Each day, as we post and then tweet the daily books on sale, I encounter variations of the same sort of phrase: GIVE IT TO ME NOW.
Sometimes it’s the combination of a much-loved author and a discounted price that creates this response. But in other cases, the allure of a conflict or familiar trope gets people’s attention.
For example: Neuroscience librarian encounters benevolent stranger living in secret amid library stacks.
(I’m sorry if you just sat up and twitched. I made that up.) (Also, I would need a humidifier if I lived in the library stacks.) (And some hand cream because my entire life would be paper cuts.) (Anyway.)
It seems to me, and this is a combination of conjecture and anecdata, that a brief explanation of the conflict or tropes at work in the story receives a good amount of attention of the insta-buy variety, almost as much as Author + Price.
The power of Known Author + Great Price cannot be denied, of course. Of the links this week from the Books on Sale posts and tweets, the Elizabeth Hoyt and Theresa Romain links received the most traffic, and I attribute that to good prices and to those authors being on some auto-buy lists. I mean, that’s why we have auto-buy lists, right?
But I also think that as we interact online about the books we love, we collectively learn to identify the language and shorthand for the plots, conflicts and tropes we love (and the ones we dislike). A quick description of conflict, aka reader catnip, works on me very well.
For example, my GIMME NOW is set off by couples who get caught in snowstorms. And also by couples whose conflicts prompts a, “I don’t want to like you, I don’t want to like you, I can’t stop thinking about your hair DAMMIT” response.
The more we know about the plots, tropes, and conflicts we love, the better we’re able to find what we like to read, and identify what triggers the GIMME NOW.
RedHeadedGirl: “You get me a ridiculous contrived ‘we have to fake an engagement for REASONS’ or an arranged marriage? I’m pretty much there.”
Carrie: This one author, when she pitches her books to me, always tells me specifically what crazy ass sea creature is included in the book, because she knows I’ll have a moderate interest right up until she says, “There’s a kraken in this one” and then I’m all:
Amanda: “I’ll buy if the book is related to my latest catnip. I’m in a cowboy/erotica kick, so I just bought a copy of Lorelei James’ Corralled.”
Elyse: I’m all about tropes. If it’s a fairytale story–especially beauty and the beast…
What about you? What prompts an almost-reflexive Give It To Me Now response when you’re book shopping? Are there Gimme Triggers you reach for immediately? Which ones have caused you to buy a book?
Pride & Prejudice variations – whether set in the same time as the originals, or contemporary; of course, my favorite authors, and billionaire books!
Two words: Virgin Hero
My catnip? Older couples – who still enjoy sex!! Angsty, thinking hero – gimme some Sherry Thomas, Lisa Kinsale. Strong women. Good writing – Milan, Thomas, Bourne and many others.
Oh – and low prices. I’m afraid that may win out over all of the above at times.
Snarky dialogue works for me every time :->
Plot grabs are:
* Hero is engaged/almost engaged/very interested in gorgeous vapid girl but eventually falls for intelligent-but-not-as-beautful sister/best friend/governess etc.
* Similarly, in historicals, girl almost or on the shelf because too bright/unladylike/employed gets the guy
I’m a sucker for the friends to lovers trope. Also, arranged marriages, smart heroines, geeky heroes, and funny books.
@JewelCourt
I’m gonna have to add virgin heroes as well
Hello, my name is pooks, and I am [evidently] a trope-aholic.
Because almost every damned trope mentioned here makes me squeal.
One addition: It must be set in England or the British Isles.
Then I’m yours, on a platter, with whipped cream.
Pirates or assassins, either hero or heroine, I am so there! Also, I must admit to a love for guardian/ward romances (although it seems like this trope has all but disappeared in modern historicals).
And this is super niche, but when one of the main characters is a matchmaker and they fall for their client. I’ve always been fascinated by the matchmaker profession and enjoy the humor and angst that comes with falling for the client in the profession that is all about finding perfect matches.
