We recently received a pretty cool email from Reader Linda about romance and what we desperately want to read. If we had the choice, what perfect books would we craft? What heroes would we choose? What heroines or settings are we just waiting to devour with our eyeballs?
Here is Linda’s original email:
Recently a friend of mine said rather dismissively “those women wouldn’t be interested if Christian Grey wasn’t wealthy and was a creepy dude living in a cabin by himself” and I jumped up and said “WRONG, Cara McKenna’s Unbound ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) is exactly this.” (And then we had a discussion about the nature of fantasy and how it’s okay if people’s personal fantasies are bourgeoise and capitalist, although I did concede that some of these books do present the narrative that women should want to marry into money versus becoming wildly wealthy themselves. But I digress.)
Anyway, in situations like that and whenever I read an HaBO post I feel that, like Chuck Tingle parodies, there’s generally a romance novel about everything. However, we’ve all had times where we’ve wanted/had an idea for a very specific romance that we haven’t seen before, such as Sarah’s Hanukkah novella, Lighting the Flames ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
My most recent one is a romance novel where the heroine manages her Chinese family’s acrobat troupe in 19th century London and the hero is a barrister/cop/noble who’s investigating a crime/looking for a person in her sphere and isn’t making any progress because everyone just pretends to not understand him, so she takes him under her wing (maybe to get her brother out of trouble?) and he slowly realizes that, “Oh, she’s an actual person and my insides feel weird and mushy.” The idea is to start with this very orientalist/Sherlock Holmes 19th century image of the Chinese and to smash it to pieces. Sort of inspired by scene in The Prestige where the Chinese magician is shown to actually be pretending to be old and crippled so he could hide the fishbowl between his legs.
So my idea for a prompt would be: What is a romance novel that you want to read but doesn’t exist? Also hopefully some of them might actually exist and they could be connected to them or someone will get inspired and whip out a short story like Rose Learner’s retelling of Sweet Disorder where her hero is a vampire and her heroine is a dragon.
Sarah: My wish list is probably not a surprise. Dragons. More dragons, but less insta-love. Most of the time when I try a dragon book with shifters in modern world or a entirely constructed fantasy world, the elements I love are good dialogue, realistic character development a.k.a. no insta-love.
Rich, multilayered world building, realistic conflicts between characters – one is usually missing. Dragons remain my weakness, but the books I’ve tried have made me hesitant because of large weaknesses in other areas.
I also, dragons aside, want to read more stories about Jewish characters who aren’t white. I know – it’s not like Jewish characters are everywhere already – but every congregation I have belonged to since I converted 16 years ago has had so many multicultural families, but the inclusion so far doesn’t reflect that (and that’s also on me since I wrote a Jewish romance, and I’m 200% aware that I’m complaining at myself).
I loved My Basmati Bat Mitzvah, and I have The Whole Story of Half a Girl on my TBR.
Do I want more Jewish romances in general? In the holy words of Janice from Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, Fer suuuuure. I want to read more Jewish romances that reflect our inclusive reality. That goes for pretty much everything.
Amanda: I love me a good BDSM romance, but I feel like I’m getting tired of the same ol’ Alpha Dom and wide-eyed innocent submissive heroine. I’ve been trying to get my grubby paws on any romances that feature a Domme heroine (and I was severely disappointed by Cherise Sinclair’s Servicing the Target ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) since
I bought Giving It Up after seeing it recommended by Sarah Lyons, editorial director of Riptide Publishing, in a recent article for Prevention Magazine on romances, so that’s at the top of my TBR pile. So more Dommes or BDSM romances where both characters are switches who take dominant roles depending on how they’re feeling, instead of a cut and dry D/s relationship.
Additionally, I want more magic. Not paranormal necessarily. But maybe a fantasy romance with magic and maybe some dragons or fancy beasts and a political marriage between warring kingdoms. Please, put that in my face. Aside from a fantasy setting, I’d like to see something new done with New Adult. I enjoyed The Magicians by Lev Grossman for the most part, but I’d love to have that setting with more of a central romance. Like a magic college. Sexy adults using magic and being jerks to each other because their raging hormones just cannot be contained!
