What do I want in my romance novel? I’d like to say it’s enough that I get a pleasant escape from the realities of life–a lovely diversion where two people who love each other passionately get their HEA. I’d like to say that’s what I want in my romance books.
Apparently, it’s not that simple. I’m a picky reader and I know it. I’m very particular about the story that holds my attention. For the most part, I don’t like my genres overlapping. If I’m reading a romance, the story must be about the romance. Other genres shouldn’t try to poke their noses in my romances. Intrigue and suspense must either be absent or play a very limited role in them.
My hero or heroine must not be in a prolonged state of danger. Which means, I don’t want to spend the entire novel waiting for the other foot to drop and wondering precisely when the ‘bad guy’ will get her/him. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love a good mystery. As far as I’m concerned, no greater mystery writer ever lived than Agatha Christie. She’s my hero. To satisfy my need for thriller and suspense, I’m more prone to watch it than to read it. There is something about the visual in those types of stories that translate to the small or big screen better for me–although, I’m certainly not opposed to reading the book if it’s a movie adaptation. Books always tend to be better than the movies they represent.
What do I want? I want sizzling sexual tension and great conflict. A story in which the heroine and hero’s conflict is predominantly external won’t hold my attention. I need their conflict to be internal. I love a romance where the attraction is being fought. I love a romance when the hero has a long long way to fall. I love the ice princess. I love a dark brooding hero with a wry sense of humour. I love having my heart wrenched. I love heat. Lisa Kleypas kind of heat. Linda Howard or Sandra Brown kind of heat when they wrote romances. My hero and heroine can’t cheat on each other after they’ve entered a relationship, although as I study my collection, I see there are exceptions to this rule.
Yes, I’m an author, but I was a reader long before I wrote my first word. I think I started writing because I’m such a picky reader. As the publishing business changed and books became edgier, more plot-driven and less character-driven, I yearned for the romances that made me fall in love with the genre.
What about you? What do you want in your romance novel? Which authors have been consistent in delivering the goods?
I agree with you Bev. A romance should be just that, a romance. I dislike when I’m reading a book and you get to a part that just confuses the hell out of you. If you have to go back and re-read something to figure out a turn in the story, that’s just a turn off for me. The author has then officially lost my interest.
Seduction, heat and sexual tension is a must as well. If you have a romance, you expect some steamy scenes. Its very disappointing when there’s alot of sexual tension and build up and the author “cops out” when it comes to writing the sex scene and leaves it to one or two sentences.
Lisa Kleypas and my newest discovery, Jennifer Haymore, most certainly understand how to build up and deliver on the romance front. Just the same, Julia Quinn has a pleasant build up with a satisfying delivery on the romance front.
For me, if you have a solid storyline that brings you right in along with the characters, a great hero and heroine and a great romance…You have my full attention!
Rebecca
I agree with Rebecca that there needs to be some follow through on the sexual build up. I’ve read books where that isn’t the case and I was very annoyed.
I love Lisa Kleypas also. I think her Wallflowers series is wonderful. I want to read Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake because Bev and everyone else has been singing it praises. It sounds like my kind of book. I’ve liked several of Sophie Jordan’s books, so this week I’ll be buying In Scandal They Wed. I’ve been reading romances for about 15 years and I’ve become very picky too. My time is too short to read everything so I must be choosy.
I don’t like love triangles. I like a little jealousy but not ‘real’ love triangles.
Sherry
Rebecca, I’m with you about the build up and following through, too. I recently read a really great book by Julie James, the only thing was there was no follow through and I was completely let down.
Lisa Kleypas is a fave of mine. Johanna Lindsey used to do really hot love scenes. She doesn’t anymore. Love Sophie Jordan. Sherry you will love her latest book. It’s fab. You’ll also LOOOVVVE Nine Rules. I’m really looking forward to Meredith Duran’s next book. That storyline immediately struck a chord with me.
I used to read Johanna Lindsey too. I agree Bev, she doesn’t write hot anymore. Not sure what happened there but I love her Mallory series. Well most of them. Some of the later Mallory books not so much.
