Question

[nekosensei]

Okay...I suppose this question merits its own post, so here goes...

Can anyone out there mention a cheesy, but popular harlequin romance novel, the name of a hero, who he is roughly, and what he does...besides the heroine of course. This is for a drabble / short story idea that I've had at the back of my head for a couple of days. A link to Amazon might also be helpful. I suppose, if push came to shove, I could make one up, but I know very little about the genre.

Comments

Nope, But ......

[ftemery.livejournal.com]

http://www.worldoflongmire.com/features/romance_novels/readers_covers.htm

[angharad76.livejournal.com]

Harlequin (or series) romances aren't the most popular of the romance genre. Individual books in the series aren't particularly notable. Now, if you're looking for a book by a name author, you might want to look at Jayne Ann Krentz, Jennifer Crusie, Suzanne Brockman (who's gone over to romantic suspense recently), or Nora Roberts for contemporaries, or Johanna Lindsey, Julia Quinn, or Eloisa James for historicals--the latter two are recently popular authors I don't like much. Johanna Lindsey has a very popular series of novels about the Malory family. That last name would be known to romance readers.

In historical romances, the heroes are often British peers and have duties associated with the landed nobility, which change depending on the time period. In a medieval romance, the hero would be involved in knight-type activities. In Regency-era romances, the heroes could be involved in politics (House of Lords stuff), managing land, a spy against Napoleon, a war veteran, a scholar of some kind, or a man of leisure. (Yes, I know my parallelism was faulty in that sentence, but I don't feel like revising.) In westerns, they could be ranchers, outlaws, lawmen--it varies. Pirate novels are not as popular as they once were.

In contemporary romances, popular occupations include corporate CEOs (though I bet that will change soon), Navy Seals (much more popular than Delta Force Marines or Army Rangers, don't ask me why), law enforcement officers of some kind. Often times there's a mystery or an adventure in the book, so the occupation would often have to do with that. One scenario could be the rebel female P.I. and the straight-laced male FBI agent have to solve some mystery together. I read one book about political campaign managers from opposite parties. I wonder who inspired that one (: There's a common plot involving either the hero or the heroine returning to a small town to unite with an old love or crush. In that case, the occupation could be a teacher or sheriff.

If you need more info, let me know. And romance novels are not cheesy!!!!!!! Here's an excellent academic article in defense of the genre: http://www.jennycrusie.com/essays/romancingreality.php

Sorry, I couldn't let that one go.