the ask@AAR: Who’s your favorite family in romance?
One of the great things about all those Bridgertons–besides more fodder for Netflix seasons–is that Violet and her children are a fun brood to read about/watch. One of my favorite things on the show is watching Gregory and Hyacinth amuse and torment one another. It’s almost as much fun as taking in the elder four’s endless arch banter.
But families in romance are tricky. If they’re too big and have too many offshoots, one finds oneself constantly trying to remember whose cousin is Lord Winchilsea while reading about Jemima and Josiah’s big mis or having no idea which steely great aunt Dodo the adorable blue and brown eyed spaniel belongs to.
I’m not sure I could pick a favorite. I adore the family that is Marguerite, Doyle, and Severine– who is also Justine’s sister and heart. I never tire of the Redmond siblings’ competitiveness. The Hathaways‘ bond is lovely. Everyone loves the Winstons!
How about you? Who is your favorite family in romance?
Besides the aforementioned families by Balogh and Kleypas I really like the ones by Anne Gracie. Her Merridew and Chance sisters all have a manageable amount of family members. Virginia Heaths families are similar. Her Wild Warriners are restricted to four books.
The families written by Grace Burrowes tend to get unmanageable too. I really enjoyed the first two or three books of her Rogues to riches series but since not so much.
The first family that comes to mind is Mary Balogh’s Bedwyns. I’m a Wulfric fan.
Cady mentioned the Quinn brothers. Thank you for the reminder! I liked the series, although I haven’t read the books in years, I’ll dive into my book shelves/piles to find them. I hope they hold up on re-read. I sort of remember my favorite was the love story with a social worker.
It used to be Lass Small’s Fabulous Brown Family. Look, I was excited when she got to tell Salty and Felicia’s story as a historical, OK?
I really enjoy series about families. I agree with the love for Claire Kingsley’s Miles and Bailey families, Penny Reid’s Winston brothers, and Lisa Kleypas’ Hathaways and Ravenels, I would add Sarina Bowen’s Shipley family from her True North series and the excellent, ongoing Bergman brothers series by Chloe Liese.
I think I really liked family series until I realized that a couple of the authors I was following has started on second and possibly third generations. Oye. Yes, I’m mainly thinking of Lauren’s Cynsters but I think there was another. It’s not that I don’t want to read the rest of the Cynsters either. Eventually. Maybe. It’s probably more that I’m a big rereader of my favorites and it takes too long to repeat a series that goes on and on like that.
I guess as I’ve gotten older series based on “community” appeal to me more which is why my current series to read over and over again is Shelly Laurenston’s Pack/Pride/Honey Badger group. There are a lot of family connections in those books but it’s not like she’s checking off a long list of family members. She jumps around and adds in new characters constantly but it’s always revolving around the same community.
Of course the fact that it’s her whacky shifters doesn’t hurt either. ;-D
Yes, Laurenston books are great fun, both the paranormal contemporaries under that name and the dragon shifter fantasy romances under the G. A. Aiken name. 38 titles on my list of romances with humor (http://www.ccrsdodona.org/markmuse/reading/romwhumorlist.html) are by her.
I originally found Shelly Laurenston when she was doing the Dragon Kin in e-books way before she got a paperback deal. Put it this way, I think I have the original version of the first book under a different title saved somewhere in my files. I liked the dragon books but again I think it was just way too big a family to follow. I say that with some conviction because I think I made it through about 7 or 8 of them before losing interest. Then when she branched off and started the Scarred Earth Saga series I snapped up both the first and second and really enjoyed them. And those books are totally connected to the dragon books because the Barbarian Queen (forget her name) from the Dragon Kin series shows up with several of the dragons at the end of the second Scarred Earth book. Of course if that series goes on too long I’ll probably get tired of it too. Eventually.
I love the families Lisa Kleypas creates. Definitely the Hathaways and the Ravenels. Also the families that came from the Wallflowers like The Westcliffs and Sebastian and Evie’s family.
Honestly, I don’t love family stories, because it is SO unusual to see ones which don’t read like advertisements for sequels. It’s very rare that the families seem to have individuals in them, not stock characters (the bossy, remote older brother; the scandalous take-no-shit older aunt/grandma, the baby sister, blahdy blah). When there is a toxic character, don’t worry; they’ll be completely nerfed by the next book because the author needs another protagonist!
