Forever You and I: 'Chain Reaction'

If you've read this blog, well, ever, you know my reading propensities: I like angsty teenagers. I adore romance. I dig forbidden love. I read YA well after I was in the target age range and well before Rowling and Meyer made it acceptable for adults to publicly peruse, and I've never apologized for it.

You know what I also love? Free books!

So you can imagine my dorky squeal of happiness when I received a review copy of Chain Reaction by New York Times-bestselling author and fellow Chicagoan Simone Elkeles, whom I interviewed last year. (As I have all my packages sent to work to prevent theft, our mail dudes know to ignore me when I jump up and down.)

First, a disclaimer: I don't gush about something just because it's free. Hell, I don't read something just because it's free, as my TBR pile is too big to begin with.

That said, I loved the everloving crap out of Chain Reaction.

Chain Reaction is the third in a trilogy about the Fuentes brothers (as I've learned over the past year and a half, it's a common romance novel trope to follow a family, usually a set of siblings, over several books. I really like this, as it's fun to have characters in the same universe, and a good family dynamic makes for compelling reading). After Alex (Perfect Chemistry) and Carlos (Rules of Attraction), Luis is the youngest brother and quite possibly the most intelligent. He's been mostly kept away from the gang life that almost consumed his oldest brother, but he's still an adrenaline junkie and a girl magnet. When Luis is reluctantly relocated from Boulder back to the Chicago suburbs, he falls hard for straitlaced Nikki, whom clashed with at Alex's wedding a few years back. But when Luis' family is threatened by Alex's former gang, and Nikki holds back some secrets of her own, both their love and their lives are put in grave danger.

In other words, Chain Reaction has everything I like in a YA and in a romance. A believable family who don't always get along but who truly care for one another. An interesting hero and heroine, neither of whom are TSTL (Too Stupid to Live. Thank you, Smart Bitches Trashy Books). Complicated problems that can't be solved in one chapter, and intimate scenes that bring back the fumbling adrenaline of first love. (And I know I've said this many times before, but physical intimacy - especially between teenagers - is really, really hard to write. Try it sometime.)

Also, I hate to judge a book by its cover, but how hot is that cover? Seriously.

The one small thing that bothered me was some of the Fuentes brothers' dialogue. Apparently they don't pronounce their "ing"'s, so everythin' was spelled as such. I get that Elkeles was trying to be realistic with speaking patterns, but I found it rather annoyin'.

Overall, however, the author hit it out of the park with Chain Reaction, and with the Fuentes family trilogy as a whole. As Elkeles will tell you, she had to fight for the trilogy's first book, Perfect Chemistry, even switching agents in the process. It's inspiring to see what can come out of never giving up on a good story.

Chain Reaction is out in bookstores and ebook tomorrow.

A Cynic's Defense of Romance Novels

I am not a romantic.

Even at sixteen, when a girl is supposed to be all starry-eyed and love-drunk, I was more of the cynic/realist of my relationships.  On our first date, my then-boyfriend and I went to a park with a gazebo.  "Stars are cool," he remarked.  "That was really corny!" I chirped.  He kissed me anyway.

I'm not sure why I'm this way.  My parents may argue a lot, but they've been happily wed for over thirty years, so it's not like I came of age among marital discord and strife.  Maybe it links to why I've cursed like a sailor since I was twelve: in a baggy shirt without eyeliner I look like a virginal milkmaid.  In a tight shirt with eyeliner, I look like a virginal milkmaid trying to be slutty.  What can I say?  I've always been about contrasts.

So it was the weirdest damn thing when last year, I found myself getting into romance novels.

Like the most hush-hush of sex acts, it started out innocently enough: my friend Bryn Donovan sent  me an advance copy of her novel An Experienced Mistress so I could review it for the blog.  After a stressful workday, I sat down at Borders--my punk rocker crush in plain sight--and perused the PDF.  At first, the Catholic schoolgirl in me blushed and giggled.

