Not Your Average Romance

A "typical" romance novel features a strapping, perfect if remote hero and usually a waif-like, innocent of a woman who is just the most beautiful woman to ever live, usually delightfully white. This blog will be examining romance novels without stereotypical heroes and heroines. I will looking at stories that feature: characters of color, LGBT+ characters, disabled characters, neuroatypical characters, characters with chronic illnesses and more.

[bcnnibeau-deactivated20200330]

we really devolved as a society when we stopped using fully painted pictures on romance novels and started using cheap photoshop instead 

[bcnnibeau-deactivated20200330]

case in point

this is a Hell of a downgrade 

[garbage-empress]

worst crime capitalism ever committed was eliminating Horny Oil Painter as a viable career option.

[higglety]

I went down a rabbit hole this summer researching romance novel covers and painting fanart in this style and

this is an EXTREMELY fun style to work in, and also

many of the most iconic romance novel covers you’re probably picturing when you think “classic painted romance novel cover” were produced by one prolific, masterful artist

Her name was Elaine Duillo, and she had a long and extremely productive career spanning from the mid 60’s to her retirement in 2003. She worked mainly in acrylics.

She did illustration work in other genres as well, but she really found her niche in romance novels. She pretty much redefined the aesthetic conventions of the genre, popularizing male models and male nudity and sexualizing men to cater to the female gaze in a way that simply wasn’t the norm before her work. You know Fabio? she’s the one who started using him as a model, and essentially launched his career. And honestly, just look at her work:

magnificent

[sindri42]

Wait shit, she retired in 2003? I think that’s exactly when I started seeing shitty photoshops on all the new romance novel covers.

She was literally carrying the entire industry single-handed and then they just did not replace her.

[assassinregrets]

she just died this year back in july. rip beefcake queen

[bookphile]

As someone who used to do it and now after seeing some really bad consequences, I think the book community needs to stop reviewing and rating books that they haven’t read based on claims they saw someone make. It’s one thing if the person who is cited actually provides textual evidence and the reasoning why they think the book might be harmful or damaging to some communities. Or the author themselves goes on rampage on twitter or other social media platforms saying ugly and harmful things. 

But completely another to see someone make a claim about a book without actually providing any evidence and a ton of people jump to 1-star rate this book on goodreads and other reviewing platforms. I’m not saying that that person could be wrong, but I’ve seen several times now that people make certain claims about books being problematic and then people that read the book are like ‘actually… this isn’t true and that’s not what happens in the book at all’. Several times authors have been forced to reveal their sexualities or plain delete their social media because of bad faith claims that people don’t bother verifying and then flooding the author with hate.

I get that we all want to be good allies in these uncertain times. But for the love of god - we are readers - so read and verify everything you read and don’t just jump on a bandwagon to downrate or maliciously slander an author when none of the information has been verified. 

[sarah-maclean-completist]

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

Anthony Bridgerton & The Character Development He deserved

[chikoriita]

Anthony was the only father they knew.

Anthony, Gregory, and Hyacinth Bridgerton (Bridgerton 2020-)

[acotars]

Books (re)read in 2021:

You think this is a big deal because, no offense, you’ve had a lot of people in your life who claimed to care about you but didn’t act like it. That’s not me. I can cook, and right now, you can’t. So I’m doing it for you because that’s how people should behave; they should fill in each other’s gaps. Don’t think about it too hard.

GET A LIFE, CHLOE BROWN by Talia Hibbert (The Brown Sisters, #1) ★★★★

[emjee]

so you wanted to like Bridgerton

…but you couldn’t get past the gender politics/massive consent issues/rich people/crime of wearing stays with no shift underneath/insert your reason here.

Behold, I present to you this list of some of my favorite romance novels categorized by my own reactions that mayhap you share:

(But first, a note: I have read all of the books on this list, but in some cases it has been quite a while, so I’m not going to list content warnings because I frankly don’t remember all of them. I recommend checking Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, author websites (KJ Charles has her content warnings listed by book), and reviews if you’re concerned. If you DM me about specific books I can also do a quick search and give you an answer.)

