A non-rec and a rec.

[lamardeuse]

I picked up a Harlequin on the weekend for 50 cents at a flea market, and man, it wasn't even worth that much. You want an unsexy image of a guy coming? Try: The explosions started in his groin and imploded throughout his body like a volley of charges in a building demolition until he slumped like a crumpled frameless heap beneath her. I mean, what

Comments

[nympha_alba]

"A volley of charges in a building demolition"? How very... sexy.

I read a Harlequin once where "fireworks went off under the bed" when the romantic couple had sex. Really? (Luckily I didn't have to pay even 50 cents for the book; someone had left it behind in the hotel I was in.)

[helene94]

Yeah, I have a long and sordid history with Harlequins (but I'm in recovery!). In hindsight, with a lot more reading and some actual experience under my belt (so to speak) some of those descriptions are pretty horrifying.

Also, the women in those books mostly make me want to belt them, these days...

[maryavatar]

In a similar vein - Mills & Boon rather than Harlequin - a few years ago I was stuck in hospital and, as I'd come in as an emergency, I had nothing with me. I was in a side ward, so I was all alone, the binds were closed, there was no TV, I was hooked up to half a dozen bits of equipment so I couldn't even move much, and I was completely stoned. The only entertainment was staring at the ceiling tiles or reading the Mills & Boon novel the previous occupant had left behind. After flicking through the book and reading several passages, I chose the ceiling tiles. Not even a morphine drip could make it readable.

[imaginarycircus]

I read that sentence to my husband and said "B for effort, F for result."

[thegrrrl2002]

The explosions did what with his body with the what what what? Building demolition?

Suddenly I feel much better about my own writing.

And I can't wait to check out the Sherlock fic. That snippet is utterly gorgeous.