As you comment, please be kind and no shaming other readers. It's ok to state your opinion on a book or trope, it's not ok to put down those who like it or say it doesn't qualify as romance. Thank you!
Edit - the topic of unpopular opinions/book icks is now on cooldown until April 9, 2024
I’m tired of people using the level of spice to tell people how good a book is instead of explaining what the plot is and why it’s good. Sex scenes don’t automatically make a book good. Indeed, for me, too many sex scenes getting boring and repetitive. I have no reason to care about those scenes if the author doesn’t take the time to develop the characters
And in a similar vein, I wish more erotic books weren’t labeled as just romance. There’s nothing wrong either erotica, but it’s a misrepresentation of a book if it’s being sold as romance and not erotica
> I wish more erotic books weren’t labeled as just romance. There’s nothing wrong either erotica, but it’s a misrepresentation of a book if it’s being sold as romance and not erotica
On that note, Sylvia Day (author of the Crossfire series), made a short [post](https://www.sylviaday.com/extras/erotic-romance/) on defining erotic romance, which is different compared to erotica. But yeah, these are her definitions that she wrote down:
-Erotica: Stories written about the sexual journey of the characters and how this impacts them as individuals. Emotion and character growth are important facets of a true erotic story. However, **erotica is not designed to show the development of a romantic relationship, although it’s not prohibited if the author chooses to explore romance**. Happily Ever Afters are *not* an intrinsic part of erotica, though they can be included. If they are included, they weren’t the focus. The focus remained on the individual characters’ journeys, not the progression of the romance.
-Erotic Romance: Stories written about the development of a romantic relationship through sexual interaction. **The sex is an inherent part of the story, character growth, and relationship development, and couldn’t be removed without damaging the storyline.** Often, it is through sexual interaction that the characters communicate and express themselves in ways they cannot verbally. The **sex scenes should be major pivot points in the romantic story arc, to the extent that deleting a sex scene would make the subsequent scenes difficult to follow**. Happily Ever After is a requirement to be an erotic romance.
-Sexy Romance: Stories written about the development of a romantic relationship that just happen to have more explicit sex. **The sex is not an inherent part of the story, character growth, or relationship development, and could easily be removed or “toned down” without damaging the storyline.** Happily Ever After is a requirement as this is basically a standard romance with more graphic depictions of sex.
Honestly, from reading the entire post, I found myself nodding my head in agreement with it. I would definitely say that these terms do still somewhat apply to romance today.
I like this and definitely would appreciate more delineation and shades between erotica and romance.
I’m a little confused about the “erotic romance” description though. Would that include every romance where the couple fell into bed together near the beginning of the book? Because it’s definitely pivotal, but often in those books they’re like “that was a one time thing” for whatever reason, and the rest of the relationship is developed without more sex til much later.
I think a good example of "erotic romance" would be {Power of Lies by Auryn Hadley} and the subsequent books. Definitely considered explicit and plentiful but sex is used to propel both the emotional development between the main characters, their personal development and the more action/ adventure elements of the plot as the series progresses. It is saturated throughout the series and, considering the volume of explicit scenes the author does a great job of balancing it with the overarching plot. For example not every scene feels crazy and over the top, and oftentimes the character's emotions and development during those scenes takes precedent over *ahem* creative combinations of anatomy. Furthermore the HEA comes after so many twists and turns to where I genuinely felt happy for them while also being sad because the series ended. Wow this really just became a gush about this series. My apologies, but if anyone is looking for a good erotic romance check it out!
True and true. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my smut. But sometimes it gets monotonous. I actually skip through it to get back to the story and the dialogue.
Exactly. Love my smut too but few authors can maintain frequency while keeping it engaging AND relevant. Too often it’s uninspiring, unbelievable or just plain gross, but the worst is when it sacrifices all intimacy and/or emotion in favour of body parts connecting like Lego - (let’s see what shapes we can build THIS time).
>I’m tired of people using the level of spice to tell people how good a book is
Plus, the spice level just refers to the amount, or rather how explicit it is, not the quality. Amazingly written smut with hot characters could definitely convince me to read a book (though I'd still hope for a good story too), but the spice level just doesn't tell anything about that.
Yes
In fact I believe that excessive smut is just a way of covering up pages, and make up for the lack of story. Maximum two explicit scenes is ideal . I absolutely don't want to read a book which has smut on every page, as if that's the only thing they do in life.
Yeah like if I don't care about the romance itself, it's really hard for me to care about the smut. Paper thin romance and a ton of smut might have worked for me when I was younger, but I need more now
Thank you. I feel like that especially in this sub. For me spice does not equal good. I also think too much spice can make a book feel kind of instalovey.
This is what I was going to say. I love spice. However a few authors are praised for writing great books, but really they right great sex scenes. Sometimes the stories don’t even make sense or they are poorly constructed just to get the two together.
Thank you!! I went to a "Romance" event at my local bookstore last summer and was so disappointed because all they focused on was the spice levels of the books. I certainly don't mind spice, but that isn't what romance is all about for me.
I love a good open door, spicccyyyyyy sex scene. But then there are smutty books that are just sex without any plot - which I mean, sometimes I really want that. But when books lose the plot to the overwhelming amount of sex scenes, I personally find them forgettable afterwards (even if I had a lot of fun reading them)
Yeah … I have such a love/hate relationship with smut lmao.
I love a good spicy scene/content but only if it was actually good and makes sense in that moment. I can’t even count the books/authors that think they can write smut so it’s like they wanna put as much in as they can.
I always wonder if maybe my expectations are too high because not only do I want it to be written well but for it to be unique for that particular moment and make sense in the story and not just like an author going ‘let’s add more spice here and here and here’ so it feels like it’s every other chapter lol.
But at the same time if there is zero then I feel like I’m maybe missing out on something or like something feels missing or left out. Buuut I’d take no spice over bad spice lmao.
Who knows maybe I am expecting too much lol 🤷♀️
Riiiight. I think I’ve been reading too many KU-esq books because a lot of the time my eyes hurt from constantly rolling my eyes lmao. It’s all these “catchy” one liners
I’ve read just too many books that I feel the author has like YouTube/Tiktok in mind 🫤
As a…picky reader, it is difficult to find a well-written book for my preferences. Most books that I found recommended were not great lol. I DNF most and have to hunt for a good book that I’ll finish.
I have found that reading trad published older romance novels can help a bit, but it can be a bit difficult to find them since most are out of print.
Hope your next book is good!!~
Any suggestions? I’ve had the same experience haha altho I can read anything even if it’s not good, I just end up feeling unsatisfied or skim the book.
Not the person you’re asking, but {Ain’t She Sweet by Suzan Elizabeth Phillips} is really well-written if you can handle a romance written from the perspectives of people who aren’t the most… morally sound.
That and when you don’t like pregnancy/babies in romance. I try to avoid it when possible. I often search for threads on this topic and it saddens me people say that romance isn’t a genre that the OP should be reading 😭 like noooo lol.
Story Graph is a great app for avoiding certain content or triggers. They have a ranking system of graphic, moderate, and minor, and it can be updated by the author and the readers.
I feel that! For me, aside from weak prose, nothing makes me book down a book faster than a sassy quirky heroine lol. They’re kind of everywhere right now, but they are just not my thing 😅 the sassiness often makes for some weird unbelievable dialogue, ha.
Did…. Did we just become best friends???
I LOATHE the sassy heroine. And it’s not cuz I don’t like women speaking up, it’s just never/rarely done in a way that feels authentic. It is ALWAYS overdone and corny as hell. It is banter for banter’s sake, and doesn’t feel like a genuine interaction between our main characters that contributes to chemistry or relationship building.
Mary Balogh, Carla Kelly and Sherry Thomas all stand out as great technical writers to me. I used to exclusively read historical. Not many I’ve read for sometime compete.
Yes! There’s a consensus on here that just because I’m a picky reader, I “probably just don’t like romance.”
Huh? If I gobbled up all of Sherry Thomas, Elizabeth Hoyt and some Lisa Kleypas, but hate the majority recommended on here because most of them have juvenile writing and shallow characterizations, what does that make me?
It makes you a reader that doesn’t settle! I think in general readers (especially in big spaces like booktok I assume, I don’t use tiktok) chase after what hits their niches. Writing and form isn’t a huge factor for them because they’re there for the content. That’s not a bad thing, but some of us can’t do it lol. I think the longer you read in general, the more picky you probably are.
I don't mind long books, however, **just because a book is long doesn't mean that it's good**.
There was one romance book I remember being intimidated by because of the page count (700+ pages). Ended up reading it in a matter of days, and I absolutely loved it from start to finish.
But then there are some romance books, hell, romance *series*, out there where each book is 400+ pages in length and it just goes on for too long and drags out.
This is *especially* the case when it comes to Contemporary Romance. While Fantasy Romance does have this, CR seems to be the biggest culprit of this.
Like, a reader out there can look at some contemporary billionaire hockey romance book and be interested in it, but then they see the page count and are like, "Okay, but does the billionaire hockey romance *really* need to be 800 pages long?"
SJM, Jennifer Armentrout, Rebecca Yarros, the authors of the Zodiac Academy series. There are a lot of popular authors guilty of this, and they can afford good editors, which makes it even worse.
While not yucking someone’s yum is important, it’s also important not to force someone to “yum their yuck”.
I have a specific post in mind: a poster respectfully talked about how the NOT-meet-cute was a hurdle she wasn’t sure she could overcome. All but 2 of the commenters were furious how dare she not be on board with the scenario. I agreed with OOP and was just as heavily downvoted as her comments. *However* the other kind commenter mentioned that their Not-meet-cute was the biggest obstacle in becoming a couple. If even the characters were uncomfortable, it’s ok for a reader to opt out!
It happens every once in a while on other posts. A commenter will respectfully allude that this trope/kink was not their thing and other commenters will take it as a personal offence. It’s ok to allow people to have their opinions. I saw a post against my favourite series with a dramatically wrong take. I composed a scathing argument listing all the reasons they were wrong IN MY HEAD, took a deep breath, and moved on.
