Once more, a knowledgable romance reader would know that. I think by saying that romances coming out fall into only two categories is frankly absurd. You have westerns, romantic suspense, and inspirationals. There are erotic romances a la Roni Loren, Lorelei James, and so on. I’ve noticed that the roundup leaves off paranormal romances, which have some heavy hitting authors (Nalini Singh, J.R. The hundreds of romance novels-perhaps thousands, if you include the self-published ones that constitute their own phenomenon-just published or due to appear in the next few months essentially fall into two categories. Want another great recommendation: The Duke of Olympia Meets His Match by Juliana Gray. Here’s a note about The Christmas Roomby Catherine Anderson:ĭO YOU KNOW HOW RARE THAT IS IN ROMANCE?! I AM counting, because during my time at Smart Bitches Trashy Books, we get so many requests for romances between people who aren’t in their twenties or even thirties! The fixation that race needs to be overly stated in terms of characterization just baffles me. He loves her because she’s sexy, allows herself to be vulnerable, and is upfront with what she wants from him. AT NO POINT in the romance does the hero keep commenting on her blackness. Her book Haven features a black heroine dealing with trauma and a white hero. Going back to Rebekah Weatherspoon for just ONE more moment. (Sarcasm.) Romance has a diversity problem in general, but to me, getting one step closer to helping solve that problem is normalizing romances for everyone. If a hero is transgender, it’s not an element that needs to be featured on every page because authors can’t let the readers forget that these characters are diverse. If two black people fall in love, I doubt they’re pointing out each others’ blackness the entire time during their courtship.
Regardless of race, sexuality, and the like, people experience different elements of loving and being loved. Rebekah Weatherspoon … is forever on deadline. And I think gonna tweet about what bugs me the most. I've been mulling over my thoughts on Romance think pieces and so called criticism. Also, please read this amazing thread on love by author Rebekah Weatherspoon on the need for human connection, as well as platonic and relationship love. Authors do not have to smack you over the face with a character’s race to somehow make them “believable” to a white audience. To recommend another romance with a heroine of color, written by an author of color, Love On My Mind by Tracey Livesay is amazing. What was he expecting? Some offensive racial stereotype so that people can’t ignore the fact that they’re reading about black people falling in love? Once again, we don’t really need to know about the sex.īut the most egregious thing is that Gottlieb feels the need to point out the race of the main characters, but you’d never know it via the text. Because, let’s be honest, the heroine can’t enjoy her trip to bonetown if she’s dead. I think surviving a “psychopathic killer” is more important than rekindling any sort of romance. But, once again, the sex is great: “He licked, sucked and nibbled at her throbbing bud until she screamed his name as she came over and over again,” and her “knees quivered and shook as if she were on the San Andreas Fault in the middle of an earthquake.” Oh, yes-Zoe and Carver are African-Americans, though except for some scattered references to racial matters, you’d never know it. Will she survive? More important: Will she let Carver back into her life? Go straight to Cheris Hodges’ DEADLY RUMORS (Dafina/Kensington, paper, $7.99) to find out. They: Are caught up in a spiraling thriller, danger from a psychopathic killer looming everywhere. Also, commentary on great sex scenes, in my opinion, is a valid critique component when discussing romances where the sexual content is INTEGRAL to the story, as with erotica or erotic romance. But few of us go into a romance strictly looking for great sex scenes. Um…I’m glad the sex is great? Readers have their own opinions on sex in romance. I can reveal this much, however: The sex is great, he “squirming with desire,” she “writhing with delight.” But anyway, the first line that bothers me: Now…Qunn is a favorite author of many, but if you’re plugged in to the romance community, you’d know that Quinn has said some things rather unfavorable to diversity in romance.
Gottlieb begins by listing Julia Quinn’s The Duke and I. If you’re confused about what exactly was so bad about Gottlieb’s piece, allow me to go line-by-line for as long as my wine buzz lasts to illustrate my very own, deep (SO DEEP) frustrations, where Gottlieb went wrong, and how the New York Times can do better.
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