susanna Kearsley (which, sadly, seems to be out of print). It’s a reincarnation tale, and probably my favorite of the type.
The heroine of the story buys a little cottage out in the country and starts having visions from a previous life, where she experienced a passionate but doomed romance. In the present day, she gets to know the townsfolk and starts to makes connections as to who was who—but her “hero” isn’t who she thinks.
Ooooh Kalen—thanks for mentioning Wendy Holden!! “The Wives of Bath” is an awesome romance, and it totally fits the bill because it definitely is a surprise… or was for me, anyway. (It is also very sweet and sexy and hilarious.)
The Boyfriend Schoool by Sarah Bird. Added benefit, romance writing satire. I need to reread this now that I’m a romance fan.
Ooooooo! I forgot about this book. I LOVED this books when I read it years and years ago (long before I discovered romance).
book. book. not books. argh.
“Well, my books are just the ticket, but I was being polite.”
Hard, though, isn’t it, Cat, to exercise such restraint? I’ve found that sticking a bent, rusty pin in my eye does the trick whenever an inopportune promo-urge overtakes me.
Hot Shot, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips was the first book that came to mind when I read this post. It’s not one of her traditional romances, but it’s one of my favourite books of all time – partly because it does take a turn halfway through and the ending was not predictable from the first page.
inopportune promo-urge
I’d be fine with less polite and more informative! I mean, pointless self-promotion is obnoxious, but if you think something of yours fits the topic, it seems a pity to censor it.
Of course, I link to stuff all the time in comments—mine and others’—so maybe I’m a social misfit. You may not want to emulate me.
How about A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott? It doesn’t follow the usual romance formula. Hell, even if it’s not what you’re looking for, I recommend it anyway.
Not sure if it’s what she was talking about, but Jude Deveraux’s “Legend” and the classic “Knight in Shining Armor” are kind of along those lines. Even though the heroine does “do the dirty” with the guy she met in KISA, it’s not who she finishes the story with. And “Legend” takes a complete left turn. But they’re both books you either love or hate.
Edith Layton.
Anyone mention her? A couple of her books fit that. My favorite was Love In Disguise.
Scotsie, you are SO right about Tamora Pierce’s first quartet. I can’t belive I did not think of it first, and the one she does end up with is SOOOO right for her, unlike ickky Jon. I just last month started one of my niece’s on Ms. Pierce’s stuff, and she has emailed me (i love my family, the 9 year olds email me!) about how much she enjoyed the first of the books. I have to go to amazon and buy the rest for her, but her mother asked me to wait as shcool just started -what a party pooper.
j3
Since I just read a book that fits (YA): Sharon Shinn, Summers at Castle Auburn
but it’s more about growing up than about romance.
Yea, there are too many typical romances out there imo.