hc_bingo March Challenge
The challenge: You get a strip of three randomly chosen prompts. You then complete and submit a reclist of fifteen works (stories, meta, art, vids, etc.) corresponding to these prompts. You can use one, two, or all three prompts for your reclist, as long as you have fifteen recs overall. To qualify for the challenge every recommendation on your list must have an explanation of how it pertains to the prompt and why you like it and want to rec it.
My prompts:
rape / non-con
captivity
major illness
Obvs, normally, these are fanworks. But I wanted to do pro-pubbed romances, and the mods told me I could, so neiner-neiner. That said, I will give warnings, since they're not on the actual books. There are triggery things below the cut, but in a warnings sense, not a talking-about-them sense.
Some notes: Romance novels are inherently flawed texts. Presume all normal problems with gender roles, etc. Some of these don't have them. If any of these go beyond the norm in that sense, I will definitely mention it. I tend to read a lot of the same authors and lovelovelove family/friends series. I tried to spread things out, but there's gonna be names that are dropped more than once or twice.
Prompt: major illness
One Perfect Rose, Mary Jo Putney
This is the seventh book in a series, but it can be read standalone. Stephen, who's our hero, has been told he has a fatal illness and only a few months to live. So he does as all good lords do and decides to travel the country like a hobo. He gets picked up by a tribe of travelling actors and falls head over heels for their costumer Rosalind, who is, of course, the diamond in the rough. Here's the thing: I read romance for three reasons, 1) h/c, 2) characters, and 3) HEA. This book delivers fantastically on all of them, and even if I'd long since figured out what was going on with Stephen by the time THEY do (and I'm slow at that sort of thing), this book is still the shizz.
Seduce Me at Sunrise, Lisa Kleypas
This was something of a compromise on my part, since this is not the book out of this series that I would generally choose to rec, but it's set up by the fact that the heroine, Win, has been ill for pretty much forever and has finally healed and gone off to generally just get healthy. This is of the flavor that these two have known each other forever, he's taken care of her when she was ill and been in love with her since time immemorial and has stupid hangups that she has to get him over. I should say that Kev is of gypsy/Roma descent in the book, and while Kleypas is fairly responsible about these things, I don't know enough about the culture to say that there aren't gross inaccuracies. That said, if there are, they skew toward the positive. This book has a lot of found family and is part of a larger family series that has all kinds of wonderful h/c.
My Lady Notorious, Jo Beverly
Again, with this one, we start with a hero, Cyn, who's been crazy sick and has had to stay at home and be coddled by his family, which is pretty much driving him up the wall. Then he meets Chastity, who's playing at being a highwayman because she's escaped captivity along with family members she needs to keep safe. Part of what I love about this book is how much genderfuckery there is. Not only does Chastity cross-dress, CYN does too. This is the first in a series which I adore almost all of the books, and these two are presh. Cyn can be a little...male, and there's general Georgian views abounding, but at the end of the day, there's a lot going on here that's fun and unique, and these two fix each other up quite nicely.
Prompt: rape
Between the Devil and Desire, Lorriane Heath
I mostly just enjoy the crap out of Lorraine Heath. This is the second in a trilogy. It can be read without the others. Jack, the main dude, was raped multiple times in his childhood. So, while it's not graphic, this book deals with sexual abuse visited upon a child. Jack believes himself to have been "sold" as a child to the first man who abused him. He escaped to the streets and then made something out of himself, the way all street urchins must to be part of a romance novel. Olivia is the widow of a duke, who has just granted guardianship of their child--her child--to Jack, whom she does not know from Adam, and who is similarly boggled by the situation. She's pretty darn prickly at first, but I kind of get it. I mean, if I had a kid and then some random person was essentially given that child, I'd be wigging. But she starts to warm to him as she stops making assumptions, and he begins to let down his walls, and it's terribly sweet.
