the ask@AAR: What are your hopes for romance in 2022?

For me 2021 was a pretty dry romance desert. I found little that really pushed my buttons and read more non-fiction than fiction. Like WendyF, I have been reading romance for a very long time, more than 50 years. I inherited my love for it from my mother who was amused rather than outraged when I pinched her Sergeanne Golon “Angelique” books from right under her nose. I am sure I was far too young and didn’t really understand much of it. So, here is what I would like to see:

Better standard of writing. NO preaching; by all means explore difficult issues or even “woke-ish” notions but, please, don’t cram it down my throat. As an adult I can form my own opinions. Dysfunctional characters and plots? That’s why I avoid “literary fiction” because it’s too, too depressing much of the time and I read romance to escape for a while into something comforting that should guarantee a HEA. Fewer grammatical mistakes, fewer Americanisms/Britishisms where relevant, fewer telling rather than showing stories because that is authorial laziness. Let’s have more accuracy (yes, not everyone craves it) in HR. But let’s refrain from dressing up historical stories with modern speech and language and, please, less overlaying HR with CR ethics and mores. Humour, yes, silliness, no; I really can’t contemplate reading stories where a NYC waitress gets involved with a “prince” from some made-up European dot on the map. Yuck to that. Better care in character development; it need not take 1,000 pages but well done it can take less than 100. Different settings, especially in HR. Right now the DH and I are watching Vienna Blood (S2) and though it’s basically a police procedural, it’s set in pre-WW1 Vienna and the landscapes, buildings, dress, etiquette, etc. are all very different from something set in dear old foggy London, etc. Why not more of this in HR? I’d love to see something set in ancient Rome or maybe Rome during the Borgias. Just a change from Europe or the USA, please. Tropes? I agree both with Dabney and WendyF. Yes to some new ones, please, but those I find as comforting as a hot cuppa on a cold afternoon – bring them on but, please, well crafted.

I am keen to see what 2022 brings. Not everyone will be satisfied and maybe those of us who are 50+ won’t find as much to please us as younger readers. That’s something I do wonder about: age of the reader as related to romantic fiction wants and desires. Discussion for another day perhaps.

Best wishes to Dabney, Caz, the review team and everyone who posts and lurks here for 2022. What would we do without AAR?

Good question! I wish for more well-written books showing the growth of true connection and intimacy, where well-developed characters talk about their emotions and their deepest hopes and fears. Good writing is extremely important to me. I see too many authors churning out books using a limited number of adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. Hot, sexy, and beautiful are nice descriptors, but don’t keep using them over and over again. “Fuck” has almost become a non-word in some authors’ hands, thrown into every other sentence. I do not mind the word specifically, just its overuse. And show me, don’t just tell me. If you tell me the character is intelligent, witty or charming, then show me through their actions and words that this is true. For example, I am listening to Alexis Hall’s Glitterland, and the contrast between the brilliant, well-educated Ash’s thoughts and dialogue vs. Darien’s working class Essex accent greatly enhances our understanding of these two characters and helps us appreciate the unlikeliness of their romance and the hurdles the will face. Romance has much to offer, and there are some high quality writers out there, but I would like to see more.

Luc/Oliver and Shane/Ilya in 2022. My wish list is complete.