In Defense of Romance

2 Comments

Posted on October 15, 2017

A friend recently sent me an email entitled ‘Reading Suggestions?’

Within the email was a sole link to a September 26th, 2017 article A Roundup of the Season’s Romance Novels by Robert Gottlieb from the New York Times. That little question mark in the title of my friend’s email threw me off, but as I often ask friends for reading recommendations, I dove right into the article.

My friend has read both of my romance novels and knows I am also a reader of the genre, so perhaps he was sharing some reading tips. Oh the difference a question mark can make!

man-typing-on-a-laptop_1218-559 If romance novels were animals, then Robert Gottlieb takes on the role of vivisectionist in this cruel and witty review, using his pen (okay, keyboard and fingers) to slash and dissect the romance genre. And it’s a blood bath, folks. Yes, he’s intelligent. And funny. No. I’m not writing grammatically correct sentences. But Gottlieb has pissed me off.

The first half of his piece is about making fun of the language, plot and sex scenes in both regency (racy) and sweet romance novels by sarcastically summarizing the scenarios and splicing together excerpts from the novels. (Was that alliteration or consonance after my vivisection metaphor?)

Take this passage about Julia Quinn’s The Duke And I:

They: Meet at a ball, banter, begin to fall in love. Yet so many things keep them apart! Will he be able to conquer his demons? Will she be able to help him to? You’ll have to read Julia Quinn’s THE DUKE AND I (Avon/HarperCollins, paper, $7.99) to find out. I can reveal this much, however: The sex is great, he “squirming with desire,” she “writhing with delight.”
Excerpt from A Roundup of the Season’s Romance Novels by Robert Gottlieb. New York Times, Sept 26th, 2017

This is the only novel on his shish kebab list that I’ve actually read (skewered things, get it?). Although I prefer contemporary romance to historical romance, The Duke and I ended up in my eReader to counterbalance my reading list. I was a bit tired of our contemporary, fast-paced world filled with affairs and deceit and reasoned that something that harkens back to another century might be refreshing.

The Duke and I is set in a romantic period when men gently courted women and innocence (at least in the female characters) was the norm rather than the exception. Quinn does a reasonable job of creating an interesting cast of characters, defining the historical genre and slowly building the love story. For all the prudishness and innocence of the time, she makes up for it by unleashing passion and connection between the newlyweds in the bedroom. But Gottlieb apparently missed all of that.

Readers of romance don’t approach this genre as a teenage boy (or middle-aged man) with a Playboy or Penthouse magazine. They don’t flip right to the centerfold and get their jollies. Romance readers enjoy the slow build-up of two characters getting to know one another: the banter, the encounters or missed-encounters, those escorted walks through a sprawling estate, the first signs of intimacy, the obstacles they must overcome and yes-oh-yes the sex. More often than not, sex equals intimacy and commitment and eventually love.

Gottlieb the romance vivisectionist ignores this whole build up in Quinn’s novel and unceremoniously flips right to the centerfold. By cutting and splicing “squirming with desire” and “writhing with delight” and plopping them outside of the body of the work, he negates all of that work that brought the characters together and in just a few quick strokes (no pun intended), renders Julia Quinn’s writing as laughable. Not fair!

As someone who will continue reading a bad book just to finish the thing, I have fallen victim to some terrible romance novels with flat characters, God-awful dialogue and truly tasteless sex scenes. But the majority of the romance novels I’ve read create depth of character, realistic obstacles and tastefully written love scenes–some all sugar, some definitely spice.

Gottlieb needs to dig a little deeper into this genre to truly understand it. He could read for example Lauren Layne’s novels primarily set in New York that are smart, funny, witty and sexy. He could delve into Lisa Clark O’Neill’s romantic suspense novels that have self-sufficient female leads, sizzling sex and intelligently written suspense. He might enjoy either of my novels Green and The Things We Said in Venice for their strong female characters and societal depictions, if not the love story itself (or he might put them on the dissecting table!) Or if he prefers chaste but well-written romance novels, consider Outback Hero or Stuck by Australian romance author Elisabeth Rose.

