the ask@AAR: What romance does everyone else love that you can’t stand?
Hey Dabney, what’s your favorite contemporary romance written in the past five or so years?
Oh, no question, it’s Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game. I ADORE that book.
So you must be a Sally Thorne fan then, right?
Um… no. 100% no.
It’s true. I’ve disliked every book Thorne has published since her first and her most recent one I found unreadable. But, you know what? That’s just me. My brilliant sister-in-law who only reads smart contemporary romance told me she LOVED it. She loves quirky. #manicpixiedreamgirlsforever
I f*cking hate quirky. And Sally Thorne’s heroines are more and more the definition of quirky.
I’m clearly in the minority about Second First Impressions which irritated me so much I wanted to become a bitter goth just to spite the book. And that’s just fine. I do not want to be the cultural arbitrator for the world… much.
How about you? What’s a romance most adore you loathe? And why?
I’ve seen The Bride by Julie Garwood on various “best ever” lists. If I had read it back in the day, maybe I would have liked it. As it is, I read it sometime in the last few years, can’t remember exactly when, and couldn’t for the life of me figure out why anybody likes it.
Me too!
I did read it back in the day, along with many other Julie Garwood historicals that I remember quite enjoying. I’m scared to re-read these books and many others I read back then because I worry they won’t stand up to my more modern eye/viewpoint. I would rather just keep my nostalgic feelings about them!
Not a specific book, but Grace Burrowes frequently has her hero or, more often, her heroine keep a secret far too long for any rational person to do so, just to serve the plot. I like so much about her books, but that particular quirk infuriates me so much that I have stopped reading her.
OH MY GOSH!!! I thought it was just me. That is exactly why I stopped reading her, which was such a shame, because her craft is fantastic.
I love many of the books others have listed as don’t like/DNF/a waste of a good tree (e.g., Loretta Chase is one of my favorite authors). I do have to hold my tongue, however, when people praise Alexis Hall’s Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake or Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing. I found Rosaline unlikeable based on the depth and extent of the lies she tells to Alain when they first meet. While I understood her insecurity, I still found the lies unforgivable. And yes, I know Alain turned out to be a jerk, but she didn’t know that when she first met him. I should try some of Hall’s other books since I know people have praised them and I feel I should give him a chance since, after all, even my favorites have written books I’m less than wild about. As for the Owens book, I thought her writing, especially about the natural world, was lovely, but I found the heroine to be so perfect as to be a Mary Sue – she survives on her own from age 6 (6!), she’s a talented poet, she’s an artist, she’s a world class naturalist, she’s beautiful – it was all too much for me.
My most recent DNF was The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels which I’ve seen raved about everywhere but which I found totally confusing and gave up at about 20%. And any erotic romance where the heroine/hero calls their partner Daddy is ugh ‘shudders’
I am 6000% down with NO DADDY. It’s squicks me out every time. I
I have tried TWSoLS a couple of times and it’s just not for me. It seemed confusing and arch.
I tried the audio version and just – nope. It was too confusing and too silly.
I thought it was hilarious! And clever. Don’t remember the Daddy thing at all???
I know so many here love them but I will be honest and say that, though I have tried a few times, M/M romance is totally unappealing to me.
You ain’t alone.
All I can say is that maybe you haven’t read the right ones! ;)
KJ Charles is one of the very few authors writing today who gives a damn about historical accuracy in HR.
I am somewhat the same way. In my non-romance reading, I love books about characters that are wildly different than am I. But in romance, my greatest reading comfort, I prefer heroines who are like me. M/M romances just don’t call to me because I’m not ever going to be in one!
I think you have articulated my feelings, Dabney. M/M romance always seems a bit voyeuristic for me. I agree 100%, though, about my non-fiction reading when I can learn about many different kinds of people; I just don’t visualise an intimate romantic and/or sexual relationship with them and like my romantic reading to more reflect my own experiences.
