Preferences. Everyone has them. There are things you like, love, hate, loathe, and are unconvinced in general one way or another about. When it comes to our romance books, we all have preferences. Here’s mine:
Ons –
- Blind, wounded, emotionally embittered, scarred and damaged heroes. Need I go on?
- MOC (Marriage of Convenience) and MOB (Mail Order Brides) stories. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Forced marriages and shot-gun weddings work well too.
- Westerns, American Historicals (anything before WWII), Highlander, and Regency. I need to marry an earl or seduce a duke, I tell ya. Oh wait! Add paranormal – vampires. I’m thinking ghosts too, but I couldn’t name one. Why isn’t there a ghost romance, along lines of Just Like Heaven and of course Ghost
?
- Jaded rich hero with poor pretty/plain slightly off her rocker (not TSTL, but off in her own world) heroine.
- Dark haired heroes: brown, black, yum. Add blue/green eyes and whew dang! Powerful thighs, tight abs/stomachs, and buns of steel. Bounce those quarters.
- Heroes and heroines hating each other to begin with – woot, a fav!
- Beauty and the Beast. Fairytales in general really.
- Sexy banter. It’s a must.
- Alpha males who fall hard and fight it all the way.
- Big age differences. Think Years by LaVyrle Spencer with the heroine age 18 and the hero age 36.
- Dominant alpha heroes with secret soft sides. Tenderness, compassion, manners – check. Wrap him up and ship him to my door please!
- Heroines with poor eyesight; heroines who are clumsy; heroines who are slightly loopy (because I honestly think I'm a little nuts
.) - That angsty moment that drives the wedge between hero and heroine.
Offs –
- Affairs, cheating. This is a romance not reality tv.
- Estranged, Former lovers. No thanks.
- Undercover heroes, detectives. Very meh for me. Too much suspense not enough loving.
- Best friends; super old acquaintances. It’s called the friend zone for a reason. As for the other, for instance, I am highly dubious of the hero being the heroine’s brother’s best friend. Either she thinks of him as an older brother figure and he’s pervy or she’s like his kid sister and the girl is hopeless.
- Family Trilogies/Series, especially if known. I can read one, but after that no more. It drives me insane, because the new story will have a lead that is not worth the time to flesh out from a previous story.
- Damaged heroines. Ick. No thanks.
- Blond heroes. Sorry blondies, you’re just not my type.
- Leads with kids older than three years old– very few exceptions. Children, romance does not make more lovely, they’re just more quirky and annoying.
- Older women, younger men.
- Rape, near rape. Refer to damaged heroines. NO THANKS! Quit it authors, stop it, no seriously, stop. The end. It’s over.
- Too much dang drama using any of my turn offs…
Ifs –
- Amnesia.
- Time Travel.
- Secret pregnancy/baby.
- Captive / Stranded plots.
- Big Misunderstandings.
- Demon heroes.
- The unexpected virginity surprise.
What are your Ons, Offs, and Ifs? It’s time to spill!
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