Lord of the Storm, Justine Davis
This is an older book. You can tell in the writing, I feel. But it's also kind of awesome. Our hero here has been enslaved when his world was conquered--this has a vague science-fictiony thing going before paranormal romance was a whole industry--and controlled by a collar that not only facilitates his owner--female--being able to rape him, but forces him to engage in it. Shaylah comes in, kicks some ass, steals him away and spends the rest of the book being rebellious with him. But man, the scene where Wolf and Shaylah meet for the second time? Everything my black little h/c heart could ask for.
Keegan's Lady, Catherine Anderson
Catherine Anderson's writing leaves a lot to be desired, and her books are SUPER traditional. And I don't care, I love the crap out of this book. For those of you who read me back in bandom, this is the text I rewrote for Blanket Made of Stars. Caitlin is skittish and pretty much terrified of her own shadow, but she can be pretty brave when she's protecting others. I do really appreciate that sex in this book doesn't take place until much, MUCH later, well after Caitlin has actually talked about her past and Keegan knows what the hell he's dealing with. But even with all the problems, it's such a nice learning-to-be-loved tale on both sides, I can't resist.
Broken Wings, Judith James
This book has a weird amount of separation between the two main characters throughout the novel and I think the pacing is sometimes off, but Gabriel is SO messed up from growing up in a brothel on offer. (Again, sexual abuse of a child.) And Sarah really stands by him in a way that I wasn't expecting and that takes balls on her part and you don't usually see in romances that take place in nineteenth century England. You don't usually see a pro-author get as dark as James does with Gabriel and she takes her time with the comfort.
Enchanted, Elizabeth Lowell
I believe this is the third in a series, and it was written probably somewhere around the early-nineties, when dub-con romance was a big trend. I don't categorize this as dub-con, but the other two in the series definitely are and I can see how someone might read this one that way. That said, I really liked both Ariane and Simon, and I appreciated that Lowell took her time with Ariane's recovery.
Lover Mine, JR Ward
Ward is, flat-out, a terrible writer. And she has this thing with epithets and anachronism and serious, SERIOUS problems with women's sexuality. Her books are like the SPN of romance novels for me, where you have to put up with a lot to get the gooey h/c center. That said...oh the h/c. This is, um, the ninth or something in this series, but I sense it doesn't take much to catch on. Mostly you'll have missed a lot of John Matthews' teenage angst. (I say with fondness, actually.) Here, BOTH characters have been raped. It has kind of shaped John Matthews' approach to the world, whereas it mostly just fucks with Xhex's mind a lot, then pisses her off. I will admit, this book is weird, b/c Xhex, who is seriously badass in EVERY OTHER book in the series is toned down here, I suspect due to Ward's issues, but nonetheless, these two are awesome together, and Xhex continues to really hold her own later in the series in a way that somewhat makes up for her wishy-washiness here. Also, she's just been through some serious trauma, so there's that, too. And there's just a lot of healing going on all over the place and it satisfies that itch.
Never Less Than a Lady, Mary Jo Putney
This is probably the only time I've ever read Magical Healing Cock and not abandoned ship. Not that I think it's awesome, b/c I don't, but I DO think Julia's awesomesauce, and I love how completely gone for her Alex is from basically even before the book starts. The way he wants to take care of her makes me all happy inside, even though, honestly, she's doing fine on her own. But yeah, aside from MHC, I love this book.
Prompt: captivity
Lord of Temptation, Lorraine Heath
Also the second in a trilogy, also can be read as a standalone. In this instance the captivity is in the past, as Tristan, our man of the hour, and his two brothers escaped from being held by their uncle at a young age and were flung to the three corners of the earth, with Tristan being apprenticed on a ship. Spoiler: not an easy life. Enter Anne, who's never done anything improper in her life, but seriously needs to break the mold and is told she can trust Tristan to take her on a sea voyage to where she needs to go. Like with most Heath romances, I find both characters prickly in their own ways, but also adorable and in need of hugs, which they eventually get. Also, nice bonus h/c with sea-sickness.
