Romance Novels

[shawnalanne]

Gracie said:

Back in the day when I was but a wee Graciette, the maternal unit thought these would be much more appropriate for my burgeoning puberty than say, Kathleen Woodiwiss.

My mother thought she was more appropriate as well. But at 13 it was the right speed for me.

Does anybody else find it really freakish that Barbara Cartland was Princess Diana's Step-Grandmother?

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"Beneath a Silent Moon" by Tracy Grant was one of the best books in this genre that I've read; "Daughter of the Game" also by Grant, to a lesser degree.
Louise Bagshawe has some really steamy sex scenes in some of her books; some people like romance books for that alone, so I'm dropping her name in here.
Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt were authors my mother thought were appropriate for me as a teen. Ok, if formulaic.
I love, love, love the historical romances by M.M. Kaye. Her mystery/romances were fun, light reads. You probably won't find most of her books in a library, but they're available in used book stores that specialize in out of print material.

[scout]

I used to love Rosemary Rodgers (sp?) novels.For their time, they were hot.I saw some at a garage sale last week...I should have picked them to see if they still held the excitment they held when I was younger.

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How could I forget to mention Marion Chesney? All I know about England in the 1820's (the Ton, and all that) come from her, naturally.

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Oh, I used to love romance novels, but I've kind of lost my taste for them, sadly.

My favorites were Julie Garwood and Jude Deveraux, both of whom have gone downhill, as noted. But I'll always loved Deveraux for A Knight in Shining Armor and Remembrance. What I liked is that her heroines were sometimes rather plain, pretty but average girls. It was only the hero who REALLY thought they were beautiful, or it was their personality that sparked everyone thinking they were gorgeous, when in reality, they were just so so.

Lavyrle Spencer (I can never spell her first name right) is also good, for the unconventional-plain, ordinary folks, often too "old" (forties in romance land) for the genre.

[indygirl]

guinastasia said:

Oh, I used to love romance novels, but I've kind of lost my taste for them, sadly...I'll always loved Deveraux for A Knight in Shining Armor

I always seem to be running after you, just Wording every post you make. I have probably purchased about 5 or 6 copies of AKiSA because I loan it to friends and never get it back. But my all time favorite romance novel is New Orleans Legacy by Alexandra Ripley. I couldn't even finish Ripley's Scarlett, but I love this book.

[foxyepicurean]

Lavyrle Spencer (I can never spell her first name right) is also good, for the unconventional-plain, ordinary folks, often too "old" (forties in romance land) for the genre.

I'm so glad you said that, Guin. I've been a fan of hers for about a dozen years, but no one else seems to have heard of her. She's particularly good at making her characters seem like real people you might meet at the grocery store or the bank. And she has some very tender love scenes.

I haven't enjoyed her most recent novels (Home/Small Town Girl--can't remember the exact title--and That Camden Summer just couldn't hold my attention). But I absolutely love Morning Glory, Twice Loved, Vows, and a few others whose titles escape me. The situations might be a little bit farfetched (presumed dead husband returning to his married-again wife, reclusive woman advertizing for a husband and choosing an ex-con), but the relationships seem so much more realistic (and non-lust-based) than most romance novels can manage.

Edited because punctuation is our friend.

[Auroranorth]

Does anybody else find it really freakish that Barbara Cartland was Princess Diana's Step-Grandmother?

Freakishly appropriate, yes. Either that or the "God has a funny sense of humor" bit.

I read most of her books in junior high/high school. They were dreadful. She had a French marquis referring to a "wildcat scheme" in a book set somewhere around 1800. A maid from the 1870's was talking about a shade of blue being "insipid." Never mind that the maid was probably illiterate!

[foxyepicurean]

Come on, Auroranorth, anachronisms are fun!

I like all the historical novels that have Scottish lairds from the 1300s calling their feisty lasses "sexy." I haven't researched the etymology, but I'm relatively certain that word didn't come into wide usage quite that early.

[Deleted]

I did actually research the etymology of the word sexy(used the internet, so take this with a grain of salt). Apparently, it was first used by D.H. Lawrence. So yeah, the word (in print, at least) is not that old.

When I was younger, I didn't mind reading about 18 year old heroines but these days (at the ripe old age of 25) that really creeps me out. I know that the marrying age was much younger back in the day, but I can't help but think of myself at 18 (and think about how horrified I would have been if some stud had come at me with a gigantic "sword of love" or some such nonsense) and then I become all distracted. For my own selfish reasons, I like the trend towards older heroines in historical novels.

I miss the days when I first started reading romances (about ten years ago). Authors like Mary Jo Putney, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Lisa Kleypas, Adele Ashworth and Laura Kinsale were writing fantastic books while stalwarts like Catherine Coulter, Jude Deveraux and Julie Garwood had just started to decline in quality. Back then, it seemed like there were tons of writers producing good books. These days, I can think of maybe two authors whose books I look forward to. The rest have been disappointing.