velvetpage: (snow angel)
[personal profile] velvetpage
I read romance novels.

There, I've said it. *turns in literary geek card*

Seriously, though. Some of it is total tripe; I rarely read those. Some of it is less awful; I got my fill of those a few years ago, and rarely read them now. Some romance authors get into plot and/or character ruts, like a role-player who only ever plays clerics, and I've gotten quite sick of some of those. (Nora Roberts is the worst offender - if she writes one more trilogy with the tough-as-nails sister, the abused sister, and the feminine mystique sister, all of whom find their ideal matches while solving whatever mystery or killing whatever bad guy she presents for them, I think I'll vomit. I certainly won't buy it.)

No, when I read romance novels, I try to pick the good ones. These are the ones with characters who are distinguished from each other by more than just their titles; the ones with good historical research to back them up; the ones that explore the darker sides of human nature, and the ability of humanity to overcome them; in short, the ones with substance.

My favourite authors are Mary Jo Putney and Joan Wolf. When these two write Regency romances (every romance author has to put in their time writing Regencies; Britain was at war, so there are dashing military heroes, titles, and skimpy dresses without big bustles, all in the same era) they set them in the midst of the Battle of Waterloo, or as spies during the Congress of Vienna or the Treaty of Paris the following year, or in small principalities that are rebuilding after Napoleon's occupation. When they write about India, they do their research and go in-depth about the Silk Road, the Hindu and Muslim principalities that dotted India at the time, the customs of which they would run afoul, the plots that could, and in some cases did, lead to continent-wide conflagrations - the depth of historical research makes them intriguing even without the steamy sex scenes. (I like the one with the forty yards of sheer sari silk, myself. . .) Did you know that the reason for the revolts in India in the middle of the nineteenth century, that led to huge massacres of anyone British, were caused because of a rumour that their cartridges of ammunition contained both beef and pork tallow, making them unclean to Hindu and Muslim alike? After reading that in Putney's books about India, I checked it. Some history books state it as fact, some as rumour, but it's there and it was indeed a factor.

What Joan Wolf doesn't know about horses and classical riding techniques probably isn't worth knowing. At least three of her books have that as a central theme, and two more have it as an aside. Little details, like the British refusing to train women in the classical riding style, while European females were engaging in real training and becoming experts in those styles, are very intriguing to me.

And then of course, there's the steamy sex scenes. They're like a granola bar. Plenty of healthy cereal, fruit filling, and other good-for-you stuff - but you know you really eat them for the chocolate chips.

To make a good author even better, Putney has recently started doing historical fantasy - the kind where magic is overlaid into an actual historical setting. One of these was about the return of Bonnie Prince Charlie, and the way a weather mage could have played a role in his march down into England - and back up into Scotland. I've just picked up the next of this series, and I'm about to start it.

Which means this particular confession is now over. I'm about to read about a young lord who happens to be a mage, who meets a young lady while trying to escape from some hunters. He happens to be wearing the form of a unicorn at the time.

Brain candy? Definitely. But if you're going to read brain candy, you might as well go for the Godiva.

EDIT: American sword-and-sorcery fantasy authors shouldn't try to set books in Great Britain. They might do all right for an all-American audience, but the rest of us are going to catch the mistakes. For example - Mrs. Lackey, you write very good fantasy, but your history needs a refresher course. Queen Victoria's father never sat on the throne; he died before she was born, and she took the throne from one of her uncles, William, I believe. He's the one who sired a dozen kids on his French mistress, but when married to his nice little German princess, couldn't get an heir. Anyhow. Good book - not enough research.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-01 11:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] merlyn4401.livejournal.com
Yay! New authors to look for!

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-02 12:12 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mairesue.livejournal.com
OH I LOVE YOU! I am going to the library tomorrow (by total fluke) and I am going to check these out. I am so glad that you confessed. I <333333 U!

I always need a good romance novel.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-02 12:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kesmun.livejournal.com
Heh. I take it you recently read The Serpent's Shadow or one of the subsequent Elemental Masters books? I enjoy them for what they are without expecting too much from them.

She's Ms. Lackey, though. She's married to Larry Dixon, but uses the surname from her first marriage as her professional name, much like Faith Hill. (Incidentally, a bit of trivia, neither Faith nor her husband actually use their first names, hers is Audrey and his is Stephen.)

