So, I think I was about 13 or 14 when I first started reading romance novels--and no, my mom couldn't tell me not to read them since she was my supplier. Should I not have been reading them? Absolutely. But that's another post: Problems I Have With My Mother.
However, I know it was a red-cover book that I was thumbing through at that age when I first learned about oral sex. I had had no idea such a thing went on (imagine that at 14!) but I was instantly intrigued by the idea. LOL.
About ten years ago or so (when I was in my mid-twenties), my mom lent me a book called Kill and Tell by an author called Linda Howard. I fell in love with her style, and I started reading all of her books. Some of her stuff from the '80s and early '90s was very like the tropes you describe, but she evolved a lot in her style (thinking) and I have to say the reason I liked K&T is because the sex descriptors involved actual anatomical titles as opposed to the stupid euphemisms they were made to use back in the day. (K&T's publish date is 1998.)
What's most interesting to me about this is the fact that women wrote these stories, and women read these stories, and at some juncture (as we all evolved, I guess) they stopped being about distant, emotionally unavailable men and the women who desperately love them anyway to better stories about two equals coming together. Linda Howard's stories are still very alpha-male focused. Her heroes are often cops/military men/some sort of rugged outdoorsmen types, but her female characters are just as memorable with their spunky, sassy, vulnerable qualities. If you want to read good stories, though, I can rec my favorite LInda Howard books, even one from 1986! :D She's quite talented, and some of her books have supernatural elements (one is about time travel that's quite interesting, another was about a female doctor in the old west (quite progressive for her time) who has supernatural healing abilities in her hands that she's unaware of until she gets kidnapped by an outlaw (who has beautiful eyes, is wrongly accused of murder, and takes her virginity, but it's so realistic because he totally doesn't make it good for her and has to make it up to her later). Anyway, Linda Howard has some good ones!
Hi Candy! Thanks for your input, from the point of view of a reader. I have never read a romance novel, one that's made to be romantic anyway, so this genre is new to me on paper, though fanfic counts, so I can't say I'm a true newbie. Lol that must have been an eye opener about the oral sex! I laughed at your description of the outlaw. I love those 'everything' characters. Thanks for the rec, should I choose to go ahead as a reader of romance!
Yah! I really like Linda Howard, and I still reread "All the Queen's Men" at least once a year (it's the only one I actually own.) What's the storyline of Kill and Tell? I've read so many of hers, I can't keep track!
So, I think I was about 13 or 14 when I first started reading romance novels--and no, my mom couldn't tell me not to read them since she was my supplier. Should I not have been reading them? Absolutely.
I can't remember how I got my hands on my first one, but I think I was about 12 or 13. I always hid them from my mum, mostly because I was embarrassed to be reading something so obviously 'non-brain-improving' (plus the covers were just so cheesy) but I look back now and think that there were a lot worse things I could have been doing than giggling to myself with wide eyes over romantically vague porn. LOL.
Kill and Tell is the prequel to All the Queen's Men...If remember correctly the hero of AtQM helps with the investigation in KaT somehow. Then he got his own story, which is another excellent adventure story. She does well with that sort of thing. KaT is the story of Karen from Ohio, who's estranged father is murdered in Baton Rouge, so she has to go down to identify the body, and the detective investigating the case, Marc, is this judgmental arse at first, but then he realizes she really does love her father, and so he sets about to seduce her, and then someone tries to kill her--it's all part of a bigger conspiracy, of course. That's what I remember off the top of my head. It's been a while since I read it.
I really love Linda Howard, though, and could go on for DAYS about her stuff. Five of my favorites: Midnight Rainbow, Duncan's Bride, Cry No More, The Touch of Fire, and Shades of Twilight.
As for that I could have been doing a lot worse of things at that age, I agree, but I also know if I had a fourteen year old daughter, I wouldn't want her reading that stuff (I wouldn't even want my fourteen year old to read Twilight, LOL), so it's really more about neglect and awareness as a parent than it is about the subject matter. But my issues with my mother are totally irrelevant here! LOL.
