Romance novels

[terranova]

I used to be a big fan of Elizabeth Lowell, infact, her Donovan series remains one of my all time favourites (still unfinished), but I'm finding her recent work boring one book is a carbon copy of the book before. Sad :(. I don't think I've finished her last 3 books.

I do still like her Rarities Unlimited but she isn't writing many of them at the moment.

 

Same for Nora Roberts. I loved her Quinn Brothers quartet and her Blood Brothers trilogy (although it got very silly towards the end), and some of her standalones are not bad but I'm over her JD Robb stuff and I haven't bought a book new off the shelf in years. I just get them from the library now, saves on dissapointment.

 

SO, I need a new author or several!

 

I like strong women, I don't mind a bit of sex, I like a decent plot and the romance should be believable and fun.

 

Any ideas/recomendations?

[StarrieEyedKat]

I enjoy Jude Deveraux, but mostly because she does historical romances, which I prefer. Julie Garwood has a good track record for strong heroins - try The Lion's Lady, Guardian Angel or Saving Grace (those first two go together, in that order.) Catherine Anderson has decent books, but she makes a lot of her main characters a little too religious for me.

[keen23]

Julia Quinn is one of my favorites. She's probably best known for the Bridgerton series- a set of 8 siblings who were named alphabetically. It's humorous for the most part, and not very rapey. When He Was Wicked is my favorite of this series- it's darker than the rest of them and it absolutely wrecks me every time I read it (at least twice a year). She currently has 22 novels in publication, and some additional novellas.

Eloisa James is another author I love. She's currently re-working classic fairy tales into romance novels, and it's been pretty successful. The Desperate Duchesses series is good too- An Affair Before Christmas is my favorite of her books.

Jude Devereaux's The Duchess is a classic (I'm not in love with the rest of the Montgomery family however).

I used to really enjoy Catherine Coulter- but she's very rapey, especially in her older novels, and the newer ones feel a lot like re-treads of the same old, same old.

[terranova]

thanks :) I'll take note of those authors.

What do you mean by rapey?

[StarrieEyedKat]

thanks :) I'll take note of those authors.

What do you mean by rapey?

A lot of the old school romance writers often felt the need to prove the hero of the story was virile, so they had them basically rape the heroine to "win them over". Kathleen Woodiwiss was bad about this, at least in a few of her books.

[Guest Anonymous]

A lot of the old school romance writers often felt the need to prove the hero of the story was virile, so they had them basically rape the heroine to "win them over". Kathleen Woodiwiss was bad about this, at least in a few of her books.

Yeah, falling in love with one's rapist is a big theme in romance novels. Even though what happens in the story is obviously rape it's handwaved away in the name of {future} twoo wuv. I also recall a Barbara Cartland novel where a guy poked a woman with spurs and whipped her because she was reckless with a horse. Cruelty to animals = bad. Cruelty to women in retaliation = okay, apparently. You see, the ladies need to have their spirits broken or they'll never behave themselves.

Gross, gross, gross.

[slickcat79]

I enjoy Jude Deveraux, but mostly because she does historical romances, which I prefer. Julie Garwood has a good track record for strong heroins - try The Lion's Lady, Guardian Angel or Saving Grace (those first two go together, in that order.) Catherine Anderson has decent books, but she makes a lot of her main characters a little too religious for me.

I canNOT handle Catherine Anderson. I always had to be in a certain mood to read her books because they are very emotional, but when I read the end of her Coulter series and almost the entire family randomly converted to catholicism en masse, that was the breaking point. Especially the part where the heroine in that book kept suggesting that she was right to stay with her abusive ex-husband as long as she did because her her religious vows The book had a "guarantee" on it from the publisher that you could send it back to them and get your money back, and I did that. It was a shame, because I liked the earliest books in the series.

I have quite a few of Julie Garwood's historicals, and I quite like them, especially the ones that go further back than regency England.

Julia Quinn is one of my favorites. She's probably best known for the Bridgerton series- a set of 8 siblings who were named alphabetically. It's humorous for the most part, and not very rapey. When He Was Wicked is my favorite of this series- it's darker than the rest of them and it absolutely wrecks me every time I read it (at least twice a year). She currently has 22 novels in publication, and some additional novellas.

I really like Julia Quinn, although I think her older books are more consistently good than her recent ones, which are hit-and-miss for me. Several years back I included a bunch of Julia Quinn's books on a random "bookshelf" app on FB, and she friended me out of the blue :D It was a great moment.

For contemporary romances I usually like Susan Anderson (newer ones more than older ones) and Rachel Gibson, especially when she writes about hockey players. Those would probably fall pretty neatly into the light-and-fluffy category, but I often like quick, fun reads for the summer.

[terranova]

it seems that a lot of romance authors get worse with age. Or atleast, they lose their editors.

[StarrieEyedKat]

I canNOT handle Catherine Anderson. I always had to be in a certain mood to read her books because they are very emotional, but when I read the end of her Coulter series and almost the entire family randomly converted to catholicism en masse, that was the breaking point. Especially the part where the heroine in that book kept suggesting that she was right to stay with her abusive ex-husband as long as she did because her her religious vows The book had a "guarantee" on it from the publisher that you could send it back to them and get your money back, and I did that. It was a shame, because I liked the earliest books in the series.

Yeah, the only reason I'm still barely hanging on is because most of the Coulters are in the animal biz, so it keeps me hooked. I have to REALLY skim over the religion stuff though, and it's getting worse so I don't see myself sticking around much longer.

[yaright]

I like the Highlander Series by Karen Moning. She also rights the fever series, which I really enjoy but not exactly romance. These have alot of scifi elements like going back in time, going into the future. Fae folk, magic and such so if that is your thing you would enjoy it.

[Witsec7]

Yeah, falling in love with one's rapist is a big theme in romance novels. Even though what happens in the story is obviously rape it's handwaved away in the name of {future} twoo wuv. I also recall a Barbara Cartland novel where a guy poked a woman with spurs and whipped her because she was reckless with a horse. Cruelty to animals = bad. Cruelty to women in retaliation = okay, apparently. You see, the ladies need to have their spirits broken or they'll never behave themselves.

Gross, gross, gross.

I could never get those plots or why that whole fantasy was attractive to women. But I've known women who were sexually assaulted so I don't find it to be entertainment.