Goodbye and Goodnight (by Reese)

Okay, so this isn't my last post. But this is my last post where I'm actually speaking to you (the real last one I have, scheduled for Saturday, defies any description I could give it; sometimes a picture truly is worth a thousand words). And I think there's a few thing I should own up to.

I've read a few romance novels before. I'll probably continue to read them in the future. I wouldn't identify myself as a "rabid" or even "avid" reader of these fine pieces of literature, but I do admit I'm no virgin (ha, ha) to the inner workings of 450 pages of pulsing, sweating sexual detail.

And I'm also aware that I've been making fun of all this, so in honor of my exit from this blog (and at the suggestion of a certain author as well as The Romance Reader Top 100 List) I've selected a few titles that I might pursue reading for my future enjoyment.

Ready?

1. Montana Sky by Nora Roberts. I love Montana, I would like to move there. This is justifiable reason to me.
2. The Last Hellion by Loretta Chase. Hellions are much more my style than damsels in distress. I think I could enjoy a hellion quite more than I could enjoy a helpless blathering wench.
3. Deeper by Megan Hart. Yes, I have posted on this one before. And that's why I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is and see what it's really all about.
4. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. This does not sound particularly appealing to me, as it is a one-world, non-descriptive title that says little about plotline or sexual content, but the List rates it as number one, so my curiosity is piqued.
5. The Windflower by Tom and Sharon Curtis. The title interests me, but its more the fact that this appears to have been written by a couple (I dearly hope they're not a brother-sister team) that makes me want to read it.

That's it for now (don't want to get too crazy) but I'd like to thank you guys for listening to me ramble on for the past week--if, in fact, you have been listening and not just following Lizzie in her waitressing escapades at Waiting On Wisdom.

So if you've been following along, my gratitude is sincere. And I have to say, the, erm, pleasure has been all mine.

On that note, dear readers, goodbye and goodnight.

The Language of Love (by Reese)

As I have yet to get my hands on one of Lizzie's most precious hot-and-heavy romance novels and do a "true and deep" analysis of it, I thought I'd occupy my time by revealing to the hungry eyes of all you readers the pulsing, heaving extent of, um, "descriptive" language used in every inch of the romance novel--even the summaries of books themselves, which don't explicitly refer to sex. Consider this example, from eHarlequin.com:

Deeper

by Megan Hart 

Twenty years ago she had her whole life spread out before her. She was Bess Walsh, a fresh-scrubbed, middle-class student ready to conquer the design world. And she was taken. Absolutely and completely. 

But not by Andy, her well-groomed, intellectual boyfriend who had hinted more than once about a ring. No. During that hot summer as a waitress and living on the beach, she met Nick, the moody, dark-haired, local bad boy. He was, to put it mildly, not someone she could take home to Daddy.

Instead, Nick became her dirty little secret— a fervent sexual accomplice who knew how to ignite an all-consuming obsession she had no idea she carried deep within her.

Bess had always wondered what happened to Nick after that summer, after their promise to meet again. And now, back at the beach house and taking a break from responsibility, from marriage, from life, she discovers his heartbreaking fate—and why he never came back for her. Suddenly Nick's name is on her lips…his hands on her thighs…dark hair and eyes called back from the swirling gray of purgatory's depths.

Dead, alive, or something in between, they can't stop their hunger.

She wouldn't dare.

(my highlights)


Of course, not all romance writers adhere to this particular philosophy. Take this, er, confident woman from AllExperts.com, in response to an inquiry about what sort of language should be used in in writing this sort of book:

"Personally, I'm not a fan of the flowery filler-words used in older romance novels. I'd rather them just get straight to the point with the real word."

Well, okay then.

(image via eHarlequin.com)