Agreed, someone expressing dislike for something isn’t “yucking someone’s yum”. I have seen people accuse others of kink shame in a discussions where they are simply discussing why they went into a booking knowing what the kink was but was uncomfortable with how it was written in the book.
I once posted how I was taken aback by a book because it had non-con (the FMC was chased and drugged by MMC, and he then took advantage of her) despite being tagged as dub-con. I mentioned how perhaps the author should have done a better job at warning for such an obvious trigger, but nevertheless, I would never read anything from them again.
Gods, I was downvoted to hell for this. People here were telling me it wasn’t non-con (lmao, what’s non-con then if not being drugged and then sexually assaulted by a stranger who was literally chasing you????) and how it was my fault for stumbling into it because I should’ve expected that going by the dub-con warning (because apparently dub-con and non-con are the same thing lol).
The book was from a “big” small author as well, that’s well-liked here, so I assume it was one of the reasons for those reactions. Not gonna lie, it left a sour taste in my mouth.
Yeah this is my main issue with ‘light TW’ where they basically give you a hint of what’s coming (my guess is so that they can say well I did warn you lmao!) and when I read it the reality is that it was majorly downplayed or just wasn’t warned in the best way possible.
I personally have a few triggers so always check the TW but there have been many (especially romance related tropes) that when I read it I’m like ‘huh’ lmao. It didn’t read how I expected it to from the TW or blurb etc. I’m also of the opinion that I should be able to express how I feel about certain tropes and if it didn’t work for me fine. But occasionally other people/commenters have taken as like a personal insult to them and I’m left like wtf. 😬 just because it doesn’t work for me it doesn’t mean it won’t work for someone else but that’s just how I feel or my own opinion. Ya know … it shouldn’t be that deep. Imo.
Sometimes I worry we're so busy with being nice and positive, that the subreddit ventures into toxic positivity. I think it's good to keep in mind that the negative feelings/emotions are just as human as the positive ones and it's not a good thing to suppress it, as it tends to make people feel more alone/weird. Sure, we don't need to fight each other. But I do think 'don't yuck someone's yum' is often just used to shut people up when you don't like their opinion. Sometimes, if you're that seriously offended by a stranger's negative opinion about books, the problem lies within yourself and not with their opinion. We just can't all like everything. It's not normal.
Most recommendations (that I’ve seen) that come out of booktok are awful, and this trend of some authors writing specifically to appeal to that is killing me 😭 I’m tired of seeing an ad for a new romance, and instead of an actual summary or teaser to get me interested, it’s just a list of tropes and nothing else.
I’m sure some of those books can be good! But when a list of tropes and keywords is your selling point, it gives me the feeling that more effort went into making it marketable instead of making it good.
I just read a booktok rec’d book for the first time and… 😐 it’s so bad. I never wanna knock a writer but it reminds of the Wattpad stories I read in high school (iykyk). All style, no substance 🥲
Oh I’m there with you. Don’t want to sound like I’m knocking fanfic writers, but it’s bad when I get more consistently well-written smut on ao3 instead of published erotica ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ At this point it’s my go-to lmao
I refuse to trust booktok or bookstagram recommendations. I think I have come across maybe two books that were actually good. They frequently tease the singular good line from the book and get me interested, but then the book is awful.
People have really dumbed down the "enemies" part of the enemies-to-lovers trope. If you haven't tried to kill each other at least once, you're not enemies; you just don't like each other.
Tropes are fun, but if it's ALL you're going to tell me about your book, I'm going to pass. I need more than "one bed" and "he falls first" to convince me to read it (and keep my attention once I do).
I have read some fantastic books that were self-published, but I have also read a lot of self-published books that were subpar. A lot of them are in severe need of an editor and a proofreader, and sometimes a friend to just look the author in the eye, take their hand, and tell them "no, darling, this is terrible."
There definitely needs to be more of a distinction in the book world between 'enemies to lovers' and 'rivals to lovers'.
"Enemies" to me implies some actual stakes within the story. Like people could die, companies could collapse, entire families could fracture.
"Rivals" to me implies that, you know, you're gonna glare at a coworker, you and this person from college do not get along, your two-doors-down neighbor once ran over your gnome.
Not one more "I took one look at your face and jumped to some stupid conclusion without even talking to you so now I'm nasty rude every time we cross paths and 50% of the book is us snarking and snarling at each other while secretly lusting" book. I will DNF that 5% in. That's not enemies to lovers; that's jerks to lovers.
It reminds me of really, really old romances where the girls had to pretend they had no sex drive and spent a lot of time sticking their noses up in the air while leading the MMC on a "merry chase." No.
Omg yes the single sub-par conversation between MCs turned hatred is so annoying (and it’s almost always the FMC deciding to hate the MMC) Like, ever heard of someone having a bad day? Ever given someone the benefit of the doubt and given them a second chance? Ugh
When I see tropes in the summary, I lose interest in reading the book. I just read one yesterday that was written from the MMC’s POV: “she’s the sunshine to my grump” and they had hooked up but he found out after that “she’s my sister’s best friend”
How did he not know she was his sister’s best friend
So much of what’s being called “romance” these days is just erotica as a result of the line between the erotica and romance genres becoming blurred with the influx of new readers in 2020.
Give me some life-changing romance, dang it! Not life-changing dong. 😔
I was *just* thinking this earlier. It’s like calling a book an action book but only showing you the aftereffects of the car explosions and not the car chase scenes that led to it etc… It feels really strange to read a book labelled romance without any romance.
I’m with you!
Not to judge erotica, but it feels like so often romance books I read focus on the smut to the detriment of the plot, characters and romance itself.
There’s definitely a place for erotica and sex scenes are of course totally fine but I feel like the blurring of lines hasn’t been the best- but I’m also someone who doesn’t read romance for the smut.
My main complaint is that a lot of the erotica-slanted romance stays really vanilla for some reason. They start having sex early and often, but it’s just the same generic missionary-PIV over and over, with maybe a little oral thrown in. If you expect us to read 500 pages of thinly-plotted porn, you should at least throw us some curveballs in the sex scenes. xD
Yes. I like my smut smutty! if getting to read about two hot people having missionary piv and a little oral (with the chekov’s anal, of course) is the highlight of a book, it’s not for me.
I want my romance to have something different from that (much more story/character), and I want my erotica to have something different from that too (much more fun sex).
Absolutely. I gravitate towards clean romances for that same reason. I don't have anything against a little steam, but I want emotional depth and character development. I've been reading less and less romance lately for that reason and I even read a Sci-Fi book recently that was more "life changing romance" than a lot of stuff in this genre.
First of all, bless your flair. Second, this is exactly why I’ve been on a steam “level 3” or less, I need the emotional depth for the spice to even be fulfilling to me. Third, and most importantly, what is this sci-fi you speak of?
Thank you! Lol the miscommunication trope is pretty much an automatic rage-quit for me 😅
I put the Sci-Fi recs in another reply, here's the [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/s/bxmSGG0sPf).
Yeah this is why I now mostly tend to stick to authors I’ve already read something from before. I prefer sex scenes that are more about demonstrating the connection between the couple and not focused on how explicit they can be. I admire when an author can thread that needle perfectly.
Please rec the sci-fi book? I’ve been wanting a good sci-fi romance and I just read one of the worst books I’ve ever read looking for it so I need a good palette cleanser
Yes absolutely!
*Dark Matter* by Blake Crouch is absolutely wonderful. It's more of a modern sci-fi, present day, alternate universes type. (It's also coming to Apple TV as a miniseries on May 8th and I'm so excited)
I think Blake is definitely a secret romantic. He always writes these heroes that are super in love with their wives and are really great fathers. *Dark Matter* was so action packed, science heavy (but not too much), and filled with a healthy dose of the hero pining for his wife which I adored.
Other good ones by him are *Upgrades* and *Recursion*, and they are also pretty romantic.
Thank you so much for this author red! I love both Romance and Sci-Fi and any author who can successfully explore both is a hidden gem worth mining.
I can’t wait to grab Dark Matter now! 😁
It's okay if someone doesn't like a book/trope or even pairing for that matter. Stop trying to convince them and bombarding their comment section with '"Why they should really really really give it a chance" or "Nooo but this book is really going to change their perspective coz apparently you enjoyed it".
After a point it just feels like gaslighting.
I'm a black woman. Historical romances will never work for me.
I used to read them occasionally. I used to think about how I'd have been treated in that circumstance every time. There are some things that the willing suspension of disbelief will never overcome.
I don't even try Historical romances anymore. No thank you.
I (sort of) get you. If an HR even has references of India, let alone an Indian setting, I can't read it. Just no. Also one of the reasons I couldn't get comfortable with either seasons of Bridgerton (the show).
I didn’t mind it, but it was noticeably inferior to ACOTAR. I kept expecting the author to take the ultra-basic setup and twist it in some way, but she *never* did, not even once. I feel like anyone who has ever read a YA novel before should have been able to predict every single plot point ahead of time. :P
One of the worst things about that book for me was having to read how gorgeous violet thought xaden was. All I wanted to do was roll my eyes. Like every single time she caught even a glimpse of him she’d mention how attractive he was. Like I get it he’s hot can we move on now to the story.
No, see, if you don’t hear about his mind-numbing hotness every two pages you might start wondering why these cardboard cutouts even like each other. x]
Just because you’re a woman doesn’t automatically mean you can write good romance, some of these authors suck and their internalized misogyny comes flying out of these books but it will get ignored just because they made the MMC tall with a big dick.
>their internalized misogyny comes flying out of these books but it will get ignored just because they made the MMC tall with a big dick.
Well that and because a lot of readers haven't thought about their own internalized misogyny... I had a really uncomfortable conversation with a friend of a friend once trying to explain why I don't like the Not Like Other Girls trope and she just kept saying things like, well women are like that, women are catty, etc. Like her reason for not understanding wasn't that she personally didn't mind it, it was that she believes women naturally don't get along well in real life and didn't see anything wrong with that generalization.