Just a thought, but I wonder if many of the women who read a preponderance of MM romance (or who read it exclusively) do so for the exact same reason you & Elaine don’t read MM: a woman doesn’t have to picture herself in an MM romance, which I think for some women would have a calming effect—not having to imagine herself in a particular situation/relationship. For readers like you, being unable to see yourself in a romance makes the book unreadable, but I suspect, for some women, not having to see themselves in a romance is a positive thing. (Full disclosure: my romance reading is about 50-50 MF to MM, but I don’t usually see myself in a romance, regardless of the genders of the MCs.)
Sure. I think we all have our own jams and what works for one doesn’t work for another. Here at AAR, we try and cover all sorts of romances so everyone can find something that speaks to them.
I think that’s a good point – I’m generally a hero centric reader and have never really identified with heroines (quite possibly due to the fact that I’ve never been slender, willowy, beautiful or any of the other things so many heroines are!), or perhaps even wanted to. There are so many theories and arguments around why m/m is mostly read and written by women, and some of them are arguments I don’t want to touch with a bargepole, so I’ve never tried to analyse my reasons too much. I just know there are some absolutely fantastic books and authors out there to enjoy :)
Caz – In very basic terms, a great romance for me has a hero I could fall in love with myself and a heroine I want to have as a great girlfriend. I have had wonderful gay friends since I was a teenager but I’ve never been interested in their intimate sexual lives and never askedl. We are all different thankfully!
That sounds a lot like me. For me to love a romance–again, I don’t need any of these things in other books I read–it needs:
a hero I’d want to have sex with
a hero who’d make me laugh
a hero who is interested in a creating a family
a hero who’s as strong willed as am I
a hero would would surprise me upon occasion
a heroine who’s smart
a heroine who would be interesting and fun to hang out with
a heroine who would surprise me upon occasion
fireworks in the bedroom
an ending that makes me believe both characters will stay together and be glad they’ve done so
These needs rule out m/m, f/f, menage, almost all BDSM romances.
Within these limits, leads can be any color, creed, profession, and be alive in any time period.
But that’s just me. And I want everyone to find the romances that work for them which is why I and others at AAR work so hard to review and discuss all kinds of love stories.
I don’t see myself as the heroine in romance. Never have. I like strong women and tend to enjoy MF romances where the female lead is strong and independent, comfortable in who she is, and doesn’t take sh*t from the hero. I loved A Dangerous Kind of Lady by Mia Vincy because, though vulnerable, Arabella had this amazing strength of character. Not the flippancy or borderline selfishness I so often see in contemporary rom-coms (from both male and female characters).
I’m attracted to men, and reading about sexy men, whether with women or men, is what I want. And honestly, MM romance gives me a break from all the gender politics that we’re still slogging through in real life and romances. I’m planning on broadening my horizons this year and giving FF a try.
I have always read as an outside observer, not identifying with any characters, so protagonist gender (or species) doesn’t affect my ability to enjoy a story. Even though I read all levels of heat, an*l sex scenes generally don’t appeal to me. Since I don’t skip any text (unlike readers who say they skip some sex scenes), I learned to tolerate such scenes as they became more common in m/f romances, but the assumption that they will be present in any explicit m/m romance lowers the likelihood that I will read them. Almost all m/m romances I have read were bought based on reviews or comments that said they were humorous.
Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase and Crusie’s Bet Me did not work for me AT ALL. It’s been years since I read both, so maybe I’d feel differently now, but at the time Mr. Impossible seemed like a second-rate As You Desire (I am very hesitant to try that one again, it probably did not age well) and Bet Me was nowhere near as good as Welcome to Temptation; other than the heroine being curvy I don’t remember a single thing about it.
RE: Bet Me
chicken marsala
Lord of Scoundrels, Loretta Chase. Hands down. The main guy, I’m not even going to bother looking up his name, was worse than a toddler and was indulged by everyone around him. I remember reading the book a second time a long time after the first read because everywhere I looked, readers just loved the book. Nope. Still wanted to toss the guy out the window.
Slightly Dangerous by Mary Balogh. I know it’s a favourite here but I despised Christine . I found her to be hugely annoying. For a woman who wants to blend in and not be noticed, she did the exact opposite. Her self deprecating manor had me rolling my eyes for most of the book. And having the entire cast of characters from the previous 5 books show up did not advance the plot.
