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jmc_bksCindyS has posted the next set of questions for her Romance Book Week meme. These are requiring way more thought and research and effort on my part, so I'm going to post the answers in sections. The first question that I could answer without effort or thought or hesitation was #4.
4. What kind of heroine do you wish could be eradicated from the earth? Okay, we all hate the wimpy ones but I'm talking about those ones who use crystals and beads and wear bright clothes and claim to have Wiccan tendencies. Whoops! That's more for me. I for one would love to read about a librarian who has a loud voice and can't help it, who laughs too loud and is sexy as hell. So I guess I'm talking about a character type that you hate - you see even a hint of it on the back cover and you drop the book like it burns.
The heroine who can turn an otherwise good book into a wallbanger for me: the smart, otherwise sophisticated heroine with a great job and a great circle of friends who "forgot" to have sex and is completely sexually unaware. I don't have a problem with virginity or with a limited sex life as long as it has an explanation that makes sense within the book. Waiting for marriage? Okay. Dry spell between lovers? Okay. Intimacy issues? Okay. All of those scenarios include a heroine who has thought about her sexuality and made a (conscious or unconscious) choice to abstain. The 30ish* heroine who is totally hot, but who has never felt a sexual urge in her life doesn't work for me. Today it is all but impossible to be beyond the age of 15 and not know understand how your body works. To have a heroine who is so utterly unaware of herself as a human being with sexual urges and needs seems unnatural and unhealthy to me. She's smart enough to have a Ph.D. in psychology and be a therapist, but doesn't recognize arousal when she feels it? Ugh.
* Or any age beyond 21 really, but I would give a little bit of leeway for younger than say 25. My bullshit meter starts to peg as the heroines age without any sexual experience or awareness.
4. What kind of heroine do you wish could be eradicated from the earth? Okay, we all hate the wimpy ones but I'm talking about those ones who use crystals and beads and wear bright clothes and claim to have Wiccan tendencies. Whoops! That's more for me. I for one would love to read about a librarian who has a loud voice and can't help it, who laughs too loud and is sexy as hell. So I guess I'm talking about a character type that you hate - you see even a hint of it on the back cover and you drop the book like it burns.
The heroine who can turn an otherwise good book into a wallbanger for me: the smart, otherwise sophisticated heroine with a great job and a great circle of friends who "forgot" to have sex and is completely sexually unaware. I don't have a problem with virginity or with a limited sex life as long as it has an explanation that makes sense within the book. Waiting for marriage? Okay. Dry spell between lovers? Okay. Intimacy issues? Okay. All of those scenarios include a heroine who has thought about her sexuality and made a (conscious or unconscious) choice to abstain. The 30ish* heroine who is totally hot, but who has never felt a sexual urge in her life doesn't work for me. Today it is all but impossible to be beyond the age of 15 and not know understand how your body works. To have a heroine who is so utterly unaware of herself as a human being with sexual urges and needs seems unnatural and unhealthy to me. She's smart enough to have a Ph.D. in psychology and be a therapist, but doesn't recognize arousal when she feels it? Ugh.
* Or any age beyond 21 really, but I would give a little bit of leeway for younger than say 25. My bullshit meter starts to peg as the heroines age without any sexual experience or awareness.
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Date: 2006-03-18 09:47 pm (UTC)(the bread pudding recipe is up on my LJ)
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Date: 2006-03-19 02:28 pm (UTC)I've printed the recipe! Thank you! I'm going to pick up ingredients this evening when I grocery shop.