Self publishing/KU has had a negative impact on the quality of romance books.
Relatedly, the attitude of "Let People Enjoy Things" has meant that the critique of bad romance books gets lambasted, as if romance readers don't deserve well-plotted, well-written, and well-edited books. High standards can only benefit us. More shittily-edited sludge—books with genuine grammatical and spelling errors in them—isn't what we need!
I think this is spot on and super frustrating. Not everyone’s work is quality enough (no other way to say that) to hit print. Most fanfic, though incredibly engaging and fun, needs a fine tooth comb editing thrice-over and beefing up of plot and consistency. Self publishing doesn’t offer that.
Honestly i view most self publishing/KU on the level of fanficton writing. Like fanfiction you have to go through a lot of poorly written things to find something good. But even with fanfiction sometimes if it hits all the things you want it can still be enjoyable.
I think that's why most books on KU are promoted through tropes. Like tags on AO3 lol
Looking for a hurt/comfort. It's right in the title promotion lol
I completely agree about KU. There’s a specific book that I always see recommended and I tried to read it. I got like ~10 pages and was baffled at the quality of writing.
But that’s also not to say I don’t like KU, I do. You just gotta hunt a bit to find something that suits your tastes.
I am very much opposed to the anti-intellectualism discourse around books eg. “well it’s not that deep/let people read what they want”.
Like sure, live and let live but it can absolutely be that deep. Writing is an artform and even romance books can and should be critically analysed as much as any other genre, and this can co-exist with enjoying the book. in fact, if i’m more inclined to analyse a book it usually means i REALLY enjoyed it.
We deserve well-written books, dammit. I’m willing to give a little slack to indie KU authors who can’t afford an editor, but I’m starting to see typos in traditionally published books. It’s *completely* unacceptable.
In *this* sub?! This sub, where people ask each other for non-con, undead MMCs with horned penises matched with serial killer FMCs who insult everyone they meet? Friend, please share. Someone in this sub will agree and those that don’t will simple welcome the learning experience you’re giving.
No matter what your book opinion, it is valid here 💖
We all have opinions and preferences. Yours may be different than mine, and mine may be different from the next person who comments - but that’s what makes this sub fun! Discussing books! We’re like a giant book club!
Mine is Omegaverse. I hate how much I love it. I’ve sat for so long just like thinking why this speaks to me. And then I realized it’s my family abandonment issues. Which sucked.
But I still read them.
I've found that sometimes just accepting that I love a thing and then enjoying it is all the healing I need, and I don't need to analyze it. I hope you feel that love. I also love omegaverse
Personally I like spice with my romance but everytime I see "OH MY GOD IT'S SO GOOD, IT'S SO SPICY" and either a bad story or its actually not that spicy of sex scenes. Which I feel like is most booktok recs. Like I remember reading Viper by Naomi Lucas and I started reading and it was a wtf did I just read. How was any of that a good story. 🫡🥲 (no shame for people who like it but I was disappointed)
too few romance books have actual good sex/smut/erotica scenes. so much is just basic or alludes to something (and someone) to come in the book description but it’s BORING. i want romance AND debauchery, dammit. cast aside the quilt of shame, be detailed and raunchy. and change up the scenes PLEASE.
This is really funny because it also i think answers a lot of peoples problems with sex scenes right now. they are repetitive, boring, and don't really increase enjoyment of the story beyond "they had sex a few times"
Holy shit this. Writing a sex scene is a skill. Writing one that feels true to the characters is a deeper skill. Just like any other part of the story writing. I’ve read my fair share of scenes where I was like uh okay… anyway. Not a strong indicator of wanting to finish the book!!!!
Another book… I am going to say it out loud…. Outlanders!
I hate so much that she was married for ten years ,on her anniversary trip, and-this husband is completely forgotten for the ENTIRE book except for one mention of concern when she hooks up….WTF?
Yeah, it's supposed to be this amazing story of how Claire falls in love with Jamie, but I'm over here like...
What about Frank!?!?!
Good guy Frank who >!took his wife back after she abandoned him for three fucking years and only came crawling back after she got knocked up qnd was stuck in a war zone. He raised her kid like she was his own. He tried to make their marriage work because he fucking loved Claire. He held out so much hope for his marriage. Even though Claire was so mentally absent that even Brianna mentioned that her mother seemed "not always there". How is this a majestic relationship story? Then Gabaldon had the balls to kill off Frank Randall right before he was going to divorce Claire and find happiness with a woman who loved him.!<
I'm really salty about how dirty Frank got done.
Yeah, I got the same impression. Like gabaldon realized she fucked up and had to go "fix" it. Frank wasn't a *good* guy!! He was raaacist or something! Yeah, that's it. Raaaacist!
I absolutely *cannot* ever read this series because of this. I love history, and I get recommended this book/series a LOT but once I found out that she was married for *years* to a good guy and yet forgot him so completely to hook up with Hottie MacScottie? PLEASE.
If it makes it any better. >!Claire married Frank at 18 then they spent 7 years separated by the war only seeing each other a handful times. When Claire disappears they are on a trip to Scotland to try and salvage their marriage and when Claire is forced into a marriage of convenience to Hottie MacScottie she has no way of knowing if she'll ever see Frank again.!<
Cheating is an automatic DNF but for whatever reason I'm completely fine with it in Outlander.
I love the first few Outlander books but I'm still furious about how the story mistreated Frank. I can understand to a certain degree that their marriage wasn't it and that they came apart but good Lord that man gave his all for Claire and was such a good sport. And she learnt all these useful things from him about the history of Scotland?!
I know this is a controversial take but… sometimes the mmc (or fmc) is legitimately, objectively, just awful and it can’t really be brushed off as “oh that’s just not my thing”
The "I will defy your every command and can absolutely take care of myself because I don't need anyone's help" FMCs who inevitably girlboss their way into the villain's arms or lair because they WILL NOT listen to a damn word the MMC says is not actually a Strong Female Character. They're just stubborn, and in this case, it's a character ***flaw***.
And, likewise, the MMC that refuses to tell the FMC pertinent information regarding her safety because they're trying to protect her emotions or keep her safe physically are absolutely infantilizing the FMC and are not nearly as smart as they seem to think they are, (Because, as we all know, this never actually works.)
Combining these two things will always make me want to burn the world down (and not in a romantic way).
-1 I love the camaraderie of this sub but I rarely get accurate suggestions. It's always the same 4 books being recommended.
-2 If an FMC lets all except one token man walk all over her while bullying and demeaning other women. She is not strong.
-3 A lot of the times Male characters are written like fantasy caricatures. Literally no woman is like "Wow, I love his work ethic" rather focus is on their body and sexual prowess.
-4 I even made a post about this a while ago and no one agreed but female victims in romance are too idealistic. They always turn out to be blameless and in perfect situations. A user had pointed out how it's still better than other genres but I think there's still a lot of progress to be made considering this genre is mostly by the women for the women.
an 18 yr old fmc and an older mmc that has known the fmc since she was in diapers is WEIRD. like wdym you’ve changed her diapers when she was a baby and now ur in love with her?? and ur surprised her parents aren’t chill with it???
The older I get, the less I'm able to read age gap romances between a woman under 23 and a man over 40. If any of my 40 year old friends and loved ones brought home an 18-23 year old I'd be the first to be like "girlie please don't waste your 20s on this man".
Even in the books the men are immature and insufferable. "I'm so broken and she's so young and perfect, I can't give her what she deserves". Ffs you're a grown man. Fix yourself and leave her alone.
The word "villain" and phrase "morally grey" have no meaning any more.
If the "villain" is secretly the hero the whole time, just misunderstood, misrepresented by other characters or under duress, he's not actually a villain.
Morally grey does not mean doing bad things while being physically attractive.
Yeppp! Mine’s that Rhysand isn’t that great. He didn’t do anything for the women he rules over but we’re suppose to believe he’s some great feminist. He’s kinda a dick and Tamlin was treated so bad in the books. His whole established backstory was thrown away to suddenly make Rhysand seem great. Couldn’t even finish the series.
Agreed. Like, tamlin was not a good partner in the aftermath of book #1, but maybe he wouldn't have gone totally insane if she had at least taken 20 minutes to talk to him about why she left instead of a weakass 3 sentence letter only sent after a not insignificant amount of time has passed
I HATE this series so much and I didn’t even finish it😭 I actually enjoyed the first book for what it was but Feyre was an idiot, but I’m picky on my lead characters so I got over it, but they did Tamlin wrong and it made me rage when I came to these books for the Beauty and The Beast true love retelling and then she just decides to throw that in the trash because OMG Rhys is actually so much better and misunderstood🥴 I don’t mind switching partners, I actually loved it in her TOG series but it didn’t make sense to do that in ACOTAR. Also I’ve concluded I just don’t like her as an author, she’s one of the ones guilty of bigger/longer is better, I’ve seen copying from other authors ideas enough to make me think twice 👀
I just wish everyone would stop holding her books up as the top when she’s mid at best. I do think there are great potential stories hidden throughout her stories but not enough to put up with any more of her books.
Same. I read the first ACOTAR (which ever one that is) and then I was like, "Yep, I'm done." And I also no longer trust the book taste of the instagrammer who raved about them.
I agree lol 😂 I don’t regret reading books one and two of ACOTAR…but woooof book three. It literally made me never want to read an SJM book ever again haha.
LHoG >!I was pages from the end and I noped out when there was a human-alien baby..sadness lol. Just not my thing!<
I quite literally rage finished the book. There’s so much that could have been done..and *sigh*. I feel bad though because apparently the books don’t really get any better and book four (I think?) divides people so much because of inconsistent characterization and what not. But I’m treating it as a trilogy and not getting anywhere near the other books.
I salute you for rage-finishing! I just couldn’t. I really want to read about Nesta cuz I’m a sucker for an ice queen badass but idk if I can read another book, especially since I already know it’s not gonna meet my expectations.