I loved Wulfric in all the previous books. But he never grew in SD. He remained a cold fish throughout and i just didn’t care if they got together or not.
I’ve tried to read a few other baloghs after SD but the formula for her books is the same . I bought SD in HB thinking it would be a keeper and I ended up donating it to the library.
That too is a book that leaves me cold.
I’ve talked about this before, but I’m ultrapicky about bodice rippers, so a lot of the classics of the genre don’t find favor with me.
Kulti by Mariana Zapata-this book need a serious editing. It was way too long and I usually love long books.
Same here. I find it unreadable.
Agree. I don’t usually read sports themed romances or books written in first person. However, I bought The Wall of Winnepeg and Me based on a DIK review at this site when it was on sale this month. I totally agree with that review. I read Wall twice back to back because there was just something about it that resonated. Last week Kulti was on sale. Reviews for that at Amazon were excellent, so I purchased ready to enjoy. I found Kulti long and boring and I never warmed to either central character. That was a disappointment.
Absolutely agree. Also not a sports romance reader, but I loved Wall of Winnepeg. Even though it needs a good thorough edit to my mind, I read it more than once. Kulti, on the other hand, also needing a good edit, is missing the same spark and turned into a slog, slog, slog.
A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux–a whole book developing a relationship & then reincarnation!?!
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: I nicknamed this “Everybody wants Jamie”. I read this 20 years ago today, and so far haven’t managed to reread it or to read any of the sequels.
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall: DNF.
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella: DNF.
I only DNF about 1 book in 1,000. Both of these were DNF for the same reason: I find it extremely hard to enjoy stories with messed up narrators who show no learning or improvement.
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne: just OK. Never saw the humor so many readers said was there.
Gosh, do I have to pick just one? I DNF a lot. Bad writing, contrived plots, two dimensional characters all leave me cold. The recent spate of books set in reality TV shows were fails, probably because by definition they are contrived. Here are a few recent examples:
The callous treatment of Charlie’s “quirks” due to his anxiety hits too close to home to be funny.
I agree! They were needlessly unkind and cruel. Plus it made no sense to me that he chose to go on the show in the first place, knowing it would be torture for him in so many ways. And what was up with his so-called friend and PR rep who knew his issues yet encouraged him to do it? To essentially hide who he is and be someone different and fake and repress all his feelings? Ugh.
I can’t seem to get beyond 2 pages in any book by Loretta Chase. I’ve tried several times and will try again this month, because based on reviews, I am missing lots of really good books. Something in those first 2 pages just doesn’t spark enough interest to go any further. I don’t loathe the books, I just can’t get interested enough to read them.
It’s the same reaction I have with a particular narrator of audio books: Rosalyn Landor. i know Ms. Landor is a fantastic narrator, she is highly rated and highly recommended. But I just can’t listen to one of her books. It’s me, I know it’s me, but I have a hard time explaining why, especially since I usually love English accents. It’s a visceral reaction like the overused “fingernails on a chalkboard” comparison.
I have barely liked anything by Loretta Chase. I hate Lord of Scoundrels and I found the one about Bathsheba and her kids completely obnoxious.
And then there’s Mr. Impossible. Which I ADORE.
How can she be F, F, D+, D, C-, A+++++? I have NO IDEA!
I too am not really a fan of Loretta Chase. I too hate Lord of Scoundrels…. and adore Mr. Impossible. But that’s nearly the only one of her books I like.
IF you want to give Loretta Chase another chance and IF you like audiobooks, I recommend listening to any read by Kate Reading. She makes everything better.
Rosalyn Landor is fine for me most of the time, but I’m not crazy about her male voices.
Hi Carrie G
I do enjoy Kate Reading, especially her narration of The Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas. I’ll try her narration of a Loretta Chase book and see if that helps, maybe Mr. Impossible.