Worth Any Price, Lisa Kleypas
This is, I believe, the third in a trilogy, and the real thrust of the h/c comes from the insecurity lying beneath the Nick's exterior and the loneliness in general of both characters, but Charlotte is kidnapped and held captive at some point, so it counts. I really like Kleypas' writing and these two peeps seriously need an HEA.
Devilish, Jo Beverly
Kind of cheating, b/c the captivity is more of a threat that hangs over the head of Diana, but I'm going with it, because this is my favorite in the Malloren universe. Diana's in such a complicated position as a woman who has managed to inherit the title due to some finagling on the part of her ancestors. And Bey is so very good at protecting others, he really does need someone who's had to stand up to that kind of pressure to push back at him, make him see to himself.
Unleash the Night, Sherrilyn Kenyon
Sherrilyn Kenyon is not a good writer. And she has pretty serious issues around women. That said, like with Ward, I'm willing to side-eye the problems for the h/c. This is like, idek, the fourteenth in this series? But honestly, it doesn't take a ton to catch on. Wren, the male protagonist in this book, is a forbidden half-breed who was locke up by his family as a child for all number of reasons, but unsurprisingly, he ends up pretty screwed up. Marguerite, the female protagonist, is kind of too-down-to-earth and compassionate to be real, but if I wanted reality, I wouldn't be reading romance novels with cats who turn into humans, so. Wren is sort of adorably shy and awkward around her, and she's excellent at helping him to figure his shit out. Basically, like most of these recs, I just find this book really sweet aside from all the plot noise occuring, and baby-Wren locked all away tugs at my heartstrings.
No Longer a Gentleman, Mary Jo Putney
Obviously, I really like Putney, both as a writer and a provider of h/c. I'm ending with this one because it's kind of amazing. Grey has been imprisoned for ten years at the time the book starts, and he's honestly on the edge of losing it. Cassie's been a professional spy for a long time for reasons that really only vaguely make sense if you think about them too hard, so don't. She's so used to not really seeing herself as a sexual being--not that she doesn't have sex, b/c she does, and she's cool with it, which is awesome--that her interest in Grey, and the fact that he returns it, takes her by surprise. Grey, on his part, at first just REALLY needs Cassie, b/c his re-integration is not going smoothly, and she's a total rock. Then he starts to come back to himself and starts figuring out she could use something to lean on, too.
My prompts:
rape / non-con
captivity
major illness
Obvs, normally, these are fanworks. But I wanted to do pro-pubbed romances, and the mods told me I could, so neiner-neiner. That said, I will give warnings, since they're not on the actual books. There are triggery things below the cut, but in a warnings sense, not a talking-about-them sense.
Some notes: Romance novels are inherently flawed texts. Presume all normal problems with gender roles, etc. Some of these don't have them. If any of these go beyond the norm in that sense, I will definitely mention it. I tend to read a lot of the same authors and lovelovelove family/friends series. I tried to spread things out, but there's gonna be names that are dropped more than once or twice.
Prompt: major illness
One Perfect Rose, Mary Jo Putney
This is the seventh book in a series, but it can be read standalone. Stephen, who's our hero, has been told he has a fatal illness and only a few months to live. So he does as all good lords do and decides to travel the country like a hobo. He gets picked up by a tribe of travelling actors and falls head over heels for their costumer Rosalind, who is, of course, the diamond in the rough. Here's the thing: I read romance for three reasons, 1) h/c, 2) characters, and 3) HEA. This book delivers fantastically on all of them, and even if I'd long since figured out what was going on with Stephen by the time THEY do (and I'm slow at that sort of thing), this book is still the shizz.
Seduce Me at Sunrise, Lisa Kleypas
This was something of a compromise on my part, since this is not the book out of this series that I would generally choose to rec, but it's set up by the fact that the heroine, Win, has been ill for pretty much forever and has finally healed and gone off to generally just get healthy. This is of the flavor that these two have known each other forever, he's taken care of her when she was ill and been in love with her since time immemorial and has stupid hangups that she has to get him over. I should say that Kev is of gypsy/Roma descent in the book, and while Kleypas is fairly responsible about these things, I don't know enough about the culture to say that there aren't gross inaccuracies. That said, if there are, they skew toward the positive. This book has a lot of found family and is part of a larger family series that has all kinds of wonderful h/c.