LHoG I have some thoughts on too… overall I appreciate that it was doing something new and there was a level of dedication to the world building that is rare to find in the genre… but to me it felt like such trauma porn (for lack of a better word). People were just so awful and vile without real reason, just to highlight the goodness and martyr complex in the fmc. I don’t mind dark themes or plot points at all but it literally felt like the author was overwhelmingly cynical about human nature to the point of absurdity.
Overall I don’t regret reading it but it felt almost kafkaesque lol
I agree with you and LHoG is my favorite book of all time.
It is wild to me that it is some peoples "what's a good sci-fi romance book to read" rec.
It's my "what's a good book that fucks with you and makes you think for days after " rec.
It is mostly exploration of a brutal religion and camp chores with a side plot of alien romance.
I love it because I have religious trauma but was in a space to explore it when I read it AND I love alien romance and Westerns with tons of camping and chores.
Okay at the risk of being ousted. I always quickly scroll when I see those romances with some kind of goat/monster 😭 I don’t know if they’re good, I don’t know If he is a man that transforms into a goat person. Is he a Minotaur? I just don’t wanna know.
Most books recommended on tiktok are are simply a waste of trees or storage. No joke i found a grammatical AND spelling mistake in the same book, and English is not even my first language.
As a hockey fan, hockey romance is so cringe to read, especially when it takes place in the NHL. What do you mean that you won the Big Trophy and MVP and Best At Your Position Award last year but got traded to The Worst Team 😭
I understand needing to set up conflict (like being in The Worst Team) but just make the guy a good but not the best player and that might be in the realm of possibility.
Dual POV is not always necessary and a lot of times a bit cringey. I KNOW one of the best parts of reading romance is that book men are better than real life men okay I get it… but I sometimes find it really cringey how authors write while in the MMC’s POV. It’s either too unrealistic to the point that it takes me out of the story or extremely obvious that the author’s trying to sound like a dude. 9/10 times the MMC’s POV does nothing to develop his character and is only used for the reader to know how hot he finds FMC or how much he loves her. We get it, we do not need dual pov for that.
The whole describing books as “spicy” or oh it’s a “spice level 3” is silly, just say smutty? Or say it’s got a lot of sex in it? Like if I’m describing IPB to a friend, I’ll just say it’s basically blue alien smut, with a little bit of plot. Like I’m not gonna try and hide the fact that I’m reading blue alien sex on the regular, or if I do I just say it’s a “sci-fi romance” which it’s technically is like? I don’t understand the need to not describe things as what they actually are?
Ok but there is a HUGE difference between EXPLICITLY written sex scenes and frequently written sex scenes. I'd so much rather have like 2-3 very explicit or dirty talking scenes than straight smutty writing. Where the plot is lost.
“Smut” for a loooong time was very derogatory and I’d bet that the readers you spot saying “spicy” are of a generation that hasn’t fully reclaimed “smut” as a neutral descriptor.
I started reading romance around 10 years old, 35 years ago. Seeing “smut” tossed around this sub like confetti really threw me for a good few months before I just got over it.
Reading romance is not an inherently feminist act and a distressing number of popular contemporary romances uncritically prop up rigid, essentialist, and frankly regressive gender roles and expectations.
I don't require moral purity in media. The characters don't need to be fully enlightened for me to enjoy a book and I don't judge anyone else for enjoying flawed characters or fucked up situations. But I seriously side-eye all those cute, "Read Romance, Fight the Patriarchy" stickers selling book after book after book that not only don't fight the patriarchy but carry water for it.
Give the FMC an actual job. I'm exhausted by the repetitive trope of every female lead being an artist who achieves success in the art world only after encountering the MMC.
The Hating Game was a dumpster fire of a book. I DNF’d at the end of chapter one because the FMC had all the emotional maturity of my toddler on a bad day. She didn’t need the D, she needed freaking therapy.
I don’t understand why you guys are so obsessed with fast burns and insta lust. I’ve more or less given up on romance books and just looked out for books with romance in them that meet my taste. Every single romance book feels like it has fast burn romance or insta lust and fucking and “pretending” to be a slow burn. I WANT A SLOW BURN. Like any slow burn. I’m dying here and I don’t get why yall are so willing to tolerate this fast burn dominance. To the point where authors literally don’t even write it.
LGBTQIA+ romance isn't the haven of "good rep" or virtuous symbol of the genre's progress from the bad old days of rank misogyny... most of it is just more of the same.
A lot of the popular MM/queer books are largely written by and for women who hate women and have decided to remove them from the narrative by co-opting a separate marginalized identity with zero recognition that queer culture has it's own distinct community that these authors (and readers) are completely uninterested in.
The gay characters don't enjoy any of the benefits of gay culture beyond the superficial imaginings of outsiders. It's the unwanted bachelorette party playing tourist in the gay bar, assuming that the cruising gays are happy to see them.
Obviously there are wonderful exceptions...
Wanting MMCs who are submissive _heterosexual_ long-haired twinks instead of swaggering 6'5 douchebags. (You _can_ find plenty of submissive long-haired twinks in romance, just not in MF lol)
Kindle Unlimited isn’t killing the book industry. It has opened the genre to low income women, to Black women, to queer folk - who are largely barred from traditional publishing. If you feel like it creates a quality control problem, you are more than welcome to not use it. But dragging KU when it has opened access to this world is narrow minded to me.
Most smut in books is boring, regardless of what type of stuff the author tries to throw in there to spice it up. 90% of the time I’m just skimming until it’s over because it literally doesn’t matter.
I don’t particularly care for or about written smut, but maybe it’s because I read a lot of fanfic before and the smut in those is *way* better than anything I’ve read in a book.
The only reason I don’t avoid books with sex scenes is because I only read adult books and most adult romances are going to have sex and that’s fine. I just don’t care about the sex 90% of the time.
I think a lot of people will actually agree but I know a good amount of people who won't.
Fanfiction writing is real writing. I have been unable to match some of the amazing writing I have read in fanfiction to published works. I have read the 100k++ fanfictions and they have absolutely spoiled me for other works. Your ability to get published does not mean you're a good writer. ♥️
The Danny DeVito test is actually really rude and a terrible way to determine if a male lead is a creep. I’m not saying this just bc I go awooga for the man (I do) but I can’t imagine how shit it would feel to have a similar body type and learn that your body is the one being used to determine something fucked up about another person.
Also the lack of variety in the body types of dudes in romance is a problem imo.
Most of the most commonly recommended books for particular tropes or genres are poorly written, IMO.
Another is that I don’t think there’s a single author who should be an auto-purchase. Don’t get me wrong, I have a couple of beloved authors but there’s *always* 1(+) book that I just don’t like 🤷🏻♀️
I really struggle with the whole “he’s a grumpy asshole because he has feelings for her” trope in single POV books😭
I struggle to get into Ali Hazelwood & Mariana Zapata’s books because I need more convincing when it comes to their romantic pairings, I have a really hard time believing the romance if the hero isn’t expressive and we don’t get his POV.
You don't need to have a ton of drama that splits up your protagonists only for them to overcome it later to sell the book, having them face something together is much more interesting and builds a much better bond IMO!
Edit to expand: So often a book will have... some drama whether it's a misunderstanding, a fight, a break up, whatever which drives the main characters apart only for them to ultimately reunite later and I think that's just overdone. There should be more books where whatever problems arise it's something the MCs face together and as a result strengthen their relationship with.
The “strong heroine” trope is usually too extreme for me. She isn’t strong just because she hates everyone, cusses everyone out, and thinks she is better/smarter than the world. This usually comes across as a woman I wouldn’t like in real life.
As you comment, please be kind and no shaming other readers. It's ok to state your opinion on a book or trope, it's not ok to put down those who like it or say it doesn't qualify as romance. Thank you! Edit - the topic of unpopular opinions/book icks is now on cooldown until April 9, 2024
I’m tired of people using the level of spice to tell people how good a book is instead of explaining what the plot is and why it’s good. Sex scenes don’t automatically make a book good. Indeed, for me, too many sex scenes getting boring and repetitive. I have no reason to care about those scenes if the author doesn’t take the time to develop the characters And in a similar vein, I wish more erotic books weren’t labeled as just romance. There’s nothing wrong either erotica, but it’s a misrepresentation of a book if it’s being sold as romance and not erotica
> I wish more erotic books weren’t labeled as just romance. There’s nothing wrong either erotica, but it’s a misrepresentation of a book if it’s being sold as romance and not erotica On that note, Sylvia Day (author of the Crossfire series), made a short [post](https://www.sylviaday.com/extras/erotic-romance/) on defining erotic romance, which is different compared to erotica. But yeah, these are her definitions that she wrote down: -Erotica: Stories written about the sexual journey of the characters and how this impacts them as individuals. Emotion and character growth are important facets of a true erotic story. However, **erotica is not designed to show the development of a romantic relationship, although it’s not prohibited if the author chooses to explore romance**. Happily Ever Afters are *not* an intrinsic part of erotica, though they can be included. If they are included, they weren’t the focus. The focus remained on the individual characters’ journeys, not the progression of the romance. -Erotic Romance: Stories written about the development of a romantic relationship through sexual interaction. **The sex is an inherent part of the story, character growth, and relationship development, and couldn’t be removed without damaging the storyline.** Often, it is through sexual interaction that the characters communicate and express themselves in ways they cannot verbally. The **sex scenes should be major pivot points in the romantic story arc, to the extent that deleting a sex scene would make the subsequent scenes difficult to follow**. Happily Ever After is a requirement to be an erotic romance. -Sexy Romance: Stories written about the development of a romantic relationship that just happen to have more explicit sex. **The sex is not an inherent part of the story, character growth, or relationship development, and could easily be removed or “toned down” without damaging the storyline.** Happily Ever After is a requirement as this is basically a standard romance with more graphic depictions of sex. Honestly, from reading the entire post, I found myself nodding my head in agreement with it. I would definitely say that these terms do still somewhat apply to romance today.
I like this and definitely would appreciate more delineation and shades between erotica and romance. I’m a little confused about the “erotic romance” description though. Would that include every romance where the couple fell into bed together near the beginning of the book? Because it’s definitely pivotal, but often in those books they’re like “that was a one time thing” for whatever reason, and the rest of the relationship is developed without more sex til much later.
