Open Thread for Readers for July 2022
Book Reviews / Open ThreadOpen Thread21 Comments
Got a book you want to talk about? Frustrated with a book or series? In love with a new one? Found a buried treasure? An issue that keeps popping up in the books you are reading? Just want to chat about stuff in general?
Just in time for some help. I’ve read and enjoyed Penny Reid’s books and have since learned there’s a fanfic(?) imprint called Smarty Pants romance. Some of the covers, especially in the Green Valley Library series, tickle me no end. There’s also the Cipher Security series, which appears to be highly-rated. People, where do I start? Does it matter where I start? Do you have a favorite book or series? I do not *need* more books, my request is definitely a want.
At this risk of opening a huge can of worms, what do you think the impact of the reversal of Roe v. Wade will be on the romance genre as a whole? I think it’s likely that there will be even more emphasis on characters being careful about using birth control and that tropes like “unplanned pregnancy” will become very complicated in a era when continuing with a pregnancy is no longer a choice. I was thinking about this the other day when I saw Serena Bell’s upcoming release, A LITTLE WILDER, which features an unplanned pregnancy. I’m sure when Bell wrote that book and planned the release date, she didn’t think it would drop square in the middle of this appalling assault on women’s reproductive freedom. I also think it’s possible that readers may turn more toward m/m romance where gendered politics and unplanned pregnancies don’t play a role.
Finally, I have to give a quick shout out to Zoe York whose latest book, FEARLESS AT HEART, not only features a heroine who as a teenager had an abortion, but also includes an afterword where York bravely discusses her own decision to terminate a pregnancy many years ago.
@Darlynne: I don’t think Smarty Pants is fanfic per se, but it does feature established writers setting books in the Reid universe. I enjoyed the books Karla Sorensen wrote for the imprint: BAKING ME CRAZY, BATTER OF WITS, STEAL MY MAGNOLIA. The series is called Love at First Sight and each book features one of three siblings who come from a family where the tradition is when you meet “the one”, you fall in love instantly. They’re fun books and some of the Winstons make cameo appearances.
@DiscoDollyDeb: I need to get FEARLESS AT HEART. And, damn, I don’t know. You and I are of a similar age, we’ve fought this already. The Pill changed the world. Now what?
Were there books set during the pandemic? Several I read took place after, but I don’t recall any where the situation was still fresh. This–insert your favorite outrage word here–decision will have longer lasting and permanent impact, and I will reject any book that tries, “Oh, look, see how beautifully everything turned out now that you were forced to have that unplanned baby?” (Janine, please delete this post if I have gone too far.)
Your observation about m/m romance may be prophetic. Maybe we post-menopausal women will have a greater spotlight now that our lives are less fraught (but not those of of our children, friends, country, anyone we care about, etc.). Or will characters whose lives DEPEND on Methotrexate feature in romance novels where the perils of acquiring now-illegal medication are a good source of tension. Let’s brainstorm, I’m sure we can come up with more. I am SO ANGRY. I am whatever comes after angry.
@DiscoDollyDeb: Your comment really made me think, so this is going to be a long answer.
IMO – yes, the unplanned pregnancy trope is a dead duck in romances (except perhaps in PNR or SFR). For many readers, it won’t be even a little romantic to read about.
I have no doubt that in other genres, the absence of choice will be explored more. I’m thinking of YA and literary fiction, perhaps even SF. Books like The Handmaid’s Tale might make a comeback.
As I alluded to in this piece, horror novels along the lines of Rosemary’s Baby might also make a return, or something like in the old SF/horror mini-series V, if anyone else here is vintage enough to remember that . There was a subplot in V where a handsome young alien man dated a high school or college student (she snuck out of her parents’ house to meet him), and then turned out to be a horrifying alien under his human skin. By then it was too late for her to end her pregnancy—an experiment by the aliens to see what she’d give birth to. Maybe Rosemary’s Baby will be remade as a movie, or HBO (which loves dark speculative stuff) will turn it into a series or miniseries.
In SF you might also have a figurative representation of the issue, not a heroine’s pregnancy, but something like in the movie alien, where the aliens their parasitical eggs in a person’s body and an alien hatches in there. You could also, in SF or fantasy, have some kind of medical technician or good fairy or witch wave a wand and whatever (baby or alien) was in there would be gone.
In Sharon Shinn’s young adult fantasy, The Safe-Keeper’s Secret (2004), the young heroine helped women end their unwanted pregnancies in secret using herbs (many people felt that topic wasn’t age appropriate at the time—I think it would be more popular today). I could definitely see more heroines like that in the YA genre, and even a romantic storyline for them.
