Scoring follow up
Jul. 27th, 2006 06:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jmc_bksYesterday's question about scoring slang wasn't rhetorical. I really wondered, but will have to live in ignorance, I suppose. It came up in the context of Emma Darcy's The One That Got Away (Harlequin Presents #1033 (c) 1987).
Taylor agrees to give Jillian a single day trial, which goes well so the charter is extended to two weeks, as originally planned. So they go out to dinner again, this time in a group. But Taylor and Jillian still end up alone together at the end of the evening. To use more sports metaphors, they get to second base . . . which Taylor refers to it as a "first down" and makes a snide comments about getting lucky, which pisses off Jillian, who flounces away.
After the second botched interlude, they settle into friend mode, which is fine until the second to last day of the charter. After catching and releasing a world record marlin, they celebrate as a group and the two again end up alone together, having sex. [Here comes the Big Misunderstanding.] After which, Taylor mutters, "Touch down." Which of course freaks Jillian out. In order to avoid being used (and thinking Taylor doesn't love her), she tells him she was just using him for sex (because she was a virgin and needed experience). His feelings are hurt and he goes home to America in a huff. There's some more, but the Big Mis is what leaves me wondering.
The guy rolls off and says "Touch down" and doesn't understand what the newly-devirginized girl/woman is freaking out? I don't expect eloquence immediately post-orgasm and generally find it to be irritating in romance novels, but really, it isn't that hard to figure out what set her off, especially after their last encounter and the sports-metaphor-for-sex and the resultant flouncing. After the fog cleared, he should've been able to figure that one out.
The book was pretty dated and included some of the usual HPisms: heroine forced to take up the slack for family; family business on verge of bankruptcy but for heroine's intervention; mistaken first impression; Big Misunderstanding. The whole tarty dressing bothered me. No means no, regardless of how tight your dress is or who you are speaking to.
Despite that, I did like the book. Really. How many romance novels spend time talking about deep sea fishing? None that I know of, other than this one. And how often do romance novels get the sports wrong? A lot. Plus, no sheikhs, secret babies, revenge plots, billionaire business men, or latin lovers appeared. This HP, though dated, was well done. It fit the format and the constraints of the genre. The setting was interesting and relevant to the plot. The heroine wasn't a doormat -- she didn't need the hero to rescue her and she wasn't in over her head -- although she was reluctant to handle the charter, she was perfectly capable, and didn't flounder around incompetently once she had no choice but to do the job. Unique. B/B- for me.
For Jillian love was not a gameWhen Taylor and his entourage arrive in Cairns, they aren't happy to learn that Jillian's father won't be skippering their charter. In an attempt to persuade Taylor to keep the charter, first Jillian tarts herself up and takes him to dinner. The usual assumptions, pass made and rejected, and offended responses occur.
Her father's illness forced Jillian Howard to skipper his fishing charter for Taylor Marshall, a popular American sportsman. To overcome Taylor's doubts about the charter, Jillian used her feminine charmes. But his response took her far out of her depth.
Jillian proved her expertise by maneuvering the Dreamcatcher around the Great Barrier Reef as Taylor angled for giant marlin. If only she could handle Taylor as easily!
Jillian was just beginning to trust him, when doubts resurfaced. To Taylor, was she just another trophy?
Taylor agrees to give Jillian a single day trial, which goes well so the charter is extended to two weeks, as originally planned. So they go out to dinner again, this time in a group. But Taylor and Jillian still end up alone together at the end of the evening. To use more sports metaphors, they get to second base . . . which Taylor refers to it as a "first down" and makes a snide comments about getting lucky, which pisses off Jillian, who flounces away.
After the second botched interlude, they settle into friend mode, which is fine until the second to last day of the charter. After catching and releasing a world record marlin, they celebrate as a group and the two again end up alone together, having sex. [Here comes the Big Misunderstanding.] After which, Taylor mutters, "Touch down." Which of course freaks Jillian out. In order to avoid being used (and thinking Taylor doesn't love her), she tells him she was just using him for sex (because she was a virgin and needed experience). His feelings are hurt and he goes home to America in a huff. There's some more, but the Big Mis is what leaves me wondering.
The guy rolls off and says "Touch down" and doesn't understand what the newly-devirginized girl/woman is freaking out? I don't expect eloquence immediately post-orgasm and generally find it to be irritating in romance novels, but really, it isn't that hard to figure out what set her off, especially after their last encounter and the sports-metaphor-for-sex and the resultant flouncing. After the fog cleared, he should've been able to figure that one out.
The book was pretty dated and included some of the usual HPisms: heroine forced to take up the slack for family; family business on verge of bankruptcy but for heroine's intervention; mistaken first impression; Big Misunderstanding. The whole tarty dressing bothered me. No means no, regardless of how tight your dress is or who you are speaking to.
Despite that, I did like the book. Really. How many romance novels spend time talking about deep sea fishing? None that I know of, other than this one. And how often do romance novels get the sports wrong? A lot. Plus, no sheikhs, secret babies, revenge plots, billionaire business men, or latin lovers appeared. This HP, though dated, was well done. It fit the format and the constraints of the genre. The setting was interesting and relevant to the plot. The heroine wasn't a doormat -- she didn't need the hero to rescue her and she wasn't in over her head -- although she was reluctant to handle the charter, she was perfectly capable, and didn't flounder around incompetently once she had no choice but to do the job. Unique. B/B- for me.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-28 10:10 pm (UTC)I think if it is the first time two people who have established a friendship and have a banter thing going on it would be different but I would be looking askance at any guy who said touch down after the first time. Regardless of virginity.
Hmmm, I wonder if a woman sighing 'marriage' afterwards would have just as chilling an effect to a man. The stereotype being men like to score and women want marriage.
CindyS
You're right
Date: 2006-07-29 08:02 pm (UTC)And you made a good point about banter -- I meant to mention that, because what freaks people out is all about context. The hero's continued use of the sports metaphor seemed dumb to me because of the outcome of the earlier use, you know?
~jmc