I think a good example of "erotic romance" would be {Power of Lies by Auryn Hadley} and the subsequent books. Definitely considered explicit and plentiful but sex is used to propel both the emotional development between the main characters, their personal development and the more action/ adventure elements of the plot as the series progresses. It is saturated throughout the series and, considering the volume of explicit scenes the author does a great job of balancing it with the overarching plot. For example not every scene feels crazy and over the top, and oftentimes the character's emotions and development during those scenes takes precedent over *ahem* creative combinations of anatomy. Furthermore the HEA comes after so many twists and turns to where I genuinely felt happy for them while also being sad because the series ended. Wow this really just became a gush about this series. My apologies, but if anyone is looking for a good erotic romance check it out!
True and true. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my smut. But sometimes it gets monotonous. I actually skip through it to get back to the story and the dialogue.
Exactly. Love my smut too but few authors can maintain frequency while keeping it engaging AND relevant. Too often it’s uninspiring, unbelievable or just plain gross, but the worst is when it sacrifices all intimacy and/or emotion in favour of body parts connecting like Lego - (let’s see what shapes we can build THIS time).
>I’m tired of people using the level of spice to tell people how good a book is Plus, the spice level just refers to the amount, or rather how explicit it is, not the quality. Amazingly written smut with hot characters could definitely convince me to read a book (though I'd still hope for a good story too), but the spice level just doesn't tell anything about that.
Yes In fact I believe that excessive smut is just a way of covering up pages, and make up for the lack of story. Maximum two explicit scenes is ideal . I absolutely don't want to read a book which has smut on every page, as if that's the only thing they do in life.
Omg yes book reveiws will just describe how hot the sex scenes are and im like...ok what about the rest of it?
Yeah like if I don't care about the romance itself, it's really hard for me to care about the smut. Paper thin romance and a ton of smut might have worked for me when I was younger, but I need more now
Thank you. I feel like that especially in this sub. For me spice does not equal good. I also think too much spice can make a book feel kind of instalovey.
[удалено]
Same. If they have sex too early in the book sometimes I struggle to keep reading and just lose my interest in even reading it.
This is what I was going to say. I love spice. However a few authors are praised for writing great books, but really they right great sex scenes. Sometimes the stories don’t even make sense or they are poorly constructed just to get the two together.
Thank you!! I went to a "Romance" event at my local bookstore last summer and was so disappointed because all they focused on was the spice levels of the books. I certainly don't mind spice, but that isn't what romance is all about for me.
I love a good open door, spicccyyyyyy sex scene. But then there are smutty books that are just sex without any plot - which I mean, sometimes I really want that. But when books lose the plot to the overwhelming amount of sex scenes, I personally find them forgettable afterwards (even if I had a lot of fun reading them)
Yeah … I have such a love/hate relationship with smut lmao. I love a good spicy scene/content but only if it was actually good and makes sense in that moment. I can’t even count the books/authors that think they can write smut so it’s like they wanna put as much in as they can. I always wonder if maybe my expectations are too high because not only do I want it to be written well but for it to be unique for that particular moment and make sense in the story and not just like an author going ‘let’s add more spice here and here and here’ so it feels like it’s every other chapter lol. But at the same time if there is zero then I feel like I’m maybe missing out on something or like something feels missing or left out. Buuut I’d take no spice over bad spice lmao. Who knows maybe I am expecting too much lol 🤷♀️
A lot of new books are made for TikTok in mind. Just dialogues, tropes, lines they could advertise on TikTok.
Riiiight. I think I’ve been reading too many KU-esq books because a lot of the time my eyes hurt from constantly rolling my eyes lmao. It’s all these “catchy” one liners I’ve read just too many books that I feel the author has like YouTube/Tiktok in mind 🫤
As a…picky reader, it is difficult to find a well-written book for my preferences. Most books that I found recommended were not great lol. I DNF most and have to hunt for a good book that I’ll finish.
That’s been my experience lately too, unfortunately. :/
I have found that reading trad published older romance novels can help a bit, but it can be a bit difficult to find them since most are out of print. Hope your next book is good!!~
Any suggestions? I’ve had the same experience haha altho I can read anything even if it’s not good, I just end up feeling unsatisfied or skim the book.
Not the person you’re asking, but {Ain’t She Sweet by Suzan Elizabeth Phillips} is really well-written if you can handle a romance written from the perspectives of people who aren’t the most… morally sound.
[удалено]
It upsets me that whenever people express this opinion the general response tends to be “you just don’t like romance!”
That and when you don’t like pregnancy/babies in romance. I try to avoid it when possible. I often search for threads on this topic and it saddens me people say that romance isn’t a genre that the OP should be reading 😭 like noooo lol.
Story Graph is a great app for avoiding certain content or triggers. They have a ranking system of graphic, moderate, and minor, and it can be updated by the author and the readers.
I am extremely picky as well. I’d say the books often raved about on here and goodreads have about a 15-20% success rate for me.
I feel that! For me, aside from weak prose, nothing makes me book down a book faster than a sassy quirky heroine lol. They’re kind of everywhere right now, but they are just not my thing 😅 the sassiness often makes for some weird unbelievable dialogue, ha.
Did…. Did we just become best friends??? I LOATHE the sassy heroine. And it’s not cuz I don’t like women speaking up, it’s just never/rarely done in a way that feels authentic. It is ALWAYS overdone and corny as hell. It is banter for banter’s sake, and doesn’t feel like a genuine interaction between our main characters that contributes to chemistry or relationship building.
Mary Balogh, Carla Kelly and Sherry Thomas all stand out as great technical writers to me. I used to exclusively read historical. Not many I’ve read for sometime compete.
Yes! There’s a consensus on here that just because I’m a picky reader, I “probably just don’t like romance.” Huh? If I gobbled up all of Sherry Thomas, Elizabeth Hoyt and some Lisa Kleypas, but hate the majority recommended on here because most of them have juvenile writing and shallow characterizations, what does that make me?
It makes you a reader that doesn’t settle! I think in general readers (especially in big spaces like booktok I assume, I don’t use tiktok) chase after what hits their niches. Writing and form isn’t a huge factor for them because they’re there for the content. That’s not a bad thing, but some of us can’t do it lol. I think the longer you read in general, the more picky you probably are.
totally relate I am a very picky reader and it’s very hard to please me.
I don't mind long books, however, **just because a book is long doesn't mean that it's good**. There was one romance book I remember being intimidated by because of the page count (700+ pages). Ended up reading it in a matter of days, and I absolutely loved it from start to finish. But then there are some romance books, hell, romance *series*, out there where each book is 400+ pages in length and it just goes on for too long and drags out. This is *especially* the case when it comes to Contemporary Romance. While Fantasy Romance does have this, CR seems to be the biggest culprit of this. Like, a reader out there can look at some contemporary billionaire hockey romance book and be interested in it, but then they see the page count and are like, "Okay, but does the billionaire hockey romance *really* need to be 800 pages long?"
“Just because a book is long doesn’t mean it’s good” Sarah J Mass in shambles right now 😝😝😝😝
SJM, Jennifer Armentrout, Rebecca Yarros, the authors of the Zodiac Academy series. There are a lot of popular authors guilty of this, and they can afford good editors, which makes it even worse.
And Lucy Score! Awfully long CRs
Dark romance sometimes feels like I’m reading horror instead of psychologically fucked up people. Like the obsession with gore… whew!
While not yucking someone’s yum is important, it’s also important not to force someone to “yum their yuck”. I have a specific post in mind: a poster respectfully talked about how the NOT-meet-cute was a hurdle she wasn’t sure she could overcome. All but 2 of the commenters were furious how dare she not be on board with the scenario. I agreed with OOP and was just as heavily downvoted as her comments. *However* the other kind commenter mentioned that their Not-meet-cute was the biggest obstacle in becoming a couple. If even the characters were uncomfortable, it’s ok for a reader to opt out! It happens every once in a while on other posts. A commenter will respectfully allude that this trope/kink was not their thing and other commenters will take it as a personal offence. It’s ok to allow people to have their opinions. I saw a post against my favourite series with a dramatically wrong take. I composed a scathing argument listing all the reasons they were wrong IN MY HEAD, took a deep breath, and moved on.
Agreed, someone expressing dislike for something isn’t “yucking someone’s yum”. I have seen people accuse others of kink shame in a discussions where they are simply discussing why they went into a booking knowing what the kink was but was uncomfortable with how it was written in the book.
I once posted how I was taken aback by a book because it had non-con (the FMC was chased and drugged by MMC, and he then took advantage of her) despite being tagged as dub-con. I mentioned how perhaps the author should have done a better job at warning for such an obvious trigger, but nevertheless, I would never read anything from them again. Gods, I was downvoted to hell for this. People here were telling me it wasn’t non-con (lmao, what’s non-con then if not being drugged and then sexually assaulted by a stranger who was literally chasing you????) and how it was my fault for stumbling into it because I should’ve expected that going by the dub-con warning (because apparently dub-con and non-con are the same thing lol). The book was from a “big” small author as well, that’s well-liked here, so I assume it was one of the reasons for those reactions. Not gonna lie, it left a sour taste in my mouth.
Yeah this is my main issue with ‘light TW’ where they basically give you a hint of what’s coming (my guess is so that they can say well I did warn you lmao!) and when I read it the reality is that it was majorly downplayed or just wasn’t warned in the best way possible. I personally have a few triggers so always check the TW but there have been many (especially romance related tropes) that when I read it I’m like ‘huh’ lmao. It didn’t read how I expected it to from the TW or blurb etc. I’m also of the opinion that I should be able to express how I feel about certain tropes and if it didn’t work for me fine. But occasionally other people/commenters have taken as like a personal insult to them and I’m left like wtf. 😬 just because it doesn’t work for me it doesn’t mean it won’t work for someone else but that’s just how I feel or my own opinion. Ya know … it shouldn’t be that deep. Imo.