Most Sarah Maclean books. They seem to be universally adored, but I find most of her heroes and heroines to be annoying and overdramatic, especially because there seems to be an expectation that the reader should be able to see how awesome they are. Often the heroine (No Good Dukes Goes Unpunished) or hero (Daring and the Duke) act in irredeemable ways that are not fully addressed or at least not addressed to my satisfaction. She seems to be a good advocate of the romance community, but her books are just not my cup of tea.
I have found that the longer she writes, the less I like her leads.
I will co-sign this. I never understood the popularity of her books.
I love A Rogue by Any Other Name.
I liked almost all of her earlier books but I’ve stopped reading her now – along with other authors whose books I really used to enjoy, such as Eva Leigh and Joanna Shupe. They’ve all Jumped the Shark.
MacLean’s earlier books were hit or miss for me. DNF on Nine Rules, enjoyed Rogue by Any Other Name and Rogue Not Taken. The book that ruined her forever for me was Day of the Duchess. I thought Day was the worst historical romance I had ever read. (I’ve read hundreds.). Neither the hero nor the heroine was someone I’d want to meet and in my opinion, neither was ever redeemed satisfactorily. I admit I tried the first Bareknuckle Bastard book, another DNF, and then quit her for good.
Her more recent books seem so full of anger–the author’s and the female leads. It’s not my thing.
This seems to happen to me frequently, so maybe I’ve just got a perverse streak in me. Who knows. Sometimes I feel like I’m reading a completely different book than other reviewers. In the past two years I’ve DNF’s the following romances that get high marks from most readers:
Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan (The writing just isn’t good, short choppy sentences and awkward dialog)
My Christmas Number One by Leonie Mack (I found it boring and too easy to put down)
Love at First by Kate Clayborn (I really disliked the female MC)
The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun (I couldn’t get past the horrible way the production company treated Charlie)
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert (I got bored with Dani’s commitment phobic internal monologues) I finished this one and gave it a C.
I’m with you on Love at First. I like Kate Clayborn’s writing, but what other readers saw as cute behavior by the heroine, I saw as obnoxious.
I agree! Also tried Kate Clayborn’s Love Lettering and didn’t get far with that. It was too contrived.
Exactly. I quit reading when I realized I was rooting heavily for Will to make his apt into a short term lease. Lol!
I have never read a Talia Hibbert heroine who didn’t strike me as immature, smug, and colossally self-centered.
Thank you! I failed to put that into words.
I like the first two books of hers I read and since then, nada.
Nobody’s Baby but Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I was horrified by the so called heroine and her actions in the first few chapters.
I feel somewhat bad because it’s already been mentioned in its usual positive light in this thread, but I often feel like the only person who couldn’t stand Bet Me and found it among the most stressful experiences I’ve had reading romance. I’ve blocked out a lot of it in the years since but it was largely because most of the supporting characters had no boundaries and never took no for an answer, which I’m sure was supposed to match the light and farcical tone, but just raised my blood pressure every time they appeared.
Tina, you’re not the only one! I did not like the emphasis on the MC’s weight, either.
Tina, I enjoyed Bet Me, but I do understand (I think) what you’re saying about the secondary characters. For example: I thought it really inappropriate that one of Min’s friends threatened the male MC behind her back.
I’m really tired of the MC’s family and friends in books not taking no for an answer, or going behind (usually) the heroine’s back to warn off the love interest. It’s a trend that has me DNFing or down grading more books than anything else. I honestly can’t imagine barging into my friends’ or my children’s lives that way. (Boy oh boy would my kids set me straight REAL fast if I tried to warn off date, push them into a life choice that I wanted, or bullied them into things. Boundaries are really important.)
Carrie, you nailed it. I’ve seen you mention how strongly you dislike the interfering, pushy friends and relatives trope (and how often it appears), and you and I are on the same page overall, for sure. It’s not cute at all, however well-meaning, and given that I have experience with situations where it’s *not* actually well-meaning at all (my partner of 20 years is estranged from his family due to years of petty emotional manipulation and boundary abuse; thankfully comparatively little of this ever blew my way back when he was still on speaking terms with them, but it was hard even as a mostly-bystander). I don’t like this trope popping up in books I thought were going to be fun.
