Romance Roundup - 2024 July/August
Aug. 26th, 2024 02:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jajalalaWhat can I say, I'm loving romance recently!
D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins
The premise is that two women are pretending they are going to get married, and are tricking their whole families, in order to win $100,000 from a reality TV show. Seeing that premise, I thought "OOOH this is gonna be juicy Drama with lots of pressure and high stakes as they struggle to hold back their growing authentic feelings!"
Actually, it's a pleasant meander where these two straight-forwardly fall in love and the people around them are (mostly) supportive. There are a few points of tension--there's a mother-daughter relationship that's a little complicated, and the mother is complex which I enjoyed, but for the most part people are just like "Aw it's so nice that you two are getting married!" and the main characters are like "I'm falling in love with you btw!" Lots of communication, big dose of therapy-speak and occasional interludes where people seem to become a mouthpiece about particular topics.
There's a place for fluffy, low-drama romance, but that's not my cup of tea. I liked other things--the characters are a demographic I see a lot less of in romance (Black and Afro-Latina) so I'm happy to see more that is warmly ingrained in their culture (a lot of the story involves the families, so you get to see them going to church and having cookouts etc).
So: Good for people looking for something fluffier and where miscommunications are worked out pretty immediately, not as great for people looking for tension and drama.
Once a Soldier by Mary Jo Putney
The female protagonist is six feet tall. Awooga. It's set in a fictional little country next to Spain, but there are lots of details in the worldbuilding that really sell it and keep you engaged.
The romance itself was insta-love which made me go like "Okay but WHY are they willing to go these lengths for each other?", but the banter is fun at least. There was a surprise bonus side romance between a teenage girl and a grown man which was ALSO insta-love that made me go like "Oof okay then..."
Still, overall I had fun, there was good tension and stakes. Would rec as a classic heterosexual historical romance with some meat to the worldbuilding and economic circumstances.
The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett
I'm just gonna say: I'm not against enemies-to-lovers, I'm not even against coworkers/boss-to-lovers, but I think if my coworker made my life as frustrating as these two made each other's lives... I would not be dreaming of taking her blouse off. Being an actively bad coworker is an instant turnoff.
Once they acknowledged their feelings they worked together a more cooperatively and the romance got more believable, but that initial immaturity made me feel like "What do you MEAN this woman owns a restaurant? While she's that bad at interpersonal skills?"
There was also a particular sex scene where the narration of one character used the epithet "the fire sign" to refer to the other... Which really took me out, because up to that point I don't think EITHER character mentioned astrology or an interest in it in any way?? Don't get me wrong, I have fun with astrology, but it feels weird to think about someone's astrology sign in the middle of the sex scene when you've literally never expressed an interest in the subject or even had a convo like "so what's your sign?"
Overall the book was fine enough as a contemporary romance, and there were some fun parts, but I'm a complainer at heart, and it got pretty repetitive which made getting to the end a slog.
The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare
Is it a little stupid? Yes. Is it a lot of fun? Also yes. The two main characters have a very believable banter so they volleyed well together. This was a gift from my sister, who really liked it, and I can see why.
I have beef with the cover designer... a whole big thing is that the male love interest is horribly scarred on one side of his body, but on the cover (and on the slightly-steamier inner cover that my paperback had where he angles a bit more towards the camera to show off his sexy pecs) they don't show ANY of that scarring... which I kinda get with a romance cover, BUT ALSO it grinds my gears to see the inaccuracy.
Upon reflection, I see that even though the heterosexuality of the classic M/F romances turns me off a bit, I find the composition and executions of them still so good that I always have a good time. Meanwhile the F/F romances sometimes hit, but when they don't they slog with low-stakes, odd writing quirks, and tension-reducing therapy speak. Not saying this as universal of course, but definitely noting it with this set of romance books, and I feel like it's a larger pattern I've been noting as I get back into reading and have been paging through various romances.
Lack of craft development opportunities?
At Readercon, I went to a panel that talked about the Romance Writer's of America and how that group fostered and taught writing as both a craft and a business to their members. However, it also suffered from leadership that ended up pushing an exclusionary culture that I suspect did not make it necessarily super welcoming to non-heterosexual romances. I wonder if these M/F romance writers I'm reading are involved in strong support networks that built them up in firm and tangible ways where F/F writers haven't necessarily been able to get the same?
It's notable that my #1 F/F romance (at least where the romance is the genre and the focus) so far is An Island Princess Starts a Scandal, which was written by an author who seems to typically write M/F romances. It feels like she brought her experience and strengths from those trope-y by-the-book M/F romances and found a way to execute that same tension and excitement with her F/F romance.
Different goals than M/F romance?