(Actually, a second note: Please obtain these books through means that support the authors as well as small business, if possible. If audiobooks are your thing, check out libro.fm, which allows you to support an indie bookstore through digital audio purchases. If you prefer paper, order from an indie if you can–The Ripped Bodice is a romance-only bookstore that has paper copies of authors who can be hard to find in paper elsewhere, like KJ Charles. Where you have to get your ebooks depends on what your device is, but please pay for them. If you can’t or don’t want to, (which is fair!) check and see if you library uses Libby and/or Hoopla, which allow you to borrow ebooks as well as audiobooks. I believe Libby and Hoopla is only available in the US, but I might be wrong.) 

I’m not going to do a summary for every book because this post is already long enough but I’m happy to answer questions about any of them!

If you liked the brotherly shenanigans, but weren’t into the weird controlling thing Anthony had going on:

The Turner Series by Courtney Milan (Unveiled, Untamed, and Unraveled) is about Ash, Smite, and Mark Turner, three brothers who have made it through life so far by relying on each other. If you want schemes and revenge on rich people, start with Unveiled. If you want to read about a law professional who actually cares about justice, start with Untamed. If you want a book-length purity culture takedown, start with Unraveled.

The Brothers Sinister Series by Courtney Milan (The Duchess War, The Heiress Effect, The Countess Conspiracy, and The Suffragette Scandal) listen Courtney Milan’s just really good at brothers and sibling relationships in general. If you want a duke who’s a class traitor, start with The Duchess War. If you want politics and wild fashion, start with The Heiress Effect. If you want friends-to-lovers plus SCIENCE! start with The Countess Conspiracy. If you want the best suffragist newspaperwoman ever to appear in fiction and the forger who falls in love with her, start with The Suffragette Scandal.

If you were very happy to see people of color in an English historical drama, but have some reservations about the way it was handled (see this video about colorism, racebaiting, and implicit bias in Bridgerton):

A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian (this one’s gay)

After the Wedding by Courtney Milan (this one has a bi heroine)

An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles (also gay)

The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan

Wanted, a Gentleman by KJ Charles (also gay)

Unfit to Print by KJ Charles (also gay)

If you were like “none of these members of the aristocracy are sufficiently embarrassed that they’re members of the aristocracy”:

The Soldier’s Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian (also this one’s gay)

A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian (this one has a bi heroine)

The Duchess War by Courtney Milan  

The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan (The Duke Who Didn’t, also falls under this category)

If you thought, “actually I’ve decided I’m not interested in the aristocracy, no matter how embarrassed they are”

Try anything by Rose Lerner, especially Sweet Disorder, True Pretenses, and Listen to the Moon.

If you thought, “dear God please just use your words and talk about sex” (a.k.a. books about women who are DTF):

A Delicate Deception by Cat Sebastian (this one also includes a bi for bi main pairing, and every single main character is queer)

Gilded Cage by KJ Charles (this one has a bi heroine)

Extra shoutout to The Duchess War, listed above, for A+ communication between the two protagonists about the sex they do and don’t want to have.

If you did kind of agree with “reformed rakes make the best husbands”:

The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian (also gay)

Band Sinister by KJ Charles (actually very little reformation goes on here, which makes it better, trust me, and gay as hell)

If you were like “yeah yeah can we get back to Benedict and this artist guy? Is it too much to want them to make out?” (a.k.a. this is the section for queer books I haven’t already mentioned)

Anything by Cat Sebastian and KJ Charles, with honorable mentions for:

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian

The Society of Gentlemen Series by KJ Charles (A Fashionable Indulgence, A Seditious Affair, and A Gentleman’s Position)  - extra shoutout for the research that went into this series and how historical events directly impact the plot and the characters’ decisions, it’s really quite masterful.

