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?
@Cassie: I recently read Dorothy Eden’s Lady of Mallow. The heroine gets hired as a governess to prove that the recently returned heir is an imposter. The heir is married and the heroine already has a fiance, but the heroine’s attraction to the man she is investigating is palpable. This gothic was written in the 60’s so it’s not “hot” by modern standards, but I ate it up with a spoon. 😉
certain authors are auto buys, some genres appeal to me more than others, and some books in series
My gimme trigger usually goes off for specific authors: Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb (less lately, sigh), Jennifer Crusie, Jill Shalvis, and Karen Rose. As for tropes, I love friends to lovers, reunited lovers, and what I like to call “Surprise, I’m a spy!” books. The last is more often in historicals, although I would love to see this in a contemporary.
Same universe, different stories. I like here to be some closure at the end of a book but love to pick up with a new group in the same area or time. Not in the way of family sagas but more in the way of a spy ring or book club or yarn shop. Where you may get an update on a previous couple or plot but only really in periphery.
I love it when this happens but can’t for the life of me think of an example.
When it’s done well it’s like a surprise Easter egg when the heroine reads in a letter from a cousin about the honeymoon her dearest friend just returned from. Or the hero’s aunt tells him his old school chum’s wife just gave birth to twins! Or a message is received that help is needed in the north as the guy up there has lost the ability to focus on surveillance (or really anything at all) since he married that hoyden. Or Suz tells Lauren that Georgia finally finished that boyfriend sweater but it’s all good because by the time she did he was a husband instead.
I think I prefer it to the five siblings and three cousins and the stable boy all fell like dominoes into wedded bliss.
It’s not something that is very easy to shop for as, when it’s done in the way I mean, it’s not often in a particular series.
I love a good historical mystery with a romance between investigators over the course of the series. I worry that I’ll run out of these and have searched all corners of the web and my local bookstores for new series. I have to do my research first before investing in the romance subplot though because I hate hate hate when the love interest changes without my expecting it.
Also I don’t actively seek out (literally) wounded/scarred heroes, but I just breezed through three historicals in a row with heroes who returned from war with damaged limbs. It’s maybe not so much a coincidence since I love an introspective hero who needs to heal.
And I will read any American historical that’s not a western (and some westerns, too). If it’s got over a 3 on goodreads and takes place in North America, I’m all over it.
@Cassie-the hero of “My Lady Notorious” disguises himself as a woman for just a small section of the book-but he does a great job at it!
I’ve got so many triggers, it’s no wonder I can’t whittle down my TBR list. The top ones are marriage of convenience; marriage because of pregnancy-bonus points if the hero is not the father of the baby; Cinderella story; Beauty and the Beast; when a rake gets his comeuppance; nerdy or socially awkward hero; wallflower heroine; and heroine rescues the hero, I don’t mean just emotionally but an actual escape from a prison/dungeon/asylum. You might think this is rare, but I’ve got a list of books with that trope.
Girls disguised as boys is almost an instant buy for me. I’m also a huge fan of hero being in love with heroine but can’t say for some reason or another.
Some of my catnip:
*Historicals set outside England, especially if there is some sort of adventure component (a la Zoe Archer, swoon).
*Steampunk romance, which I have a damn hard time finding, TBH.
*Heroes (usually cops or agents) who have to move in with the heroines to “protect” her–it makes no sense but I. Do. Not. Care.
*Sciencey heroes–I like sciencey heroines but for some reason the sciency heroes REALLY trip my triggers.
*Best friend’s little sister (a subset of friends to lovers, which I also often enjoy)
*Serial killer–again, it’s so far fetched but I admit I usually enjoy a good “race against the clock to stop a serial killer”, especially if it also involves my 3rd point above)
I guess I really have a lot catnip options, though I don’t often find books that satisfy me in quite the way I want! If anyone has any recs for these things, I’m all ears. 🙂
@Jen, I love the best friend and little sister stories, especially when the older brother is extremely against it so they end up hiding it. This is probably why I am shipping the hell out of Jamie and Lolly (although Jamie is the younger brother) on Hindsight. Actually, that is one of the only things I like about that show other than the music.
My catnip is anything with humour and also chick-lit type and set in a big city like London or New York. If someone could give me this setup but in a place like Tokyo, I would so totally be grabbing this book!
British humour is what gets me most, and you can be sure I will be reaching for the one-click button faster than you can say ‘broke’ when I spot something like, say, Jill Mansell or Sophie Kinsella and it’s all set in England!
Okay, hope this won’t come in as creepy, but for all the ladies who mentioned they love a kick-ass heroine, spies, and/or assassins, my Corpus Brides trilogy is all about such strong heroines coming from clandestine life and who all fall for hard and tortured heroes. Give it a try if possible 🙂 (thanks if you do!)
Stories where someone–usually the heroine–inherits something she knows diddleysquat about and decides to keep it. I can think of two involving women inheriting sports teams and two inheriting businesses, and in each case, the hero invariably has a stake in the organization and is hostile to the heiress. Come to think of it, I believe JAK has at least one with a male inheriting part of the heroine’s business. That’s a trope, right?
Would you consider doing a companion post asking people which tropes trigger instant rejection at any price point? You know, storylines that readers wouldn’t touch if it came dipped in chocolate & wrapped in 24 carat gold. I think that could be pretty amusing.
