TTT: Things I Want When it Comes to Romance

Top Ten Tuesday is a Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's TTT topic: Things I Like/Dislike When it Comes to Romance

Things I ~~Like~~ Love and Want When it Comes to Romance

BANTER-The more banter and the more snarky it is, the better.

Excellent Examples of Banter Can Be Found In: The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (YA Fantasy), To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (Adult Sci-Fi), The Perilous Gard and The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope (YA/MG Historical), Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge (YA Fantasy), Biggest Flirts by Jennifer Echols (YA Contemporary),

Conversation-I like reading conversations where the couple in a romance discuss things. Music, art, books, politics, sports, movies-anything that is outside the realm of their relationship with each other. I like to know that these are whole people who have things to say to each other beyond: "You're hot and I want to make out with you".

Excellent Examples of Conversation Between Romantic Couples Can Be Found In: Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers (adult mystery), The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope (YA/MG Historical), Knife by R.J. Anderson, Perfect Couple by Jennifer Echols (YA Contemporary), I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios (YA Contemporary), Bone Gap by Laura Ruby (YA Magical Realism)

Intelligence: Yes, I like the individuals who make a couple to display intelligence independently and with each other. This makes the first two things on my list happen more easily in a story.

Excellent Examples of Intelligent Romantic Pairings Can Be Found In: The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (YA Fantasy), Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers (adult mystery), The Perilous Gard and The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope (YA/MG Historical) Across a Star Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund (YA Fantasy), Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge (YA Fantasy)

Strong Relationships Outside of Romantic Relationship: I like to see the individuals involved in romance have good relationships outside of their romantic pairing. If the romantic pairing is all there is in the character's life, it's not a good sign for the health of the relationship.

Excellent Examples of SRORR Can Be Found In: Anything written by Melina Marchetta (She is a master at this. YA Realistic and Fantasy), All the Jennifer Echols books I've read so far have this too (YA Contemporary), The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson (YA Fantasy), I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios (YA Contemporary)

Sexy Times: I admit it. I enjoy reading about kissing, and yes, even more. Lust, passion, and physical attraction are super important in a romantic relationship and I need the author to make me believe it. Note that does not mean I need every single detail. I just need to know for sure it is there. In fact, The King of Attollia has this with it being so incredibly subtle it would go over the heads of its younger readers. But it's definitely there.

Excellent Examples of Sexy Times Can Be Found In: Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers, Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge (YA Fantasy), The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson (YA Fantasy), Bone Gap by Laura Ruby (YA Magical Realism), The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas (YA Fantasy)

Swoony Times: This what I call those moment of intense emotional connection or individual sacrifice one half of the couple makes for the other.

Excellent Examples of Swoony Times Can Be Found In: The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (YA Fantasy), Guady Night by Dorothy Sayers (Adult Mystery) Arrow by R.J. Anderson (Paul at the end!!!! YA/MG Fantasy), The Perilous Gard and The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope (YA/MG Historical), Crown of Embers by Rae Carson (YA Fantasy), Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein (Maddie and Jamie's letters-my heart! YA Historical Fiction), The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas (YA Fantasy)

Even though I don't review it on the blog, I do read a lot of adult romance. Here are my favorite books by my favorite authors. I love these authors because they all do this entire list so well. Every. Single. Thing.

And then, of course, there was the book that started it all and inspired me to look for all these things in a good romance:

Do you enjoy reading romances? What sort of things do you look for?

Comments

Anonymous said…

YES to everything in your list! I want all of these in the romances that I read too. Makes me want to read all the books in your list that I haven't read. I wanted to do this post yesterday but fell asleep instead haha.

February 10, 2015 at 10:22 PM

Brandy said…

Not surprised you agree with me. :)

February 16, 2015 at 1:45 PM

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