I have also heard wonderful things about Olivia Waite’s The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Navigation and The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows, but I haven’t had a chance to check those out for myself yet.

You actually kind of liked the costumes, but you would like to read about historically accurate wild fashion in which everyone wears the proper linings under their stays and corsets really dear Lord is it too much to ask:

The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan. The wild outfits are a plot point, trust me, and have historical basis to boot.

These books are concentrated on nineteenth century England, because that’s when Bridgerton is set. (Courtney Milan’s books are Victorian, not Regency, but they’re going on the list because I said so, Netflix Adapt Courtney Milan Next And Do Not Mess It Up challenge 2k21). If you’re looking for non-England-set romance novels in any of these categories, hit me up and I will see what I can find.

“Hey MG, this list is made up of like…the same four authors.” Yes, alas, I have grown wildly picky about my romance novels in the last few years and this is the core of what I know well enough to confidently recommend.

I’d love to hear what people think of these!

[respectingromance]

Time to Give Chick Lit – and its Onscreen Adaptations – The Credit it Deserves | Elle Canada

Time to give chick lit the credit it deserves and Netflix’s new romantic drama Bridgerton is a step in the right direction.

Rude name aside, I enjoy chick lit – and I wish this piece had not made the mistake of conflating one genre (chick lit or women’s fiction) with another (romance). It kinda undermines the whole thing if you don’t even get the basics right.

Chick lit (or women’s fiction if you’re less of an asshole, although obviously women’s fiction is itself an imperfect name): Stories centered on the heroine’s journey. May end happily or not, but the heroine shows growth by the end.

Romance: Stories centered on a love story between two or more protagonists with an emotionally satisfying ending.

[romanceromp]

So my one annoyance with the costumes was that I felt like Penelope's didn't fit her very well. I feel like the seam under her bust was never in the correct place, and I get it, I'm a busty lady as well, and those empire waist dresses are tough.

The only dress she looked good in and well fitted was the one she wore when she danced with Colin at Vauxhall Gardens.

And then...

I realized they probably did it on purpose. They were the dresses her mother wanted, probably the way her mother had them fitted. And the only time she looked good was when she wore a dress she picked out.

Sometimes I'm quite thick.

[jabberwockypie]

In the books, by the time the books got to Penelope's story, enough time had passed that the two older sisters had been married and Mrs. Featherington had kind of given up on marrying off Penelope, so she was finally able to have more of a say in some of her dresses

I think it could be really neat to see that transition in the costuming on screen.

[not-your-average-romance]

I cannot wait for Penelope to come into her own throughout the seasons. It’s one of the highlights of the books.

[not-your-average-romance]

I am so glad I participated in the Romancelandia auction for the Georgia Run-offs to combat voter suppression and promote fair elections in Georgia.

[djeniiscorner]

“What did you like about playing your character Simon? One of the most exciting things about him is being able to reinterrogate what we find attractive about this archetype of the tall, dark, mysterious, broken romantic hero and really dissect why that broken man is attractive in the first place and where his redemption arc is. Reexamining what the values of masculinity are in the 21st century through a 19th-century lens is very exciting to me”

—

Regé-Jean Page (Simon)

[coolcurrybooks-deactivated20230]

I did another post on this topic last year, but I thought it could use an update with some more books! And yes, the last post had people repeatedly adding on queer books by white people, so I’m a bit salty about it.

Other queer SFF PowerPoints:

Massive queer SFF rec post

Trans SFF

F/F SFF

Bi and Pan SFF

Ace SFF 

I’m not transcribing all the text, but you can find the titles, authors, information on TW, etc beneath the cut.

When possible, I’m linking to my database of queer books. The page for each book includes the synopsis, content warnings under spoiler tags, and links to reviews from queer readers. If it’s not in the queer database at the time of posting (8/24/19), I’ll link to Goodreads instead.