Yes, to what @PamG suggests! I have definite trope hates.
Man, I wish there was a way to let people know when there are replies! I’m so glad I checked back.
@Vasha, @Faellie, @Carolina, and @Karin, thank you so much! 3 of those are even on kindle unlimited, yessss!!!
I have a few…
Girls disguised as boys (or boys disguised as girls, which I’ve actually only seen once, but it was delightful). I too like the confused “I am really attracted to this guy, but have always liked the ladies before?” but also am game for when the hero knows from the get-go.
Opposites attract. I especially like people who come from groups in conflict/opposition, like: English heroines and Scottish heroes. I also love couples who are just really different from one another, in terms of personality, life stations, etc — i.e., Rakes and spinsters, courtesans and society high sticklers, etc.
Any hero described as blonde, elegant and charismatic. Rake status preferred, but ultimately optional.
Anything at all to do with a hero who is royalty. It’s the Prince Charming complex.
Fairy tale re-tellings. Especially Beauty and the Beast or Cinderella.
My favs are humorous reads, but so few descriptions give a clue. Actual descriptions include a couple who hate each other and are manipulated into having to join forces for some task. Strangers thrown together in a zany, madcap adventure. The brilliant, uptight, rigid (possibly OCD) hero and the free-wheeling heroine. Brilliant, obsessed, clueless scientist/mathematician heroine.
1. Cross Dressing
2. The Big Grovel. The BIGGER THE BETTER.
3. Arranged Marriages
4. Heroines that shoot people
After further thought I’ve decided that authors I auto-read (I mostly borrow) either make me laugh til I’m sore, no mere chuckle, or ugly cry.
If they give me goosebumps, or make my stomach flip, or if I have to put it down and walk away for a bit, I’ll read everything they write. I’m talking to you, Allison Brennan and Sandra Brown. (Absolutely warped!)
Also, authors who teach me something new and useful (life hacks that work), in fiction, hold a very special place in the library of my heart.
I have some favorite authors who are autobuy.
Otherwise, I’m a sucker for science hero and/or heroine, and for outdoor expert / wilderness guide / search and rescue stories. I like self-awareness and wit.
Fun! I am all over a marriage of convenience/fake engagement/etc, or forced proximity, like “oh dear I have been snowed in, guess I will just have to spend the next six days in this cabin with this incredibly hot dude, whatever will we do…?” Also any kind of travel, like if they suddenly have to fly to the Greek Isles and hang out there for a while, that generally works for me.
1) Out-of-the-ordinary time periods/settings – bonus points if I know next to nothing about the period/setting & I come away from this book learning a lot about it!
2) Friends-to-lovers trope hits me in the feels every time (since that’s how I met my husband!)
3) Women that kick ass and the men that appreciate it!
4) Witty banter and/or LOL material! If you’re making me laugh, then hells yeah, I will come back for more!
5) Steampunk!
6) Smart-as-hell and/or great-in-their-field heroes/heroines who pull no punches about their talents!
7) Beta heroes! (swoon)
My biggest catnip right now is women disguised as boys. It is always so silly, but so fun. I really enjoy nothing more than when the hero doesn’t realize that the “boy” is a woman.
I also enjoy any sort of woman with a career type (I’ve been reading about regency wedding planners recently).
@Francesca- Born in Ice by Nora Roberts has to be the ultimate cozy romance-lots of baking,cooking,cleaning going on in an Irish B&B as well as swoonworthy romance with a millionaire writer. As for cooking and a heroine with, I can only describe as “a slight flaw in her character”( sorry Master Li!) , Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Cruisie is delightful and crazy, and oMG funny. IMHO, of course.
I adore beta heroes in historicals, heroines who read or run a bookshop, and m/m romance (especially contemporary, but historical makes for fun reading, too).
1. The H&H are trapped in a jungle, in a forest, on a mountain, in a blizzard etc. and despite struggling to stay a live while being hunted by the guerilla, by a bear, by the psychopath terrorist etc. they can’t deny the passion growing between them… *purring noises*. On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves
2. The hero being at first somewhat “un feeling”, like a cold blooded killer in Ice blue by Anne Thompson, (suspence) or the ‘I’m a genius so emotions confuse me’ guy in One night with her boss by Noelle Adams (contemporary).
3. Two people hating each other at first, soon realize that they have actually always lusted/loved each other.
4. Time travel, but only from present to the past. First I was into the highlander trope, but now I really love the cowboy scene, or the old west in general. Yellowstone romance: Heart song by Peggy L Henndersson was AWESOMENES! Also, Transcendence by Shay Savage was sooo different but I loved it!
5. I love almost anything by Ruthie Knox (Ride with me, Truly)
I’ll always love historical romances. However, lately, mine is if it has adventure, dystopia, science fiction, world-building, or any kind of fantasy setting/premise. (Whether it’s adult or YA.) Anything that’s not contemporary. A great love story and book-loving characters don’t hurt either.
If the synopsis screams ‘Hallmark Channel movie’ or ‘FSoG-knock off’ to me, I tend to avoid it.
ETA: Also fairy tell retellings. I’ve lost track of how many books I have based on ‘Beauty and the Beast’.
I’ve not gone very far into romance, but so far my grabbie hands are for:
Steampunk! (give me all the steampunk, seriously)
Fantasy-ish?
Menage a trois (with any and all genders)