Okay is it just me or do a lot of today's romance novels seem to be missing that core ingredient, that irresistible factor that keeps us coming back for more, better known as ROMANCE? I didn't fully realize this until I started reading some young adult stories, and really enjoyed how they focused on the growing feelings between these two young people. While there is a lot more angst and intensity to the feelings of a teenager, I still found the budding relationships to be mature, sometimes tender, occasionally painful, but also rather romantic. I felt really good after reading one of these stories.
Maybe it's just my inner sap trying to break out of its adult shell, but I really, really miss that. Nowadays I feel like many romances have to be laid back. The characters are way too cool to ever get all sweet and mushy. Now I'm not talking undying declarations of love here, or some grandious, corny gesture, but just something that goes beyond the physical. Something lasting.
One such book that I recently read that left me feeling a bit empty when I finished it is by an author I completely adore. The ending, the big pay-off, was so abrupt and quick I felt almost like a door had been slammed in my face. I admit I was disappointed. It was like being given one bite of chocolate and then told you can't have any more. It was sexy and hot and yeah I liked that, but the part where they finally confess their feelings was treated almost like an afterthought.
Don't get me wrong, I love all the erotic, kinky, explicit lovin' that we get from the multitude of today's romances. In fact, the hotter, the better. I like it, I love it, I want some more of it. But if that's all we're getting, after awhile it gets old. It's like the icing without the cake. I crave that emotional connection and acknowledgment like an addict craves drugs. I live for a bit of that ooey, gooey, cow-eyed feeling. I want it back.
Granted, part of my recent dissatisfaction might also be due in part to the whole Sandra Bullock/Jesse James nightmare that has recently come to light. Here was a lovely girl in love with a bad boy who loved her back, living the romance novel life. Only, they weren't. Turns out old Jesse is one big man pig who deserves to be shunned and disliked. Makes you wonder where we can turn for romance anymore.
Do you think today's romances are missing the romance?
Or are you happy with what you're reading and don't
want anything to change?
Just curious.....
Labels: expectations
posted by Stacy~ at 3/26/2010 07:16:00 AM
I love my romances hot too...the hotter the better...but I also like to read about the emotional connection too. If it is all about the bedroom then I feel really disappointed in the end.
byI want romance, people!! Give me the romantic gestures, words and emotions. LOLOL.
I have definitely come to appreciate an author that can write romance and love AND great hot sex scenes. Actually, what I really prefer is the tension..and then the big payoff at the end.
byI love characters with amazing chemistry..and when it is missing, there can be the hottest scenes in the world, but it doesn't matter.
I have thought this for a while. I just like seeing an emotional connection form before a physical one. Having the characters attracted physically from the get go and then having no emotional connection to back it up is like a shorthand substitute for actual romance and it doesn't work. But when you have both? Wow.
byI love super hot romances, as long as I can feel the emotional connection too.
byI need more than just grunts, moans, and sex in order for me to connect with a book. I want tension, chemistry, and above all a damn plot!
byPS I have a huge crush on John Cusack
I like the emotional aspect Stacy. As an author I find it much more satisfying to concentrate on emotions. Can be hard to mix suspense with too many emotions though. Sigh. Maybe that is just ME!!
byAnd I loath what Jesse did. What a wanker.
YES! I feel exactly the same way, Stacy. I read a romance novel for the romance, and it definitely seems like that's in curiously short supply in romance novels lately. I think that's why I've pretty much stopped reading romance novels at this point.
byOh, I LOVE Say Anything!
byAnyway, yes, I also need to feel the emotional connection and I love to see wooing going on in my romances. I need to see the deeds not just read about the sex (although sexin is yummy, too *g*) "You are so hot" is not romance. Just sayin'.
Oh I love Say Anything! I love romances and especially when they connect emotionally as well as physically, of course.
byLike a lot of the girls here have written, tension is key for me as well...luv me some tension and then the big HEA. ;)
I too agree. I want to witness the slowly developing relationship - feel how the two characters learn to dance together. Be there for the little things. However, everything seems so rushed. There are always extraneous issues (don't get me started on the stalker plot), and they are to the detriment of the relationship, which takes a back seat. I want the relationship front and centre.
byI totally and completely agree with you. I was in fact contemplating a blog post of my own to along the same lines because I have been more and more dissatisfied with the romances I've been reading. Sometimes I feel like a broken record when I write a review and keep saying the same thing...over and over again.
byThanks for the great post!