Hmmm. A big Gimme Trigger for me is and always has been the Plain Jane aka the Ugly Duckling trope. If it is combined with a Regency, I’m there.
I like scientist heroes/heroines, particularly if one or both are archaeologists, but other fields of study are welcome.
I used to buy every Signet Regency as it came out, not even bothering to read the synopsis, because 90% of them were wonderful. I don’t think the move to Historical Regencies served the sub-genre well.
I just dropped one previously trusted author from my Buy Immediately list due to an extremely disappointing book, but I still have a couple more that still deliver.
Nancy – If you like matchmaker books, I highly recommend Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips – it has continuing characters from her Chicago Stars books but it’s not centered around football or a football player
Oh, making up that librarian novel was just plain cruel! ;P
I love books with strong female characters, romance, paranormal aspects, or horror. I especially love if the main character is a reader, or has to go through a really dark and difficult time.
http://www.triskelereviews.com/
Some folks call ’em Paranoras, after probably the most famous author who writes them. But I am ALL OVER normal people dealing with the supernatural, and falling in love along the way.
Mary Stewart wrote a couple of them, and Barbara Michaels wrote some excellent ones (one of my alltime favorite books is her House of Many Shadows, and not just because the heroine is named Meg).
But except for Nora Roberts, whose trilogies and categories featuring fairies, ghosts, and things that go bump in the night are serious catnip for me (especially the MacKade books), I’m sort of at a loss to find more.
Anyone have any good suggestions? Besides my own novels, that is?
Megaera – I assume if this is catnip for you that you have already seen the classic 1940s movie (later a brain-dead TV series) with Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison titled “The Ghost and Mrs Muir” but if not, go and rent it *right now*!
Janice, I’ve read the book and seen the movie. Loved the book best, but yes. Wonderful!
Neuroscience librarian encounters benevolent stranger living in secret amid library stacks.
@SBSarah
This better be the plot for your next Hannukkah novella. By Hannukkah, I mean Passover! Give me. 😀
My catnip is when two characters have known each other a long time and reunite.
When the heroine is older.
When an author I like wrote it
Feminist characters
Give me a smart heroine and a beta male, please. I love when the male needs the female to rescue him somehow…like he’s damaged. I like hard-ass bitch heroines who have a soft side they didn’t know was there until the hero made them feel that way about him. I like guys who decide early on that the heroine is “the one”, then spend the rest of the book convincing her that they belong together.
1) Banter. Give me ALL the banter, witticisms, smart comebacks, and the realization by both parties that they like the way this person’s brain works. Julie-Anne Long’s How the Marquess Was Won is a sterling example, as is Sarah Rees Brennan’s Unspoken.
2) Is the hero, heroine, or both a shapeshifter of some kind, or possibly genetically enhanced with animal DNA? SOLD. I stuck with Lora Leigh’s Breeds for years because of this.
2a) Do they go into heat? Are there irresistible urges? Do both parties agree that this night of multiple orgasms and astonishing intimacy means nothing? Yes, excellent.
3) I am with Sarah as regards the “I despise you and all you stand for, but I cannot stop thinking about you and you lovely hair DAMMIT” trope.
1. Kickass women, or supersmart women. Basically a heroine who knows what she’s doing. This includes bookworms or shy heroines who get brave
2. ye olde deception trope: he’s a prince in disguise! she’s pretending to be someone’s mistress! he’s pretending to be human!
3. paranormal, especially Nalini Singh, unless it’s a “so-and-so never believed in *** until one saved her life and now they are bonded and she hates it but cannot resist his dark smouldering gaze”
4. Musicians
5. accidentally stuck with one another (think: Lick, by Kylie Scott)
6. strangers who become family, and the resulting hookups (slow burn over a series)
Oh, there are so many! Far more than my wallet likes…
My collection of Regency Christmas anthologies fills much of a bookcase, and I’m still angry at Signet for ending their annual collection. Also am a sucker for older heroine, younger hero, since it’s not nearly as common as the reverse. Friends to lovers is another form of catnip, as are arranged marriages, although only in historicals for the latter (in contemporaries I find them creepy).