As a mostly-related aside, the other trope I hate being blindsided by is ‘(usually male) ex-lover is a pushy creep who keeps trying to push his way back into heroine’s life’. Usually this guy was the dumper and not the dumpee, but the minute the heroine tries to move on with the hero he’s on her like white on rice, barging into the new life she’s made, making public declarations toward her that sometimes send the hero into a mistrustful snit, and causing the heroine untold stress with his smug refusal to go away and not recognising this is emotional abuse. Thankfully I have no triggers in my personal life that have caused this to bug me the way it does, but I do think it’s because I know scenarios like this can and have played out in real life that I find it stressful reading. Two books I otherwise loved that contain this trope: Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare and Mhairi McFarlane’s Don’t You Forget About Me (actually, the latter is an all-time favourite of mine and the asshat ex does end up getting dealt with in a cathartic way at the end).
Redeeming love … it just doesn’t resonate with me the way it seems to with ALMOST ALL lovers of Christian romance. I appreciate the message and understand what the author wanted to represent but
The hero knew almost nothing about the heroine other than that she was a prostitute and insisted that he loved her … that is supposed to represent the love of God but God is omniscient He knows everything about us from what we think and how we are to how we act, the book tries to convince me that the hero loves her from the beginning without knowing almost anything about her. It gave me the feeling that he loved her because she was beautiful and God told he to love her but that is not love, it is still attraction more obedience, I can appreciate a bond that is built FROM there but not believe that it already exists.
I suppose that I would have liked it more if they had known each other for years before the hero receives this divine mandate to marry her: the heroine could still distrust him, he could still complain at first about having to marry her but I would have felt that there was more basis for him to make his confessions of love.
I read Redeeming Love with a women’s group at church about 15 years ago. I think it only makes sense in a Christian context, with the hero representing God’s redeeming love for us. He is not realistic as a human being. To me, it is not a romance but an allegory. I think if I read it today, on my own as a romance novel, I would not like it at all. I believe in forgiveness, but I also believe in standing up for yourself, setting healthy boundaries, and letting someone go if they want to leave.
Well as an allegory I suppose it makes sense but I have always thought of God more as a father than as a lover and I am too cerebral to be able to just enjoy the history because as you say in a human context it does not work. I prefer Christian romances that more than allegories represent believers trying to love in this world.
For allegories I guess fantasy works better for me.
Almost anything by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I have tried to read several of her books and only enjoyed one. I know others love her but the way she treats her heroines annoys me. I think she tries for quirky but I always feel she demeans them by making them incompetent in some key element of their lives eg earning a living.
I don’t mind quirky heroines as I think many of Jennifer Crusie ‘s heroines were quirky but they were also competent ( my favourite being Min Dobbs in Bet Me). I suspect I like competent heroines because one of my favourite contemporary romance writer is Julie James and her heroines are always competent at their job.
I sort of enjoyed The Hating Game when I read it but it isn’t a book I have any desire to reread ( and I am a rereader) . Neither do I have any desire to seek out any other books she has written. I think it is because she didn’t make me care enough about the characters in The Hating Game.
Years ago I enjoyed quite a few SEP’son audio (fantastic narrator). At the beginning of the pandemic I thought I’d go back and relisten to some favorite books. I couldn’t get through any of SEP’s books. I ended up not liking any of the characters or how they treated each other.
Generally how I feel about SEP’s work. She drags her heroines through hell, and her heroes are not worthy prizes for the pain they have to suffer.
Without a doubt, THE HATING GAME. Everything about it rang absolutely false to me, from the ridiculous set-up to the “junior high school kids indulging in workplace cosplay” immaturity of the MCs; even the team-building paintball game irritated me. Plus there were some real boundary-crossing actions by the heroine (including looking through the hero’s work email) that would be firing offenses at most companies, but were just sort of hand-waved away by Thorne. I was baffled by how much love & adoration THE HATING GAME garnered. I still refer to it as “an office romance that appears to have been written by someone who has never actually worked in an office.”
