For Readers of Romance - What Do You Like About Romance Books?

Whether it is horror, romance, western, they for the most part do have a formula that they all follow same thing for movies, if you look how many times have you seen the same basic idea told a different way with different characters? The thing that makes certain books stand out is the authors ability at story telling. It is not enough to just write a good story you have to be a story teller. It is something of a lost art I think. Though there are some authors that do this which is the difference between someone who has written a few books and those who repeatedly have best sellers. Then the characters, it is vital to any good story be it romance or western or or mystery that the characters be people you want to know about find out what is going on. Take a look at soaps, or serial tv, or look at say the success of movies with sequels, the movies with sequels often do this because they made money the first time, same thing with books, but the reason for continuing to go to see or read a sequel is that we want to know what is going to happen to those characters next, we like them or hate them and want more. People in general are curious by nature, people in general like stories, this has been true from oral tradition when a story teller or bard was an honored guest to now, with movies, and books. Yes in fact many Harlequin books are schlocky many books of other genres are as well. The thing is if you are a reader, you always need to be reading something, books, magazines, labels if your desperate. Not everyone feels this way but obviously enough do. Daniele Steele is a very popular author, I managed a book store for 14 years, and her new books always sold, her older books continued to sell. Yet I didn't like her books at all, they seemed to me to slow, same thing over and over again, to soap opera. Harlequin often in the early years had stories that took place in England or Europe and still do since the books you read put out by Harlequin were oringially published in England a few months prior. Silhoutte was published with predominately American story lines because it originated here, both were very popular. When Loveswept started out they seemed to not go to far but they gave some beginning authors a shot and developed a following. There are several authors who will get their start writing what is called "light" romance of the above publishers. Nora Roberts, being one of the biggest. There are some authors who are comfortable writing with in the guidelines of those publishers needs for shorter stories. There are others who want to branch out into larger mass market publications that may lead to best sellers. Some do, but you can if you take the time to read something that interests you find some great writers, a woman to my knowledge who has only written within the light romance genre has a true gift at story telling, and has written some books that get inside of you, you can see what she is saying, has even told the story with out revealing information and if it is an issue that relates to your life in some way can really touch you. Some times a romance is just that a romance. Fun, escape world of make believe. Just a guy going to see an action flick is not going because he thinks he is going to be James Bond, but he likes the story, the effects, James Bond got his start as a character in a book as well. There are even authors within the light romance whose early books are so popular that the cost of findning one of the old out of print books is double or more of the original publishers price for a used copy. And romance itself has many sub genres. For some it is about the romance, for others it is about the stories, about the people in the stories the characters the romance is just part of the fun. Even those who are very happy with their partners in life enjoy reading how someone else lives. I haven't read a harlequin in years, so I couldn't recommend anything, but for some good authors of light romance go to a used book store or your library and see if you can find some old Nora Roberts, Diana Palmer, Christine Rimmer, Susan Mallory, Emma Darcy, Julie Kistler, Debbie Macomber, If you like Mystery try Harlequin Intrique, If you like historical Zebra publishing puts out a great many authors and there is Harlequin Historical, and even Regency romances. For non harlequin books try If you want contemporary try Jude Deveraux, or Cathrine Coulter, or Nora Roberts, Danielle Steele, Historical : Leigh Greenwood, Jude Deveraux, Catherine Coulter, Johanna Lindsey, Vampire or alternate type ? Try Maggie Shayne, not only does she write a good romance, she does a decent mystery, or vampire with a nice sense of humor, and characters that if they were real people you would like to know. And rout for when they are in trouble. Or Marjorie Liu, who has a great sense of humor, creates enough of so what is really going on feel to her stories, with the added what some would term paranormal element. There are those who like time travel characters that step out of their own time try Sandra Hill, fast read good characters, and funny.

I'm not that big a fan of romance novels either. Are Harlequine romances good? So far, the only romance books I've read are a few Mills and Boon, Jane Eyre, one by Katherine Stone, and a few others. Differences? I don't think there are any differences in romance books. It's all the same to me. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, then they make out, then some problem comes up, they have to break up, girl cries, boy fights with somebody else, maybe boy has an affair with another woman, and finally boy and girl kiss and make up! Haha! There are so many possibilities in a romance novel. What I like about romance books are the endings where the boy and girl get together, marry, and live happily ever after.

I prefer romance novels that are realistic. The "sweep her off her feet and carry her to the bed" stuff is just too much for me. If it's "real" I enjoy it.

Years ago, I read romance novels but I have not read them in probably 20 years or so. I dont enjoy them at all. I like some substance to my novels.

Honestly the Harlequin's are the worst about being all cheesy and schlocky. But there are others out there that are the same way. If you read the more modern romance's that are *not* Harlequin I think you'll find that they are radically different. I lean towards the mystery/suspense/occult/supernatural romances when I read them.

I prefer the older Harlequin romances to the newer ones. The older ones from the 1980s on down written by Charlotte Lamb, Sarah Holland, Carole Mortimer, Roberta Leigh, Mary Burchell, Jayne Bauling, Flora Kidd, Kathryn Blair, etc are mire intense than the newer ones and the titles are much better. I enjoy romances where the heroine is independent, doesn't fall for the hero in the first few pages, and knows better than to stick around when the hero is confused. __________________________________________________________ Huge Bulk lot of books (over 120 books) for low price (all books less than $0.50 USD). Free Shipping in U.S. Pics available! http://adonaipublishing.com/bargainbooks.html

When I was in my late teens and early 20 I used to read a lot of the Harlequin style romances. Like everyone before me has said they just get to be pretty much the same except the character and maybe the plot line changes but the basic story is always the same. I finely got tired of reading the same basic thing over and over. I started reading authors like James Michener with “Hawaii” “Texas” Then there was Leon Uris With “The Exodus” James Clavell and his “Nobel House” series. Jane Aiel and the Cave man series. One od the best romance books that I think I have read was Colleen McCullough's “The Thorn Bird”. These all were romance but they had so much more to them I like a book that has more to it than boy meets girl they have a few problems then they get together and live happily ever after.