More adventure please! I loved Zoe Archer’s Blades of the Rose series ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), but I want to see it transformed into a modern setting. With an artifact-hunting, Indiana Jones-esque heroine who travels the globe and teams up with a stuffy museum curator to track down some ancient and possibly cursed stuff.
PLEASE SOMEONE GIVE ME THESE THINGS. I WANT TO GIVE YOU MY MONEY.
CarrieS: More racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity in historicals. Also, there’s tons of African American romance, and tons of African American Science Fiction, but not much Science Fiction Romance that involves characters of color, especially Black protagonists. I would love more Black nerds, more Asian pilots, more Latina CEOs of companies that manufacture space elevators. Basically, more diverse SFF Romance, by which I mean romance novels not novels with a romantic element.
I’d also like to see more romances with, to borrow a term from The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, “traditionally built” protagonists, male and female, more middle aged and older romances, and more romances involving moms whose children are more than plot moppets.
I want to see romances in which various disabilities are presented realistically yet positively. I want to see happy ending for people who aren’t magically cured and I want to see that these characters see themselves, and are seen by others, as wholly deserving and capable of sex and love.
I want a novel in which Lydia Bennett and Mary Crawford run away and become wildly successful lesbian pirates. This book should include at least one dragon and at least one kraken. They will swing over to Cornwall and pick up Verity Poldark on the way. Ross Poldark and Captain Blarney can come on board to work as seamen, but they have to work shirtless all the time. For their health. It gets very hot on deck, what can you do?
RHG: I rarely find myself seriously wanting thing. I yell “I WANT THAT” all the time, and then almost immediately forget whatever it was I was demanding, not unlike a toddler. Yes, I want more of Blamey and Verity’s story (I know they vanish from the books at some point), but given that so much of my non-reading time involves trying to shape the world (yay, it’s campaign season! Anyone wanna sign nomination papers?), trying to will the books I want into existence is tiring. I’m much happier being surprised when something I didn’t know I DESPERATELY NEEDED appears on my doorstep.
(Also when I get an idea, it’s often something I want to write myself, so I don’t want anyone to steal it!)
So what’s on your romance wishlist? Tell us what you want more of and definitely leave us some reading suggestions!
I spent a long time searching for stranded on a desert island romances, (preferably without paranomal fluff included). I love Barrie’s Admirable Crichton, and there’s an old (freebie!)by Louis Tracy “The Wings of the Morning” that’s an old-timey sweet adventure romance, and nearly perfect. If I could find *that* with some more contemporary heat I’d be a happy reader.
I long for older characters who bring confidence and competence to a new relationship, who work together to solve mysteries/problems and as their friendship develops, so does hot rekindling of physical needs. As a riff on this, I’d like to read about age difference romances — 25 yrs. to 45 yrs.-ish — older woman/younger man, older man/younger woman — and be able to vicariously enjoy a relationship that becomes joyously sensual, but is built on a foundation more substantial than instant chemistry.
@Cordy – yes, yes and yes! I like the way your book brain works!
Re the contemporary/sexual nervousness thing, try You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me by Sarra Manning (I’m not on commission, she’s just great). I initially came across it in the comments section of a blog post about awkward sex in romance books and it’s so good.
Basically all of Ilona Andrews’ heroines (that I can think of) have jobs. Granted, these are UF novels and those jobs are frequently supernatural-adjacent, but they’re all very dedicated to their careers in more than token ways.
A couple of recommendations for various people:
* Julia Spencer-Fleming has written a series of mysteries in which the main character is a woman who, after serving in the military, is now an Episcopalian priest in … upstate New York? New England? someplace where it gets cold. There’s a romantic relationship with the local sheriff/chief of police who, at the beginning of the series is married, so they restrict themselves to yearning.
* I recently read a BDSM e-book (short, but nice) called “Sated (#3 in the Fit Trilogy)” by Rebekah Weatherspoon. It starts off with the hero being seriously involved with the BDSM scene, the heroine isn’t. They meet and are taken with each other and the relationship continues. He introduces her to his scene; consent is of major importance, so he always makes sure she’s OK with what he wants to try. She becomes more interested in his scene; they take turns dominating each other. It’s more lighthearted than you’d expect. The hero is Korean-American (and lost a hand in an accident), the heroine is, I believe, African-American (and a big nerd who’s a personal trainer).
* For fairy tales, try Seanan McGuire’s Indexing e-books. There are two books which were originally done as Amazon serials. They’re contemporary stories where fairy tale stories are real – the protagonist is a Snow White, her co-workers an Evil Stepsister (who’s resisted going evil) and one of the shoemaker’s elves. They go around trying to keep the stories from taking over and wreaking havoc (as in, imagine if a Sleeping Beauty were real and put the entire town to sleep).
While I second Sarah’s comments about dragons, I’ve been wondering why there aren’t any paranormals about unicorn shifters. Just think of the possibilities. If unicorns are drawn to virgins, then both male and female unicorns are looking for virgins of both genders who have managed to hang on to their virginity into adulthood.
I am sick and tired of romance novels about billions. Having said that, I succumbed to the lure of one posted about yesterday: Signed to the Billionaire by Ella London and was disgusted to discover that it is one of those novellas disguised as a novel with a cliffhanger ending because it is really part of a novel but is being sold as a series. I really loathe that marketing scheme.
I like historical romance novels that are very well researched. Such as This Crumbling Pageant by Patricia Burroughs. I am sick to death of lazy authors who don’t research the time period about which they are writing. I am especially disgusted when I see modern idioms placed in characters of the Regency period, for example. I am also revolted when writers fail to pay attention to the fact that our lazy grammar “This is me, her, him” instead of the correct “This is I, she, he.” in the mouths of people who lived before this was common among the educated.
Susanna Kearsley also comes to mind as a writer who has done her homework.
I will read anything well-written that isn’t horror, true crime, nasty vicious fictional mysteries. Too many romance novels are poorly written in my opinion.
http://www.amazon.com/This-Crumbling-Pageant-Fury-Triad-ebook/dp/B00K10FSK6
@Heather: Tara Lain’s Genetic Attraction series is pretty good for exultant bi characters all around, but the DECEPTIVE ATTRACTION and GENETIC CELEBRITY installments are my favorites: DA for a really thoughtful examination of the gender spectrum and how it relates to attraction (without it being prescriptive), and GC for its three really lovable characters and unexpected examination of class rather than orientation. (I love Tara’s m/m work, but I do love this m/m/f series best.) Thanks for the ANOTHER CASTLE rec; it sounds like what I like about PRINCELESS, minus some of the hit-you-over-the-head moments early on and weird mixed messages in the later volumes.
As for cool Muslim women (even though it’s a bit of a cheat), have you read Samantha Ellis’ memoir HOW TO BE A HEROINE? (This is totally a Smart Bitches Book Club choice! It is full of spoilers for a zillion books, but somehow that didn’t bother me.) She discusses favorite heroines in all the books she’s loved (and she reads EVERYTHING, from Austen to Jilly Cooper, with plenty of romances involved), interspersing her perspective as a British Muslim feminist who reconciles her extremely traditional upbringing in her (still close-knit) family with a refreshing lack of hand-wringing. I’d read even more about her if I could, and I want to read her plays now…she is awesome!
As for what I wish I could read, it’s more of a graphic novel issue…I’d really like to see more treatments of sex that aren’t slapsticky or disturbing. I know people rave about SEX CRIMINALS, but the jokey letters and some of the more gross-out moments undercut what could be really thoughtful and hot. It’s like they’re saying, “Oh, wait, we have to wink at everybody since NO ONE will want to read a nuanced examination of sex.” Even though I love gay comic artist Tom Bouden (his IN BED WITH DAVID AND JONATHAN is a must for m/m fans, it will blow your head off), he falls prey to that sort of icky sight gag thing from time to time. Dale Lazarov’s various series come close, though he seems exclusively devoted to bear types lately and I’d like more variety in the guys depicted. I know the visual medium encourages people to go for the maximum sight impact, but I don’t know why nuance couldn’t work, too…
For American Revolution novels, Donna Thorland has an entire series of them. I haven’t read them but they’re on my list as I’ve read great reviews.
I want to read so many of these suggestions, the Shakespearean one sounds amazing. Act like It is on my TBR list and moving farther up it. There’s a mystery series I love that’s about music, supernatural and has a established relationship at its heart. The series is based on English Ballads and is by Deborah Grabien. Anyone who enjoys Seanan Mcguire type fantasy and relationships, if you haven’t read him before Charles de Lint is amazing. The Newford books are a continuing cast with differing levels of magic, a grounding in reality and a diverse cast. And I can recommend a short story set in the October Daye universe that’s a great standalone m/m romance in the Shakespearean era and the main character is a Shakespeare fanboy. Its called Forbid the Sea and is free on her site.
I’m adding another voice to more contemporary with characters that aren’t gorgeous, gorgeous, it always pulls me out of it along with the job stuff. Thankfully though the last couple I’ve read from recommendations here haven’t been as much like that, His Road Home and Back to the Good Fortune Diner, that one did have two beautiful main characters but real worries about money and work.
That’s why I tend to read more historicals, they seem to be better about different ideas of beauty. Probably one of my favorites is The Arrangement by Mary Balogh where the hero is blind, the heroine is flat chested and short. With the help of female friends and tricks of fashion, she’s able to look more like the fashion ideal but the hero doesn’t need that. He falls in love with her voice. Those books also deal with class in interesting ways. I need to catch up with them.
This got rather long but I’m going to end with theater, music and fandom and how they all intersect. A group of friends connected through an online fandom who only see each other sometimes and then how might they pair off. I’ve seen this happen in real life and would happily read it. The small communities that grow up in this world where you can find your people, I want one of those more than a small town or a family. I want a found family to follow.
In contemporary romance, I would like more job and socio-economic diversity. Give me some accountants, teachers, social workers, sales assistants, architects — whatever! I’m so sick of heroines having ultra precious jobs, like cupcake baker or kitten wrangler. I’m also sick of the volumes of artists, journalists, photographers and entertainers who populate these novels. Give me some nurses or bank tellers or Uber drivers, just real people working jobs that they may not 100% love, but they’ve got to pay the bills, so get to it.
In historical novels, I’d like more research. I’m sick to death of the Regency Fantasy Land that most historical seem to be set in now. There’s no real feel for time or place in these books. Just pretty 21st century people in costumes. There’s no real depth to a lot of these books, either, so they all bleed into each other. And would it kill authors to write outside the Regency era? Where did all the medieval books go? How about the Restoration period? The Renaissance? Ancient world, even? God forbid, as well, historical novels set in Asia or Africa?
I’m dreaming, I know.
@Diana, have you read any Lori Foster? She writes about blue collar, MMA fighters, private detectives.
“There’s no real feel for time or place in these books. Just pretty 21st century people in costumes. There’s no real depth to a lot of these books, either, so they all bleed into each other. ”
100% agree with you. I am getting pretty sick and tired of Dukes, too.
Sigh, I’m so embarrassed…Samantha Ellis is actually Jewish, not Muslim (she mentioned a Jewish-Muslim relationship from her past, and for some reason I had it in my head that she was the Muslim one). I apologize. It is an incredible book, though, and I’ll definitely keep an eye out for some Muslim romance heroines for you…
Years ago a friend of mine was furious that she’d read a historical (medieval, I believe) book and one character told another, “grow where you’re planted.” And that was the end of that book for her, although the ranting went on for DAYS.