My first love is contemporary romance and an author who hasn’t let me down so far is Heidi Betts. I’ve read a couple of historicals but that was a long time ago. I guess I need to give Lisa Kleypas a try.
thanks
I added my comment to the wrong post. How can I delete it?
I like sexual tension, what I don’t like is all the detail in the sex scenes. I think there’s too much in the books that are coming out now.
Lucy
@lucy Don’t worry, I will delete it for you.
As for the love scenes. I think you will find many authors writing love scenes from very mild to spicy. Not every one is going to suit all the readers’ preference so I would check the heat rating (if a reviewer gives it) to see what’s more suitable for you. The reviews posted on this blog does give that kind of rating for exactly that reason. So readers know exactly what they’ll be getting if they get the book.
Hi,
I’m a rather picky reader as well. For me i don’t want to read a romance where the hero and heroine fall in love immediately or the only thing they have is sexual attraction. I want to be able to read their journey and see them start falling in love with each other. I savor the books where the hero or heroine has their epiphany later in the book. That they like the other in more than just a friend way. It’s more realistic that way. I can’t get behind the love at first sight stuff. It just feels like a cheap cop out. Neither can i get behind a relationship that relies solely on sex or sexual tension. One recent book that falls under that catagory for me was “The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie” by Jennifer Ashley. I could not stand Ian and Beth’s relationship. It was completely “friends with benefits to me”. I liked them individually, but not together. All they had together was sex and friendship. I read no love in their story. That brings me to another pet peeve. I don’t like too much sex in a book. I like to read romances for the story. Not the sex scenes. Therefore having way! to many sex scenes in a book can ruin it for me. I’m fine with 2-3 at top.
I also want to have some whit in my books. Give me whitty lines and great one liners. A good book to me is one where it has me laughing a couple of times in the book. No matter what type of genre i read i always want to laugh at least once of twice. It’s these scenes that remain imbedded in my mind and makes me love the characters.
The rest of the things i want in the book really depend on what i like and don’t like. I love tortured, injured, or bad boy heros. They make me squee. I also love the bookish/ nerdy heroine. I don’t like the overly baring heros or the simpering females. I also don’t like the hero or heroine to have children. I don’t mind siblings or even much older children ( 13/14 years or older). I also dislike reading books where the heroine is pregant by another man. It’s something that just rather turns me off. All of theses things are nitpicks of course and only factor partially into choosing a book (except for the young children or pregnant. Major factors).
In terms of authors, i really can’t name any that constantly deliever. Even the authors that i have almost every single book they written has it’s duds for me. It’s inevitable as authors try different storylines that some arn’t going to go over as well as others. Such as i don’t like the MacLean curse by Karen Hawkins, but love her other books. Some of Julia Quinn’s books have been off and even Suzanne Enoch can play hit and miss. So in a way i can’t really say any author has constantly delievered for me.
I’m with Melissa, big time (except the children and pregnancy things – these I don’t mind). I don’t trust love at first sight stories. Sure, there can be instant attraction, but I need a lot more depth than that. I want to watch love build between two people who are desperately fighting it.
I want internal and external conflicts. I want people who struggle. I want interesting language. God, do I want interesting language! I’ve read books with interesting plots and characters, but the language is so dull that I’ll never reread it.
I like realism. Not reality. Realism. I want a happy ending, but I don’t want the whole story to be complete fantasy. And I want characters to be true to themselves, not to a plot the author invents for them.
I’m with Katrina on the language and the realism. Oh, and I don’t like the love at first sight, maybe lust, but not love. And although I like sexual tension, I don’t believe hot sex scenes make the book great. I think when we focus on the sex we can lose the romance, or the heart of the story.
I don’t believe in love at first sight either. I believe in lust at first sight but that can fade just as quickly as it starts and it’s not ever going to sustain a relationship until HEA.
I don’t know if I would call myself a picky reader. I know what I like and if a book don’t have then I’m not reading it. I agree with the others, I don’t want my characters to fall in love right away. I want tension and buildup in my story. Only time it works is if they knew each other forever and even then I need the author to explain why they always been in love. I need to feel the connection. My romance needs to be about romance. Though I love the sub genres, they have to play blackground to the story. Humor and dialogue is key. My romance has to be realistic. I know its all fantasy but still the dialogue has to be real and the characters should act in accordance to the situation. While I love conflict and drama, I don’t need it all the way to the end. I hate when the misunderstandings are finally discussed at the end.
