Wed Reading Meme
Apr. 26th, 2017 06:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. What I Just Finished Reading
* Royally Screwed by Emma Chase -- which reminded me of why I'm generally speaking not a fan of contemporary romance novels. This was recommended by the ladies at SmartBitches and on sale for $1.99 which is how I got suckered into grabbing it. Also I thought I needed to read it to appreciate the sequel. (I really didn't.)
For review?
Well, this is the sort of book that the Amazon reviewer who didn't like "A Lady's Code of Misconduct" was probably looking for. It's your typical working class gal meets rich prince, he gives up everything for her -- well not quite, they get to keep the money, titles, and charity fundraising. BTW -- charity fundraising is not as glamorous as folks like to think. Nor as down and dirty. But the writer isn't really concerned with the realities of life, so much as "the romance" and "the sex", mostly "the sex". No breaking of established tropes here, sticks rather close to them actually, complete with a lovely epilogue, ensuring the reader knows that they lived happily ever after. Cinderella fantasy sans evil stepmom. Although we do have the evil granny queen on the Prince's side, but she's ultimately a pussy-cat. There really aren't any villains. The only conflict is well, she's an American waitress and he's a Prince from another country who can't marry anyone outside of his country if he wants the throne. Solution? He abdicates it. Not a spoiler, you sort of know that's where they are going...because hello, romance novel.
What I liked about it -- outside of the fact that it re-inspired me to write my own contemporary romance novel, more on that later, is the emphasis on why the whole royal family thing is outdated and somewhat stupid, particularly the restrictions on marriage. Unfortunately it's just thrown out there but not really discussed in depth. Making me want to watch more episodes of The Crown. It reminds me a little of Victoria...which also skimps in that regard. But I liked that it was brought up. Also liked that she is a bit more than just a waitress, and her family and his aren't quite that dysfunctional and there are no villains.
What I didn't? I was reminded of why I'm not a fan of contemporaries and prefer historical romances. Also, rather miss the trashy contemporary romance novels of the 1980s...which is sort of inspiring me to write my own. (Although I'm not really a romance novelist -- I tend to jump away from the whole guy gets gal core theme, and focus on things like sibling rivalry, corporate hijinks, and flamenco dancing. ) This may explain why I have issues with contemporary romance -- the writer doesn't seem to have a lot to say. We don't get much on the characters lives. Or issues. Or the gender problems. And the gender issues that are emphasized don't quite work and are borderline offensive in a contemporary novel. I mean, yes, in a historical, I can see why she doesn't kick the guy to the curb, but in a contemporary, honey, the sex ain't worth it. You can do better on your own.
And the sex in contemporaries is beyond belief. The writer gets bored, so...it goes a bit over the top. I mean there's only so much you can do to make it interesting to a reader. This one, however, is rather tame in comparison to some I've read. But there is a lot of sex, and it gets dull after a bit.
I wanted more plot, less porn. More character development. More conflict. I wanted to see the ins and outs of his day. I wanted to see how hard it was for him to work her into it. And then how hard it was to give it up. I guess I wanted the happy ending to be more earned...it felt a bit too easy somehow.
Let's face it, what I wanted was a racy Jackie Collins novel. Where they break up. She has his kid. He doesn't know. Years and years later, they meet again. Their kids meet, and she has to reveal it's his, and finally they get their happy ending. His wife died....and well, it's like Prince Charles and Camilla.
But apparently, I'm a glutton for punishment, because I bought the sequel and am reading it.
* Royally Matched by Emma Chase
Definitely better than the last one, making me wonder if the last novel was the writer's first published novel? Hard to tell.
The characters were a bit more fleshed out in this entry, and the dialogue a bit more on point. I certainly preferred the male character/hero to the one in the previous book, who felt a bit like a cliche. In this one, the heroine feels a bit like a long-established trope/cliche. Although she seems to appreciate that, and comment on it. The book does have a bit of a self-deprecating sense of humor.
And I liked the critique of reality television series. Henry makes the comment that the reality tv shows aren't real. He's right, just unscripted, which isn't the same thing. Everything on those shows is edited and manipulated by the producers and crew. It's disgusting. And this book does a good job of playing with that. The villain here is the television producer, which is a much better choice than the last novel, which didn't really have one.
The romance is between a retiring aristocratic librarian and a bad-boy musician prince, who decides to agree to a reality show in which he finds his wife or queen. And the writer does very little to either subvert or crush these beloved tropes. I found the librarian cliches a bit hard to stomach, mainly because I happen to know a lot of librarians, including some with tattoos. Also the heroine...sigh, I kept wanting to smack her upside the head. (Classic 17-19th century British novels only? Seriously?) Loved the hero, who was a nice play on the bad-boy playboy trope. He makes fun of himself. And the tropes.
There's a scene in which the heroine falls apart after the hero rips apart her priceless edition of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. And all I could think was...honey, he can buy you another one, a first edition no less. Heck, you probably could do it. It's not the end of the world. The writer attempts to explain why the heroine freaks..but, I don't know...it should have been built up better.
My difficulty with contemporary romance novels -- is the writer wants to explore the same gender dynamics explored in historicals, which is how trapped the women are. But we aren't right now. We can do what we want, more or less. We don't need the handsome prince to save us. And while this book had less of that than the last one, it was still there in a way...due to the heroine's PTSD issues.
That said, the writer does counter the PTSD -- showing that they came about due to an act of bravery (and potential stupidity) on the heroines part. And there are plot points here and there that did not quite work for me. (Most of the misunderstandings between the hero and heroine...seemed somewhat silly.)
I wanted a bit more handling of the hero/heroine's PTSD issues and fears. And I felt once again, more sex than was necessary, could have been scaled back a bit. More banter, less sex.
The ending was a nice twist in some respects...the two characters take a while to reach their HEA, but, it's summarized. So in reality twenty pages. In their time -- three years.
Overall? Better than the last one. But it went on a bit long...and I found myself scanning the end.
I won't be reading any more by her. They were okay. But not worth spending more time or money on. Flirted with "The King's Bought Bride" but once again, same trite tropes...broke elementary school substitute teacher/art gallery temp is hired by rich prince to pose as his wife for one year, in exchange for paying off her brother's debts and drug rehab. I found the set-up somewhat interesting, but the writing didn't work for me in the sample and ...I wanted a stronger heroine.
2. What I'm Reading Now
Witches of Karres by John Schmitz -- I think. On Kindle, I was reading Kerrigyn Byrn's The Highlander. But I think I will attempt Witches instead, if I like it, I might buy on Kindle. I don't like reading paperbacks, I find them tough on the eyes.
Also I'm hard on books and I'm borrowing this one from a co-worker.
I don't know what I'm reading next.
* Royally Screwed by Emma Chase -- which reminded me of why I'm generally speaking not a fan of contemporary romance novels. This was recommended by the ladies at SmartBitches and on sale for $1.99 which is how I got suckered into grabbing it. Also I thought I needed to read it to appreciate the sequel. (I really didn't.)
For review?
Well, this is the sort of book that the Amazon reviewer who didn't like "A Lady's Code of Misconduct" was probably looking for. It's your typical working class gal meets rich prince, he gives up everything for her -- well not quite, they get to keep the money, titles, and charity fundraising. BTW -- charity fundraising is not as glamorous as folks like to think. Nor as down and dirty. But the writer isn't really concerned with the realities of life, so much as "the romance" and "the sex", mostly "the sex". No breaking of established tropes here, sticks rather close to them actually, complete with a lovely epilogue, ensuring the reader knows that they lived happily ever after. Cinderella fantasy sans evil stepmom. Although we do have the evil granny queen on the Prince's side, but she's ultimately a pussy-cat. There really aren't any villains. The only conflict is well, she's an American waitress and he's a Prince from another country who can't marry anyone outside of his country if he wants the throne. Solution? He abdicates it. Not a spoiler, you sort of know that's where they are going...because hello, romance novel.
What I liked about it -- outside of the fact that it re-inspired me to write my own contemporary romance novel, more on that later, is the emphasis on why the whole royal family thing is outdated and somewhat stupid, particularly the restrictions on marriage. Unfortunately it's just thrown out there but not really discussed in depth. Making me want to watch more episodes of The Crown. It reminds me a little of Victoria...which also skimps in that regard. But I liked that it was brought up. Also liked that she is a bit more than just a waitress, and her family and his aren't quite that dysfunctional and there are no villains.
What I didn't? I was reminded of why I'm not a fan of contemporaries and prefer historical romances. Also, rather miss the trashy contemporary romance novels of the 1980s...which is sort of inspiring me to write my own. (Although I'm not really a romance novelist -- I tend to jump away from the whole guy gets gal core theme, and focus on things like sibling rivalry, corporate hijinks, and flamenco dancing. ) This may explain why I have issues with contemporary romance -- the writer doesn't seem to have a lot to say. We don't get much on the characters lives. Or issues. Or the gender problems. And the gender issues that are emphasized don't quite work and are borderline offensive in a contemporary novel. I mean, yes, in a historical, I can see why she doesn't kick the guy to the curb, but in a contemporary, honey, the sex ain't worth it. You can do better on your own.
And the sex in contemporaries is beyond belief. The writer gets bored, so...it goes a bit over the top. I mean there's only so much you can do to make it interesting to a reader. This one, however, is rather tame in comparison to some I've read. But there is a lot of sex, and it gets dull after a bit.
I wanted more plot, less porn. More character development. More conflict. I wanted to see the ins and outs of his day. I wanted to see how hard it was for him to work her into it. And then how hard it was to give it up. I guess I wanted the happy ending to be more earned...it felt a bit too easy somehow.
Let's face it, what I wanted was a racy Jackie Collins novel. Where they break up. She has his kid. He doesn't know. Years and years later, they meet again. Their kids meet, and she has to reveal it's his, and finally they get their happy ending. His wife died....and well, it's like Prince Charles and Camilla.
But apparently, I'm a glutton for punishment, because I bought the sequel and am reading it.
* Royally Matched by Emma Chase
Definitely better than the last one, making me wonder if the last novel was the writer's first published novel? Hard to tell.
The characters were a bit more fleshed out in this entry, and the dialogue a bit more on point. I certainly preferred the male character/hero to the one in the previous book, who felt a bit like a cliche. In this one, the heroine feels a bit like a long-established trope/cliche. Although she seems to appreciate that, and comment on it. The book does have a bit of a self-deprecating sense of humor.
And I liked the critique of reality television series. Henry makes the comment that the reality tv shows aren't real. He's right, just unscripted, which isn't the same thing. Everything on those shows is edited and manipulated by the producers and crew. It's disgusting. And this book does a good job of playing with that. The villain here is the television producer, which is a much better choice than the last novel, which didn't really have one.
The romance is between a retiring aristocratic librarian and a bad-boy musician prince, who decides to agree to a reality show in which he finds his wife or queen. And the writer does very little to either subvert or crush these beloved tropes. I found the librarian cliches a bit hard to stomach, mainly because I happen to know a lot of librarians, including some with tattoos. Also the heroine...sigh, I kept wanting to smack her upside the head. (Classic 17-19th century British novels only? Seriously?) Loved the hero, who was a nice play on the bad-boy playboy trope. He makes fun of himself. And the tropes.
There's a scene in which the heroine falls apart after the hero rips apart her priceless edition of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. And all I could think was...honey, he can buy you another one, a first edition no less. Heck, you probably could do it. It's not the end of the world. The writer attempts to explain why the heroine freaks..but, I don't know...it should have been built up better.
My difficulty with contemporary romance novels -- is the writer wants to explore the same gender dynamics explored in historicals, which is how trapped the women are. But we aren't right now. We can do what we want, more or less. We don't need the handsome prince to save us. And while this book had less of that than the last one, it was still there in a way...due to the heroine's PTSD issues.
That said, the writer does counter the PTSD -- showing that they came about due to an act of bravery (and potential stupidity) on the heroines part. And there are plot points here and there that did not quite work for me. (Most of the misunderstandings between the hero and heroine...seemed somewhat silly.)
I wanted a bit more handling of the hero/heroine's PTSD issues and fears. And I felt once again, more sex than was necessary, could have been scaled back a bit. More banter, less sex.
The ending was a nice twist in some respects...the two characters take a while to reach their HEA, but, it's summarized. So in reality twenty pages. In their time -- three years.
Overall? Better than the last one. But it went on a bit long...and I found myself scanning the end.
I won't be reading any more by her. They were okay. But not worth spending more time or money on. Flirted with "The King's Bought Bride" but once again, same trite tropes...broke elementary school substitute teacher/art gallery temp is hired by rich prince to pose as his wife for one year, in exchange for paying off her brother's debts and drug rehab. I found the set-up somewhat interesting, but the writing didn't work for me in the sample and ...I wanted a stronger heroine.
2. What I'm Reading Now
Witches of Karres by John Schmitz -- I think. On Kindle, I was reading Kerrigyn Byrn's The Highlander. But I think I will attempt Witches instead, if I like it, I might buy on Kindle. I don't like reading paperbacks, I find them tough on the eyes.
Also I'm hard on books and I'm borrowing this one from a co-worker.
I don't know what I'm reading next.