@RevMelinda – there is a mystery series with paranormal elements by Phil Rickman in which the heroine is a minister and there is a romance subplot: the Merrily Watkins series starting with The Wine of Angels.
@Todd, I am still ranting about a book I read in the 1990s sometime, set in the 1950s and our Heroine saunters around JFK airport when in the 1950s it was still Idlewild. ggggrrrrr
Books with mistakes like that get scathing reviews from me. I don’t know if authors read their reviews, but at least other readers are made aware.
@KSwan, I don’t know if you’ve tried “On the Island” by Tracy Garvis Graves. I quite liked it. Thirty-ish (?) heroine and her teen student wash up on an island after a plane crash, learn to survive, eventually fall in love (they don’t become intimate until he’s over 18, but some may find it a little edgy). I was quite skeptical when I started it but the author really won me over.
@Diana, yes! I would love to see more real professions represented! Social workers or teachers or cab drivers or accountants would be great!
@catses, thank you! I will check that one out!
I want to second, third, and fourth those who have expressed their disappointment with historical novels not being really historical, and who are yearning for depth instead of comedy. Actually, I think I’m beyond “disappointed” and approaching “despairing.” I won’t read “historicals” that are based on movie plots or TV shows, or that are all winky-wink modern meme-y, and I really hate the cutesy-poo rhyming titles that even some decent books must now be saddled with. Consequently I am reading very few historicals right now!
@Annmarie Amalfitano, I really do want to meet you and talk books sometime. If we’re ever in the same place, I’ll treat you to lunch!
Now that I know you want to read my artifact-hunting adventure romance, I will move it to the front burner. 🙂
What I want to read: I don’t even know. Perimenopausal brain is not so good with the wishing, it is too busy coping.
That said, this morning I saw a huge slideshow about the Orchid Festival at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, and some of the pictures featured attractive young people up to their ribs in the pond arranging plants, and I thought “that is a romance novel waiting to happen.”
@Gloriamarie Amalfitano, I am embarrassed that I got your name wrong! My sincere apologies!
@RevMelinda, umm… if you mean me, I am Gloriamarie Amalfitano. Annmarie was “That Girl.” I’ve love to have lunch with you if you are ever in San Diego, CA.
What do I want?
For people to actually get fired for having sex at work in a book. I want to see that. I’m just tired of sex all over the desk with no repercussions, even when I liked the book and even when it’s hot and well-written. Characters: elevators have cameras. And people get fired. Does that make me cranky?
Contemporaries where characters have realistic jobs:
I recommend Shannon Stacey’s Boston Fire and Lynda Aicher’s Power Play (hockey) series. One of the heroines in the Boston Fire series is a waitress/bartender. And in the first book, when she’s waitressing at a restaurant outside of Boston (before she returns home), she doesn’t have a great apartment because she doesn’t make a lot of money. She even has a roommate just for help with the rent. I think they work best when read in order.
And the fire fighters do the thing that I REALLY wish was in more romances: they work out! You know all those ripped abs guys who never seem to spend any time at the gym? Shannon Stacey’s characters actually have to spend a fair amount of time staying in good shape, like real fire fighters. So great. And a lot of her characters live above their parents or rent small apartments – because Boston is expensive, and she has her characters live within their means. I love that.
And Lynda Aicher’s Power Play hockey series has some real jobs too. The heroine of Back in Play is a high school teacher who takes being a teacher very seriously, and one of them has a heroine who works in a music store (and maybe lives at home?).
Julie Brannagh has heroes who are football players (Love and Football series!) but the heroines are a florist, an opera singer, an admin/marketing person at the football team office, other jobs that didn’t feel twee to me. And they all actually have to work in the books. In one, I think the heroine had to change clothes in the back of her florist shop to go from her store to a fancy function, because she obviously couldn’t take off – I think the florist also had to deal with the horrible Valentine’s Day crush, very realistic.