Then, the Catholic schoolgirl in me realized just what it was I was reading--a story of an interesting woman who had a lot of steamy, well-written sex--and got very, very turned on.

Shit!  I realized.  I think I like romance novels!

It didn't stop there.  Two days later I found myself, as I usually do, in Barnes & Noble on my lunch break.  Except this time I was visiting a different section.  I timidly poked my head into where it said "Romance"--with the side-eye I was giving to make sure no one I knew saw and judged me, I may as well have been buying crack.  Instead of a familiar face, however, I saw a tall, attractive woman, also in work clothes, perusing titles.  We smiled at each other conspiratorially.

I bought Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale.  You never forget your first time.

That was almost a year ago, and since then, thanks to Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, my local library, and a generous friend who gave me a whole tote bag full of her old paperbacks, I'm an official convert.

Let's address the arguments right away.  Yes, some romance novels are crap.  Terribly written tripe with rapey heroes, stupid heroines, and an HEA (Happily Ever After) I wouldn't believe in a million years.  You know what most romance novels are, though?  Well-written.  With flawed but funny heroes, smart and interesting heroines, and a HEA I see coming (because it's romance and you have to have the HEA) but can totally believe.  Let's just say that Jennifer Crusie, Laura Kinsale, Eloisa James, Lauren Dane, and the Godmother of them all, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, kick Dan Brown's vanilla-prosed, conspiracy-spouting ASS.

Because you know where else there's bad writing?  In memoir.  In sci-fi.  In crime, both true and fiction.  In New York Times-bestsellers.  If I have to read about yet another repressed housewife whiiiiining about her husband's affair, I may blow up a suburb my friends don't inhabit.  And yet none of these genres get the hate that romance does.

Do men like romance heroes exist in real life?  Some may argue no.  Some of my happily-married and -coupled friends may beg to differ.  But does it matter?  A big part of romance is escapism.  Fantasy.  But readers can still learn from this.  I'm not saying any of us should hold out for the perfect man, but we shouldn't settle, either.  And really, most romance heroes aren't perfect (really, I have no patience for the ones who are).  Just like the heroines, though, they learn.

Wanna know why I think romance gets a bad rap?  Fair warning: I'm about to step up on a feminist soapbox, but if you read me regularly that shouldn't be much of a shock.  Romance is a genre largely written by women, for women.  Never mind that it's basically keeping the publishing industry afloat: it's for GIRLS, ewwwwww!  Because women can't possibly know what they want, physically, emotionally, and sexually.  Because there's no way writing and editing a romance novel isn't damn difficult.  Because (and this is a literary argument as old as time), the female experience can't be universal.

*Unpro steps off soapbox*

Look, if romance ain't your bag, it's cool.  I'm not trying to make anyone read a romance, though I certainly won't stop you.  But don't make the mistake that Jezebel's Morning Gloria did a week ago, when she denigrated all romance as rape-promoting garbage, using one or two blogs as expert sources.  It's like anything else: don't trash it if you don't know what you're talking about.  (Thanks to Jezebel's Sadie Stein for her excellent rebuttal.)

I admit, I used to trash romance too.  Because it was easy.  Easier to giggle at Fabio (who's supposed to be pretty cool in real life) and lump a literary phenomenon into a National Enquirer-esque category of fluff.  Easier to judge a book by its (sometimes admittedly silly) cover.

A year later, it's Friday night and I'm heading to Borders, thinking "I could really use some Jennifer Crusie right now."

Without any shame whatsoever.

Forbidden Love Giveaway Tiiiiiiiime!

So I have some news: though I do have at least two book reviews in the works, I really miss yapping about movies and TV with all my lovely readers!  Therefore, the next few posts will be more movie- and/or TV-related.

BUT FIRST!

