What's a gal got to do to get some romance around here? Finally got my RT, and though I haven't had much time to look through things, (thanks to what I term Errandpalooza, which is not the most fun thing on earth) there are days when the romance genre feels, well, lost. For lack of a better word.
Mystery, suspense, chick lit, mainstream, women's fiction, erotica, etc...all great for those who enjoy those genres (the husbnd being a devotee of the good police procedural and occasional media tie-in novel, and I do enjoy some inspirational women's fiction, especially the really gritty stuff) but on the days when I'm starving -- yes, starving-- for a good historical romance, it can be trying times. What I am longing, thirsting, yearning for is a real historical, real romantic, historical romance. Firmly grounded in its period with the love story of one man and one woman front and center.
Two people who must have each other but can't, and the story of how they beat everything in their path, no matter how long it takes, to get there. It may take years. It may take everything. It may take more than they're willing to pay, but if that's what it takes, then that's what it takes. Damn the torpedoes and anything else that gets in the way. That's what I love to read the best, and that's what (I hope) I'm writing.
::sigh:: As I said to a new friend last week, I'm a mouthy wench with an agenda. Yep. Part of this fire, I think, comes from what I've been listening to (delightful moment to find that the Five For Fighting guy loves Billy Joel -- I loooove Billy Joel's music) and the weird schedule with creative time grabbed when I can (and I haven't stamped anything in weeks, another oogy.) My first reaction when seeing the cover of the new RT, with a very nice picture of Christina Skye on it was "man, I miss her historicals." Then the Fan Fiction Frenzy blurb...ah, I remember my fanfiction days and bucking the trends there, too. Really really good colour scheme on the RT cover, too.
2 comments:
Me too! I want straight HR; no suspense plot, no heroine sleeping with hero and then not wanting to marry him b/c he doesn't love her, really rich historical background a la Jane Feather et al, really sensual--but isn't recquired to have a multitude of sex scenes--witty, funny and enjoyable. I haven't really read a new release that touched me in all of those ways.
PS- I miss Christina Skye's historicals too. Hey, now that I think about it, alot of romantic suspense/suspense/whatever authors used to be really gritty,emotional historical romance authors. *sigh* Iris Johansen...*g*
Yep, yep, and yep. "Sensual" doesn't always mean "gobs of explicit sex" but "evoking the senses," and absolutely a romance should do that. Bring forth the feel of time and place and relationships. Who knows, maybe we're coming up on a renaissance of the big bug-squasher historical. I certainly hope so. Jane Feather, for sure. Been virtually petting her Tudor books for a reread, though I still have a respectable amount of her backlist in the TBR pile. Christina Skye, come home. All is forgiven.
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