Keep reading

[mylordshesacactus]

okay you know what, while I’m complaining about things on the internet: the way people generally handle book recs on this site is…..bad.

Do you KNOW how many posts ostensibly serving as “rec lists” I’ve seen that are basically just….representation checklists? “Here’s a list of books with LGBT protagonists!” “Here’s a list of books by Black authors!”

[id: “Ah, great! What is it.” gif.]

You gonna tell me what any of these twenty books are, like, about?

The format is a) annoying b) unhelpful and c) doing an active disservice to books you’re clearly trying to get other people to read, but rather more importantly…

d) Reducing the entire concept of literally any book not by white authors about cishet white protagonists down to “basically interchangeable, right?” is not nearly as progressive as you seem to think it is. And yes, many of the book recs are a little more specific–”Here’s a list of fantasy books by Black authors!” “Here’s a list of sci-fi books with trans characters!” but you are all still badly missing the point of a RECOMMENDATION post.

I am ALL FOR making big long lists of great, diverse book recs! But for god’s sake–y’all have GOT to start actually reccing the BOOK instead of the only information provided being “Has a lesbian protagonist!!!” That is not a book rec. It’s just not. It doesn’t tell me ANYTHING I need to know! The very, very best book rec posts I’ve ever seen deign to include things like major trigger warnings, and even that I’ve only seen like, twice.

Please, for the love of god, if you’re making a book rec list, actually rec the BOOKS and not just whatever #representation they have. That means, at the VERY LEAST, including the:

Genre.

GENRE.

What the book is like, about.

The TONE.

If at all possible, the narrative style.

Please note that by “genre” I don’t just mean “But Jo, I did include the genre! I said this was a list of fantasy novels!” That’s nice.

Lord of the Rings is fantasy. So is Percy Jackson. What genre is the fucking book.

Genre: Is it high fantasy? Portal fantasy? Modern mythology? Is it military sci-fi? Is it hard sci-fi, heavy on technical details? Within the sci-fi or fantasy genre–is it a coming-of-age story? Is it a mystery? Is it a political thriller? A gunslinging adventure? A survival story? A magic-academy setting? 

Seriously, Are You Planning To Tell Me What The Book You’re Ostensibly Recommending To Me Is, Like, About? I’m not asking for spoilers. Lord of the Rings is about a young man named Frodo Baggins, the gently-raised nephew and heir of a respected gentleman farmer in the quiet fantasy-British-countryside. When his uncle mysteriously announces that he’s leaving and then disappears at his own birthday party, events are set in motion that leave the rather naive young Frodo in possession of a powerful, deadly artifact–and the Dark Lord who created it has already sent his most powerful servants to reclaim it. 

Boom. Done. Tell me SOMETHING that actually helps me decide whether this is something that I might want to look more into. Are the characters thirty or thirteen? Are they members of ruling houses, or farmers, or space smugglers, or pirates, or Navy officers, or what?

The TONE OF THE BOOK dear CHRIST. I have seen, on actual book rec lists, incredibly hard-hitting, grim, brutal novels presented next to generally-lighthearted, PG modern fantasy. And that’s great! Different things appeal to different people, and tone and genre and content do not dictate one another. But like, tone-wise–is this Star Trek: TOS, or Battlestar Galactica? Is this Return of the Jedi, or Revenge of the Sith? Is this mystery a noir novel, or a Scooby Doo episode? 

I need to know that to know whether I’m interested! If I go in looking for a serious, high-concept, flowery medieval fantasy and you give me Discworld, I’m going to come away unsatisfied even if I would otherwise love Discworld.

Narrative Style: If there’s something interesting about the way the story is told, and you’re trying to pique the interest of a crowd of strangers…maybe like, mention that! Share an excerpt of a particularly representative line, preferably from early in the book!

