I guess I have to admit to a huge weakness for an old fashioned love story. Like Gone With The Wind, not strictly a romance and it does not have a happy ending, either the book or the movie, but there are some wonderfully romantic scenes and they certainly influenced me at a fairly tender age to want to read and write love stories, especially ones that did end happily! Ditto for some last-century hitorical novels that I read as a teen and even then wished there was more/happier romance!
I’m not sure what was the first actual ‘romance’ that I did read–it’s been that long–but I have a number of favorites and favorite authors that always deliver a great story with plenty of angst, stirring scenes and the mandatory happy ending. Just a few of them are Sue-Ellen Welfonder, Eileen Wilks, Elizabeth Sinclair, K.N. Casper (who is a guy but writes fab romances with lots of action but also some very emotional scenes!), Lindsey McKenna, Rachel Lee, Vicki Hinze and way many more. Some newer-comers like Gemma Murray, Ginger Simpson, Tabitha Shay, Cornelia Ameri and others who write mostly for the smaller presses are way too good to miss as well. I cannot keep up anymore as there are so many fantastic new books coming out.
I started my reading years ago with Nancy Drew and then got into ‘westerns’ since I have always been a huge cowboy fan; I was even kind of a cowgirl myself way back then. I then went into historical novels, most of which did have a love story sub-plot but did not always end happily and then finally got into sci fi and fantasy. So today I especially enjoy stories that bridge genres and am delighted they are now accepted by nearly all publishers. You could only find them in ebooks and indy press offerings for a long time but now they are everywhere. Still, I can’t keep up–so many books and so little time.
I’m not much of a movie goer anymore but see one now and then. The romantic comedies don’t resonate as much as they used to–maybe ’cause I’m far from a twenty-something now and the modern courtship rites are not as familiar to me and so seem less romantic. More practical probably but less romantic! Folks meet, click, hook-up, break uo and so on. I am sure all the angst is still there but it is expressed differently. In a lot of ways “women’s lib” was good but I think it kind of put a nail in the coffin of romance! What do you think?? Not that I like weak wimpy TSTL clinging vine heroines that have to be rescued LOL but kick butt heroines put a whole new spin on things. So what do you like best and why when it comes to a love story?
Leave a Comment