What I seem to crave ARE structures/tropes that are typical of M/F romances, but I'd like to see them executed with a F/F couple. A friend of mine I chatted about this with suggested that maybe the reason so many of the F/F stories I read don't have this kind of structure is that since people who are marginalized are already outside the mainstream, maybe they are deliberately trying to tell a story that doesn't align with what mainstream thinks a romance should be.
Hmm. Perhaps. Personally when I'm going for a romance, I am eager to be whisked away and for the writer to COMMIT to the premise in a way that leaves me giggling and excited. I'm not "whisked away" by people calmly talking to each other using therapy-speak to clear up the miscommunications before they can snowball. It feels like so many F/F writers are pausing every step to make sure everything is okay, and so the pace gets slow and the tension bleeds away.
Are there people who legitimately prefer that kind of very calm and meandering romance over something that's more active and higher-stakes? If people are deliberately writing this way, there must be people who want to read it (assuming writers are putting out things they also would want to read), but I find it hard to conceptualize.
Fear of judgement
Maybe it's a fear of judgement--Twitter and the like are notoriously eager to jump on anything that has something "bad" going on. A M/F writer can write a sexy male love interest who growls and gets violent and people will either love it or dismiss it if it's not their cup of tea (or perhaps write a scathing review), but for a F/F writer their growling, violent, sexy woman gets a dozen callout posts from their target audience that say the writer is perpetuating toxic stereotypes and is responsible for all homophobia in the world and needs to be canceled so they never write again. Are writer's self-censoring? Are PUBLISHERS aware and afraid of publishing risky F/F romances that could invite controversies?
Pure numbers game?
In general, there's just a lot MORE M/F romance, so it's no wonder that when I pick up a random M/F from a library or bookstore, it tends to be the cream of the crop. Meanwhile F/F has so many fewer options that reading the amount I do is guaranteed to have variable levels of quality.
Perhaps I should try the first two books in the Bright Falls series. I had a lot of nitpicks about Iris Kelly Doesn't Date, but at the very least I thought the structure was VERY classic romance with good control of tension, and a friend of mine claims the first two are better than that third one.
D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins
The premise is that two women are pretending they are going to get married, and are tricking their whole families, in order to win $100,000 from a reality TV show. Seeing that premise, I thought "OOOH this is gonna be juicy Drama with lots of pressure and high stakes as they struggle to hold back their growing authentic feelings!"
Actually, it's a pleasant meander where these two straight-forwardly fall in love and the people around them are (mostly) supportive. There are a few points of tension--there's a mother-daughter relationship that's a little complicated, and the mother is complex which I enjoyed, but for the most part people are just like "Aw it's so nice that you two are getting married!" and the main characters are like "I'm falling in love with you btw!" Lots of communication, big dose of therapy-speak and occasional interludes where people seem to become a mouthpiece about particular topics.
There's a place for fluffy, low-drama romance, but that's not my cup of tea. I liked other things--the characters are a demographic I see a lot less of in romance (Black and Afro-Latina) so I'm happy to see more that is warmly ingrained in their culture (a lot of the story involves the families, so you get to see them going to church and having cookouts etc).
So: Good for people looking for something fluffier and where miscommunications are worked out pretty immediately, not as great for people looking for tension and drama.
Once a Soldier by Mary Jo Putney
The female protagonist is six feet tall. Awooga. It's set in a fictional little country next to Spain, but there are lots of details in the worldbuilding that really sell it and keep you engaged.
The romance itself was insta-love which made me go like "Okay but WHY are they willing to go these lengths for each other?", but the banter is fun at least. There was a surprise bonus side romance between a teenage girl and a grown man which was ALSO insta-love that made me go like "Oof okay then..."
Still, overall I had fun, there was good tension and stakes. Would rec as a classic heterosexual historical romance with some meat to the worldbuilding and economic circumstances.
The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett
I'm just gonna say: I'm not against enemies-to-lovers, I'm not even against coworkers/boss-to-lovers, but I think if my coworker made my life as frustrating as these two made each other's lives... I would not be dreaming of taking her blouse off. Being an actively bad coworker is an instant turnoff.
Once they acknowledged their feelings they worked together a more cooperatively and the romance got more believable, but that initial immaturity made me feel like "What do you MEAN this woman owns a restaurant? While she's that bad at interpersonal skills?"
There was also a particular sex scene where the narration of one character used the epithet "the fire sign" to refer to the other... Which really took me out, because up to that point I don't think EITHER character mentioned astrology or an interest in it in any way?? Don't get me wrong, I have fun with astrology, but it feels weird to think about someone's astrology sign in the middle of the sex scene when you've literally never expressed an interest in the subject or even had a convo like "so what's your sign?"
Overall the book was fine enough as a contemporary romance, and there were some fun parts, but I'm a complainer at heart, and it got pretty repetitive which made getting to the end a slog.