With regard to the romance genre, it’s possible that in a fantasy romance, you might have a villain who wants to force the heroine to bear his children, but even that seems dark for romance to me. Maybe in something like Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter books, that kind of plot would fit in, but without mentions of laws, just a figurative representation of the situation in the form of an idea in the mind of some villain—on top of rape, there’s this other thing he can do, impregnate the heroine and force her to bear some kind of especially powerful offspring, then take custody of it. And of course the hero would be the one to save her in a scenario such as this one.
In thrillers there might be a plot about a woman having a natural miscarriage but then being accused of terminating a pregnancy. An action thriller might have her on the run with a male friend (a friendship that turns romantic over the purse of the book or movie), escaping to another state where she’d be able to legally defend herself, while the rapist ex who got her pregnant or maybe even the police pursues them. Or you might have a legal thriller along these lines—a John Grisham type book about proving the woman’s innocence. There could also be, in place of a serial killer, a serial rapist who then causes women to lose their embryos, gets off on seeing them imprisoned, and finally collecting a reward in Texas.
In short, I can think of many plots prompted by this issue. But contemporary romance with an unplanned pregnancy—no, I think that one is dead as a doornail.
@Darlynne: You have not gone too far IMO. We have never had a policy of censoring opinions here at DA. Ad hominem attacks, yes, but that’s not what this is.
@DiscoDollyDeb: So, Smarty Pants. Their website is what made me think of fanfic; also that many of the books were written to continue and augment the Pennyverse. I think that’s a great idea. Will definitely check the Love at First Sight series. Thanks.
@Janine: I re-read your 2021 piece about Texas and here we are. The possible romance avenues you mentioned are, well, spot-on and alarming. I remember V and Rosemary’s Baby very clearly. None of this is the present or future I envisioned for anyone.
@DiscoDollyDeb and @Darlynne: Back in 1998, Megan Chance wrote a historical romance where the heroine had an abortion in her backstory (this was only revealed later in the book). That book was very much ahead of its time. In an anthology with other novellas by Courtney Milan and Sherry Thomas called Midnight Scandals (2012), Carolyn Jewel did her one better—in her novella One Starlit Night, the abortion in the heroine’s backstory was of the hero’s baby (they had been young lovers thwarted by his father from marrying, and then the book begins when they meet again years later). So those books are worth checking out too. Disclosure: Sherry Thomas is my critique partner and friend.
@DiscoDollyDeb: Queer romance has been growing in popularity anyhow, and this may give it even more of a push. I have been enjoying a lot of fantasy and science fiction with m/m and f/f subplots. Those are also popular in YA contemporaries. F/f has made inroads into adult romances (though not to the same degree) in recent years and m/m has been popular for ages. So yeah, I do see that happening. And more trans romances, maybe even more about asexual romantics. There could be a treasure trove there.
Very interesting and thought provoking conversation. On a tangent, a few months ago a friend mentioned using oil of oregano as an antiviral, which is medically known. I noticed a correlation between using it and getting a period, even though I’m perimenopausal and on hormones so I’m not supposed to be getting them anymore. I looked it up, and it is known to bring on menses. I don’t know if it would have such a strong effect on everyone, or if a woman was pregnant, but for me I got spotting within 12 hours of the first dose and a heavy period within 3 days of use. It really brings home the validity of the historical use of herbs. Now I supposed states like Texas will try to ban Italian food.
@Kris Bock: the herb pennyroyal has the same quality. Women used to drink pennyroyal tea to induce a miscarriage. I’ve heard brewer’s yeast also does the same. I guess we’ll be bringing out our grandmothers’ trusted abortifacients now. Heavy sigh.
In the spring I went on Harlequin Presents binge because Amazon Prime and my local library’s Overdrive collection had a bunch and it had been a few years since I had read any. Then the draft of Supreme Court’s decision was leaked – and I just couldn’t read any more. Almost every single one available to me had an unplanned pregnancy – where the heroine thinks for about 2 seconds about having abortion and decides against it, even if she has absolutely no money, no place to live, no chance at a decent job. My anger and worry about the SC ruling just kept resurfacing when I picked up one to read – so Has are off the list if they contain a secret baby/unplanned pregnancy. And so many do.
@DiscoDollyDeb: Having said that I’m not sure that the unplanned pregnancy/secret child trope is going to die in romance novels –there may be fewer stories unreflectively using this trope, but I think there will still be many authors that will continue to use this trope and use it unreflectively. Lots of romance authors and readers don’t live in the USA, so the overturning of Roe v Wade does not have the same impact on their lives that it does and will continue to have on Americans. There are also lots of conservative Americans who read and write romances (as the debacle around the RWA revealed) and they at this moment just fine with the SC ruling. As well for conservative authors and readers, the unplanned pregnancy plot, with its fleeting consideration of an abortion, only to firmly reject it, and its guaranteed HEA with hero and baby, tacitly reconfirms their own worldview as the only valid one. This may change for some conservative authors and readers when they realize how this ruling is not just about abortion, but also about a right to privacy in all medical/health matters for all those have functioning ovaries and a womb.
