Charlaine Harris
Warning, spoilers for plot lines in all of Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire (Sookie Stackhouse), Harper Connelly and Aurora Teagarden serieses are within this post.
******Warning Plot Spoilers Within******
I've read most of Charlaine Harris's books. I don't watch True Blood, I actually found her books through a book club I'm in before the TV series came out. But what I've noticed about her books/short stories is that there is "deviant" or borderline deviant sex in all of the serieses. Or maybe it's not deviance, but there's a level of abusiveness in most of these relationships.
Of course, there's Sookie's relationship with Bill, which borders on emotionally/mentally abusive. She can't eat or wear certain things because he didn't "like" it? Her relationship with him just always bugged me on so many levels, from the start. On the flip side, I'm not bothered by her relationship with Eric. Or Quinn. So it's not the vampire/werewolf thing. It was her and Bill.
In the Aurora Teagarden series, she gets involved with and marries this dude named Martin. He's got this oooooooh so mysterious past with the CIA, so he's got a coldness. And he's a generation older. Their relationship also had an emotionally weird dynamic. Like I said, borderline abusive. It's like she gave up so much of her life for this cat. Or they do things for his work or his child or his likes.
In the Harper Connelly series, she actually forms a sexual relationship with her stepbrother. And while that isn't technically wrong because they're not blood related, emotionally it's all kinds of jacked up. The two have a sibling relationship, they were raised as brother and sister, and she goes around introducing him as her brother to everyone. So when they start a romance, it's just icky. I have a step-brother and I can't imagine one day turning and going "Damn, he's hot." No, no, no.
I guess on the one hand, you could say that Charlaine Harris is exploring all of the different styles of relationships and bending the lines of what's seen as normal. I say we write what we know, so I have to wonder about her personal life.
On a side note, she also seems to like giving her heroines pets that get hurt/killed as a way to hurt the protagonist. That bothers me, too.
What do y'all think?
******Warning Plot Spoilers Within******
I've read most of Charlaine Harris's books. I don't watch True Blood, I actually found her books through a book club I'm in before the TV series came out. But what I've noticed about her books/short stories is that there is "deviant" or borderline deviant sex in all of the serieses. Or maybe it's not deviance, but there's a level of abusiveness in most of these relationships.
Of course, there's Sookie's relationship with Bill, which borders on emotionally/mentally abusive. She can't eat or wear certain things because he didn't "like" it? Her relationship with him just always bugged me on so many levels, from the start. On the flip side, I'm not bothered by her relationship with Eric. Or Quinn. So it's not the vampire/werewolf thing. It was her and Bill.
In the Aurora Teagarden series, she gets involved with and marries this dude named Martin. He's got this oooooooh so mysterious past with the CIA, so he's got a coldness. And he's a generation older. Their relationship also had an emotionally weird dynamic. Like I said, borderline abusive. It's like she gave up so much of her life for this cat. Or they do things for his work or his child or his likes.
In the Harper Connelly series, she actually forms a sexual relationship with her stepbrother. And while that isn't technically wrong because they're not blood related, emotionally it's all kinds of jacked up. The two have a sibling relationship, they were raised as brother and sister, and she goes around introducing him as her brother to everyone. So when they start a romance, it's just icky. I have a step-brother and I can't imagine one day turning and going "Damn, he's hot." No, no, no.
I guess on the one hand, you could say that Charlaine Harris is exploring all of the different styles of relationships and bending the lines of what's seen as normal. I say we write what we know, so I have to wonder about her personal life.
On a side note, she also seems to like giving her heroines pets that get hurt/killed as a way to hurt the protagonist. That bothers me, too.
What do y'all think?