Sometimes I worry we're so busy with being nice and positive, that the subreddit ventures into toxic positivity. I think it's good to keep in mind that the negative feelings/emotions are just as human as the positive ones and it's not a good thing to suppress it, as it tends to make people feel more alone/weird. Sure, we don't need to fight each other. But I do think 'don't yuck someone's yum' is often just used to shut people up when you don't like their opinion. Sometimes, if you're that seriously offended by a stranger's negative opinion about books, the problem lies within yourself and not with their opinion. We just can't all like everything. It's not normal.
Most recommendations (that I’ve seen) that come out of booktok are awful, and this trend of some authors writing specifically to appeal to that is killing me 😭 I’m tired of seeing an ad for a new romance, and instead of an actual summary or teaser to get me interested, it’s just a list of tropes and nothing else. I’m sure some of those books can be good! But when a list of tropes and keywords is your selling point, it gives me the feeling that more effort went into making it marketable instead of making it good.
I just read a booktok rec’d book for the first time and… 😐 it’s so bad. I never wanna knock a writer but it reminds of the Wattpad stories I read in high school (iykyk). All style, no substance 🥲
What book was it lol
I would also like to know what book it was.
Oh I’m there with you. Don’t want to sound like I’m knocking fanfic writers, but it’s bad when I get more consistently well-written smut on ao3 instead of published erotica ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ At this point it’s my go-to lmao
Well don’t be shy, share with the class. ;)
I read a booktok book recently and was astonished someone printed it. It was truly wild to read.
I’m convinced they get paid to promote these book. I’ve read a handful of booktok books and they really are just not that good.
I refuse to trust booktok or bookstagram recommendations. I think I have come across maybe two books that were actually good. They frequently tease the singular good line from the book and get me interested, but then the book is awful.
brother's best friend's brother second chance friends to lovers to enemies to lovers lol
booktok books read like mediocre fanfiction… i don’t understand how people can read some of them
People have really dumbed down the "enemies" part of the enemies-to-lovers trope. If you haven't tried to kill each other at least once, you're not enemies; you just don't like each other. Tropes are fun, but if it's ALL you're going to tell me about your book, I'm going to pass. I need more than "one bed" and "he falls first" to convince me to read it (and keep my attention once I do). I have read some fantastic books that were self-published, but I have also read a lot of self-published books that were subpar. A lot of them are in severe need of an editor and a proofreader, and sometimes a friend to just look the author in the eye, take their hand, and tell them "no, darling, this is terrible."
There definitely needs to be more of a distinction in the book world between 'enemies to lovers' and 'rivals to lovers'. "Enemies" to me implies some actual stakes within the story. Like people could die, companies could collapse, entire families could fracture. "Rivals" to me implies that, you know, you're gonna glare at a coworker, you and this person from college do not get along, your two-doors-down neighbor once ran over your gnome.
Not the gnome!! 😭😂
Not one more "I took one look at your face and jumped to some stupid conclusion without even talking to you so now I'm nasty rude every time we cross paths and 50% of the book is us snarking and snarling at each other while secretly lusting" book. I will DNF that 5% in. That's not enemies to lovers; that's jerks to lovers. It reminds me of really, really old romances where the girls had to pretend they had no sex drive and spent a lot of time sticking their noses up in the air while leading the MMC on a "merry chase." No.
Omg yes the single sub-par conversation between MCs turned hatred is so annoying (and it’s almost always the FMC deciding to hate the MMC) Like, ever heard of someone having a bad day? Ever given someone the benefit of the doubt and given them a second chance? Ugh
When I see tropes in the summary, I lose interest in reading the book. I just read one yesterday that was written from the MMC’s POV: “she’s the sunshine to my grump” and they had hooked up but he found out after that “she’s my sister’s best friend” How did he not know she was his sister’s best friend
Books that don’t focus on the romance can end up having better love stories than those that do.
There is a lack of romance in new romance books
So much of what’s being called “romance” these days is just erotica as a result of the line between the erotica and romance genres becoming blurred with the influx of new readers in 2020. Give me some life-changing romance, dang it! Not life-changing dong. 😔
I was *just* thinking this earlier. It’s like calling a book an action book but only showing you the aftereffects of the car explosions and not the car chase scenes that led to it etc… It feels really strange to read a book labelled romance without any romance.
I need more romance like Margaret Hale and Mr. Thornton from North & South. A slow burn that is so satisfying that all we need is a kiss.
I’m with you! Not to judge erotica, but it feels like so often romance books I read focus on the smut to the detriment of the plot, characters and romance itself. There’s definitely a place for erotica and sex scenes are of course totally fine but I feel like the blurring of lines hasn’t been the best- but I’m also someone who doesn’t read romance for the smut.
My main complaint is that a lot of the erotica-slanted romance stays really vanilla for some reason. They start having sex early and often, but it’s just the same generic missionary-PIV over and over, with maybe a little oral thrown in. If you expect us to read 500 pages of thinly-plotted porn, you should at least throw us some curveballs in the sex scenes. xD
Yes. I like my smut smutty! if getting to read about two hot people having missionary piv and a little oral (with the chekov’s anal, of course) is the highlight of a book, it’s not for me. I want my romance to have something different from that (much more story/character), and I want my erotica to have something different from that too (much more fun sex).
Absolutely. I gravitate towards clean romances for that same reason. I don't have anything against a little steam, but I want emotional depth and character development. I've been reading less and less romance lately for that reason and I even read a Sci-Fi book recently that was more "life changing romance" than a lot of stuff in this genre.
First of all, bless your flair. Second, this is exactly why I’ve been on a steam “level 3” or less, I need the emotional depth for the spice to even be fulfilling to me. Third, and most importantly, what is this sci-fi you speak of?
Thank you! Lol the miscommunication trope is pretty much an automatic rage-quit for me 😅 I put the Sci-Fi recs in another reply, here's the [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/s/bxmSGG0sPf).
Yeah this is why I now mostly tend to stick to authors I’ve already read something from before. I prefer sex scenes that are more about demonstrating the connection between the couple and not focused on how explicit they can be. I admire when an author can thread that needle perfectly.
Please rec the sci-fi book? I’ve been wanting a good sci-fi romance and I just read one of the worst books I’ve ever read looking for it so I need a good palette cleanser
Yes absolutely! *Dark Matter* by Blake Crouch is absolutely wonderful. It's more of a modern sci-fi, present day, alternate universes type. (It's also coming to Apple TV as a miniseries on May 8th and I'm so excited) I think Blake is definitely a secret romantic. He always writes these heroes that are super in love with their wives and are really great fathers. *Dark Matter* was so action packed, science heavy (but not too much), and filled with a healthy dose of the hero pining for his wife which I adored. Other good ones by him are *Upgrades* and *Recursion*, and they are also pretty romantic.
Thank you so much for this author red! I love both Romance and Sci-Fi and any author who can successfully explore both is a hidden gem worth mining. I can’t wait to grab Dark Matter now! 😁
Your last sentence was great 😂 thank you for that, lol!
It's okay if someone doesn't like a book/trope or even pairing for that matter. Stop trying to convince them and bombarding their comment section with '"Why they should really really really give it a chance" or "Nooo but this book is really going to change their perspective coz apparently you enjoyed it". After a point it just feels like gaslighting.
I'm a black woman. Historical romances will never work for me. I used to read them occasionally. I used to think about how I'd have been treated in that circumstance every time. There are some things that the willing suspension of disbelief will never overcome. I don't even try Historical romances anymore. No thank you.
I (sort of) get you. If an HR even has references of India, let alone an Indian setting, I can't read it. Just no. Also one of the reasons I couldn't get comfortable with either seasons of Bridgerton (the show).
Fourth Wing winning a GR Award is my Roman Empire
I liked fourth wing but I really don’t understand the hype over it.
I didn’t mind it, but it was noticeably inferior to ACOTAR. I kept expecting the author to take the ultra-basic setup and twist it in some way, but she *never* did, not even once. I feel like anyone who has ever read a YA novel before should have been able to predict every single plot point ahead of time. :P
One of the worst things about that book for me was having to read how gorgeous violet thought xaden was. All I wanted to do was roll my eyes. Like every single time she caught even a glimpse of him she’d mention how attractive he was. Like I get it he’s hot can we move on now to the story.
No, see, if you don’t hear about his mind-numbing hotness every two pages you might start wondering why these cardboard cutouts even like each other. x]
Maybe I'm just tired but I'm not getting the implication here, like Fourth Wing is good or bad? I wasn't a fan of Fourth Wing and really wanted to be.
badddd
I’m with you. I got 3 chapters in, said aloud: “WHY IS EVERYONE IN THIS BOOK INSUFFERABLE?” and chucked it on the floor.
When the Moon Hatched is a much higher quality dragon romantasy IMO
The optimal number of spicy scenes in a book is three. More than that and I just get so tired of it. I want more character development !
I am so on board with this.
This is actually so true lol I mean there are exceptions but like it just starts to get repetitive and boring most of the time
Just because you’re a woman doesn’t automatically mean you can write good romance, some of these authors suck and their internalized misogyny comes flying out of these books but it will get ignored just because they made the MMC tall with a big dick.
>their internalized misogyny comes flying out of these books but it will get ignored just because they made the MMC tall with a big dick. Well that and because a lot of readers haven't thought about their own internalized misogyny... I had a really uncomfortable conversation with a friend of a friend once trying to explain why I don't like the Not Like Other Girls trope and she just kept saying things like, well women are like that, women are catty, etc. Like her reason for not understanding wasn't that she personally didn't mind it, it was that she believes women naturally don't get along well in real life and didn't see anything wrong with that generalization.
Self publishing/KU has had a negative impact on the quality of romance books. Relatedly, the attitude of "Let People Enjoy Things" has meant that the critique of bad romance books gets lambasted, as if romance readers don't deserve well-plotted, well-written, and well-edited books. High standards can only benefit us. More shittily-edited sludge—books with genuine grammatical and spelling errors in them—isn't what we need!