For military heroines:
I second the Jessica Scott rec. And I have liked several Catherine Mann books. There was a heroine who was a search and rescue dog handler in one, maybe? She was a secondary character in the one that was similar to the Haiti earthquake, which I thought was a very good military infused romantic suspense.
[Okay, I just checked my goodreads review – and the Catherine Mann book with the earthquake in it was Hot Zone, and the heroine is a prosecutor and the hero a pararescue AF dude – so not a military heroine in that book, but I recall it was setting the groundwork for a later book.]
Re military heroines: you could also try my book, First to Burn. Heroine is an army doctor. (It is paranormal military romantic suspense, FYI, if that’s a thing…)
Books with magic:
AMY RABY! Two series – Hearts and Thrones (Assassin’s Gambit, etc) and Coalition of Mages series.
@Gloriamarie, my brain, eyes, and fingers aren’t always in synch! I am so sorry. I am in Portland OR and get to SoCal occasionally so maybe we could make it happen!
@Anna Richland – Speaking of cameras in elevators, I read a romance in which an elevator played a big part (it would take the heroine up to the hero’s floor instead of the floor she intended, or they’d get stuck in the elevator together, etc.). Turns out that the building superintendent was messing with the elevator in order to do a little matchmaking. It was emphasized that he turned the camera off when he saw that the hero and heroine were about to have sex, but the whole thing still creeped me out.
@Elspeth Grey – I 100% cosign the request for more “Queen/bodyguard” romances. This is a dynamic I would love to see more of, in any format. Contemporaries, historicals, fantasy, etc.
Have you ever read Laura Kinsale’s SEIZE THE FIRE? It’s a Victorian adventure-romance featuring the young princess of a tiny kingdom she has never even seen, and the former Navy officer/rogue who is supposed to get her there. Kinsale is a phenomenally good writer, but it’s also just an interesting exploration of power dynamics (she’s sort of his boss, but she’s also female at a time when that is equivalent to powerlessness, etc.)
I wish there were much more of this sort of thing, because I love it, too.
(As an aside, this made me feel so grouchy at the Goodreads “list” system. So often I get foolishly hopeful that I’ll be able to see what lists a book is on, and find other books that feature a very specific trope… only to discover, over and over (like a chump) that people never have lists like “Best “Bodyguard/Queen” dynamics”, it’s all “Best romance novels with FIRE in the title”. Okay, thanks, super helpful. I really hope someone out there is working on a startup that is better at connecting books via their tropes or themes…)
@andrea2, I also miss Lily Bard.
@AnnaRichland, I recall a book where a couple who were previously unknown to one another have sex in an elevator that was stuck: dark, no electricity. Since it was written in the late 70s to early 80s there was no camera….but perhaps a baby, 9 months later…
@Gloriamarie Amalfitano, in reference to your request, and trying to avoid spoilers, I refer you back to Dragonbound by Thea Harrison. I’ve suggested every time the dragon thing comes up, but the dragon thing, but so far no word on whether Sarah will take up the challenge.
Since dragons were mentioned in this post – right now I am reading the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik and the first book has already made me bawl. They are not romance but there is a very strong love and affection between Temeraire and Laurence and I am having a very strong emotional reaction to this series. There was also a moment in the first book where I had such loathing for one of the supporting characters that I was visibly shaking.
As for what I want in romance – more books that give me such strong emotions.
@Amanda – have you read Grace Dravin? She writes fantasy romances, “Master of Crows”, “Radiance”, etc. I enjoyed “Radiance” and I was surprised to see how many authors are currently publishing in that genre.