For me it’s the historicals with a scientist or scholarly heroine. I’m reading Lady Elizabeth’s Comet now which is a perfect example. And really any book about archaeology, historical or contemporary.
My will-almost-autobuy, guilty pleasures are:
Christmas stories.
“Shop Around the Corner” plots.
Hero blackmailing heroine into a relationship then discovering he’s misjudged her.
Any story where weddings, home renovation, garden design or baking form a strong descriptive thread.
Humour (although harder to tell from plot summary)
Reading through all the comments I realised I’m fairly open to all tropes. For a book to make me it’s slave it needs to have three things. Intelligence, banter and humour.
Exhibit A – An excerpt from Burn For Me by Ilona Andrews:
My cell phone rang on the table. I never went far without it, even in the house. I picked it up. An unlisted number. Oh goodie.
“Nevada Baylor.”
“I need to talk to you,” Mad Rogan said into the phone. “Meet me for lunch.”
My pulse jumped, my body snapped to attention, and my brain shut down for a second to come to terms with the impact of his voice. I’d slap myself except my mother and grandmother already thought I was nuts, and hurting myself would get me committed for sure.
“Sure, let me get right on that.” Hey, my voice still worked. “Should I bring my own chains this time? Or do you have bigger plans, and this is some sort of freaky murder foreplay”— why did the word foreplay just come out of my mouth?— “and I’ll end up cut up into small pieces inside some freezer at the end? I can just spray myself with mace and shoot myself in the head now and save you the trouble.”
“Are you done?” he asked.
“Just getting started.” I was so brave over the phone.
“Lunch, Ms. Baylor. Concentrate. Pick a place.”
“You seem to be under the impression that I work for you and you can give me orders. Let me fix that.” I hung up.
Grandma looked at my mom. “Did she just hang up on Mad Rogan?”
“Yes, she did. Did you know that Adam Pierce showed up at our house last night?”
Grandma’s eyes went wide. “He was here?”
“She met him outside.”
Grandma swung toward me. “Did you take any pictures?”
My phone beeped. Unlisted number again. I answered it.
“I’m not a man of infinite patience,” Mad Rogan said.
I hung up.
“Pictures or it didn’t happen!” Grandma declared.
I scrolled through my phone and pulled up the shot of Adam Pierce in a Mercer T- shirt. “There you go.”
Grandma grabbed the phone. It beeped. She answered it. “She’ll call you back. Nevada, can I email Adam’s picture to myself?”
“You have to hang up first.” She hung up and clicked the phone, typing with her index fingers. “Arabella is going to flip.”
My mother sighed.
Grandma passed me the phone. “Here’s your phone back.”
Another beep.
“Yes?”
His voice was quiet and precise. “If you hang up on me again, I will slice your car into small pieces and hang them on your roof like Christmas wreaths.”
Sorry – I know it’s long – but when the author sent that out, I was on a girls holiday and had to read this out loud to my friend, who immediately told me to keep her up to date on when she could read this book.
Whether it is Georgette Heyer, Julie James, Shelly Laurenston or whoever. You give me sexy banter, witty repartee or intelligent exchange and I AM THERE!!!
I am an absolute goner for both-in-love-but-pretending-not-to-be-because-each-thinks-the-other-can’t -possibly-be. If they’re exes, so much the better!
My attention is also easily grabbed by less-common (I.e., not regency- though I love regency!) historical settings. Show me some American Revolution, or roaring 20s, or, heck, the Protestant Reformation, and I’d be all in.
And, across the board, one can never have enough sexually liberated, unconventional, and/or (please and!) brilliant heroines!
They get me with so many of them. I’m a sucker for westerns, especially wagon train stories, for some reason. I love fairy tale stuff and especially get excited for anything Beauty & The Beast. I like friends to lovers, scarred/emotionally damaged heroes, and on and on. This will give everybody an idea why there are thousands of books in my house. 🙂
Oh, and of course, anything about books, librarians, book lovers, etc.!
