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I LOVE romance in books, I love shipping the ship and swooning and crying at all kinds of trouble. So these are my likes and dislikes about romances in books:
Dislikes
1. Instalove: Seriously, can this please die? I mean, everybody knows this one, two people look at each other and BOOM love enters and nothing else matters but that guy/girl. Yeah right. Obviously I believe in insta-lust, but let's not make that prettier than it is ok? There is such a thing as instant attraction, but you don't love someone when you first meet them, there has to be some kind of relationship building going on.2. The stalkerish-type of love: You all know I'm talking about the creepy 'I'm ALWAYS watching you' type of relationship (*cough* Twilight *cough*). It's weird. It's creepy and it's not romantic.
3. The helpless heroine who needs constant saving: Because I mean, really? I am perfectly capable of tying my own shoelaces and doing LOTS of other things on my own. I don't fall down a well every other minute and I expect my heroines to have the same sense and not have all the too-stupid-to-live moments just so we can see the hero flex his muscles a bit more.
4. Any kind of non-consensual intimacy: Ok, repeat with me: it's only sexy when both people want it. Please stop trying to romanticize rape, it's not ok.
5. Spinelessness: This can be either the hero or the heroine or both. I HATE when the couple just keeps taking crap from each other without speaking up and basically forgiving them ANYTHING they did wrong, even if it's something really bad or just plain annoying or at least has me going WTF? This also counts if one part of the couple is just agreeing with the other over EVERYTHING. Please just have an opinion about something.
Likes
1. The funny mixed in with the romance: I love when an author can bring the funny along with the romance, both Tessa Dare and Julia Quinn are masters at this and have scenes in their books that are laugh out loud funny for me, which put the couple in awkward situations and they bond over this. I love this.
2. People with history getting together: I love it when it's two people who have known each other for a long time, cause they have a solid and believable basis for their lovestory: the brother's best friend, the boy/girl next door, the best friend turned love interest. Those kind of story arcs work for me usually.
3. The hate-to-love relationship: LOVE THIS! There are all these sparks and BANTER and then BOOM they kiss and it's magical and electric and just I LOVE THIS OK?
4. Pirates: pirates go well with everything, including romance. Also, this goes really well with another thing I like: girls dressing as guys as a disguise. I especially like this when the pirate starts questioning himself cause he's developing feelings for a 'boy'.
5. The slow burn romance: I just love a good slow burn romance filled with all these small moments and glances and then the tension just builds and builds until you want to smash the two characters together and yell at them to JUST KISS ALREADY!! OMG, I love it when this happens cause then I'm SO rooting for the couple and it's so satisfying when they finally get together.
So tell me, what you do like/dislike seeing in your books when it comes to romance?
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Pirates - definitely one of my favourite traditional type romance novel favourites. And Scottish Highlanders..
ReplyDeleteBut Pirate by Fabio - that book was horrible!
And I have to admit that banter is wonderful when it's done well. One of my all time favourite things! :D
I haven't tired a pirate romance yet. And yes to slow burn romances. Insta-love makes me grown and roll my eyes.
ReplyDeleteGreat list!
I also hate instalove and positive depiction of rape, though I'm actually cool with non-consent/reluctance stories when it's clear this is just an erotic fantasy, not realistic fiction. My likes list also included couples with history. I'll have to edit my list to include an item I forgot, realistic first-time sex scenes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said above!I haven't tried any book with a pirate-so I really can't say much about that particular point,but the others are all so true!
ReplyDeleteGreat list Daisy.
Agree with everything you've listed, with possibly the exception about the one on pirates. To be honest, I haven't read any pirate-themed books lately so can't really comment on it. But regardless, great list!
ReplyDeleteMy TTT
Obsessive Compulsive Reader
Love this post!
ReplyDeleteFor me, slow burn romances are the most fun and interesting to read (and watch on television and in film). The tension and excitement of a developing relationship is just so much fun - often more fun to read about then when the relationship actually materialises!
xx Hannah
www.eatingwithalice.com
I think our lists may be almost exactly the same. And I need to the book with pirates you are referring to? I love pirates and cross dressing heroines!
ReplyDeleteI agree with pretty much all these! I didn't include the history thing per se, though I did say I like it when they're friends first, and pretty much the longer they've known each other the more I love it!