My Lady Notorious, Jo Beverly
Again, with this one, we start with a hero, Cyn, who's been crazy sick and has had to stay at home and be coddled by his family, which is pretty much driving him up the wall. Then he meets Chastity, who's playing at being a highwayman because she's escaped captivity along with family members she needs to keep safe. Part of what I love about this book is how much genderfuckery there is. Not only does Chastity cross-dress, CYN does too. This is the first in a series which I adore almost all of the books, and these two are presh. Cyn can be a little...male, and there's general Georgian views abounding, but at the end of the day, there's a lot going on here that's fun and unique, and these two fix each other up quite nicely.
Prompt: rape
Between the Devil and Desire, Lorriane Heath
I mostly just enjoy the crap out of Lorraine Heath. This is the second in a trilogy. It can be read without the others. Jack, the main dude, was raped multiple times in his childhood. So, while it's not graphic, this book deals with sexual abuse visited upon a child. Jack believes himself to have been "sold" as a child to the first man who abused him. He escaped to the streets and then made something out of himself, the way all street urchins must to be part of a romance novel. Olivia is the widow of a duke, who has just granted guardianship of their child--her child--to Jack, whom she does not know from Adam, and who is similarly boggled by the situation. She's pretty darn prickly at first, but I kind of get it. I mean, if I had a kid and then some random person was essentially given that child, I'd be wigging. But she starts to warm to him as she stops making assumptions, and he begins to let down his walls, and it's terribly sweet.
Lord of the Storm, Justine Davis
This is an older book. You can tell in the writing, I feel. But it's also kind of awesome. Our hero here has been enslaved when his world was conquered--this has a vague science-fictiony thing going before paranormal romance was a whole industry--and controlled by a collar that not only facilitates his owner--female--being able to rape him, but forces him to engage in it. Shaylah comes in, kicks some ass, steals him away and spends the rest of the book being rebellious with him. But man, the scene where Wolf and Shaylah meet for the second time? Everything my black little h/c heart could ask for.
Keegan's Lady, Catherine Anderson
Catherine Anderson's writing leaves a lot to be desired, and her books are SUPER traditional. And I don't care, I love the crap out of this book. For those of you who read me back in bandom, this is the text I rewrote for Blanket Made of Stars. Caitlin is skittish and pretty much terrified of her own shadow, but she can be pretty brave when she's protecting others. I do really appreciate that sex in this book doesn't take place until much, MUCH later, well after Caitlin has actually talked about her past and Keegan knows what the hell he's dealing with. But even with all the problems, it's such a nice learning-to-be-loved tale on both sides, I can't resist.
Broken Wings, Judith James
This book has a weird amount of separation between the two main characters throughout the novel and I think the pacing is sometimes off, but Gabriel is SO messed up from growing up in a brothel on offer. (Again, sexual abuse of a child.) And Sarah really stands by him in a way that I wasn't expecting and that takes balls on her part and you don't usually see in romances that take place in nineteenth century England. You don't usually see a pro-author get as dark as James does with Gabriel and she takes her time with the comfort.
Enchanted, Elizabeth Lowell
I believe this is the third in a series, and it was written probably somewhere around the early-nineties, when dub-con romance was a big trend. I don't categorize this as dub-con, but the other two in the series definitely are and I can see how someone might read this one that way. That said, I really liked both Ariane and Simon, and I appreciated that Lowell took her time with Ariane's recovery.