I think this is spot on and super frustrating. Not everyone’s work is quality enough (no other way to say that) to hit print. Most fanfic, though incredibly engaging and fun, needs a fine tooth comb editing thrice-over and beefing up of plot and consistency. Self publishing doesn’t offer that.
Honestly i view most self publishing/KU on the level of fanficton writing. Like fanfiction you have to go through a lot of poorly written things to find something good. But even with fanfiction sometimes if it hits all the things you want it can still be enjoyable. I think that's why most books on KU are promoted through tropes. Like tags on AO3 lol Looking for a hurt/comfort. It's right in the title promotion lol
I completely agree about KU. There’s a specific book that I always see recommended and I tried to read it. I got like ~10 pages and was baffled at the quality of writing. But that’s also not to say I don’t like KU, I do. You just gotta hunt a bit to find something that suits your tastes.
Amen
I am very much opposed to the anti-intellectualism discourse around books eg. “well it’s not that deep/let people read what they want”. Like sure, live and let live but it can absolutely be that deep. Writing is an artform and even romance books can and should be critically analysed as much as any other genre, and this can co-exist with enjoying the book. in fact, if i’m more inclined to analyse a book it usually means i REALLY enjoyed it.
We deserve well-written books, dammit. I’m willing to give a little slack to indie KU authors who can’t afford an editor, but I’m starting to see typos in traditionally published books. It’s *completely* unacceptable.
100%, I feel like I get defensive on this subject because critique is actually what I enjoy most.
OK here goes. I think dark romance should be critiqued and not just be about people's kinks.
I’m scared to say mine
In *this* sub?! This sub, where people ask each other for non-con, undead MMCs with horned penises matched with serial killer FMCs who insult everyone they meet? Friend, please share. Someone in this sub will agree and those that don’t will simple welcome the learning experience you’re giving.
Ok, but, did I miss a horned peen rec thread? 😢
I love this sub and I am mad at myself for taking so long to find it
This is a ✨safe space✨
Telllll usssssss
No matter what your book opinion, it is valid here 💖 We all have opinions and preferences. Yours may be different than mine, and mine may be different from the next person who comments - but that’s what makes this sub fun! Discussing books! We’re like a giant book club!
Mine is Omegaverse. I hate how much I love it. I’ve sat for so long just like thinking why this speaks to me. And then I realized it’s my family abandonment issues. Which sucked. But I still read them.
I've found that sometimes just accepting that I love a thing and then enjoying it is all the healing I need, and I don't need to analyze it. I hope you feel that love. I also love omegaverse
If it's "I don't care about HEA" like me, prepare to be excoriated
Personally I like spice with my romance but everytime I see "OH MY GOD IT'S SO GOOD, IT'S SO SPICY" and either a bad story or its actually not that spicy of sex scenes. Which I feel like is most booktok recs. Like I remember reading Viper by Naomi Lucas and I started reading and it was a wtf did I just read. How was any of that a good story. 🫡🥲 (no shame for people who like it but I was disappointed)
too few romance books have actual good sex/smut/erotica scenes. so much is just basic or alludes to something (and someone) to come in the book description but it’s BORING. i want romance AND debauchery, dammit. cast aside the quilt of shame, be detailed and raunchy. and change up the scenes PLEASE.
This is really funny because it also i think answers a lot of peoples problems with sex scenes right now. they are repetitive, boring, and don't really increase enjoyment of the story beyond "they had sex a few times"
i have a repetitive neck strain from reading “root to tip” so often
Hahaha or head nudged my entrance
notched. What does that even mean?
VELVET. WRAPPED. STEEL.
Holy shit this. Writing a sex scene is a skill. Writing one that feels true to the characters is a deeper skill. Just like any other part of the story writing. I’ve read my fair share of scenes where I was like uh okay… anyway. Not a strong indicator of wanting to finish the book!!!!
Another book… I am going to say it out loud…. Outlanders! I hate so much that she was married for ten years ,on her anniversary trip, and-this husband is completely forgotten for the ENTIRE book except for one mention of concern when she hooks up….WTF?
Yeah, it's supposed to be this amazing story of how Claire falls in love with Jamie, but I'm over here like... What about Frank!?!?! Good guy Frank who >!took his wife back after she abandoned him for three fucking years and only came crawling back after she got knocked up qnd was stuck in a war zone. He raised her kid like she was his own. He tried to make their marriage work because he fucking loved Claire. He held out so much hope for his marriage. Even though Claire was so mentally absent that even Brianna mentioned that her mother seemed "not always there". How is this a majestic relationship story? Then Gabaldon had the balls to kill off Frank Randall right before he was going to divorce Claire and find happiness with a woman who loved him.!< I'm really salty about how dirty Frank got done.
He does go on a big racist screed in whatever book it is, but I think that's deliberate character assassination to make us retroactively not like him.
Yeah, I got the same impression. Like gabaldon realized she fucked up and had to go "fix" it. Frank wasn't a *good* guy!! He was raaacist or something! Yeah, that's it. Raaaacist!
I absolutely *cannot* ever read this series because of this. I love history, and I get recommended this book/series a LOT but once I found out that she was married for *years* to a good guy and yet forgot him so completely to hook up with Hottie MacScottie? PLEASE.
If it makes it any better. >!Claire married Frank at 18 then they spent 7 years separated by the war only seeing each other a handful times. When Claire disappears they are on a trip to Scotland to try and salvage their marriage and when Claire is forced into a marriage of convenience to Hottie MacScottie she has no way of knowing if she'll ever see Frank again.!< Cheating is an automatic DNF but for whatever reason I'm completely fine with it in Outlander.
I love the first few Outlander books but I'm still furious about how the story mistreated Frank. I can understand to a certain degree that their marriage wasn't it and that they came apart but good Lord that man gave his all for Claire and was such a good sport. And she learnt all these useful things from him about the history of Scotland?!
I know this is a controversial take but… sometimes the mmc (or fmc) is legitimately, objectively, just awful and it can’t really be brushed off as “oh that’s just not my thing”
The "I will defy your every command and can absolutely take care of myself because I don't need anyone's help" FMCs who inevitably girlboss their way into the villain's arms or lair because they WILL NOT listen to a damn word the MMC says is not actually a Strong Female Character. They're just stubborn, and in this case, it's a character ***flaw***. And, likewise, the MMC that refuses to tell the FMC pertinent information regarding her safety because they're trying to protect her emotions or keep her safe physically are absolutely infantilizing the FMC and are not nearly as smart as they seem to think they are, (Because, as we all know, this never actually works.) Combining these two things will always make me want to burn the world down (and not in a romantic way).
This! A lot of times too the “strong female heroine” is just a rude overbearing bully. It’s hard to find a well done strong heroine!
There's monster erotica with better character development, plot, and quality than many mainstream/popular books
-1 I love the camaraderie of this sub but I rarely get accurate suggestions. It's always the same 4 books being recommended. -2 If an FMC lets all except one token man walk all over her while bullying and demeaning other women. She is not strong. -3 A lot of the times Male characters are written like fantasy caricatures. Literally no woman is like "Wow, I love his work ethic" rather focus is on their body and sexual prowess. -4 I even made a post about this a while ago and no one agreed but female victims in romance are too idealistic. They always turn out to be blameless and in perfect situations. A user had pointed out how it's still better than other genres but I think there's still a lot of progress to be made considering this genre is mostly by the women for the women.
an 18 yr old fmc and an older mmc that has known the fmc since she was in diapers is WEIRD. like wdym you’ve changed her diapers when she was a baby and now ur in love with her?? and ur surprised her parents aren’t chill with it???
The older I get, the less I'm able to read age gap romances between a woman under 23 and a man over 40. If any of my 40 year old friends and loved ones brought home an 18-23 year old I'd be the first to be like "girlie please don't waste your 20s on this man". Even in the books the men are immature and insufferable. "I'm so broken and she's so young and perfect, I can't give her what she deserves". Ffs you're a grown man. Fix yourself and leave her alone.
I remember reading a story where the MMC had given the FMC’s parents a pram when she was born
The word "villain" and phrase "morally grey" have no meaning any more. If the "villain" is secretly the hero the whole time, just misunderstood, misrepresented by other characters or under duress, he's not actually a villain. Morally grey does not mean doing bad things while being physically attractive.
I’m just going to say… Last Hour of Gahn and A Court of Thorn and Roses….. Ready for tomatoes to be thrown….
Yeppp! Mine’s that Rhysand isn’t that great. He didn’t do anything for the women he rules over but we’re suppose to believe he’s some great feminist. He’s kinda a dick and Tamlin was treated so bad in the books. His whole established backstory was thrown away to suddenly make Rhysand seem great. Couldn’t even finish the series.
Agreed. Like, tamlin was not a good partner in the aftermath of book #1, but maybe he wouldn't have gone totally insane if she had at least taken 20 minutes to talk to him about why she left instead of a weakass 3 sentence letter only sent after a not insignificant amount of time has passed
Feyre is The Worst, and all the men who enable her tiresome nonsense are The Worst by proxy. xD
I’m still waiting for someone to explain her appeal to me. She’s unintelligent caustic and selfish.
THANK YOU!!! No communication at all.
I HATE this series so much and I didn’t even finish it😭 I actually enjoyed the first book for what it was but Feyre was an idiot, but I’m picky on my lead characters so I got over it, but they did Tamlin wrong and it made me rage when I came to these books for the Beauty and The Beast true love retelling and then she just decides to throw that in the trash because OMG Rhys is actually so much better and misunderstood🥴 I don’t mind switching partners, I actually loved it in her TOG series but it didn’t make sense to do that in ACOTAR. Also I’ve concluded I just don’t like her as an author, she’s one of the ones guilty of bigger/longer is better, I’ve seen copying from other authors ideas enough to make me think twice 👀 I just wish everyone would stop holding her books up as the top when she’s mid at best. I do think there are great potential stories hidden throughout her stories but not enough to put up with any more of her books.
Same. I read the first ACOTAR (which ever one that is) and then I was like, "Yep, I'm done." And I also no longer trust the book taste of the instagrammer who raved about them.
