Good Shit vs. Shit to Avoid time! I had an interesting email (many of them are, thank you, thank you) about books featuring the heroine who is surprised by a relationship – and by someone’s interest in her:
I’m looking for a book where the heroine is genuinely not interested
(romantically) in the hero. I know, I know, it’s supposed to be a romance
novel, but lately I’ve lately been reading books and watching dramas
(asian tv) where the heroine with zero pride will throw herself at the guy.
She usually goes through great humbling lengths and all of her friends,
family, the hero, and sometimes the whole town watch her “antics” to get
her man. I just think it’s sad that the heroine:1. Has nothing else going on for herself like family, friends, hobbies or
work (if contemporary)2. Dismisses other guys around her who might like her and may be worthy of
her because everyone else not HIM. Not even kisses or dates!3. Usually watches her hero date or pursue other girls while she is eaten up
with jealousy.4. She doesn’t get her man until the END of the story and I just have to
be with her through all her suffering and IMHO wasting a healthy libido!I want to see a hero who knows early on that he lurves her and does
everything in his power to make her love him back. My favorite books with
this type of H/H is Uncommon Vows, Midsummer Moon, Lucy Sullivan is Getting
Married, and Ravished. I love that Merlin is too preoccupied with her
experiments to fuss with a man.
One that comes to my mind is The Kiss Test by
Shannon McKelden. The heroine in that book is trying to get over a breakup, and takes a road trip with her best friend, Chris, who has a lot of *ahem* experience in the hookup department, and not phone hookups, either.
So what books do you know that feature a determined hero, and a heroine who is oblivious, confused, utterly clueless or unexpectedly hit over the head with the anvil of love? If the pining is on the heroic end, do you enjoy the story?
If you can get your hands on a (sadly, out-of-print) copy of Sheila Simonson’s “Lady Elizabeth’s Comet”, I think it would definitely work for ‘hit on the head by an anvil of love’ theme.
I have a feeling that some of the books in Dorothy Dunnett’s ‘Dolly and the…” series might work. They are not romances per se, but I’d consider them Suspense with Romantic Elements. The one I’m thinking might work best is ‘Murder in the Kasbah’.
I just realized that this is one of my very favorite romantic tropes! (Who knew? Not me!)
I just downloaded about 7 or 8 free samples based on everybody’s recommendations. Thanks for that. I’ve been meaning to check out Linnea Sinclair for a while, but had pretty much forgotten about her until several people recommended Games of Command.
Totally loving reading the blog on my new Nookcolor right now.
Petals on the Wind by Mary Jo Putney.
Wow! I need a note pad to write all these wonderful suggestions. The most recent book I’ve read that fits the criteria of : strong lady chased by strong Guy is, Nalini Singh’s Play for Passion. I love the way the heroines are not waiting around for the male to fill their …….day. lol!
Coming late to the party, but want to add my “ditto” to Sayers and Heyer. Several of their books have permanent places on my shelves and show the wear of reading and rereading. Can’t wait until they are available for Kindle.
instead88: find myself rereading old favorites instead of the 88 news books on my TBR pile
Lisa Kleypas is pretty good at independent heroines. One that comes to mind is Tempt Me at Twilight. The whole Hathaway series have some fiesty women.
I didn’t mention it earlier because it doesn’t quite fit the request, but I’m reading Compromised by Kate Noble right now and the heroine is definitely hit over the head with the anvil of love. But the hero is, as well; he’s drawn to the heroine pretty early on, but it takes him a while to figure out why, and he’s definitely not pursuing her. It’s more “two people who are not the slightest bit interested in each other come to realize they’re perfect for each other” than “strong heroine gets chased by twitterpated hero.” It is still worth a read, though!
I do the same thing, and also wonder what it says about me…I think I just would find it too humilitating to keep chasing a man who had turned me down, so can’t write it.
But as per the HABO, the woman chasing the uninterested man does tend to play out differently to the man chasing the uninterested woman…somehow the chasing man gets to keep his pride (if the author does their job right), but the chasing woman often doesn’t, almost as a plot point. Can anyone give examples of a good woman-chasing-uninterested-man plot?
“Halfway To The Grave” was kind of cool like that. She wasn’t disinterested, but he pursued her more, and I felt that the roles were reversed some of the time.
“Lady Elizabeth’s Comet” is available as an ebook, along with several other Sheila Simonson books, at Uncial Press.
http://www.uncialpress.com/Sheila-Simonson/
You should really read Julie Cohen’s One Night Stand. I can’t recommend it enough! It’s contemporary and set in an English town (Reading? Not sure). You’ll be hooked! I promise you: quirky small-town characters hanging round the pub, the kind you see in Four Weddings and a Funeral, funny heroine, unique backstory, what more can you ask for? 😀
It’s about this erotica author who gets pregnant by some guy passing through town and she doesn’t remember his name or his face all that much, just that he looks like George Michael (heehee!). She enlists the help of her guy best friend to look for this guy. She really isn’t romantically interested in him, her reliable, nice best friend. But along the way, she starts seeing him in a different light and starts getting confused about her feelings for him, not being sure if he feels the same way since he’s not short of female companionship and all that. Ok so it’s not really hero doing the chasing, but thing is hero used to be in love with her back in their university days but she didn’t really see him that way – or rather she somehow chose not to and she couldn’t give credit either to the fact that he has feelings for her – so they just went on being best friends.