I've acquired three fantastic YA books about forbidden love, two of which have been recently reviewed on the 'pro: Perfect Chemistry and Rules of Attraction, both by Simone Elkeles, and Something Like Fate by the wonderful Susane Colasanti.  Rules of Attraction was just released this week, Something Like Fate is out May 4, and Perfect Chemistry came out last year, but is still going strong.  All.  Are.  Awesome.

And I'm giving them away!

So here's what you have to do: leave a comment with your favorite example of forbidden love in pop culture, and why you think it is so splendiferous, in 50 words or less.  It can be a movie, a book, a song, or that really great moment on your favorite TV show when the two characters you were rooting for finally, finally got together even though they weren't supposed to.

Then check back on Monday, April 26.  I'll choose my three favorites and one of these three cool YA books is yours!

You have until Friday, April 23 to send these in.  Impress me, y'all.

Feel free to pass this around to any book lov-ah you choose.  Happy forbidden lovin'!

Coming up Monday: a new sitcom I just adore.  Yay!

Doin' It Well: An Experienced Mistress

Like being a virgin all over again.

That's how I felt as I prepared to dive into my ARC of author Bryn Donovan's debut romance, An Experienced Mistress.  Granted, I wasn't totally prejudiced--after all, it was I who'd sought out the advance copy (which Bryn so kindly provided in e-format).  Thanks in large part to Lauren Weisberger's novel Everyone Worth Knowing (which I find the least painful of her work), I know that the romance genre gets a lot more crap than it deserves.  Romances aren't just about bodice-ripping, y'all: the good ones are well, very very good, and are both read and written by intelligent women.  I'm not even talking about Danielle Steele (ugh), but the little trade paperbacks that always pique my curiosity at Borders but I'm always kind of afraid to go near. Which, if the comments in this Jezebel post are to be believed, is pretty silly of me.

Still, as I sat down after a long weekend day at work with my ARC, I had some reservations.  Not about the writing style: if Bryn's blog was any indication, the writing would be great.  I just worried I wouldn't be able to get into it--I'm not much for historical, well, anything, and . . . um, sex scenes.  I fretted that the repressed Catholic schoolgirl in me (who like a plaid-clad Tourette's sufferer, tends to pop out when I least want her to) would blush and giggle at words such as "nipple."  (Mature, I know.)  Also, it's a tricky thing reviewing a book written by someone you consider a friend--I want to help her sell more copies, but I want to be fair as well.

Warning to my mother: don't read this next sentence.

As it happened, my first foray into the world of romance novels was much like sex: where you worry and wait and plan and it's a little weird at first but if you stick with it, can be extremely enjoyable.

Mom, you can start reading again.

Because once I swallowed (heh) my fear of romances, I enjoyed the hell out of An Experienced Mistress.

Set in post-Crimean War London, An Experienced Mistress follows Will, a former soldier who comes home to find his fiancee married to another man, and Genevieve, a smart and independent bohemian who is having trouble selling her art because--gasp!--she's a WOMAN and LADIES do not paint naked people!

Basically, Will is a nice guy who hasn't had sex in two years and through a misunderstanding (that doesn't feel Three's Company-esque at all) comes to believe that Genevieve is a courtesan.  He propositions Gen, who eventually figures out what he's really asking for--she at first thinks he's requesting art lessons--but decides just to go with it, as a) she could use the extra money, and b) though she's really not experienced in "the art of love," she's mad attracted to Will and figures she can take it slow with him and have some fun.  Naturally, what starts as a business transaction gets way complicated when Will and Genevieve develop physical AND emotional feelings for one another, and wackiness ensues.

You guys, this book is so fun.  I wish more fiction (and TV and films) had characters like Genevieve.  She's tough, witty and doesn't take crap from men.  She is a good friend to her fellow painter pal Ruth (what, women can be FRIENDS and not always fighting over a dude?  Color me shocked!), and has a supportive peer group of artists, including a guy who is probably gay.  (He's old and has a male roommate, so . . . yeah.)  Her dad is a liberal activist who's currently in the States working with abolitionists.

It hasn't been all perfect for Genevieve, however: she lost her virginity to a jerk, when she wasn't married, and people found out and gossiped about it.  And she questions the idea of being a paid escort, as most sane women would.  That said, it's fun to read about Genevieve growing into her relationship with Will and her confidence in her own art.

And her sexuality, of course.

This summer, I penned my first sex scene and learned firsthand that writing about sex is really, really hard (pun intended because I'm twelve, sorry).  Even if you're not snorting or flushing at every other word (again, I'm twelve), sex is . . . weird.  Body parts are anywhere and everywhere and clothes are off and it's intensely personal.  At the same time, sex is universal and it's the writer's job to make the reader identify with the characters' experience (good or bad) without feeling like a voyeur.

Unfortunately, the idea of women having orgasms is still woefully underrepresented in contemporary fiction. (Don't even get me started on TV and movies.)  Which is why An Experienced Mistress was so refreshing, and partly why I've started seeking out more romances (suggestions are welcome in the comments!  Also, Laura Kinsale's Lessons in French FTW!).  Genevieve enjoys herself many, many times--hell, Will even comes prepared so she won't "conceive."  What a guy (and I mean that, considering there were no Walgreens in nineteenth-century Britain).  And these scenes are so beautifully and clearly written, that after a while I stopped feeling embarrassed and started feeling something else entirely.

It ain't just the sex, either, but the lover.  As well as outta sight intimate times, Genevieve and Will share a genuine intellectual connection.  Remember that women's brains and accomplishments were grossly under-appreciated in 1855.  Will not only recognizes that Genevieve can match him wit for wit, but he genuinely admires and encourages her artistic talent.  Yet their relationship is not the type of ooey-gooey shit that makes me want to stick my finger down my throat and go laugh at the smug dorks on this site.

My two cents?  When An Experienced Mistress is released this June, go buy it.  If your bookstore doesn't have it, order it or hit up Amazon.  The publishing industry's at a crossroads and selling books is a tough business for an author.  Why not support a woman who has the chops?

To read my interview with Bryn, click here!

Next week, I journey to the YA world and interview author Susane Colasanti.  Stay tuned!

Awesome Author Interview: Bryn Donovan

This week, I celebrate Awesome Authors Month with . . . my first interview with a real, live published author!  (I'm excited too.)

I first met this talented writer via a mixture of Jezebel.com, Twitter, and this very blog.  Her first novel, the historical romance An Experienced Mistress, will be published by Wild Rose Press in June.  (I am totally jealous, but also very happy for her.)  She also has her own witty and warm writing blog, where she actually talks back to the commenters (which always gets points in my book).

Please give a warm Unpro welcome to a frequent commenter (drumroll) . . . Bryn Donovan!


How did you start writing?

I always liked to! In fourth grade I wrote a forty-something-page story. It was about a girl in fourth grade.

What led you to romance/genre fiction?

Ever since I was a kid, I read sci-fi and fantasy, but I had all those usual preconceived notions about the romance genre…I expected the writing to be bad and the heroines to be dumb. I got the idea to try writing a romance because they’re really popular, so I started reading them…and it turned out I really loved them. So many modern romance heroines are terrific—I wish we had more interesting female characters like them in movies and TV.

What makes a good romance novel? In the same vein, what makes a good love/sex scene?

As a reader, I really want some scenes that are so emotional, I have to go back to them again and again. I like the hero and heroine to be independent, imperfect, and capable of real selflessness. And yeah, I want good sex scenes! I think the best ones have a lot of sensory details…appealing to three or four or all five senses. Good scenes describe how the characters are feeling emotionally as well as physically. Each one should reveal something new about the characters or the relationship.

Describe your writing process. Do you adhere to any particular routines?

I have the basic story plotted out before I start, although it does morph and change as I write it. I work anywhere between three and six nights a week, for a few hours at a time. I don’t rush too much; for me, that just means more re-writing later.