...If remember correctly the hero of AtQM helps with the investigation in KaT somehow. Then he got his own story, which is another excellent adventure story.
Aha, I thought it was that one! I really enjoyed KaT as well, although I do recall a moment that still makes me LOL when I think of it - remember the 'game changing' moment when they were on the balcony and he went to change the music and it lead to OTHER THINGS and she found out later just how 'prepared' he had been? *snickers like the 13 yo she once was*
OMG, that's right! I had forgotten about that part. That is the one thing about her stories, almost always the romantic leads fall in love within like three days, which is slightly ridiculous to me, so I just throw that part of my brain out while reading her stuff. I just remember later, when they're arguing about what happened she's all "YOU WERE ALREADY WEARING A CONDOM!" and he's all, "I WAS TRYING TO BE CONSIDERATE!" And I was all LOLOLOL.
However, I know it was a red-cover book that I was thumbing through at that age when I first learned about oral sex. I had had no idea such a thing went on (imagine that at 14!) but I was instantly intrigued by the idea. LOL.
About ten years ago or so (when I was in my mid-twenties), my mom lent me a book called Kill and Tell by an author called Linda Howard. I fell in love with her style, and I started reading all of her books. Some of her stuff from the '80s and early '90s was very like the tropes you describe, but she evolved a lot in her style (thinking) and I have to say the reason I liked K&T is because the sex descriptors involved actual anatomical titles as opposed to the stupid euphemisms they were made to use back in the day. (K&T's publish date is 1998.)
What's most interesting to me about this is the fact that women wrote these stories, and women read these stories, and at some juncture (as we all evolved, I guess) they stopped being about distant, emotionally unavailable men and the women who desperately love them anyway to better stories about two equals coming together. Linda Howard's stories are still very alpha-male focused. Her heroes are often cops/military men/some sort of rugged outdoorsmen types, but her female characters are just as memorable with their spunky, sassy, vulnerable qualities. If you want to read good stories, though, I can rec my favorite LInda Howard books, even one from 1986! :D She's quite talented, and some of her books have supernatural elements (one is about time travel that's quite interesting, another was about a female doctor in the old west (quite progressive for her time) who has supernatural healing abilities in her hands that she's unaware of until she gets kidnapped by an outlaw (who has beautiful eyes, is wrongly accused of murder, and takes her virginity, but it's so realistic because he totally doesn't make it good for her and has to make it up to her later). Anyway, Linda Howard has some good ones!
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Lol that must have been an eye opener about the oral sex!
I laughed at your description of the outlaw. I love those 'everything' characters.
Thanks for the rec, should I choose to go ahead as a reader of romance!
Reply
So, I think I was about 13 or 14 when I first started reading romance novels--and no, my mom couldn't tell me not to read them since she was my supplier. Should I not have been reading them? Absolutely.
I can't remember how I got my hands on my first one, but I think I was about 12 or 13. I always hid them from my mum, mostly because I was embarrassed to be reading something so obviously 'non-brain-improving' (plus the covers were just so cheesy) but I look back now and think that there were a lot worse things I could have been doing than giggling to myself with wide eyes over romantically vague porn. LOL.
Reply
I really love Linda Howard, though, and could go on for DAYS about her stuff. Five of my favorites: Midnight Rainbow, Duncan's Bride, Cry No More, The Touch of Fire, and Shades of Twilight.
As for that I could have been doing a lot worse of things at that age, I agree, but I also know if I had a fourteen year old daughter, I wouldn't want her reading that stuff (I wouldn't even want my fourteen year old to read Twilight, LOL), so it's really more about neglect and awareness as a parent than it is about the subject matter. But my issues with my mother are totally irrelevant here! LOL.
Reply
Aha, I thought it was that one! I really enjoyed KaT as well, although I do recall a moment that still makes me LOL when I think of it - remember the 'game changing' moment when they were on the balcony and he went to change the music and it lead to OTHER THINGS and she found out later just how 'prepared' he had been? *snickers like the 13 yo she once was*
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:D
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