I love the way the author handled the progression of their relationship/how she realized her attraction, it was gradual and didn’t feel forced at all unlike in other romance novels (*cough*harlequinpresents*cough*) wherein hero steps in and insists he & heroine get married because she can’t make it alone as single mom/kid needs a dad blabla (although how many presents heroes actually willingly marry single pregnant women whose kids they didn’t father/are not related to them in some way? Not alot.) You could really feel the heroine’s confusion about her feelings because they do become pretty intense, and while I usually hate heroines who dither and avoid emotional confrontation with the hero because they can’t risk losing him, it was totally justified in this book because their relationship was rather delicate, so I didn’t feel like hitting her over the head with a frying pan. Oh and she doesn’t throw herself at him every chance she gets to the point of indignity 😀 The atmosphere between the two of them was always fraught with tension (it was flying off the pages, really).
Oh and hero isn’t typically alpha male hero YAY! He’s actually not the dominant type who loves a ‘challenge’ (by challenge, I mean pursuing stubborn laydeez), but he is somewhat of a ladies man. He’s not typical muscular greek god type, but the heroine suddenly sees him in a different light and he becomes more attractive as her feelings grow for him. It’s all written from her point of view, and written rather well so I feel like I’m also falling in love along with her and I also get that nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach *sighs*
I bought this as something to pass the time on a long flight back home, and I wasn’t expecting to cry so much as I read it. The guy across the aisle was literally staring at me for some minutes while I nonchalantly wiped tears as if it was just everyday that I have tears running down my cheeks hehe.
My word’s written92 – it’s so well written you’ll wanna read it 92 times! (or more ;))
What Liz Talley said….I’m a pushover for a hero who knows what he wants and will not give up no matter what. Actually, I’ve sort of had that experience in real life, because the current Mr. K very persistently pursued me even after being turned down several times. Not that he did anything bad, like in Tempt Me At Twilight, where the hero does some nasty, underhanded things in his single-minded pursuit of the heroine.
Thanks everybody after all the suggestions for my TBR list.
(and the Quinn book with Anthony and Kate is The Viscount Who Loved Me)
I agree with Dahl’s A Little Bit Wild. I think thats my favorite of her Tumble Creek series (is that the right name of the series? I hope so.) Also, I’m currently reading Alan/Grant’s book in the MacGregor series by Nora Roberts. Despite the fact that the whole family is made up of awesome people (which is annoying to those of us who have deadbeats in our families), the series is pretty good. There are several stories in the series that follows this pattern, but Alan’s is especially adorable. He knows they are perfect for each other and he sets out to convince her of that fact.
If you are open to a paranormal series, Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series is another good one. I won’t spoil it for anyone who isn’t caught up but Mercy ends up with one of the main male characters who has wanted her throughout the entire series.
A Little Bit Wild is historical, not part of Dahl’s excellent Tumble Creek contemporary series. But it is a great example of the hero wooing the heroine. I also have to second the mention of Courtney Milan’s forthcoming book Unveiled. Not just for this plot point, but also for general awesomeness.
Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis. Jax is totally smitten from the get-go but Maddie is reluctant, having just come off a bad relationship and having some personal issues to overcome.
Coz I only just finished re-reading this, I am recommending this book all over the place at the moment. My first suggestion is…
A Duke of Her Own. (MINOR SPOILER ALERT) Eleanor is in love with Gideon, Duke of Astley (or so she thinks), and has been for years except he just f****d off and married some other frail little twit sooooo Eleanor is a spinster. Until she meets the Duke of Villiers, who is on the hunt for a wife/mother for his SIX illegitimate children. SO when Eleanor and Villiers go out to visit Lisette, a friend of Eleanor’s and a kind of rival for Villiers’ hand, things really start to happen. Both Eleanor and Lisette are very suitable to Villiers but he’s torn between the two of them. He’s really, really attracted to Eleanor, and to boot, actually LIKES her (it was a shock to me too, folks), but he thinks Lisette will be the better mother to his children. So while he is off wooing Lisette, Eleanor is off having fun with Ridiculous Roland (he’s a poet; enough said). It’s a really good story of two people who really don’t want to be together, because they don’t think they should be together, but really really should be together. A very satisfying read. *Warning!! This is the last book in the Desperate Duchesses series, so I recommend reading them all first*
Also, another good book to try is It’s in His Kiss by Julia Quinn. This book is just SO much fun to read. Its the seventh book in her brilliant Bridgerton series and tells the story of Hyacinth, who is, by far, my favorite character. To be frank, she’s a bit mad. She’s one of those heroines who just don’t notice the big things like LOVE until it comes along and kicks her in the ass, slaps her in the face and hollers in her ear. Hyacinth is too busy being Hyacinth to notice Gareth St.Clair, and Garreth just thinks, like everyone else, that Hyacinth is just a bit on the mad side. They get thrown together in an odd sort of plot involving an old diary, some very bad Italian, and a crotcehty old dowager (Lady Danbury, who else?). Poor Garreth spends most of the book NOT following Hyacinth around in a lovestruck stupor, but simply trying to keep her out of trouble. Trust me, its a gem. And Quinn’s books are HIH-larious!
