Mundie Moms

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Top Ten Things I Like/Dislike When It Comes To Romances In Books; Top Ten Tuesday #19

This weekly meme is hosted by The Broke & the Bookish

Hello &  welcome to this week's post. Last week's topic was Ten Books I Can't Believe I Haven't Read Yet. This week's topic is Ten Things I Like/Dislike When It Comes To Romances in Books. This is a great topic, and I broke my post into two parts. I'm listing five things I like and five things I dislike when it comes to romances in books. 

5 Things I Like When It Comes To Romances in Books

1) A Believable Romance. If it's not believable, no matter what genre of book I'm reading, then it's not a good romance. I need a believable romance. I'm talking about the kind where the author allows her characters to fall in love, and I can see that, vs the author telling me. I love watching characters fall in love. I love getting wrapped up into their story while reading their book. 

2) Character Chemistry. This is just as important as having a believable romance. If the characters lack the chemistry, then their romance isn't going be believable. Character chemistry is crucial, and it's one of the things that makes me fall for the characters long before they fall in love with each other. I think this is also my favorite part of reading romances in a book. 

3) Relatable Characters. Who doesn't love relatable characters? If I don't relate to the characters on some level, then I've checked out of the story, and don't care too much about their relationship. I want to care about the characters I'm reading about. 

4) Character Emotions. I love the kind of romances, where I can feel the emotions the characters are feeling. Those the kind of romances that end up sweeping me off my feet as a reader, as much as they do the characters I'm reading about. I'm talking about the natural emotions, that the author allows their characters to feel. The ones that make you relive falling in love for the first time. I want to swoon, laugh, cry, and feel or be reminded of all those same feelings I had when I first fell in love, right along side the characters.

5) Body Language.  This is something Sophie and I have discussed many times when it comes to talking about romances in YA books. We love reading about those relationships where in the beginning, the characters have those subtle touches, the stolen glances, and so forth that hook us. As the story progresses, we begin to wonder when things will progress. We become invested with the "what's going to happen next", and sometimes that may make us a reader, want to shove the two characters together and tell them to make out and get it out of the system already. Some times we like it when characters don't touch much in the beginning, though they have a lot of interaction together. When written well, it's obvious how aware the two characters are of each other, and how much they like each other, even though they haven't yet kissed. It leaves us wanting more from them. Their body language says it all, and gives away their feelings toward each other. 

You know what I'm talking about right? Take Will and Tessa from The Infernal Devices for example. There were so many moments of slight touches, stolen glances, and almost kisses that it made us want to scream. It hooked us. We wanted to know what was going to happen next with these two. Well in Sophie's case that was between Jem and Tessa, but since I'm writing this, I'm using Will. haha When written correctly, the tension and the anticipation about what is about to happen leaves us clinging to the pages, because we want to know when the kissy scene will finally happen. Some times, even though we want more, we love it when the author leaves us hanging with the almost kiss, only to be rewarded later on in the story with fabulous kissy scene. *sigh* Cassandra Clare, Ally Carter, and others are great at writing these kind of scenes. 

5 Things I Don't Like When It Comes To Romances in Books

1) Being told vs being shown, how the characters feel about each other. Basically the opposite of everything I listed above. I'm not a fan, and won't read a romance where I don't feel the sparks flying off the pages, or some sort of character emotions. I need to believe it, and feel it vs being told I need to feel it, and that's how the characters feel. 

2) No character chemistry. If the characters don't have any chemistry, then I'm calling bs on their romance. The chemistry is so important. If chemistry is lacking than nothing about their romantic relationship will feel genuine or real to me. 

3) Forced Chemistry. This is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to romances. You can not force characters to fall in love. It's not only disastrous for them, but it ruins the entire story. So much is missed when characters aren't allowed to naturally feel a certain way about each other. Along with this, non-consensual physical intimacy. Do not even get me going about this. 

4) Characters Who Can't Say No, also known as spineless characters. I can not stand reading about a character who doesn't know how to say no or stand up for themselves. There are a few books I've read with romances where the character never voiced their opinion, and never once said no, even when they didn't want to do something. I can not stand that. I refer to these kind of characters as the spineless ones. I want to tell them to grow a back bone and say NO. There's powering in saying NO, and it really peeves me off when characters I'm reading about don't empower themselves by saying no. 

5) Those romances where the characters are already falling all over each other, and I'm not even to the end of page five yet. I know some people refer to this as raging teenage hormones, but we all know it's not just in YA books where this happens. There's more to romance than sex, and I love a good romance that gives me more than that. I want to read about characters falling in love, and experience all the ups and downs that come with that. I'm not saying the physical part of that is bad, but when it comes to a romance, I don't want it thrown at me within the first couple of pages, when I don't even know anything about the characters. 

I'd love to know what things you love when it comes to romances in books, and the things you don't like. 

2 comments:

  1. Awesome list....when Jem grabs Tessa's pinky finger with his own and asks if that's her wedding gown? *sigh* Zach telling Cammie that he was going to kiss her (because he saw Josh rounding the corner with his new gf). *sigh*

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