The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare
Is it a little stupid? Yes. Is it a lot of fun? Also yes. The two main characters have a very believable banter so they volleyed well together. This was a gift from my sister, who really liked it, and I can see why.
I have beef with the cover designer... a whole big thing is that the male love interest is horribly scarred on one side of his body, but on the cover (and on the slightly-steamier inner cover that my paperback had where he angles a bit more towards the camera to show off his sexy pecs) they don't show ANY of that scarring... which I kinda get with a romance cover, BUT ALSO it grinds my gears to see the inaccuracy.
Upon reflection, I see that even though the heterosexuality of the classic M/F romances turns me off a bit, I find the composition and executions of them still so good that I always have a good time. Meanwhile the F/F romances sometimes hit, but when they don't they slog with low-stakes, odd writing quirks, and tension-reducing therapy speak. Not saying this as universal of course, but definitely noting it with this set of romance books, and I feel like it's a larger pattern I've been noting as I get back into reading and have been paging through various romances.
Lack of craft development opportunities?
At Readercon, I went to a panel that talked about the Romance Writer's of America and how that group fostered and taught writing as both a craft and a business to their members. However, it also suffered from leadership that ended up pushing an exclusionary culture that I suspect did not make it necessarily super welcoming to non-heterosexual romances. I wonder if these M/F romance writers I'm reading are involved in strong support networks that built them up in firm and tangible ways where F/F writers haven't necessarily been able to get the same?
It's notable that my #1 F/F romance (at least where the romance is the genre and the focus) so far is An Island Princess Starts a Scandal, which was written by an author who seems to typically write M/F romances. It feels like she brought her experience and strengths from those trope-y by-the-book M/F romances and found a way to execute that same tension and excitement with her F/F romance.
Different goals than M/F romance?
What I seem to crave ARE structures/tropes that are typical of M/F romances, but I'd like to see them executed with a F/F couple. A friend of mine I chatted about this with suggested that maybe the reason so many of the F/F stories I read don't have this kind of structure is that since people who are marginalized are already outside the mainstream, maybe they are deliberately trying to tell a story that doesn't align with what mainstream thinks a romance should be.
Hmm. Perhaps. Personally when I'm going for a romance, I am eager to be whisked away and for the writer to COMMIT to the premise in a way that leaves me giggling and excited. I'm not "whisked away" by people calmly talking to each other using therapy-speak to clear up the miscommunications before they can snowball. It feels like so many F/F writers are pausing every step to make sure everything is okay, and so the pace gets slow and the tension bleeds away.
Are there people who legitimately prefer that kind of very calm and meandering romance over something that's more active and higher-stakes? If people are deliberately writing this way, there must be people who want to read it (assuming writers are putting out things they also would want to read), but I find it hard to conceptualize.
Fear of judgement
Maybe it's a fear of judgement--Twitter and the like are notoriously eager to jump on anything that has something "bad" going on. A M/F writer can write a sexy male love interest who growls and gets violent and people will either love it or dismiss it if it's not their cup of tea (or perhaps write a scathing review), but for a F/F writer their growling, violent, sexy woman gets a dozen callout posts from their target audience that say the writer is perpetuating toxic stereotypes and is responsible for all homophobia in the world and needs to be canceled so they never write again. Are writer's self-censoring? Are PUBLISHERS aware and afraid of publishing risky F/F romances that could invite controversies?
Pure numbers game?
In general, there's just a lot MORE M/F romance, so it's no wonder that when I pick up a random M/F from a library or bookstore, it tends to be the cream of the crop. Meanwhile F/F has so many fewer options that reading the amount I do is guaranteed to have variable levels of quality.
Perhaps I should try the first two books in the Bright Falls series. I had a lot of nitpicks about Iris Kelly Doesn't Date, but at the very least I thought the structure was VERY classic romance with good control of tension, and a friend of mine claims the first two are better than that third one.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-26 07:11 pm (UTC)👀
the narration of one character used the epithet "the fire sign" to refer to the other...
Okay that's a new one to me 😂 I don't think I've seen that one in fic yet!
Your thoughts around why the tension/structure is so different in M/F vs F/F are interesting. I'm not tuned enough to the romance writers world to know what's true, though it'd be very sad if it's the fear of judgement/harsher reviews and cancellation. If it's lack of mentorship, it does seem fixable as those communities grow! I think there's an audience for the therapy-speak, possibly mainly on the younger side, but I know it tends to be a turn-off for me too, and pulls me out of the story.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-11 05:26 pm (UTC)The therapy-speak.... not always a dealbreaker, but certainly tends to pull out of the story indeed :'(. Fingers crossed as the community grows I can find more of what I enjoy XD