For me, I’d love to read more acting/Hollywood/historical Hollywood lesbian romances, especially after reading “Act Like It.” I’ve read Melissa Brayden’s “Waiting in the Wings” and loved it. I’ve read Colette Moody’s “The Seduction of Moxie” which is EXACTLY what I wanted in theory, but didn’t love reading. I’ve read Nina LaCour’s “Everything Leads to You,” which is fantastic but isn’t a romance. I need more, you guys!
Also, more historical lesbian romances in general. 1920’s New Orleans or Chicago, regency! Seriously, where are the lesbian regency romances? And not quasi European regency, either. Straight up London or country houses is what I’m looking for!
Queer lady spies during the Napoleonic Wars! Pleaseeeee.
@Cordy (not stuck in spam filter sub-type) Oh, McKenna and Keyes are auto-buys for me for sexy professional ladies. If you haven’t yet, try Anne Calhoun. “Afternoon Delight” is a good novella to start!
@Cordy – Never read any Cara McKenna! Time to go check her out. 🙂 Thanks for the rec!
@RevMelinda, LOL, people of a certain age frequently make that same mistake. Comfort yourself with the fact that you did not do the most dreadful. You did not address me as “Gloria.”
As for getting together for lunch, I am sorry to say it, but you’d have to come all the way to San Diego as I can’t afford to travel. Just my reality.
@Anna Richland “For people to actually get fired for having sex at work in a book.” Yes, I agree. I am also put off by the boss/employee romance. Has no one ever heard of sexual harassment? Speaking of that, I recently read a book where the witness of a crime was placed in protective custody with a sheriff in Wyoming. Our Heroine was going to have to testify in Miami. Somehow the Bad Guys found her in WY so Our Hero demands the loan of a luxury RV from a friend. As one does. H/H take off on a road trip to Miami, sexy times all the way. And despite the many entertaining parts of the story, all I could think of was “Sexual Harassment.
Sexy elevator scenes creep me out, sexy groping in the elevator creep me out because we now have cameras in all our elevators.
@cordy “Have you ever read Laura Kinsale’s SEIZE THE FIRE?” Oh my yes, first thing of hers I’ve ever read and it made me go out and find all her other books. It’s been a Very Long time since her last new book and I am IMPATIENT.
@DonnaMarie, thank you for the suggestion of Dragonbound by Thea Harrison. The kindle price is beyond my price range, but I’ll put it on my list of books I waiting a price reduction for if they are not in the public library, which this is not.
@marion, “As for what I want in romance – more books that give me such strong emotions.” I can recommend some. I previously recommended This Crumbling Pageant by Patricia Burroughs. It’s vol 1 in the Fury Triad. Vol 2 due in March, I think.
I also recommend some books by Anne Brooke: The Prayer Seeker, which is not a romance, nor is it an inspirational. But it is a very moving book. Also by Brooke, if you don’t object to m/m romance I can recommend A Dangerous Man.
Can also recommend 2 by Lindsey Forrest: All Who Are Lost and
All Who Lie Broken, volumes 1 and 2 in Ashmore’s Folly trilogy. Made me feel some stuff, gotta tell you.
@Cordy If you want a good “famous people” romance try Xio Axelrod’s Falling Stars and Starlight. The hero and heroine are the stars of a Scandal-type tv show. Plus, he’s in a very unhappy marriage to someone else. So you’ve got infidelity, romance, celebrity, and super hot sex scenes. Some people are turned off by infidelity in romances, but it’s done incredibly well here.
Just a note that I am a personal friend of Xio, but the quality of the writing stands on it’s own.
I’d like to see more historicals with average people (middle class, working class) and more poc. Also more historicals set in the Caribbean.
And like some others have said I’d like to see more fantasy outside of paranormal.
@pamG: not sure if you’ll see this, but I’m a huge fan of Naomi Norvik’s Uprooted, which is rooted in eastern european folktales and doesn’t shy away from the darkness and horror in them.