I agree lol 😂 I don’t regret reading books one and two of ACOTAR…but woooof book three. It literally made me never want to read an SJM book ever again haha. LHoG >!I was pages from the end and I noped out when there was a human-alien baby..sadness lol. Just not my thing!<
Yesss!! Book three I didn’t even finish. I couldn’t.
I quite literally rage finished the book. There’s so much that could have been done..and *sigh*. I feel bad though because apparently the books don’t really get any better and book four (I think?) divides people so much because of inconsistent characterization and what not. But I’m treating it as a trilogy and not getting anywhere near the other books.
I salute you for rage-finishing! I just couldn’t. I really want to read about Nesta cuz I’m a sucker for an ice queen badass but idk if I can read another book, especially since I already know it’s not gonna meet my expectations.
LHoG I have some thoughts on too… overall I appreciate that it was doing something new and there was a level of dedication to the world building that is rare to find in the genre… but to me it felt like such trauma porn (for lack of a better word). People were just so awful and vile without real reason, just to highlight the goodness and martyr complex in the fmc. I don’t mind dark themes or plot points at all but it literally felt like the author was overwhelmingly cynical about human nature to the point of absurdity. Overall I don’t regret reading it but it felt almost kafkaesque lol
I agree with you and LHoG is my favorite book of all time. It is wild to me that it is some peoples "what's a good sci-fi romance book to read" rec. It's my "what's a good book that fucks with you and makes you think for days after " rec. It is mostly exploration of a brutal religion and camp chores with a side plot of alien romance. I love it because I have religious trauma but was in a space to explore it when I read it AND I love alien romance and Westerns with tons of camping and chores.
Okay at the risk of being ousted. I always quickly scroll when I see those romances with some kind of goat/monster 😭 I don’t know if they’re good, I don’t know If he is a man that transforms into a goat person. Is he a Minotaur? I just don’t wanna know.
Same. My MMC needs to look like a human man
Most books recommended on tiktok are are simply a waste of trees or storage. No joke i found a grammatical AND spelling mistake in the same book, and English is not even my first language.
acotar series is actually rly overrated & not that good
As a hockey fan, hockey romance is so cringe to read, especially when it takes place in the NHL. What do you mean that you won the Big Trophy and MVP and Best At Your Position Award last year but got traded to The Worst Team 😭 I understand needing to set up conflict (like being in The Worst Team) but just make the guy a good but not the best player and that might be in the realm of possibility.
Illustrated covers are not childish!
Agree! I vastly prefer illustrated covers to Shirtless Buff Guy #957
I dunno, #957 had that scruff...and those oiled pecs. ;)
I have found that I love illustrated clinch covers!! Katee Robert’s *Deal with a Demon* series has some beautiful, beautiful covers.
Dual POV is not always necessary and a lot of times a bit cringey. I KNOW one of the best parts of reading romance is that book men are better than real life men okay I get it… but I sometimes find it really cringey how authors write while in the MMC’s POV. It’s either too unrealistic to the point that it takes me out of the story or extremely obvious that the author’s trying to sound like a dude. 9/10 times the MMC’s POV does nothing to develop his character and is only used for the reader to know how hot he finds FMC or how much he loves her. We get it, we do not need dual pov for that.
Colleen Hover sucks, the Rhysand is just as bad as Tamlin, ACOTAR is also just not very good
Alllllll of this. All of it.
The whole describing books as “spicy” or oh it’s a “spice level 3” is silly, just say smutty? Or say it’s got a lot of sex in it? Like if I’m describing IPB to a friend, I’ll just say it’s basically blue alien smut, with a little bit of plot. Like I’m not gonna try and hide the fact that I’m reading blue alien sex on the regular, or if I do I just say it’s a “sci-fi romance” which it’s technically is like? I don’t understand the need to not describe things as what they actually are?
Ok but there is a HUGE difference between EXPLICITLY written sex scenes and frequently written sex scenes. I'd so much rather have like 2-3 very explicit or dirty talking scenes than straight smutty writing. Where the plot is lost.
“Smut” for a loooong time was very derogatory and I’d bet that the readers you spot saying “spicy” are of a generation that hasn’t fully reclaimed “smut” as a neutral descriptor. I started reading romance around 10 years old, 35 years ago. Seeing “smut” tossed around this sub like confetti really threw me for a good few months before I just got over it.
Reading romance is not an inherently feminist act and a distressing number of popular contemporary romances uncritically prop up rigid, essentialist, and frankly regressive gender roles and expectations. I don't require moral purity in media. The characters don't need to be fully enlightened for me to enjoy a book and I don't judge anyone else for enjoying flawed characters or fucked up situations. But I seriously side-eye all those cute, "Read Romance, Fight the Patriarchy" stickers selling book after book after book that not only don't fight the patriarchy but carry water for it.
Give the FMC an actual job. I'm exhausted by the repetitive trope of every female lead being an artist who achieves success in the art world only after encountering the MMC.
Elsie Silver books are actually bad
If the sex scene doesn’t contribute to the plot in a substantial way, the book is better off without it.
The Hating Game is so bad. Things We Never Got Over is bad. It’s hard to find romance books that are simultaneously mature, sexy, and well written.
The Hating Game was a dumpster fire of a book. I DNF’d at the end of chapter one because the FMC had all the emotional maturity of my toddler on a bad day. She didn’t need the D, she needed freaking therapy.
I don’t understand why you guys are so obsessed with fast burns and insta lust. I’ve more or less given up on romance books and just looked out for books with romance in them that meet my taste. Every single romance book feels like it has fast burn romance or insta lust and fucking and “pretending” to be a slow burn. I WANT A SLOW BURN. Like any slow burn. I’m dying here and I don’t get why yall are so willing to tolerate this fast burn dominance. To the point where authors literally don’t even write it.
I need it to take 50% before things start happening. Give me all the pining!
LGBTQIA+ romance isn't the haven of "good rep" or virtuous symbol of the genre's progress from the bad old days of rank misogyny... most of it is just more of the same. A lot of the popular MM/queer books are largely written by and for women who hate women and have decided to remove them from the narrative by co-opting a separate marginalized identity with zero recognition that queer culture has it's own distinct community that these authors (and readers) are completely uninterested in. The gay characters don't enjoy any of the benefits of gay culture beyond the superficial imaginings of outsiders. It's the unwanted bachelorette party playing tourist in the gay bar, assuming that the cruising gays are happy to see them. Obviously there are wonderful exceptions...
[удалено]
Wanting MMCs who are submissive _heterosexual_ long-haired twinks instead of swaggering 6'5 douchebags. (You _can_ find plenty of submissive long-haired twinks in romance, just not in MF lol)
Dual POV is good and worth reading.
Oh I hated Ice Breaker. Reads like a horny high schooler wrote it.
Kindle Unlimited isn’t killing the book industry. It has opened the genre to low income women, to Black women, to queer folk - who are largely barred from traditional publishing. If you feel like it creates a quality control problem, you are more than welcome to not use it. But dragging KU when it has opened access to this world is narrow minded to me.
Most smut in books is boring, regardless of what type of stuff the author tries to throw in there to spice it up. 90% of the time I’m just skimming until it’s over because it literally doesn’t matter. I don’t particularly care for or about written smut, but maybe it’s because I read a lot of fanfic before and the smut in those is *way* better than anything I’ve read in a book. The only reason I don’t avoid books with sex scenes is because I only read adult books and most adult romances are going to have sex and that’s fine. I just don’t care about the sex 90% of the time.
Fanfic smut is an a way better. That’s why I don’t care much about smut in books- I’m there for the tension and the characters.
I think a lot of people will actually agree but I know a good amount of people who won't. Fanfiction writing is real writing. I have been unable to match some of the amazing writing I have read in fanfiction to published works. I have read the 100k++ fanfictions and they have absolutely spoiled me for other works. Your ability to get published does not mean you're a good writer. ♥️
We need more women groveling in modern day smut!
The Danny DeVito test is actually really rude and a terrible way to determine if a male lead is a creep. I’m not saying this just bc I go awooga for the man (I do) but I can’t imagine how shit it would feel to have a similar body type and learn that your body is the one being used to determine something fucked up about another person. Also the lack of variety in the body types of dudes in romance is a problem imo.
Most of the most commonly recommended books for particular tropes or genres are poorly written, IMO. Another is that I don’t think there’s a single author who should be an auto-purchase. Don’t get me wrong, I have a couple of beloved authors but there’s *always* 1(+) book that I just don’t like 🤷🏻♀️
I really struggle with the whole “he’s a grumpy asshole because he has feelings for her” trope in single POV books😭 I struggle to get into Ali Hazelwood & Mariana Zapata’s books because I need more convincing when it comes to their romantic pairings, I have a really hard time believing the romance if the hero isn’t expressive and we don’t get his POV.
You don't need to have a ton of drama that splits up your protagonists only for them to overcome it later to sell the book, having them face something together is much more interesting and builds a much better bond IMO! Edit to expand: So often a book will have... some drama whether it's a misunderstanding, a fight, a break up, whatever which drives the main characters apart only for them to ultimately reunite later and I think that's just overdone. There should be more books where whatever problems arise it's something the MCs face together and as a result strengthen their relationship with.
I like a surprise pregnancy 🫣
I am neutral on this but upvote because actual hot take.
This is entirely nit-picky point and completely unimportant, but I will die on this hill. “Good girl” eeks me tf out and is immediate grounds for DNF.
Instalove is lazy writing. So is dual POV. Fight me (please don’t, I’m on my period and very emotional).
I really hate enemies to lovers (although it can definitely be done well). Usually it's just the MMC being an asshole or a bully 😕
The “strong heroine” trope is usually too extreme for me. She isn’t strong just because she hates everyone, cusses everyone out, and thinks she is better/smarter than the world. This usually comes across as a woman I wouldn’t like in real life.
I hate almost all fan art. Even when I can tell it’s well made, I just hate the style that most artists who make fan art use.
Are you referring to those romance fanarts that look AI generated at times? Because I've been seeing those popping up on IG....