Romance Novels

I was sure we had a thread for romance novels, but I might be thinking of the old board.

Anyway, I just read Touch of Darkness by Christina Todd, and Snarkers, stay away from this book. The storyline sounded fun if cheesy, but this book doesn't just lightly tread over the boundaries of full consent, it pees on them. The heroine is angry at the hero, and finds it hard to trust him properly, but more than once he waits until she is asleep and starts feeling her up. On one of the occasions she flat out says "No", and he continues, because he "knows" she doesn't mean it, and if she'd just trust him she'd enjoy herself. He actually penetrates her while she's saying no. I didn't think romance writers in the 21st century were still on board the "rape can be romantic!" train, but this one is the captain of that steam engine. Avoid this book like it has some kind of disease that causes high temperatures and buboes.

Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew, gross. I don't understand the "rape is romantic" view. Consensual everything is sexy!

On a more fun note, I just finished Isabella and The English Witch by Loretta Chase. They were light and fun! I read them in reverse order, the hero of the 2nd book is the semi-"villian" from the 1st. I am glad I did that as I think I would have liked him a lot less reading them the correct way.

I don't read romance novels (though I do love Smart Bitches Trashy Books' grade F reviews because they're usually pretty funny), but these four articles on Autostraddle about various "top ten lesbian romance novels on my Kindle right now" really make me want to read some of those. They sound delightfully cheesy and fun!

Let us know if you have any recs if you do read them!

punzy, I picked those two up a while ago but haven't read them so glad you liked them! I haven't read any of her older stuff before.

Has anyone read Cecilia Grant's stuff? She just published her first book in 2011. It's a historical in the vein of all historicals but also incredibly different because it has the usual rake hero but a completely uninterested heroine. The plot throws them together sexually about a hundred times and he pulls all his usual rake moves and she basically hates it. And him. I loved it. It's like she took a standard Regency and excised all the parts where the lady swoons. It's nice to see a hero have to work for it for once.

Anyone have any recommendations for romances set in non-Regency, 19th century/pre-contemporary* eras? I recently read Engagement at Beaufort Hall which is set in the Edwardian era. It's actually a novella and it seemed like it was released to test the market for non-Regency historicals. It's being marketed towards Downton Abbey fans. As a romance, it was okay, nothing I was swooning over but I did enjoy the look at the early women's suffrage movement and I'm hoping the heroine's sister gets her own story.

*I define contemporary as within my lifetime so nothing set in the 80s, 90s, or now.

I've read some Madeline Hunter. Enjoyable enough for romance novels. That's the first in the series and there are four books in total. I haven't read anything else by Hunter but I liked Ravishing in Red enough to read the other three.

Meredith Duran writes really good books set in the Victorian era. I love Bound By Your Touch which is one of her first books. Her most recent book was set during the English Civil war. Courtney Milan also writes Victorian era books, which I tend to really like.

Courtney Milan is great. Patricia Gaffney set her older romances in some different eras. Crooked Hearts is in San Francisco in 1880. (I absolutely love the romance, which is snappy and fun, but beware that there are a couple of very stereotypical Chinese characters.)

If you don't mind your romance set during a war, I haven't read any of these, but there is Saving the Rifleman by Julie Rowe (WWI Belgium), The Bronze Horsemen by Paullina Simon (WWII Russia), and His Very Own Girl by Carrie Lofty (WWII Europe somewhere).

Laura Lee Guhrke has written books that take place late 19th century/early 20th century. Some of her books take place during post-Civil War era America and I believe she has one that was Revolutionary America. Her Girl Bachelor series takes place in the early 20th century and I really enjoyed those.

Kaki Warner has written two trilogies that take place during the late 1800s and take place in the American West. I really enjoyed those. Really good reads that are more than just the romance but other relationships between women and children as well. There is some sexual violence (implied, I think, it's been a while since I read them) in those so just a trigger warning.

big chicken wrote:Anyone have any recommendations for romances set in non-Regency, 19th century/pre-contemporary* eras?

I'm reading The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie, by Jennifer Ashley, which is set in the late Victorian era, and it's really good. The hero is apparently

Spoiler:

which I've never seen before in a romance.

Julia Quinn published second epilogues to all of her Bridgerton stories and released them in one set called The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After I gobbled it up because I just wanted happy stories yesterday.

The novella about Violet Bridgeton, though, made me bawl. It was beautifully written and a wonderful look at this woman we'd only gotten glimpses of throughout the other books. My husband kept asking for help getting our daughter to sleep (she doesn't believe bedtime can start until she and Daddy dance to the Wiggles and have a tea party; she's 2) and I kept blubbering that he was just going to have to wait.

I just finished The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan. She makes me have all the feelings! Seriously funny, sad, touching. Her books have everything. Also set during the later half of the 1800s so gets away from the Regency period.

I have to get that one! I love Courtney Milan though I find I usually like her novellas better than her full-lengths. I love that she self-publishes now because her books are always so cheap too.

Algae, I've seen that Bridgerton book countless times and never realized it had new stuff! I thought it was just a collection of the epilogues from the books for some reason. I'll have to pick that up.

I have been inadvertently delving deep into the type of category Harlequin that everyone thinks of when they scoff at romance novels, the stuff with sheikhs and billionaires. I just read The Greek Billionaire's Love-Child, which should surely win some kind of romance bingo as it contains a (a) billionaire (b) doctor (c) with accidental baby (d) who is Greek. I don't really get why Greek guys are such a big thing with Harlequin, but there you go.

Not just Greek men but BILLIONAIRES! Seriously, if Greece had 1/100th as many billionaires in real life as they do in Harlequins, their economy would be in much better shape. Did this one have his own island?

Um, obviously. He used to live on his parents' island but at some point a man must grow up and get his own island an hour away by boat.

I've recently discovered Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter series, and I think I'm addicted. I rolled my eyes when I discovered that angels were the new big thing in urban fantasy/paranormal romance, but she's created an interesting world here. She's really into the damaged and dangerous bad boys, which I guess is a staple in romance in general, but her female characters are great too. What I really love is that her female characters actually have other female friends, they're not too hardcore for girly stuff *coughAnitaBlakecough*. The sex is pretty explicit, but there's also a lot of really graphic violence as well, so that's something to keep in mind if you're interested in reading this series.

I really liked Singh's Psy/Changeling series until they started to get too repetitive (STOP WITH THE LIP NIPPING, WOMAN), but I could not get into the Guild Hunter series at all. I think she's got some chops, though.

Courtney Milan's new book is out! And it is a good thing my nook is at home or I would be hiding in a corner reading.

Did you see she is working on a novella that has a POC protagonist? AND the heroine is a math savant??

I did not! But now I have!

I bought the new Courtney Milan, but I'm trying to hold off until the weekend. It's tough to wait!

The new novella sounds interesting.

If you're looking for more POC romance novels a friend of mine has a set of Bollywood set stories here Suleikha Snyder.com/. She just got a 4 star review for her new book, Bollywood and The Beast in the January issue of RT Book Reviews so I'm very excited for her.

That's awesome! She's actually already on my TBR list too, so I will bump her up.

I couldn't sleep Saturday night, so I stayed up all night reading The Countess Conspiracy. Milan is just such a lovely writer. I just loved it.

The talk of Courtney Milan inspired me to try one of her books. Wonderful! Thanks, guys.