@Carolinareader Yes! It would also be nice if she actually didn’t marry him. Maybe that’s going against the whole romance novel idea, but if it’s good enough for Jane Austen it’s good enough for me. (More realistically, I’m imagining that she turns him down hard/he has an HEA with someone else and she spends the entire series being happily single and you expect that she’s going to get her own book, but she doesn’t. Bonus points if she also sows her wild oats on the DL.)
Also, I still think the best scene in Silk is for Seduction is when Clara Fairfax turns down what’s his face because she realizes that he’s proposing to her out of duty and she basically says “I deserve better.”
On the other hand, can you please do a post on trends we would like to see come to an end. Trends which romance authors have beaten to a pulp. I will start
–Alpha male
–Wealthy/young woman
–Obsessive crazy stalker boyfriends
–kinky sex contracts
–OMG he is so into me an not worthy
@Anna Richland try Flirting With Scandal by Channel Cleeton. It’s actually a real plot point. Although IMO, the sequel Playing With Trouble is far superior (and deals with a woman realizing that she’s smart and educated but really hates law school and isn’t good at it).
Reading many of the comments, I am so glad to see that I am not alone in wanting some realism in my romance. We need more realistic character development.
One place I am seeing this realism, is where books just don’t end after the couple falls in love, instead the story continues with how the couple is dealing with being in a relationship.
@cordy: wait, it would be really cool if we started a concerted effort to make overly categorical goodreads lists
I want more sexy, incredibly well-written magical/paranormal/fantastical historical or alternative histories. I also really love to see women in historical portrayed as strong and capable within the milieu and social constructs of the time. Nothing makes me grind my teeth and throw a little petulant fit faster than a medieval woman who longs to be a knight when she cannot back it up. Why? WHY?!?! Anything of that ilk where a girl (and to me the behavior invariably comes across as childish–hence, girl) acts stroppy and cannot put her money where her mouth is (is she built like Brienne from GoT? Can she full-on wield a five foot broadsword while wearing armor? If yes, ok, I’m willing to play) automatically riles me up.
I am way more interested in women using more traditionally feminine traits to get what they need to get done. It just seems so much smarter and easier to me to work with the assets you have. In that medieval story, I would buy it so much more if she was more of a stealth assassin or great with poison or a dagger or something like that. I really *like* the differences between men and women (or masculine and feminine, which applies to both heterosexual and homosexual relationships). I guess I also don’t buy men who are portrayed as masculine wanting a woman who wants to out man them. What’s the turn on there? I want more diversity and subtlety in the idea of strength and broadening of its application beyond physicality or toughness.
Also, someone PLEASE write an erotic version of Labyrinth with an 18+ Sarah.
PLEASE.
THANK YOU everyone! I feel so much less cranky about wanting people to get fired for sex in the elevators at work now! You all are the best.
Love this thread. I have read a few books that scratched my itches, but I still would love to see more stories with:
*Heroes and heroines over 40 (Sex is better after 40 anyway, why not write about it!!)
*Settings in the early to mid-twentieth century–especially WWI, WWII and in between
*Imperfect/scarred heroes and heroines
*Non-cheesy inspirational romances that actually INCLUDE the sex of the honeymoon and thereafter… (seriously, gave up “inspirational” romances because 99% are so poorly written, IMHO).
*Historical romances between characters of middle or trade class
*Relationships that AREN’T love at first sight, but grow over time. (Austen was flawless about this–wish she’d churned out more.)
*Romantic couples who also have real lives with real jobs and real families… Serious opportunity for comic relief!
Anyway–glad to know I’m not the only one who has a wishlist of what I’d like to see more of. Of course I do think that a non-cheesy inspirational romance with sex is the unicorn of the romance world… 😉
For those wanting a little more diversity in their historical settings, Sara Donati’s Into the Wilderness books are phenomenal. They begin in upstate New York in the eighteenth century, in the same world (one generation after) Last if the Mohicans. It spans about fifty years and the family goes to New Orleans, Scotland, Montreal, New York City. Native American culture also features prominently.