ReplyDeleteCracking up laughing because I think three-quarters of our answers are identical. :D
ReplyDeleteSame here (agreeing with Amanda). Hates #1, 2, 4, and 5 are on my hate list, and while I didn't put any of your Likes on my list, I agree with all of them! (I agree with hating the helpless heroine trope, too; I just put the opposite - a heroine with backbone - on my Love list.) Hey, if this many of us agree about what's good, why do the annoying/awful things keep showing up?
ReplyDeleteAgreed on the stalker thing! Who wants someone who just appears all the time wherever you are and always seems to know what you are doing?! I'm also with you on the helpless heroine. I HATE it when a woman can't function because there's a man.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great list! I'm with you on all those dislikes. It's kind of scary how often creepy/stalkery behavior tries to get passed off as ok and a normal part of a relationship, especially in YA. yikes.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm all for the slow burn love stories. Those are my absolute favorites. :)
Hate-to-love can be so fun when done well! I always think of Much Ado About Nothing - Benedick and Beatrice have the best banter! It's so perfect when they fall in love. :)
ReplyDeleteUGH yes, insta-love and the stalkerish romances are terrible! I also love slow-burn romances and the hate-to-love ones! Great list! :)
ReplyDeleteKyra @ Blog of a Bookaholic
My TTT Post!
Instalove is the worst thing in books and instantly puts me off whatever I'm reading if it's in it! It needs to go bury itself in a corner and never return!
ReplyDeleteHere's my Top Ten Tuesday
I basically won't read any books that have your dislikes mentioned haha. I can't stand them! Especially the creepy stalkerish possessiveness and the helpless damsel. Also instalove: hi and bye.
ReplyDeleteI love funny romances! You'd love the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger, first book is Soulless. It's very funny mixed in with the tension and romance!
Yesss, people with a past, hate-to-love, slow burn. All my favorites!!! LOL pirates, I love that, so unexpected next to the rest of the list but pirates are fantastic.
Insta-love--BLECH!!!! And I agree on the creepy romance factor--that's ruined some otherwise really interesting YA books for me (like Hush Hush).
ReplyDeletethat was a great list and I just have to say I have those same dislikes and likes myself. Kelley at the road goes ever ever on
ReplyDeleteI like it when friends get together, too. And I dislike insta-love as well. (I'd actually be pretty surprised to see that on anyone's list of things they like!)
ReplyDeleteI love your list! I only wrote my dislikes, but now I wish I'd written my likes too. Julia Quinn is an excellent writer. I freaking love it when friends fall in love, the love/hate thing (cause Logan/Veronica anyone?) because when sparks fly it's awesome, and insta-love is awful. It's called INFATUATION. Ugh. But amazing list!
ReplyDeleteRebecca @ Vicariously! and my TTT
I'm a few hours late to the game, but I've added my link!
ReplyDeleteDaisy, I love your list! We have a few of the same on our lists. :)
Love your list! I also split my post between like and dislike.
ReplyDeleteOooh, I so agree with most of your points, there are a lot of these on my list as well.
ReplyDeleteAll the things you disliked give me the creeps too.
Love/hate relationships are my absolute faves! Also, it looks like I need to get into reading some pirate romance.
Pirates are the bessssttt. I mean, Killian Jones anyonoe? I swear CaptainSwan from Once Upon A Time would have to be my second favouriteOTP of all time. I'm a sucker for pirates.
ReplyDeleteLoved your list, and this challenge! This was my first time participating, but will definitely be doing so again in future.
ReplyDeleteThese are great! I also hate insta-love, but I actually do like the stalkerish type love, I don't know why - I'm crazy but it's romantic to me! And I love that you included pirates haha. I actually just read a book that had pirates and a girl pretending to be a boy (but she's not a pirate, there were just pirates in the story haha). It's called The Peace of Evon by Dorothy Tinker :)
ReplyDeleteDaisy, if you love pirates AND girls dressing up as boys, I HIGHLY recommend the Bloody Jack series by L. A. Meyer. It's an amazing seafaring adventure, and it sounds like it's right up your alley!
ReplyDeleteSlow burn romances are my FAVORITE. And yes, instalove needs to go find a well to fall down, seriously.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said--though I haven't read many books with pirates. Slow burn romances are definitely my favorite!
ReplyDelete