Friday, September 23, 2016

Super Picky About Romance-- It Has To Be JUST Right



So romance...  it inevitably shows up in most YA books.  It doesn't even matter the genre.  Girl could be in the middle of a futuristic war with no food, dirty, freezing to death, and you better believe she'll be crushing on some boy who she met along the way.

Now, I have zero problems with that.  It's a book, we want to be entertained and feel something and romance is part of that.  Plus, young adulthood is a time of hormones and first loves and crushes and all that.  So I get why it's a popular book element.

The thing is--- I'm picky about my romances.  It almost has to have this perfect unexplainable FEELING for me to like it.  What I mean by that is, if some small thing feels wrong to me, I'm OUT.  Abandon ship.  Bye Girl.

Like-- the guy comes on too strong, NOPE.  the guy makes it super obvious he likes the girl from first sight and just blurts it out, nope.  There is a really traumatic event and a romance feels out of place for the story, nope.  The guys starts acting like the girl is made of porcelain, HELL NO.

But-- these allllll have exceptions.  Like in The Vincent Boys.

The Vincent Boys Exception:

  • The Vincent Boys is about a "good" girl, the preacher's daughter.  She's been in a relationship since forever with Sawyer, who is also a "good" guy.  But she's always been attracted to his bad-boy cousin Beau.  They grew up together and Beau and Ashton used to be partners in crime... but as they got older, Ashton and Sawyer paired off.  There's a bunch of BLAH things in this book like Ashton being a virgin and alluding to that making her "pure".  Also, there's like 999 descriptions of Beau's abs.  So all of that together and I would normally be like-- NO!  But the way it was written and the setting and the family, I was LOVING every minute.


Other Romances That Did and Didn't Work For Me:


My Life Next Door-- Jase-- YES!!

  • Loved how their romance developed.  Jase may have been a TAD too good to be true, but it was a sweet relationship and didn't annoy me at all.

The Female of the Species-- Jack--- LOVE

  • This definitely isn't a romance book, but when Jack and Alex get together it's kind of adorable. Jack was bordering on the cliche "hottest guy in the school who likes the girl that no one notices", but we get to see from his POV and it just works.

Tell Me Three Things-- Ethan-- BLAH

  • Ethan was fine, it was Jessie that ruined this romance for me.  It was one of those things where she's constantly in her own head drooling over him, but then telling herself she can't do that.

Stalking Jack the Ripper-- Thomas-- no then YES

  • At first I was like here we go-- another I hate you, then I love you romance.  But while Thomas was frustrating to Audrey, eventually it became this really cute back and forth banter that was fun and inappropriate in all the best ways :)

The Creeping-- Sam--OMG YES

  • Another exception.  I shouldn't have liked this Sam/Stella relationship.  He's this nerdy guy that's carried a torch for Stella no matter how horrible she's been to him through the years.  And he says weird things like "say the word and I'll be all over you".  Maybe it was the wishful thinking part of me, but I thought Sam was too adorable to get annoyed at.  We need more Sam's in the world.

This is Where it Ends--NO inappropriate

  • This book takes place during a horrific school shooting and while I know tragedies bring people together, I don't think it's appropriate for people to be outside DURING the shooting getting together.  SO insensitive.  A true example that every book does NOT have to have a romance forced in.

The Lunar Chronicles-- Too many couples

  • I love this series, but the romance elements are probably my least favorite parts. There is too much coupling up and besides Cinder and Kai (or Cinder and Thorne), I'm really not a fan of any of them (Scarlett and Wolf and totally Insta-love and Cress and Thorne is Stalker-city).

To All the Boys I've Loved Before-- Cute

  • Another example of a romance I should have not liked, but somehow I did.  Peter and Lara Jean are really cute, and to be against it would be like looking at a puppy and being like "I hate you".



I will say I don't read a lot of straight-up romance, which could be a reason that I don't love some of the romances.  The reason I don't read a lot of romance books though is because I'm super picky about it.

The end result is, it all comes down to how it's written.  Romance can go bad really easily, and it has to walk a fine line of being swoony without being overly sickening.  It probably also depends on my mood.


Now Let's Talk:
Are you super picky about romances or are you able to just go with it?  What are some of your favorite and not so favorite romances?




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23 comments:

  1. I kind of love romance and am not really picky. I so go with it in most books. I did love The Vincent Boys. I am such a big fan of all the romances in the Lunar Chronicles even with their faults. Jase in My Life Next Door is amazing. Fun post!

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    1. I used to love romance books... but anymore it's SO hard for me!! And Jase is super awesome. I don't know how anyone could not like him :)

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  2. I don't usually like books that only have a romantic plot. I like romance in other types of books. I need a lot of plot action, and romance alone doesn't do it for me. But have someone saving the world and falling in love, and I am in! (As long as it's done well, as you said.)

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    1. SAME!! I have a really hard time with straight-up romance books. When I tell people I read Contemporary, they just assume that's what it is and it's SO not. I'm always reading about characters that are going THROUGH THINGS, not just crushing on some guy or being in a forced situation with a guy they claim to hate, but really you know by the end they'll be in love. And it will be adorable, but I need MORE!!