SonomaLass, I was coming back to correct myself 😉 I meant to suggest Dahl’s Lead Me On. I’ve never read any of her historicals.
ooh I just wanna add another one, Susan Napier’s True Enchanter. This one really fits your request (actually a lot of Susan Napier books do). Hero’s certain he wants heroine, only heroine doesn’t believe he’s really interested, suspects he’s only really looking to amuse himself by chasing after her. It’s about a high school drama teacher (heroine) who has to chaperone teenage niece, who’ll star in actor-turned-director’s (hero) film. There’s attraction from hero’s part from the get-go, but heroine’s unaware. When he does pursue her, she starts getting suspicious, thinking he’s just looking for some momentary fun while they’re filming in remote location. He tries to win her over in the most incredible ways, it’s quite funny 😀 He can have a bit of a temper, but heroine doesn’t back down from him, not giving him any slack despite his disability (he walks with a cane). It’s from the 1980s, but it never gets old for me.
Actually there’s a whole series of books based on their family (the Marlows), they’re all tempestuous artsy types, their mom being an actress and the dad being a director (except the first book with the eldest, he’s a corporate lawyer. heh).
JessicaL, re: Asian heroes
Chance in Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre is Chinese.
Jeremy in No Humans Involved is Japanese and Simon in The Awakening is Korean, both by Kelley Armstrong.
Cerise in Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews has mixed Japanese heritage.
Mina is Mongolian, in The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook.
@ liz talley
Maybe it’s because subconsciously you’re thinking about that old saying, “Men know who they want to marry the moment they see her.” Mom’s always saying that to me. And seeing how she and dad married 5 weeks after the met – and he had to propose to her SEVEN TIMES before she said yes – plus the story of when Grandpa Pavlick met my future Grandma Pavlick – which I’ve told somewhere here before (if you haven’t read it/need a reminder e-mail me at JamiSings @ gmail.com and use the subject “Pavlick” so I know what you want) – I tend to believe it.
I guess that’s why I don’t care for romances where she pursues him. I want to be the chased and therefore I want to read about the guy doing the chasing. Not her chasing him. Not him getting his friends to ask her out on his behalf. (Had a guy do that to me once. I just couldn’t get up the gumption to say “yes” because it seemed too wishy-washy. I’m sure he was a nice guy, but if you want to go out with me, ask me yourself!)
Of course now adays men who decide in one look are considered psycho stalkers – but done right and you can see the romance in it.
The whole “she chases him” is why I could never watch Felicity.
I see the Anthony and Hyacinth Bridgerton novels have been mentioned – frankly, I’d just say all of them. Julia Quinn wrote a great series there, full of strong characters where the male does often have to actually convince the female. And her The Two Dukes of Wyndham series is equally compelling. And actually, her Agents for the Crown series also have the guys doing the pursuing (rather literally at one point). Hey you know? Just read Julia Quinn! 😉
I also will second the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole, as well as toss a general “more please now” to the universe (I get kind of impatient there because I love those books SO MUCH).
I saw someone mention Nalini Singh, but I’d suggest the first book of the Guild Hunter series, Angel’s Kiss. The heroine has her job, and she gets downright testy with the hero when he tries to convince her that no, really, sex’d be awesome.
Finally, I’d say the first book of Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate might fall under this category, too. Alexia’s rather completely oblivious to the interest the male lead takes to her – or even that she could be interesting to the opposite sex.
Ooooh I like it when a man knows what he want’s. I really like Jane Sullivan, but where I live I can’t find many of her books. What I’ve found though I’ve read and really enjoyed. “Risky Business” fits this plot perfectly. After a hot one-night stand, the heroine runs hoping to forget about the encounter because it’s so out of caracter for her. They accidentally meet again and it get interesting 🙂 Then there’s “When He Was Bad” when they’re both kind of famouse for believing in two opposite things so they can’t be seen together, but they can’t resist each other and he’s definitely the pusuer in this book. And then we have “Tall, Dark and Texan” which doesn’t have anything to do with this plot but is such a grat book :D:D:D