One author whose family really seemed to avoid this and capture the actual tensions of a family was Cecilia London in her Blackshear Family series. Courtney Milan’s Turner series also did a great job, especially capturing tension between the brothers.
Oh, the Davorins in Justine Davis’s Coalition Rebellion series are also well developed, for something sci-fi. I just like it when the families have realistic internal dynamics.
In general, I ignore / dislike families – I am bored with my real life extended family gossip, and am not really interested in Cousin X‘s in laws stories. So finding out during a long scene what is actually relevant to the current plot and what is about catching up with the fourth baby‘ antics of the secondary couple in book 3.? … I skim a lot of Balogh‘s family reunions. Which means that I like her books less the longer a series goes.
But Balogh is an old old love of mine, so I still read her, even though I skim.
I never started the Cynsters, because there are too many and the blurbs do not tell me that they are reliably standalone books. I read the first Bridgerton, strongly disliked the heroine‘s selfish decision and did not read on. Same for Argeneau and many others. I may try one book, and if I do not utterly love it, I will not engage with huge families.
If a scene is in the book, is should be needed in it. So if there is a coffee Klatsch scene, sure, it can be about baby antics, but it should be focused on serving that book, not a mini-update about former couples. I am not a writer, I cannot explain this, but I feel it: an author selling the next book or updating from a former book. It feels different, as if the spotlight went to someone it should not be on. It annoys me every time I notice.
I really liked Jennifer Cruisie‘s families. Not because they sparked endless series, but because they entertained me in their books.
I like how Dani Collins in HP writes family series: carefully crafted interlocking puzzle pieces – each book stands alone, yet the timelines and plotlines interconnect in a way where you understand a small chitchat in one book suddenly when you read the book of another character and it adds dimension. Her Sauveterre siblings are very good that way.
Also, Kelly Hunter does that well. I love her West family, but all her series are good where they have center on family members. Mostly standalone books with a bit of well done connections.
Carsingtons- sure. But as amazing books, not because of the family. Chase never does that annoying thing with the spotlight.
I agree on the Pennyroyal Green and Winston families, and the Carsingtons.
The Cynsters from Laurens spring to mind for length, though my reading is several books behind my purchasing.
Another large family is the Argeneau family from Lynsay Sands (“vampires” based on nanotech from Atlantis).
For a really extended family, the Immortal Guardians by Dianne Duvall are a possibility.
The Landry family in multiple bayou series by Erin Nicholas.
Claire Kingsley’s Miles and Bailey families. They are connected through a half-sister on the Miles side who marries a Bailey brother. Plenty of humor, heart, and heat. These are the type of books that, after the series ends, you want to know what’s going on with the characters into the future. I also love Kate Canterbury’s Walsh family and their various off-shoots.
Another vote for the Walshes, especially the sisters’ books. As for the Baileys’ future, Kingsley is apparently working on a Christmas book? Novella? about them.
On the historical side, I’m very fond of Sherry Thomas’s Fitzhugh books. Venetia, Fitz and Helena are so warm and supportive towards one another.
The Chesapeake Shore (Quinn) brothers by Nora Roberts. I loved that they were not biological brothers, but were totally brothers. They had ups and downs with each other, but totally had each others backs.
My favorite family has to be Loretta Chase’s Carsington brothers. I can never decide if I am most in love with Rupert or Benedict. But fond as I am of some families, I get annoyed when the family is so big that I can never remember who’s who. Especially when they come back on stage all happy and bubbly and indistinguishable.
I am 6000% on Team Benedict. When he licks Bathsheba in the bathroom, well, I think my Kindle caught on fire!
I loved Bathsheba . . . and one of the few examples of an HR that I can think of with a lead character who was a very clear-eyed Mom.
There are lots of Dads (usually looking for governesses) in HR but “moms” always seem to be supporting characters. (Of course, if you’re a mom, you aren’t a virginal miss or spinster . . .)
Bathsheba is a great mom. You tend to find mom heroines more in contemporary romances is my sense.
The HRs that pop to mind with moms, the first husband was a sweet, sort of innocent guy and where sex was not a very present part of the relationship.
I’m thinking of Caroline Linden’s What a Gentleman Wants and Where Dreams Begin by Lisa Kleypas.
Now I have to add these to my TBR!