Lover Mine, JR Ward
Ward is, flat-out, a terrible writer. And she has this thing with epithets and anachronism and serious, SERIOUS problems with women's sexuality. Her books are like the SPN of romance novels for me, where you have to put up with a lot to get the gooey h/c center. That said...oh the h/c. This is, um, the ninth or something in this series, but I sense it doesn't take much to catch on. Mostly you'll have missed a lot of John Matthews' teenage angst. (I say with fondness, actually.) Here, BOTH characters have been raped. It has kind of shaped John Matthews' approach to the world, whereas it mostly just fucks with Xhex's mind a lot, then pisses her off. I will admit, this book is weird, b/c Xhex, who is seriously badass in EVERY OTHER book in the series is toned down here, I suspect due to Ward's issues, but nonetheless, these two are awesome together, and Xhex continues to really hold her own later in the series in a way that somewhat makes up for her wishy-washiness here. Also, she's just been through some serious trauma, so there's that, too. And there's just a lot of healing going on all over the place and it satisfies that itch.
Never Less Than a Lady, Mary Jo Putney
This is probably the only time I've ever read Magical Healing Cock and not abandoned ship. Not that I think it's awesome, b/c I don't, but I DO think Julia's awesomesauce, and I love how completely gone for her Alex is from basically even before the book starts. The way he wants to take care of her makes me all happy inside, even though, honestly, she's doing fine on her own. But yeah, aside from MHC, I love this book.
Prompt: captivity
Lord of Temptation, Lorraine Heath
Also the second in a trilogy, also can be read as a standalone. In this instance the captivity is in the past, as Tristan, our man of the hour, and his two brothers escaped from being held by their uncle at a young age and were flung to the three corners of the earth, with Tristan being apprenticed on a ship. Spoiler: not an easy life. Enter Anne, who's never done anything improper in her life, but seriously needs to break the mold and is told she can trust Tristan to take her on a sea voyage to where she needs to go. Like with most Heath romances, I find both characters prickly in their own ways, but also adorable and in need of hugs, which they eventually get. Also, nice bonus h/c with sea-sickness.
Worth Any Price, Lisa Kleypas
This is, I believe, the third in a trilogy, and the real thrust of the h/c comes from the insecurity lying beneath the Nick's exterior and the loneliness in general of both characters, but Charlotte is kidnapped and held captive at some point, so it counts. I really like Kleypas' writing and these two peeps seriously need an HEA.
Devilish, Jo Beverly
Kind of cheating, b/c the captivity is more of a threat that hangs over the head of Diana, but I'm going with it, because this is my favorite in the Malloren universe. Diana's in such a complicated position as a woman who has managed to inherit the title due to some finagling on the part of her ancestors. And Bey is so very good at protecting others, he really does need someone who's had to stand up to that kind of pressure to push back at him, make him see to himself.
Unleash the Night, Sherrilyn Kenyon
Sherrilyn Kenyon is not a good writer. And she has pretty serious issues around women. That said, like with Ward, I'm willing to side-eye the problems for the h/c. This is like, idek, the fourteenth in this series? But honestly, it doesn't take a ton to catch on. Wren, the male protagonist in this book, is a forbidden half-breed who was locke up by his family as a child for all number of reasons, but unsurprisingly, he ends up pretty screwed up. Marguerite, the female protagonist, is kind of too-down-to-earth and compassionate to be real, but if I wanted reality, I wouldn't be reading romance novels with cats who turn into humans, so. Wren is sort of adorably shy and awkward around her, and she's excellent at helping him to figure his shit out. Basically, like most of these recs, I just find this book really sweet aside from all the plot noise occuring, and baby-Wren locked all away tugs at my heartstrings.
No Longer a Gentleman, Mary Jo Putney
Obviously, I really like Putney, both as a writer and a provider of h/c. I'm ending with this one because it's kind of amazing. Grey has been imprisoned for ten years at the time the book starts, and he's honestly on the edge of losing it. Cassie's been a professional spy for a long time for reasons that really only vaguely make sense if you think about them too hard, so don't. She's so used to not really seeing herself as a sexual being--not that she doesn't have sex, b/c she does, and she's cool with it, which is awesome--that her interest in Grey, and the fact that he returns it, takes her by surprise. Grey, on his part, at first just REALLY needs Cassie, b/c his re-integration is not going smoothly, and she's a total rock. Then he starts to come back to himself and starts figuring out she could use something to lean on, too.