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-02 12:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
I knew who she was married to - I just wasn't sure which title to use. :) And yes, I reread the Serpent's Shadow. it's just an offhand reference to a place being decorated in the early year's of Victoria's reign or the late years of her father's - but that fact is not exactly difficult to turn up since I learned it, of course, in another romance novel.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-02 12:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
I know a great deal of history from very legitimate sources - a large chunk of my degree is in history. But the details, how people lived, what they wore, all the really fun stuff? I learned most of that from the better-quality romance novels. Oh, Jude Devereaux's older stuff is excellent, too, especially Remembrance. That novel never fails to crack me up.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-02 02:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anidada.livejournal.com
I love Jude Devereaux (the older stuff)! The Velvet series, in particular. *wistful sigh*

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-02 02:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
Remembrance is my perennial favourite. It starts with big long first-person rants about many funny things - romance writing, writing in general, shoes, the occult, what men want from women and vice versa - all of it very funny.

I haven't read as much of her as I'd like. Do you have the Velvet series? I'm a sucker for anything with Velvet in the title. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-02 04:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anidada.livejournal.com
Sadly, no -- I loaned all four of the original books to someone who turned out to be obnoxious and then moved to the States (this is the "my boobs are for my boyfriend" chick, for the record *eyeroll*). :( But I found a copy of Highland Velvet in a secondhand store in Cornwall a while back, so all is not lost! I will see if I can dig it up. :)

Oh, and I just realized, it's Deveraux, without the third E. No wonder I couldn't find anything in the library's database! *facepalm*

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-02 04:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
Um. . . yeah, that explains it. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-02 02:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kesmun.livejournal.com
Heh. Yeah. I actually read a Regency romance where a peripheral character was going to attempt to court Princess Charlotte, and went nosing around in Wikipedia. George IV did have one daughter (Charlotte) even though he claimed that he and Caroline of Brunswick only had sex three times. Heh.

It was actually Charlotte that had trouble conceiving an heir. She had two miscarriages and died shortly after giving birth to a stillborn son. George IV's younger brother William succeeded him, and eventually, Victoria succeeded William.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-02 12:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hillarygayle.livejournal.com
Which Mercedes Lackey book was that?

Now I want to go out & find a good romance novel.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-02 12:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
The Serpent's Shadow. Quite good, overall. I like the series, but consider Lackey to be more fluffy than Putney or Wolf, for all she writes a less-disparaged genre.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-02 01:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] athelind.livejournal.com
Any title suggestions in particular? I may go raid the romance section on my next library run. Well-researched history is more fun than poorly-researched fantasy.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-02-02 01:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
Hmm. . . The China Bride, by Mary Jo Putney, is about the daughter of a Scottish trader and his Chinese wife, in Canton. Lots of good stuff about China there. Veils of Silk is set in colonial India. Shattered Rainbows is the battle of Waterloo, and includes some good stuff about medicine, surgery, and blood transfusions at the time. Those three would be good to start with.

My Confession...

Date: 2007-02-02 01:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] catarzyna.livejournal.com
is that I read them voraciously for a week or two. I've done this for years, since I was a child. It doesn't matter how shitty they are because I'm not reading them for content. I am reading for a no-brainer escape from the other intellectual stuff I've been reading for school, seminary or elsewhere.

I haven't had a romance novel binge in quite some time because I got fed up with it. It was largely to do with unrequited love from SO#1. The syrupy happy endings just made me angry and frustrated.

Re: My Confession...

Date: 2007-02-02 01:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
Yeah, I go on binges of them, too. That's how I read all the early Nora Roberts, Jude Devereaux, and Julie Garwood. Of that trio, Devereaux is far and away the best, but she's been getting very strange in her plot lines lately.

Re: My Confession...

Date: 2007-02-02 02:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] catarzyna.livejournal.com
I know I have read some Roberts, not sure about Devereaux and I am almost certain I have not read Garwood.

I am a sucker for a historical romance, especially. Haha!

Re: My Confession...

Date: 2007-02-02 02:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
When I was in university, I purposely took a few history courses that were outside of the locations where my experience and background lay - specifically, a history of Islam and a survey history of ancient China up to the Ming dynasty. I was accustomed to getting A's in history because I wrote well and had a lot of background knowledge to bring detail to my essays. It wasn't until I took those two courses (and got B's) that I realized something crucial: I wasn't good at history because I'd studied a lot of history. I was good at history because I'd read a lot of historical fiction, and internalized many of the details. My grade sevens used to draw Quebec City in 1650 with paved roads and cars; I don't think I would ever have done that, because I had read so widely that I knew better long before I would have been taught that in school. But, since a lot less of my reading was set in the Middle East or China, I lacked the background knowledge to get A's in those classes. The A's invariably went to students who were from those backgrounds.

Re: My Confession...

Date: 2007-02-02 02:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] catarzyna.livejournal.com
I was a European History major for my BA & MA and now I'm teaching African & Asian history. I can feel the strain because I am not so well-versed in those areas.

May 2020

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags