Resolutions and Romance
Not a full month after I made my New Year's resolutions, I'm breaking most of them. Due to a more demanding workload this semester, I'm not going to have to the time to post reviews about every book I read. I cam to this realization after I was stressing about writing reviews -- I realized I was dreading it more than enjoying it. I'll still write the occasional review for a book that particularly strikes me when I have time, and I'll still list the books I read each month with various analysis (January will go up Monday!), but there will be much less reviews.
And now for something completely different (slight spoilers for Ilona Andrew's On the Edge and the Kate Daniels series):
As I read On the Edge by Ilona Andrews a couple weeks ago, I had a realization about my own taste in pacing. I enjoyed On the Edge, but I didn't like it nearly as much as I liked the Kate Daniels series. The male lead, the very sexy Declan, captured my attention but couldn't hold it nearly as well as Curran from KD (point in fact, I had to look up Declan's name, but I had an embarrassingly easy time remembering Curran's). The few hints at romance in KD leaving me practically salivating for more, fruitlessly begging to see more. And yet when it comes quickly, as in OTE, it leaves me . . . not disappointed, perhaps, but annoyed maybe. With the characters and the author for rushing into what shouldn't be rushed.
This came as somewhat of a revelation, since I do enjoy romance in all my books and straight romances (though with reservations, more on this later). But looking back on it, all of my favorite books tend to have a slow build up to the final resolving of romance (The Hunger Games -- which I can only hope will be resolved with Peeta, Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series, the aforementioned Kate Daniels series, Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville series, Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series, and quite a few more). The thing that annoys me most about romances (which I have noticed before, but only in a vague, ill-defined sort of way) is when the two characters fated to be together immediately notice something about the other/feel inexplicably drawn to that person (think Bella/Edward in Twilight) or more commonly in adult fic, constantly are turned on by being in their future-lover's presence. This is constantly used in straight romances, and while it's nice for a guilty read, few (if any) books that use these tactics are going to make it to my favorites list. It's cheating. The author uses it as a way to skip over the characters getting to know each other, taking time to grow, etc.
It's something I've noticed not related to romance, too. Returning to Ilona Andrews' work, I enjoyed the world-building much better in the KD series than OTE. In On the Edge, the world was explained to the reader in large exposition dumps -- there was little of the beautifully slow unveiling of the world like KD.
Now that I've noticed this, I'm more likely to be pickier about it, of course, but it's interesting look.
And now for something completely different (slight spoilers for Ilona Andrew's On the Edge and the Kate Daniels series):
As I read On the Edge by Ilona Andrews a couple weeks ago, I had a realization about my own taste in pacing. I enjoyed On the Edge, but I didn't like it nearly as much as I liked the Kate Daniels series. The male lead, the very sexy Declan, captured my attention but couldn't hold it nearly as well as Curran from KD (point in fact, I had to look up Declan's name, but I had an embarrassingly easy time remembering Curran's). The few hints at romance in KD leaving me practically salivating for more, fruitlessly begging to see more. And yet when it comes quickly, as in OTE, it leaves me . . . not disappointed, perhaps, but annoyed maybe. With the characters and the author for rushing into what shouldn't be rushed.
This came as somewhat of a revelation, since I do enjoy romance in all my books and straight romances (though with reservations, more on this later). But looking back on it, all of my favorite books tend to have a slow build up to the final resolving of romance (The Hunger Games -- which I can only hope will be resolved with Peeta, Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series, the aforementioned Kate Daniels series, Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville series, Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series, and quite a few more). The thing that annoys me most about romances (which I have noticed before, but only in a vague, ill-defined sort of way) is when the two characters fated to be together immediately notice something about the other/feel inexplicably drawn to that person (think Bella/Edward in Twilight) or more commonly in adult fic, constantly are turned on by being in their future-lover's presence. This is constantly used in straight romances, and while it's nice for a guilty read, few (if any) books that use these tactics are going to make it to my favorites list. It's cheating. The author uses it as a way to skip over the characters getting to know each other, taking time to grow, etc.
It's something I've noticed not related to romance, too. Returning to Ilona Andrews' work, I enjoyed the world-building much better in the KD series than OTE. In On the Edge, the world was explained to the reader in large exposition dumps -- there was little of the beautifully slow unveiling of the world like KD.
Now that I've noticed this, I'm more likely to be pickier about it, of course, but it's interesting look.