How much reality do you like in your romance novels?
I guess it depends, right? Obviously, if we’re talking a story with paranormal/fantasy elements in it, not as much as say a contemporary set in a small fictitious town, or a historical being played out in Victorian England.
In a contemporary, we’d expect at least mention of the current electronic accoutrements such as cell phones, computers and modern conveniences. Though the town may be fictitious the containing environs (state, country) would not. We’d expect our hero and heroine to display sensibilities of the current day as opposed to those of the 1950s.
On the other hand, in historical romances we tend to allow fiction a much freer reign. Our heroines and heroes, not surprisingly, display more modern sensibilities than they do for the day of their age. Women tend to be much more prone to independent thinking than their real counterparts of the time and men tend to be much more progressive in their thinking than theirs. While men prior to the onset of the 1970s tended to act the sole role as breadwinners and not nurturers (taking a equal hand in child rearing), our historical heroes would certainly be looked down upon if they didn’t express great delight in frolicking with and caring for their children.
In historical romances, we see women who are spies, seek adventure on the open seas, are intrepid almost to a fault. These heroines may throw all caution to the wind–and sometimes a portion of common sense–putting themselves in harm’s way not unlike some of the people we see in those slasher films who come upon a dark and desolate house in the middle of nowhere. We, the movie watcher, tell them not to go in (somethings yelling it at the screen), but do they listen? Nope. They go in and get themselves killed. Of course, nothing so horrible happens to our intrepid heroine, but something bad happens nonetheless.
Some readers might gripe about the inaccuracy of an unmarried young women of aristocrat birth traveling a long distance without a chaperone. They’d tell you it just wasn’t done. Others don’t care about things like that and would underscore the word fiction and claim they aren’t looking for a recounting of history. I’ve even heard readers claim that vampires are nocturnal creatures and are seldom seen in the daylight, so such and such a book is a travesty. It appears we now have rigid rules around the fictional creatures we’ve invented.
In most contemporary novels I have read, the hero and heroine (mostly the hero) are almost like religious zealots when it comes to birth control. It’s not even enough that the heroine is taking birth control. Here is where political correctness and social responsibility comes into play. Do I believe that, on the whole, men are truly like this? No, not so much. But then this is romance fiction written by woman, on the most part, for woman, and we get to write about the kind of hero we want, not who necessarily exist in real life. And same goes for the depiction of our heroine, ten parts beautiful, gutsy and intelligent all rolled into one spectacular package.
Every once in a while though, depending on your internal acceptable use of fiction gauge, you come upon some characteristic, perhaps an incident, or a storyline that sets that gauge of yours beeping. It just doesn’t pass the smell test, so to speak. Mine, I know, are those too intrepid heroines, who in my opinion, are more danger to themselves and others than brave and daring. What are your ‘fictional’ pet peeves?
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I have never really thought about it. I guess I am very lenient when it comes to reading anything fictional…as long as the story is good and can hold my attention longer than two pages I don’t complain. But now you have me racking my brain trying to think of something that really irks me while reading.
I have to agree with Heather as long as to book can grab my attention I’m happy.
I have a pet peeve when the heroine is whiny and allows the husband/fiance/guy to do all the work while she sits by and does nothing. I like a strong heroine who is well developed and willing to fight for the things she loves. Besides that, as long as the book grabs my attention, I will continue reading.
My pet peeves are the book cover, Cliff Hangers leave me unsatisfied, when you figure out the ending in the middle of a book. I like a strong heroine only I do not like women that are too strong. What’s the point of having a hero if she takes over.
My pet peeve is the TSTL heroine. We all know her…we have all read a book with a heroine like her. That is the book I probably won’t finish. If I can’t like the heroine, not amount of plot or handsome hero can pull it from the fire! But that’s just me.
My pet peeve is hero or heroine’s that are too Mary Sue or Gary Stu like. I don’t like my hero or heroine to be perfect. I also can’t stand it when everything goes perfectly their way. Life isn’t like that. No-one is perfect and neither is life. I then want to strangle the author for trying to make them less Mary Sue or Gary Stu by giving them an imperfection like they’re clumsy or too beautiful. I want my characters to have flaws. Give me them ugly, fat, and imperfect. I’m not interested in Barbie and Ken.
I think I like balance between Reality & Fiction. I hate it went the book is SO unrealistic that I just can’t take the book seriously enough and thats when I know the book does not have enough reality in it but too much fiction.
The only peeves I have is when there are way to many typos I understands that it happens but when it is consistently through the book it annoys me. But if I can get through the first chapter I’m hooked. Books are fiction and to me is different from reality. Different worlds different rules.
My pet peeves are the bitchy females who you can’t stomach to read. She makes you wonder why the hero is in love with her. I hate when everyone and everything is so perfect that they end up looking and sounding very cookie cutter like, where you can almost predict the bahaviors and mannerisms.
My pet peeves are characters portrayed one way but behaving in a different way. If the author has everyone telling me how smart the heroine is then I am going to be annoyed when she doesn’t seem to think through anything. I don’t mind a heroine who doesn’t think through her actions but then there has to be a reason and everyone else has to acknowledge this.
I never gave it much thought but I guess if there are pet peeves in the writing for me, those are the books I don’t finish. I like strong heroes but ones with cracks in their armor and assertive heroines that are not aggressive in either deeds or words.
What really bugs me is the grammatically incorrect writing that is out there. I guess it is the use of dangling participles and sentences in prepositions that upset me. A well-written book is a joy to read.
My pet peeve is when the hero is made out to be superman but the story line makes him look like a wimp.
As a reader/writer of historicals, I’m pretty easy-going with what I find out there. Female spies did exist, though not nearly in the abundance the novels would have us believe. I research a lot of my information so my books can be as historically accurate as possible, but sometimes I have to let my characters be a little improper to fit the storyline. C’est la vie.
Oh, just thought of a pet peeve for contemporaries: Socialite heroines who buy designer shoes every week. The fact that they have the money to spend on just ONE pair of shoes like that means I have little in common with them and can’t relate.
When reading historical books, I don’t mind if the author uses creative license and the book isn’t quite accurate for the time period. Contemporary and suspense books on the other hand I like to be more factual. I don’t care for the real “out there” stories; that’s probably why I don’t like sci-fi books.
i like a good balance of both
If I’m reading a historical romance I like it to be historically accurate for the time period. That said, if I’m not familiar with the era I don’t really notice inaccuracies. I don’t read a lot of contemporary books, unless they are paranormal stories. In those books, I think anything goes. Although I find it silly when a modern day heroine has no sexual experience because it doesn’t seem very realistic in this day and age.
I just finished Anne Stuart’s Reckless and felt there was some very weird meshing of historical and contemporary ideas. For example, there’s this sex club that’s supposed to be incredibly deviant and perverse, but at the same time it has a consent rule. How probable is that in a time when women were considered property anyway? And then it turns out that the rule only applies certain times… except it always applies on alternate Tuesdays or something… the whole thing was kind of a mess and made me think that she was trying to please too many people at once.
(Enjoyed the book anyway, I should mention.)
My latest peeve is a Regency Miss (never married), going at “it” like monkeys with the Hero, who then announces that they “must” get married because they have been going at it like monkeys for a month without Birth Control and she may have consequences… And what does this TSTL stupid Regency Miss say? No, not unless you get on your knees and announce neverending love for me, even though I have treated you like a pet for the last 200 pages. Somehow, this just strikes me as wrong, whether in a Regency or a Contemporary.
My pet peeve is also the TSTL heroine.
I’m fairly lenient as long as it’s not too unreal to be ignored. I don’t care for the story line where the entire conflict is the fact that the hero &/or heroine constantly jumps the completely wrong conclusion about everything the other does (no matter what evidence there may be to the contrary) and refuses to consider anything else or communicate at all to resolve the issue(s). Instead it just goes round and round without end — then I really just want to smack him &/or her upside the head — very hard and have trouble enjoying the book.
I’m a fan of the Cinderella theme, but I sometimes wonder how probable it was for a maid or governess to actually marry a duke or earl.
I think as long as the author makes me believe in the story then it is fine by me. I mean I’m not too sure if there were actually lady spies, or female brothels or even companions marrying aristocrats back in the 1800’s. As long as I am able to immerse myself into the story I don’t care about hisotrical innacuracy’s.
I too am usually happy with where the author leads me. I know I’m reading fantasy and unfortunately or fortunately I know this isn’t what usually happens in real life. I guess that’s why I like it so much!
One of my contemporary pet peeves is unrealistic menspeak. Sometimes heroes are written too nice and too sweet and totally out of synch with modern times. I think Rachel Gibson does a great job with keeping guy talk frank and realistic yet not crass.
As long as I am being entertained by the story, I am usually willing to suspend reality and just take the story for what it is. (That doesn’t mean that I don’t roll my eyes some of the time.)
If it’s historical….I want accuracy in regards to the facts of the historical time. In paranormal….I go with the flow.
I just go with what the author writes. As long as it’s a good book it doesn’t matter to me.
As long as the book can grab my attention and hold it I don’t have a problem.
To me, being a good book very much depends on how I feel about it. Am I buying into the plot, the characterization? If characters start doing things that don’t make any sense or defy common logic, I’m taken right out of the story and I quickly start to lose interest. I can suspend disbelief quite a bit but some things just make me shake my head and put down the book.
I can’t say that I have any fictional pet peeves mostly because I firmly keep the “fiction” part in mind and enjoy it for what it is.