I read all kinds of romances, all kinds of books, and I don’t have to have a story that’s strictly a romance to enjoy it. However, I don’t want a book that’s touted as a romance to turn out not to be–ala Nicholas Sparks. I don’t mind mystery or fantasy, if I know I’m reading a mystery or a fantasy or romantic suspense or paranormal, but I don’t want mystery or a vampire thrown in just because the author needs to liven things up a bit. The heat level can vary for me. Some are HOT, HOT, HOT even when I don’t see behind the bedroom door. Some authors are experts at sexual tension without the detailed description of the act. And some are HOT, HOT, HOT because I get to share every touch, every whisper with the characters. I don’t like books that are just about sex and I don’t like historicals with 21st century attitude in the bedroom–meaning sex just for sex’s sake. I can give contemporary romances a little more latitude. But I absolutely will never like a book where the hero or heroine has liaisons with other people once a connection is made between them–even in the contemporary setting.
I do love romances–simply romance–with the emotion and the angst and the laughter and the love. These are usually the kind that make me “sigh” at the end. 🙂
But the main thing a romance must have for it to make my keeper shelf is a couple I cheer for, yell at, laugh with, hope for, and fall in love with every time I open the pages of their story.
Lisa Kleypas, Judith McNaught, Teresa Medeiros are some who have never failed me. 🙂
This is EXACTLY how I feel about the romance books I read! I really love sexy romances with alot of emotion, sexual tension, and romance in them and I don’t like alot of suspense thrown in. I even told my sister recently that I prefer suspenseful movies to suspenseful romance books! How strange that that should show up on a blog so soon after!!!!! (At least I’m not alone!)
Some of my favorite authors are Harlequin Presents authors like Penny Jordan and Kate Walker. And I also love Lisa Kleypas, Kinley MacGregor, Robin Schone, Lisa Cach.
I want my romance novels to be character-driven with lots of emotion, heat, and sexual tension. I want witty dialogue and heart-wrenching conflict. I want tortured Alpha heroes and strong heroines. I want to get so caught up in the story that the aspiring writer in me isn’t critiquing the hooks, sentence structure and plot twists. I want to get lost in the history and language of another time and place.
Some of my favorite authors are Tessa Dare, Shana Abe, Margaret Mallory, Monica McCarty, Sherry Thomas, and Elizabeth Hoyt.
I guess I’m “odd man out” because I want more to my romances than just a relationship and the development of that relationship. I like my romances to be about more than the couple. I want the suspense, intrigue, the events that make the couple have to work for their HEA. If I pick up a Harlequin, it will be an Intrigue or a Historical. Depending on the story line, I might get a Super Romance because there is more character and plot development.
What do I want in my romance novel? The total package. A true relationship between the hero and heroine, with chemistry, and to see them falling in love. I don’t like the author “telling” me – well they’re supposed to be in love, so they just are, and you have to believe it.
No, no I do not. And oftentimes I then don’t. I want some humor – regardless of subgenre. Even the darkest paranormal, or most dangerous romantic suspense needs *something* to lighten the mood.
Then again, I need real conflict. If the entire story is based on some misunderstanding that 30 second conversation could have resolved, I’m going to be very annoyed. I demand intelligent, if not sensible characters. Not everyone has to be a MENSA candidate, but I can’t stand the heroine who is under attack and says “oh I’m going to take control of my life” and runs out into the middle of a gun fight. Drives me insane. Anyway, I suppose I need natural consequences.
I agree with Librarypat. I like my romances to have more going on in them than just the relationship between the hero and heroine. Whether it be suspense, intrigue, or another interesting subplot to the story, I tend to prefer romances that focus on more than just the romance.
The most important thing, IMO, is the characters. If it’s a series, then are these the same characters as in the previous books? (Nothing bugs me more than when characters are OOC). Also, if you are a paranormal romance author, then I expect a paranormal ROMANCE, not urban fantasy. Nothing bugs me more than when a book has not been correctly labeled.