I’ve realized that at least once in the process, I’m going to feel like the story is just complete, irredeemable crap. Now I know that feeling is coming and I hopefully can just push through it the next time.

Sometimes the prospect of revising can overwhelm me, so I break it down by elements. On one pass, I’ll make sure I’m happy with the point of view choices; on the next, I’ll make sure it’s sexy enough, or has enough humor, and so on.

Tell us about An Experienced Mistress: what inspired you to write it, how you got it published, and anything else you want to add!

I read a lot of random history books. One morning after I’d been reading about the Crimean War, I imagined this Crimean War vet waking up in his bed and thinking how amazing it felt to be warm after freezing half to death overseas, so that was the start of my hero.

A little while later I got the idea of a relatively sexually inexperienced woman pretending to be experienced. I’ve always loved pre-Raphaelite art, and I know a little about how figurative painters work because I modeled for several in college, so I made my heroine a pre-Raphaelite painter. Of course in Victorian England, it was almost as transgressive for a woman to be an artist as it was for her to be a mistress.

I just submitted three chapters and a synopsis directly to publishers, and a few people asked me to send the full manuscript. One morning I got an email from the editor at The Wild Rose Press saying they were publishing my book and they’d send me the contract. It was awesome!

What inspires your writing? Anything in particular (authors, musicians, etc.) you revisit for inspiration?

It depends on the project. Rereading Charles Dickens’s Martin Chuzzlewit and Nicholas Nickleby helped me with An Experienced Mistress. Those books are sweet and funny, and they helped me get that Victorian England period feel. I’d never read Stephen King’s The Shining or Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House before writing a haunted house romance, and they were both great inspiration.

I always make a playlist for each story. For An Experienced Mistress it was a lot of Chopin and Beethoven, for the haunted house story it was very goth, and the playlist for my new project rocks pretty hard.

You have a day job writing greeting cards for Hallmark, plus a significant other. How do you balance writing, work and life?

It helps that I don’t try to be perfect in every area of my life—for instance, I don’t cook, and the house is a little messy. My significant other helps a lot with my writing! He’s a writer, too, and a great editor for me. He can read a synopsis and zero in on a weakness in the plot. And he doesn’t complain when I lock myself away for hours.

What are you working on now? Any details you're comfortable sharing?

Oh yes! I have an agent now who’s shopping around the haunted house romance, and I’m working on a new, more action-filled paranormal romance that I’m envisioning as the first of a series. This one takes place in Tucson and the surrounding desert. I lived there for a few years, and I think that part of the country is very magical and surreal. I have a couple of ideas for historicals on the back burner, too.

Who are some of your favorite authors and why? What are you reading right now?

I suck at picking favorites, so…I’ll just answer the second question! I just started the Ravishing in Red, the first book in Madeline Hunter’s new Regency series. Hunter wrote the first historical romance I read, and I still love her…she gave such a smart, honest, and inspiring talk at the 2009 RWA Conference, too. I’ve also been devouring the historical m/m romances Running Press is putting out. I read both of the Alex Beecroft “Age of Sail” titles, and now I’m in the middle of Tangled Web by Lee Rowan.

Any advice for aspiring novelists?

Don’t assume you’ll just naturally know how to write a novel. Read some books on story and character development, and maybe go to a writing conference with seminars on craft.

Plot before you write. It’s a pain in the butt, but if you don’t do it, revisions will be an even bigger pain.

I wish someone had told me all that stuff. But if someone had, I probably wouldn’t have listened anyway. I tend to learn the hard way.

I ask all of my interviewees this question: what are your desert island, all-time, top 5 favorite movies?

Hahaha, I have to pick favorites after all! That’s OK, movies are easier. I’ll say:

Titanic
LOTR: Return of the King
The Princess Bride
Shakespeare in Love
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

This was fun! Great questions. Thanks for having me on your blog!

You're welcome.  :)


Stay tuned for next week, when I (a romance-novel neophyte) review Bryn's debut novel, An Experienced Mistress!