I can suspend my disbelief for just about anything. If the story is good, I can except the points that don’t quite fit and I don’t mind certain historical inaccuracies.
However, I recently read an historical romance where the heroine chose one man because he allowed her to find herself sexually with him, even though she slept with the other man again because she felt she owed it to their former relationship. As it was a Regency and she wasn’t a courtesan, the fact that it made the “contemporary” sexual freedom the focus, I didn’t like it much and I probably won’t be revisiting that author’s works again.
@Brynna You know I’m wondering which book that was, right?
@Scorpio I totally agree. I can’t say it’s a pet peeve of mine but I can say that I love books where contemporary men’s actions and language resonant as genuine.
A wimpy, helpless woman! But if she shows some courage by the end of the book, I’m happy with that!
I love reading books that are a big escape from reality. In a historical I could care less if the heroine is chaperoned or whatever. I don’t really know society’s rules back then so I tend to not care. Unless it’s really far fetched.
In modern contemporaries I love books like Harlequin Presents which are a far cry from reality.
One pet peeve I do have lately in contemporaries (and not especially the Harlequin Presents) is the over use of “cell phones” EVERYWHERE. I realize we are all using them alot today but I’m tired of reading about them so much. (Maybe it’s just the books I’m reading. But it is refreshing to go to a historical or an old book from the 70’s and 80’s before I had to read about these things on EVERY page.)
@Brynna You know I’m wondering which book that was, right?
LOL. Sorry, Bev. My lips are sealed. I don’t think it was ever reviewed here at The Season and quite a few people apparently liked it. I guess I’m just more of a traditionalist in that sense. 🙂
I really don’t like the heroine and/or hero to be too perfect. Yes it is fiction, suspension of disbelief and all that, but perfection gets boring after a while. It is the flaws that make us appreciate the better parts of who they are.
I can remember reading historicals with spunky, outspoken, independent heroines who pretty much did and said what they wanted. In medieval times, a woman like that probably wouldn’t have survived very long. She would have been quashed by most men in her life. She probably would have been married off early to a man strong enough or mean enough to put her in her place and keep her there by whatever means possible. If all else failed, they could always charge her with being a witch and put an end to her that way. In those times a man couldn’t afford to appear weak. A wife who was out of his control wouldn’t reflect well on him.
Of course these are generalizations and there are always exceptions. Even the royals who exerted their power and position didn’t always succeed for long.
In contemporaries, my biggest pet peeve is the shower sex scenes. I’m sorry, but those positions are just not possible in a slippery shower stall. If a normal couple tried some of that stuff in the shower, they’d both end up falling on their rears, most likely cracking their tailbones. In general, the sex can get pretty unrealistic but this one cracks me up every time.
pet peeves when the author uses slang phrases as to the historical language of the time period
My biggest pet peeve is when the characters in an historical novel (romance or otherwise) use modern speech patterns, modern slang, and even (especially) modern curse words.
Of course, this also my biggest problem when writing historicals. Which is probably why I mostly write paranormal or historically-based fantasy. ^_^
I just can’t get past time travel.
I read to be entertained and I’m generally lenient with historical romances. I do pick books that can capture my interest in the first two chapters and if not, it’s a DNF for me.
One of my pet peeves are those stories with supporting characters who get their own story/romance in the book AND a lot of emphasis is done on their relationship. I always think that it’s the hero/heroine’s story and not theirs.
I can go with little side trips from actual historical time periods and events, but modern speak in a historical setting makes me cringe, on the other side of the coin, overdoing it with the cadence of the time can be cringe worthy as well. Like all the ye’s in medieval romances. or the Och’s in Highlander tales. It’s a fine line~
Hi,
I’m not an historical buff, but I can catch some irregularities and they get me upset.
Also, I read a lot of erotica, and it really upsets me when the hero and heroine are in a very dangerous situation and they still find time to have sex! A little unbelievable I think!
Valerie
valb0302@yahoo.com
in Germany
Usually suspend my disbelief and just enjoy the story. Haven’t really dwelled on pet peeves in reading. Become more discriminating with what I read and just don’t finish a novel when it doesn’t pass muster.
My pet peeves are no communication, typos, and a story that is unbelievable. Of course, if there was no communication, there would be no book, so I overlook that fact. Lol!
I read for enjoyment, and if the book isn’t believable and keeping me entertained, I usually either donate them or throw them away without finishing the story.
It is fiction. I think historicals tend to sweep me away, they are romantic just from their time frames alone, plus the subtly of eye contact, flirting, etc. I don’t want a ditzy heroine, nor do I want to read slang/terms that are obviously not from that time, but I feel more lenient with historical details in these books.
Contemporaries? I expect them to be more realistic, but I don’t want characters that are tied to their electronic devices. Or those overburdened by designer name dropping. It is annoying in real life and I don’t want to read about it.