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  3. You know I am super picky about my romance. And yes, I get that your teen years are all about hormones and crushes and all that but for me it is so much easier to mess up romance than it is to do it well. But usually I just block out the relationships so it doesn't ruin the book for me.
    Cassi @ My Thoughts Literally

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    1. I love that you're able to block out the romance part and still enjoy the book. I SO can't do that. If the romance is SUPER annoying, the whole book is done for me. Like with How to Hang a Witch... as soon as I figured out that the ghost was going to be a love interest I was OUT!! You were able to ignore that part and enjoy the good stuff. I wish I could do that!

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  4. I'm pretty picky. I'll tolerate some okay romances, but if the guy is an ass or comes on too strong then it's a big no. Obviously, instalove is a NO too...most of the time (I did love Twilight). I recently DNFed Until Friday Night after like, 3 chapters because the guy was an ass who came on too strong lol.

    For me to LOVE a romance it has to be a perfect set of elements. A swoon-y, sweet guy, realistic feelings, and lots of swoon inducing moments. I pretty much always love the romance in Stephanie Perkins, Morgan Matson, and Rainbow Rowell's books. I know there's more, but those are the first to come to mind.

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    1. I've heard Until Friday Night was like that. I picked it up at BEA last year because the cover totally looks like Friday Night Lights, but I've been a little afraid to try it. You described that perfectly-- realistic feelings, lots of swoon inducing moments. THAT'S what I need too!!

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  5. I love romance in books and I'm definitely a notorious book shipper! I do have some pet peeves when it comes to it. I dislike a super insta-love, a romance in which the characters are solely defined by their partners, and I utterly dislike the 'love cures all' trope. Like when an MC has mental illness and no therapy worked but then she met a guy and taddaa all is well. Just NO.

    I also really love My Life Next Door and I agree, The Lunar Chronicles have way too many ships! I ado ship Winter and Jacin though :P and I really dislike most of the romance in Throne of Glass series, especially Rowan and Aelin it's just so annoying </3 Great post! :)

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    1. OH NO, the "Love Cures All" trope. That HAS to go. I haven't read the Throne of Glass books... mostly bc I don't read Fantasy too much AND all I ever hear about are the couplings!! I don't want that many ships in my books!! The Lunar Chronicles is on the edge of being WAY too many for me!

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  6. I love reading historical romance novels.

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    1. I havne't tried any Historical Romance books, but that's something I totally should and WILL do!

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  7. I don't mind romance in books as long as it makes sense (to me). I'd prefer for them to be either friends or rivals before progressing to lovers (even if it happens within one book).

    Like, two people who are complete strangers to each other have only met for a week and in comes a paragraph like this "I tilted my head to the right and saw him leaning against the tree. He looked up and caught my gaze with those beautiful baby blue eyes of his. I was entranced by how vibrant they looked." Basically, the quality that attracted them together was the other party's appearance. What about the other's qualities?? Where's the chemistry???

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    1. Yeah that bums me out too when it's all appearance based. I want the chemistry too!!!! And please STOP with the EYES!! There are other attractive features besides eyes and I wish authors would realize this.

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  8. Aw, I love how you have recs here! I've actually never heard of some of these books...so I'm off to add them onto my TBR! I'm not that picky about romance - so long as it doesn't come on too strong with any cliches, then I'm pretty happy! ^_^ Lovely post!
    Geraldine @ Corralling Books

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    1. Cliches are the worst. They have to be done to PERFECTION if I'm going to be able to look past them.

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  9. I don't THINK I'm super picky about romances. However, I do know that I like mine a certain way. Like I you mentioned Thomas from Stalking Jack the Ripper and I LOOOOOVED that one. I am totally into the whole snarky guy that banters back and forth with the girl and they have this super charged chemistry and finally they get together. An example of one that I don't like is when the guy comes on too strong right away. There are exceptions of course. Mostly I'm pretty open as long as it's done well.

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    1. UGHH when the guy is like BOOM-- "I like you" on the first day, typically the book goes on a downward spiral for me. I don't like it and I don't think it's realistic. Not that many teens are super forward like that, and even if they are, I don't want to read about it.

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  10. I actually really love romance in books, I just feel in YA it's often not done well enough (or maybe I'm just getting to old for it...?) I LOVED Jace in MLND, I wish we could have more books about him and Sam! I totally agree with you too though that books that are TOO conveniently coupl-y usually bug me (such as the Lunar Chronicles).

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    1. JASE!!! I could read about him forever!! The Lunar Chronicles definitely skirts the line for me when it comes to coupling. If I didn't love the series before all the couples came out of the woodwork, I don't know if I would have ever read the books!

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  11. I totally agree The Vincent Boys -- on paper or in theory, I would roll my eyes but I loved that book! It was so fun. And I agree that To All The Boys is super cute although my ship didn't sail in book 2 and I still am not a fan of Peter. Love Kitty though!!

    ♥ this post!

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    1. LOVE KITTY!!! And The Vincent Boys was SO surprising to me. It definitely has made me give other books a chance because of it!

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  12. I am so picky about romances! Unless they're the point of the story, I prefer them to be a natural part of the story, not something that takes everything over. Big no to insta-love too.

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