I saw Gideon the Ninth on SO MANY rec posts and was never interested in the slightest…because it was never presented as more than “Lesbian necromancers in space! What more could you want?!” Well, some fucking information about anything else in the book, for one. My partner got it and started quoting me non-spoiler segments, and the writing style was so DELIGHTFUL, and Gideon’s narration and perspective so much fun, that I devoured the entire book in like three hours.

If you want people to read the books you recommend, you have to tell us things about them.

[biandlesbianliterature]

Bi & lesbian books by Black authors out in 2020! 

Young Adult Contemporary:

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson 

Young Adult Fantasy:

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron 

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn  

Deathless Divide (Dread Nation #2) by Justina Ireland

Young Adult Science Fiction:

The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow

Fantasy:

The City We Became (Great Cities #1) by N.K. Jemisin

Science Fiction:

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

Romance:

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

Things Hoped For by Chencia C. Higgins

Poetry:

Burning Sugar by Cicely Belle Blain

The Gospel of Breaking by Jillian Christmas

dayliGht: Poems by Roya Marsh

Black Sapphic 2020 Releases

[lgbtqreads]

Could you recommend some F/F romance by Black authors? The fluffier the better! (And thank you for everything that you do!)

Absolutely! My big two personal faves are Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole and, a little less fluffy (cw: depression, past suicide attempt) but still really sexy and warm, Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon. Rebekah also has a really fun lesbian vampire sorority series, starting with Better Off Red; you can look into a lot more of her work here: https://lgbtqreads.com/2016/05/03/better-know-an-author-rebekah-weatherspoon/

A few other Black authors who are really prolific at F/F Romance: Yolanda Wallace, Harper Bliss, Fiona Zedde, and Nikki Rashan, and while Katrina Jackson’s “specialty” is usually polyam romance, she does also have an F/F called Small Town Secrets.

Also just wanna mention a few great resources for finding Black F/F, where you can find a lot more recs:

Women of Color in Romance, which is run by the aforementioned Rebekah Weatherspoon: http://www.wocinromance.com/themes/lgbtq/

Sistahs on the Shelf, which is down right now but I believe they plan to come back, so worth bookmarking: http://www.sistahsontheshelf.com/

Black Lesbian Literary Collective: https://blacklesbianliterarycollective.org/

[sarah-maclean-completist]

“I was dismayed to see that of the 15 authors asked to discuss writing about sex in the “Naughty Bits” roundup, none write romance novels — the genre best known for its naughty bits. Romance holds a huge share of the consumer market, with more than $1.4 billion in sales in 2012, so the omission is surprising. The lack of romance authors is especially glaring when one considers that each week, the mass-market, e-book and combined best-seller lists compiled by The New York Times include dozens of books from this far-reaching genre: historical, contemporary, paranormal, erotic and new adult. A romance novelist would have added a special perspective on the questions “Why is writing about sex so difficult?” and “What makes a good sex scene?” because writing about sex is a large part of what we do. And our readers — all 75 million of them — expect us to do it well. Writing about sex is a challenge for the same reason sex is a challenge. Because it’s complicated. Because it doesn’t always make sense and it isn’t always perfect and it’s sometimes awful and it’s sometimes hilarious. But underneath all the clever wordplay, it’s about hope. Hope that someone will see us, and accept us, and perhaps — after all that — choose us. It’s the barest we will ever be. The barest a character will ever be. That’s why it’s difficult. As for what makes a good sex scene, a romance novelist would have told you that when done well and with a skilled hand, the best sex scenes can at once arouse and empower. Sex on the page gives readers the freedom to explore their own sexuality, their own pleasures, their own identities. With hope. And without judgment.”

—

Sarah MacLean, in a letter to the New York Times

“The best sex scenes can at once arouse and empower. Sex on the page gives readers the freedom to explore their own sexuality, their own pleasures, their own identities. With hope. And without judgment.”

[sarah-maclean-completist]

…stayed up half the night…