I think you are correct that progressive-leaning American authors, who write contemporary m/f romances, will not use the unplanned pregnancy with the hero as part of the journey to HEA. It’s hard to see a happy ending for your h/H when the heroine has no autonomy in one of the most important areas of her life. If there is an unplanned pregnancy storyline – it will more likely recede to being a subplot or angsty backstory with a much more serious consideration of the choices. Another way authors may address (or not address the issue) is by setting their books in more progressive parts of the USA or in countries where their heroines will still have the right to choose. There also might be a lot more emphasis on sexual relations that avoid the whole penis in vagina thing. More conservative authors will probably just keep on doing what they do – after all if reproductive choice was never part of your world view why would consider it now?
I also wonder if this ruling is going to also going to make adoption storylines more problematical not just for m/f romances, but also non het-het, non-cis romances. After all one of ruling’s arguments for overturning Roe v Wade was that adoption could serve as replacement for abortion.
@Janine: I thought most of your speculation of what will happen it various other genres was really interesting and correct. I’m bracing for a lot more dystopian storylines in American novels as the reality of this ruling and others that this current court has made begin to hit home.
Re the Smartypants imprint, all the books can be read as standalones, even the ones in series. I’ll list the series/books I rated highly (many I thought were just average, although they all tried to diversify the characters, which is appreciated.)
Cipher Security series – my favourite of them all!
The Scorned Women Society – all but the last book have the plots of musicals
Prose Before Bros by Cathy Yardley
Key Change by Heidi Hutchinson – a formerly unlikeable side character
Heart Smart by Emma Jayne Lee
Street Smart by Aly Styles
@sirius Unrelated post – Tamara Allen has a new book out, Playing the Ace. It’s the sequel to The Road to Silver Plume. Just wanted to let you know because she tends to fly far, far underneath the radar. I bought it but haven’t read it yet.
@Madscientistnz: Thank you, this helps a lot.
@Kris Bock: Interesting! I did not know that about oregano oil! Peppermint oil drives away rodents. So interesting what some of these culinary things do.
@Kathryn: Yes, it would be hard to read one of those unplanned pregnancy books now. I think I would be okay with secret baby still, because often the heroine desperately loves/wants that baby. That’s a different situation to me than being in a pickle and not even considering abortion.
Re conservative readers and authors, of course there are some, but according to the most recent poll on the topic by Gallup, those who feel abortion should be legal under all circumstances and those who feel it should be legal under some make up 85% of the population, with only 15% believing that it should never be legal. So there must be many conservatives who disagree with the Roe repeal. The question is what the Venn diagram is if you look at the overlap between people who are in favor of repealing Roe and readers of romance.
Interesting point about adoption. If adoption is going to become a bigger thing and many of the babies put up for adoption will be babies whose mothers were forced to bear these children or be convicted/fined/whatever, that may cast some shadows over adoption plots.
I am wondering about what will happen in historical romance. In eras where abortion has never been accessible to women, such as the 19th century, will an unplanned pregnancy that leads to a marriage of convenience be more problematic for readers?
@SusanS: In case she’s missed this, I’ll let her know. I know she will be thrilled.
@Janine: Thank you Susan thank you Janine. I did buy the book already but I really appreciate you thinking of me.
Hi! I was wondering what Emma Holly was up to these days and I found a tweet by Kate Pearce that broke my heart:
“I just read that author Emma Holly has died. She was as amazing writer who inspired me immensely.”
https://twitter.com/Kate4Queen/status/1536037239297146880
The source is a Facebook post dated June 12 by author Kate Agnell, who used to know her personally:
https://www.facebook.com/authorkateangell/
Emma wrote some of my favorites books both in contemporary erotica (Ménage, Velvet Glove) and historical romance (Beyond Innocence, Beyond Seduction). I’ve never been a great fan of anything paranormal, so I kind of lost track of her, but I always hoped she would go back to her ‘origins’… until I found Kate Pearce’s tweet.
She was way ahead of her time and a great inspiration for many newer writers in the genre… You will be remembered, Emma.
@Tsukimi: Thank you for mentioning it, that is sad. I remember that Robin, a one-time DA contributor, was a passionate fan of one of Emma Holly’s books. It was a paranormal in which the heroine was a bird shifter.
My condolences go out to Emma Holly’s loved ones.