The unexpected virginity surprise is one of the tropes in romance novels that I can either love or hate. How I feel about it comes down to several factors, but mostly my enjoyment from it or lack thereof comes around how the author handles the unexpected virginity surprise from start to finish. It’s like an AP test with 4 questions, but each question has 7 parts. If the author screws up on question 2 part 3 it’s basically a wallbanger, but if the author gets every part right, it’s a trope that can make your toes curl and your heart go pitter-patter.
What is the Unexpected Virginity Surprise?
The unexpected virginity surprise is a theme in romance novels that occurs in both historical and contemporary settings. The hero misconstrues something about the heroine, something said by or about the heroine, or the actions of another man and suddenly believes without proof that the heroine is not a virgin. When he gets her into bed, he finds out she’s not in fact as worldly as he thought. It always takes him by surprise.
Why it happens:
- Heroine has bad fashion sense and/or is slightly overweight and hasn't gone clothes shopping to update her wardrobe yet.
- Heroine is as dirty mouthed and minded as a sailor. Big talk must therefore equal big slut.
- Hero sees heroine’s gay guy friend kiss her and thinks she's been with him.
- Hero kisses heroine and she has either an innate knack or the skill of a seasoned lover.
- Heroine is the center of multiple men's attentions.
- Hero overhears something the heroine said in a fit of pique to somebody else and thinks she’s sleeping around with every Tom, Dick, and Harry.
- Hero is told something completely untrue about the heroine but he takes as gospel truth without checking the facts.
- Heroine is a not-so-rare-as-you-might-think virgin widow.
- Heroine never takes hero aside and says, “Look, I’m a virgin, this is my first time, make it special or else.”
Pros for the Unexpected Virginity Surprise:
- It builds up the angst level (something that I love.) Hero is falsely assuming or accusing the heroine of something she knows isn’t true and yet she keeps quiet about because it’s none of his beeswax.
- Reader satisfaction when hero learns not only that he was wrong about the heroine, but he was so far off base he was on a whole other level of epic fail. It curls our toes to watch the hero struggle to understand that all his convictions were completely mistaken. This as we are told in the hero’s character development never happens. He never has misconceptions about anything, let alone a woman.
- Cue groveling hero. Now we get to read him, this alpha male, bend over backwards to appease the heroine and make amends. It’s 100% delicious.
Cons for the Unexpected Virginity Surprise:
- Authors use virginity as a shorthand.
- It glorifies a woman’s hymen as “the-be-all-end-all” of the heroine’s integrity. If she’s a virgin she must be the first decent girl the hero’s met in a long time. By doing so it turns virginity into moral currency.
- It’s a double standard. Women have to be virgins or asexual. Men can be super-sexed. It’s sexier and more romantic for it to be the heroine’s first time but not the hero’s. And have you noticed it's never the heroine who is surprised by the hero's virginity? At least not in the same scenario.
Your Turn: How do you feel about the Unexpected Virginity Surprise?
Loading ...Share books in which UVS occurs: Add your favorites in the comments below! Especially newer releases.
Photo Credits: kelly niemann
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This post was written by...
Keira – who has written 1034 posts on Love Romance Passion.
Keira's favorite type of heroes are blind, scarred, and tortured... yes, she understands those should be separate, but all 3 at once is also nice! She enjoys historical romances best and adores audio books because great narrators turn books into auditory/mental movies (and she loves her romantic dramas like Pride and Prejudice/North and South!) Learn more about Keira in My Instant Turn Ons, Offs, and Ifs.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
You hit the nail on the head, “virginity as moral currency” is just so much crap. I prefer the ones where the heroine is surprisingly experienced (whether virgin or not) because she is in touch with her body and she liked men before Mr. Be-all-end-all showed up (Victoria Dahl’s “A Little Bit Wild” is a FANTASTIC example of this).
I will say that I’m sucker enough to like the “sex-sucked-with-my-late-husband” trope, though. But as much as I love Regencies, I do not like virginity = moral/upstanding/special.
Uh, you freely admit that the UVS works sometimes and doesn’t work sometimes and THEN you expect us to vote with our only two choices being Totally Rocks and Totally Sucks?
Admittedly, pregnancy is binary (you either are or you are not) but virginity is not binary. I had a friend in high school — super smart & she went to MIT — but because of wackadoodle religious zealots parents, she was technically a virgin. A virgin who had been to third base so much she pretty much built a 3-bedroom ranch there, but still technically a virgin.
The French has a term for this — the demi-vierge, or half virgin. As you might imagine, such women can be pretty slutty.
Just not in the UVS books — there, the heroine is always A Good Girl, regardless of why she’s still a virgin.
@Cris- I can’t take credit for the wording, but I thought it was well stated. I ran across a fabulous article that was about romance novels and sex as moral currency. See the link where the words are to read that article.
I would think modern romances would have a heroine who is more in touch with herself than historicals.
I also like sex sucked with previous hubby plots too.
@Magdalen- What can I say? I’m evil that way lol
Forcing you to choose is just part one of my diabolical plan to take over the world… bwuahaha
Half-virgins great term! And also proof that a virgin can still be slutty and that her hymen wouldn’t be valid in a moral currency exchange. Somebody would be swindled. lol
My favorite Stephanie Laurens novel, A Secret Love, has this theme — the scene where Gabriel finally finds out the “widow” is indeed a virgin is fantabulous! Love it! I don’t read a lot of contemporaries, but in historicals this is a fairly common theme, and I like it. (I am obviously in the minority!)….also, a lot of Amanda Quick historical novels have the unexpected virginity surprise, and I love those books.
Dislike unexpected virginity books.
When they’re well done I love the UVS theme. Sometimes though it gets on my nerves. It all depends on the situation and the author. It’s been so long since I read an Amanda Quick novel. I used to devour her.
I can’t help but roll my eyes every time I come across an unexpected virgin. It’s a shame that people will still equate virginity with morality and the “good girl”. However, any book that questions stereotypes and assumptions gets solid points from me. What I find more disturbing and frankly creepy is when hero does know the heroine is a virgin. Isn’t it highly inappropriate and stalker worthy for a boss (who cares how rich and handsome he is) to know whether or not his secretary is a virgin? And how did he come to this conclusion? He can’t exactly ask her during the interview process? Was there a hymen check before he made his final decision to hire her? As I said creepy.
I read paranormal mostly and I quite like the UVS, just because it tends to lead to quite a lovely groveling hero moment
, I can recall some novels where it was really poorly executed, or where the opposite to this has happened, an “I thought you were a virgin and because you’re not you’re naturally a slut” has happened which was really terrible. I think Kresley Cole does it very well though and her virgins are just as likely to be men.