My new favorite discovery is The Civil Wars of Jonah Moran by Marjorie Reynolds. It addresses racism, fear, love, death and clash of cultures and romance combined with beautiful prose. Or if prose really is your thing, consider Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver: nature, sex, environmentalism and a romance that breaks out of the mold. These might really change his rather toxic view on the genre.

I’ll admit that Gottlieb made me laugh throughout his whole rant about my genre, but it seems he misspelled roundup. He apparently meant to apply RoundUp of the Monsanto ilk to the entire romance genre in an attempt at mass eradication.

Hearts-clip-art-images-image Yet there was one point in his romance roundup with which I fully agree: Nora Roberts is the Queen of Romance. It doesn’t seem to matter if it was written in the 80s, 90s or any time within the 21st century, I have enjoyed almost every Nora Roberts novel I’ve read (her romantic suspense ones can be a bit too brutal).

Cartland’s successor as Queen of Romance is America’s Nora Roberts. And she deserves to be. Roberts is not only extraordinarily industrious — 215 or so novels, including 45 futuristic police procedurals under the pseudonym J. D. Robb, also big best sellers — but her books are sensibly written and on the whole as plausible as genre novels can be.

Excerpt from A Roundup of the Season’s Romance Novels by Robert Gottlieb. New York Times, Sept 26th, 2017

I won’t kid myself and think that Robert Gottlieb will take the time to search out my little author blog and respond. But just in case he does, I invite readers of the romance genre to comment on this post with their top romance picks and WHY they think they are worthy of a readership.

Love, kisses, hot sex and happily ever after! (How’s them apples Mr. Gottlieb?)

Author Kristin Anderson

Save the Date: Saturday May 20, 2017 Book Signing in The Hague

Perfect Mother’s Day Gifts 2014

Leave a comment

Posted on May 7, 2014

As a mom, I feel I can write with authority on the topic of what makes a perfect Mother’s Day gift. Of course, moms have as many things in common as they have differences, so there is not one perfect gift that will fit us all. But here are a few things that speak to my heart.

1) A handmade gift that was thought out by our child / children. This could be a drawing, a painting, a box turned into a birdhouse or a giraffe-shaped cookie for all we care. Although we generally have an eye for aesthetics, we aren’t particularly concerned about how beautiful it is, but rather that our child took the time and energy to make it with mom in mind. If your children are older, this can come in the form of an Mp3 mix just for mom, a story or poem written with her in mind, or a digitally made and printed photo album you took the time to lay out and order.

2) A meal made by our family. Most of the principles in gift idea one (made with us in mind) apply here with one exception; it must actually taste good. If dad and accompanying offspring are terrible cooks, then taking mom out for brunch is much more appreciated.

3) A romance or other novel you know is to our liking, accompanied by a block of time to read. In the area of romance, I would of course love you to consider GREEN, my debut novel. But I also recommend any of Tracy Brogan’s books such as Crazy Little Thing . I’m personally looking forward to her latest novel The Best Medicine, that will be available on May 13th, 2014 and can be pre-ordered now. While I personally love reading romance, not all moms do. Thus consider a book in a genre you have seen her read, whether it’s contemporary fiction and literature, biography, or DIY manuals.

4) Fair Trade Chocolate. I know. Cliche. But seriously. Who doesn’t love chocolate? We all talk about how we are slaves to chocolate, we love it so much. But true slavery is no laughing matter, and unfortunately, the cocoa industry is known to use child labor and slavery. What mom wants to support child labor on mother’s day? Thus choose Fair Trade chocolate, such as Tony’s Chocolonely, which is not only delicious, but doing it’s best to make “slavery free chocolate.” This is a very difficult feat in the way cocoa farms are currently set up. Another well-known conscientious chocolate company is Endangered Species chocolate. You can also see the Food Empowerment Project’s list of recommended vegan chocolates for an extended list of child-labor free chocolates.

5) And now, put it all together: Make us a delicious meal, topped off by fair trade chocolate and a hand made gift and then send us to our reading chair with a great book. Oh, Happy Mother’s Day!