I’m still twitching… Rock star heroes, cabin romances, and anything with animals too! Someone save me! 🙂
Basically all those (though I’m not a fan of Lorelei James for the most part), PLUS any series of books that features heroes who play of a professional sports team. I don’t like sports, but for some reason sports player heroes are my catnip. Take all my money; I need about four hours by myself to finish this, thanks.
See also: Rock stars.
If the main characters are over 35 years of age, (40, 45) and looking for love for the umpteenth time in life or anything that has to do with surviving cancer, then I’m all over it.
Heroic ladies doing heroic things! Beta heroes (like REALLY beta). Virgin heroes. Also the Colin Bridgerton type of hero, who relies on wit and sex appeal over muscles and growling, and have no problems being friends with women. Strong female friendships (I just bought the first book in the Governess Club series by Ellie Macdonald because it seems to involve four women working together). When the heroine is reserved and cold-hearted and has problems showing her feelings (Violet in The Countess Conspiracy – awww!). Any kind of subversive, feminist, gender-flip story basically.
I have found that things that subvert gender stereotypes and common tropes give me all of the grabby hands. Maisey Yates tweeted that one of her books had a billionaire heroine last month and I was all the frick over that.
Wounded, emotionally distant heroine? Ball-busting bitch heroine? Billionaire heroine? Submissive man? Alpha heroine? Blue-collar heroine? Give them all to me.
I also have a real fondness for classic tropes with a twist. Secret babies and marriages of convenience always make my ears perk up metaphorically.
I think it would be faster to say what *doesn’t* set off my gimme trigger. LOL.
I was on a cowboy/erotica jag, too, but then I moved onto Beauty & the Beast fairytale tropes. Right now I’m on a cyberpunk thing.
Generally: Anything with a badass heroine (potentially behaving badly). The “bad boy with a heart of gold” trope. Ann Aguirre urban fantasy or science fiction. A mystery novel with a female detective and not too much stomach curdling violence.
Oh, I forgot. I love an erotic romance where the hero is a virgin and the heroine isn’t. Mmm, yeah, go against the grain. Yummy.
Ok, I exclusively read HR at this point but:
1. Gender benders! I love when the heroine tries to disguise herself as a boy because reasons. I would read the shit out of a book where the hero was disguised as a woman as well, but I don’t think I’ve found any like that.
2. Lately I’ve been crazy obsessed with spies. If it’s a historical spy book, I’m in.
3. Somewhat related to spies, I also have a soft spot for books where someone adopts a disguise (unrelated to politics) to get dirt on someone, or to escape some kind of danger — like when the heroine disguises herself as a maid or companion or something.
Holy shit, there is a pattern to all of these and I never realized it before. What does this say about me?! D:!!! EXISTENTIAL CRISIS!!!!
Hmm, definitely heroines who have given up on the marriage market and use that reason as an excuse to do whatever they want, especially if they’re brilliant at some neat thing. (I’ve read geologist, astronomer, swimmer, math, genetics, you name it.)
Also, like many, the ‘the only solution is to get engaged!!’ gets me.
Mail order bride gets me every time. Also New Adult where the H/h realize through the power of love that they need outside help to deal with their trauma.
@Cassie: Hero disguised as a woman — Untamed by Anna Cowan. It’s a disguise but also more, he really has a feminine side to his personality. [And the heroine likes that.]
1. marriage of convenience stories
2. snowed in together
3. hero has always loved heroine
4. friends to lovers
5. plain Jane
Arranged marriages, revenge plots, secret babies, and angst. Any of these in combination means I will consider buying, but all four tropes together in one book -forget about it!
@Cassie: Georgette Heyer’s The Corinthian has the heroine disguised as a boy, and her The Masqueraders has that and a hero disguised as a woman as well.