Romance? Really?

I wrote this for Ooh_Books to post when she takes a few days off, but i'm not sure if or when she will use it so I am posting it here for you guys too.

I've been asked to talk about the appeal of paranormal romance, why I like it and why you should give it a try.

I guess I should admit straight up that a couple of years ago I was firmly in the camp that would greet any admission of romance reading with a snort of derision. I could not really have been less interested in romance of any description. I don't believe in happily ever after and I wanted nothing to do with sappy heroines and stoic men regardless of whether they were vampires, in space or just the old Mill's and Boone style. The covers, frankly are often an embarrassment screaming "hey, I’m a bored housewife whose marriage is disappointing". At least that's how I felt.

When I started the blog I started talking to a lovely lady called Dana Fredsti, or maybe we were already talking, I forget; regardless she had written a very witty noirish novel that I love. We corresponded fairly regularly and shortly after Un:Bound got going, Dana started work on a new novel. This was a bit different, this was a romance called Ripping the Bodice under the pen name Inara LaVey. I am a huge fan of Dana's writing style and so I followed her across in to romance, justifying it because it was just one writer and only because I love her style. It was a fun read, lightly mocking the genre whilst still firmly ticking all the boxes itself. The characters were adorable and the book was laugh out loud funny. I even ended up rooting for the hero and heroine to get it together. Through Dana and the Ravenous Romance crowd I discovered that there is a lot more to the genre than I thought. There are some extremely talented writers, whose prose is witty and whose characters are delightful. There is of course lots of rubbish too, but that could be said of any genre.

At the same time I have been reading a lot of Urban Fantasy. UF is often lumped in with paranormal romance on the shelves since Twilight. Before then it was often in horror and it still sometimes shows up in fantasy. No one quite seems to know what to do with it. Yes there is a point, stick with me. I can't get enough of UF, still I absolutely love it. Of course occasionally I pick up a para romance, it's often hard to tell by the blurb which is which.

There is also a close relationship between paranormal romance and urban fantasy. They share a lot of the same tropes. Both often use kick ass heroines, a vamp/werewolf/other love interest and lots of peril. Ok so in UF the mystery and the battle is at the fore, rather than the romance, but there are many points of commonality. The Jaz Parks series is based around a romance. There isn't much sex and the stories and characters are fabulous but it's in the UF camp by hairs breadth. I love the Jaz Park books. Most urban fantasy has some romance element, especially where there is a female lead. Lillith Saintcrow and Kim Harrison fall firmly into UF but the romances between Danny and the demon Japhrimel or Rachel and the vampire Kist (respectively) are significant factors in the stories. Some authors of course move from UF into erotica within the same series, like Laurell K Hamilton. Fans of LKH's Anita Blake books tend to fall into one of two camps. Some, like me loved when Anita was uncompromising and kick ass in the early books, others love the erotica and think the books get better and better (even now I am converted to romance I am not a fan of the later books in this series). I'm drifting, the point is that romance, whilst not the be all and end all, is often a significant part of urban fantasy. It's an easy step from that into para romance.

I read a lot of YA fantasy too and teen books have always leant towards romance in my experience. It's a more innocent romance, exploratory and often tortured, but still books like Hush Hush, Nevermore, Shiver are all basically romances.

It was really only a matter of time before my resistance eroded completely.

So there we are, that is how and why I came to it, now, why do I love it? Because I am character driven as a reader and a good romance has to be character driven. If you don't care about the characters why would you care whether they hook up? We aren't talking particularly about erotica here, this is for the angst ridden, knight in shining armour romance and you need to care. At its best paranormal romance is strong well written characters that you can fall in love with and root for, set in a decent plot and a paranormal backdrop to throw in some additional obstacles. For most of us now (I would hope) mixed race/religion marriages and same sex partnerships are pretty well accepted, but a young woman falling in love with a were or a vamp, that's still a little dangerous. In fact that's virtually another species on that might eat you, never mind the practical issues.

Its pure escapism in a way that no other genre is, because even if you don't believe in happy ever after isn't it nice to let yourself for a little while every so often?

So where should you start? Well it really depends on what else you like to read. As I say I read a lot of UF & YA so it was just a question of selecting the novel next to the one I came in for that leant a little more to the romance side. I'm still pretty new and finding my way through it. I enjoyed the Sherrilyn Kenyon book and can see why she is so popular but I didn't feel it was as strong as some. Karen Chance is a good start being just over the boundary from UF. If you like zombies and a bit of silliness then the short story anthology Hungry for your Love is pretty strong with various interpretations. It's only an ebook at the moment but I believe it is going to be a paperback. Try some of the YA novels if you want something gentle to break in. Alyxandra Harvey's My Love Lies Bleeding (I think it may be Heart's at Stake in the US?) is a great novel with two romances. Inara's short story Succubusted is fun and an easy read. If you aren't sure about romance generally there are some fantastic blogs out there that specialise in it or cover it a great deal more than I do. Sci Fi Guy (http://www.scifiguy.ca/) picks up a lot of the paranormal romance and erotic horizon (http://erotichorizon.blogspot.com/) is another great blogger for a variety of romance. It's worth finding a blogger whose reading tastes overlap your own and seeing what romance they read as a starting point. When you find something you really like though you can revisit those first love feelings from the comfort of your sofa any time you like and frankly we all need to remember what that feels like sometimes.