Do you like romance in a book? Grab a cup of coffee and join us for a live chat on this topic in our Coffee Break Moments Hour, tonight 8-9 PM ET before the vice-presidential debates.
Tonight we'll discuss favorite romances from a book.
- Does a book with a love story necessarily make it "fluff"? Can you build a strong story and characters from a romance?
- What's your favorite classic romance? What's your favorite modern day romance?
- What love story is your favorite "escape book"?
- Who are your favorite characters from a romance?
Gather will draw three participants from 8-9PM ET tonight to receive a free COFFEE-MATE coupon. Of these three, one will be selected to receive 300 Gather Points! If you can't make the chat time, leave your comments in the field below.
Tip: You'll need to continually REFRESH your browser to see new comments appear during the live chat.
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Comments: 136
I enjoy quirky romances where there is wit between them. Like in MaryJanice Davidson's Undead series the romance between Betsy and Sinclair. ANY of the relationships in Stephanie Rowe's Immortal series are great too!!!!! I love the romance aspects in Sherrilyn Kenyon's dark hunter books as well. I guess I have been on a paranormal romance kick lately.
* The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier (Two of its characters fall in love again after they're dead.)
* The Innocent by Harlan Coben (another of his great thrillers involving a married couple)
* Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Don't ask me to repeat their names, but I liked the romance best in Siberia.)
* Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen (I won't say anything because this is the book club choice.)
* The Prodigal Spy by Joseph Kanon (At one point, you'll wonder about her sincerity.)
* Actually, all of Joseph Kanon's books (Alibi, The Good German, and Los Alamos) have good romances included in them.
* On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (actually, an unromance, but does examine their sort-of romance)
I can list more later. But I have to pick a favorite romance? I'll think on that.
Does a book with a love story necessarily make it "fluff"? Can you build a strong story and characters from a romance?- Romance is so formulaic and predictable. I rarely read any books that have romance (ie "sex scenes") of any kind as part of it.
What's your favorite modern day romance?- The only books I have enjoyed that contain some romance are the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon and what I am currently reading: The Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon.
What love story is your favorite "escape book"? N/A
Who are your favorite characters from a romance?- Jamie and Claire from the Outlander series
No. None of the books I listed above are fluffy romance novels.
Of course, although the books I listed above and will list later weren't built on a romance but included one.
I would have said Gone With the Wind when I was young. Now maybe I'd say Crime and Punishment, although I may think of a better one later.
I don't have a favorite escape book.
I do enjoy the classics, like Pride and Prejudice, Madame Bovary, and others like that though.
I agree with you, Cybergwen. I usually don't read romance for romance's sake, either.
About the John Jakes books. I read several of them years ago when his books first started appearing. Those romances were appropriate and not silly fluf. I learned from those books.
Top 100 Romances
1. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Dream Man by Linda Howard
It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
4. McKenzie’s Mountain by Linda Howard
5. Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Devereaux
6. Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale
7. The Bride by Julie Garwood
8. Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
Nobody’s Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
10. Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer
11. Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught
Naked in Death by J. D. Robb
13. Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss
14. Honor’s Splendor by Julie Garwood
15. Paradise by Judith McNaught
Almost Heaven by Judith McNaught
Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss
19. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
Born in Fire by Nora Roberts
Hummingbird by LaVyrle Spencer
I have not read one of these!
I think many great stories can contain romance without being fluff, just as I think many romance novels can be good stories without just being fluff. Yes, there is a lot of fluff out there. When you read it enough, you just learn to separate the fluff from the good authors.
The best authors can blend genres and do it believably.
Gone with the Wind is one of my favorite classic romances. For the time when it was written, it really was not of the typical character. Even up through the 70's, the heroines of romance novel were written to simper and giggle. Scarlett O'Hara was never a simpering maid.
She was calculating, she was strong, she pulled herself up, and supported her family when they had nothing at all left to their names except the land they lived on.
For modern day romance novels, I am in love with the Brotherhood of the Black Dagger series, by JD Ward. They are vampires, set in a contemporary setting, but are not the typical cross & garlic vampires. They don't spread to create new vampires, and they can't even feed off humans, because their blood isn't strong enough. They are set more in a protection view.
Hi, Kim.
When I was in the 7th grade, I started reading "trashy" romance novels- you know, the thick novels with the half naked girl draped over the half naked guy on the cover. Yeah, I probably shouldn't have been, but my parents didn't care. Anyway, it didn't take me long to discover Johanna Lindsey, and she has forever remained a favorite author of mine.
I don't get rid of her books. I have an entire shelf, and a half devoted to her books. When I want to take a long bath and read a book, I grab 2 or 3 of hers, settle in, then decide which characters I am in the mood for. She writes everything from futuristic (which turns out to be contemporary, but that's a whole different matter), to contemporary, to historic. Pirates to Aristrocrats, Vikings to Warriors. She's even dabbled in time travel.
I enjoy Nicholas Sparks books and haven't found one I didn't like.
As I mentioned before, Scarlett O'Hara is one of my favorites. As a character, she was a woman living during and after the civil war, but she really was not the typical woman. Now, that isn't that unusual in historical romance novels you find on the shelves today, but this was a book written back in the 40's, when women had broken out of the mold, but were not that far removed from it, and were still not the liberal people we have become today.
Reading a historic novel written today, you expect a strong heroine, someone who won't break down crying every time something happens she doesn't agree with, someone who will scream when she needs to scream, and who will recognize the danger in her life, and half the time, get herself out of it. In short, we don't often see the damsel in distress in modern writing of historical romance.
But for a story written so long ago, Gone with the Wind and Scarlett O'Hara have really withstood the sands of time.
The author is Julia Quinn.
If you like to read historical romances with a whole lot of humor - Cathy Marie Hake is an excellent author. I recently read "Fancy Pants" and "Forevermore" , and laughed all the way through . You can find her books at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com just search for her in Google .
Cybergwen the Mitford years is the name of the Series - there are 7 or 8 in the series I think . Again just Google her and her webpage will come up .
I don't know why.
Maybe next time.
I'm answering this one again, cause I have another set of characters I adore. ;)
Johanna Lindsey, whom I have already mentioned, has written many stand alone novels. She's also, however, written novels that are parts of a series, or a family. For instance, her "futuristic" books are a 3 part series. The first book details how Tedra, a space traveler, found a not yet advanced world of male barbarians. She was a very forward thinking woman- on her planet, she was the equivalent of the President's secret service, the girl who would have been next to the president. Strong, independent, and advanced. She falls in love with a guy who doesn't believe she's from another world, who is physically superior to her, and who is her mental opposite. Book 2 is about their daughter, and book 3, their son.
My favorite series, though, is the Regency England series, which hops from person to person in a large family of 4 brothers, and their families, as well as their only sister's daughter (the sister died many years before the first book). This is the Mallory family- it jumps from brothers to children, nieces, etc. There are 6 or 7 books right now, I think, in the Mallory series.
I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite Mallory, and the series spans both the male and female Mallory's, and even a few close friends. They are each unique, but such likeable characters for me. Those are easily the books I re-read the most.
The story is great on history, I agree, but it is not a historical fiction, it's a historical romance novel.