On the other hand, because I prefer to read dark and/or angsty (my motto is, “It doesn’t always have to be dark, but it almost always has to be angsty”), I’m fully accustomed to feeling “meh” about books that garner raves from others—and, conversely, hearing crickets when I go full-on squee about a book I loved.
Alexis Hall’s Boyfriend Material. I wouldn’t say I loathed it, but I only got through about 35% of it. I started with the audiobook but hearing it read aloud magnified the twee Britishness of everything that got annoying pretty quickly. So I hoped the ebook would be more palatable (since unlike the audio version I could no longer return it) but I read a bit more and then couldn’t be bothered. It was like a gender switched Bridget Jones’ Diary but the writing seemed laboured in comparison to Helen Fielding’s laugh-out-loud humour. Luc’s gormlessness is so exaggerated I couldn’t get invested in his feelings, and not getting Oliver’s point of view didn’t help keep my interest. Overall it just felt juvenile.
Q: What’s a romance most adore you loathe?
A: Gabaldon’s OUTLANDER.
Why? I’m curious.
I gave it 2 stars. I wrote a whole review (here: http://romanticanorosa.blogspot.com/2015/03/critica-forastera-de-diana-gabaldon.html) in Spanish explaining my experience. I’ll try to sum it up. The adventure is basically walking around the Scottish geography, with all the clichés of the Highlands that you can imagine, including Nessie.
Picturesque characters appeared and disappeared, for no apparent reason but to be there to prepare for next books, I guess. There’s a lot of violence, a lot of gore around characters I wasn’t interested in, so it was just… unpleasant and tedious. With some touch of pure ridicule, like the heroine facing the wolves… and killing one with her bare hands (I still don’t believe it, I always think I misread until someone refers to it in a review).
It was so tiresome that I remember thinking, ‘please let him be raped, hanged, whatever, I don’t give a damn, I just want this boring story to be over’.
In my opinion, it justifies abuse (of children and women), not only describes it. To me, it oozes homophobia, as was the custom 1991. If there was a homosexual character, it used to be: a) the bad guy; b) a tragic figure that ends badly. Those were my feelings while reading the book.
Outlander was a big disappointment for me. I really enjoyed it until it became clear that there would be repeated scenes of rape and torture, with the same bad guy popping up again and again to do it. I had to stop reading.
I love and DIK the first 4/5ths of Outlander – before Jamie gets taken away for the big torture porn sequence. I hardly like anything from then out.
That makes sense. I’ve never been able to get pass when they get to France although I WANT TO. I’m going to try again with the show at some point.
I agree also. I have had better luck with the Lord John Grey books. Maybe go there?
My experience exactly!
Outlander really kind of traumatized me when I first read it. And even though I loved the book, there are parts I haven’t read since the first time back in 91 or 92 when it came out. Sadly, it’s a trend that continued in the sequels so I had to give them up.
People who don’t know should be warned, it could be deeply triggering.
I would just say that the Outlander books are not romances. Yes, nasty things happen and these things might horrify or some readers might think that trigger warnings are needed. The scene at the end of the first book was one of the most challenging and difficult ones I have ever read and on screen it was portrayed in a way that was shocking though incredibly well acted. I didn’t think it was gratuitous though I can see others could. However, that event continues to inform and underlie the following story through all of the books. I think the author was very brave to write it. As far as repetition, mentioned above, perhaps that’s true but if you buy into the world the author has created you see its relevance and she does not glamourise what were harsh and gritty times. The world our forefathers inhabited was a zillion miles from the ease and comfort of the 2020s. I suppose the series is Marmite: love it or hate it but compared to so much of the boring, silly, shallow and badly written stuff many here have referred to, it is for some of us an utter delight.
I own them all–they’re sort of a retirement goal for me.
I’d love to know what you think about them one day……. :-)
Honestly, I get bogged down every time in Paris.
Dabney, I wonder if watching the Starz series would entice you into getting past Paris. I only began reading the books after starting the TV series which is pretty good at sticking to the meat of the story line. Not to mention, of course, that Sam Heughan as Jamie is rather delicious!!
I got stuck in Paris on the show too!