What are you reading mark II

[JP Dogberry]

crack cocaine

But then, that's what the stuff is designed to do--suck you in and make you feel all girly.  It's a poor substitute for reality though, if you ask me.  No matter what that reality is, at least it's *real*.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

y'know, your description pretty much reminds me of any romance fiction (yes, I've read three, one over the shoulder of that cute girl in study hall).

the danger really isn't that they'll reject someone because he isn't "perfect" but that they become self deceptive and when people are against their relationship, they come to idealize it even more, leading to relationships with people who aren't good ENOUGH, but whom they deceive themselves about.

At least, that's the sort of thing I've seen.

[House of Mustard]

On the other hand I'd be making money, so really it's a question of how much I'd be willing to sell my soul for.  

I  haven't been able to stomach the idea of trying to read anything by Jack Weyland or Anita or any mormon romance-what-have-you since I was eleven or so.

At what point am I supposed to remind everyone that I write LDS romantic comedies?

[House of Mustard]

Of course, I pride myself on not writing Anita Stansfield-esque books, but still.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

a romantic comedy is not the same as a "romance" though. And that's the key.

[stacer]

Yes, there is a substantial difference between the book I once copyedited for Covenant, in which, by page 50, the protagonist had been abandoned by his real mother, abused by his foster mother, beaten by his foster mother's live-in boyfriend, so poor and neglected he slept on a filthy mattress in the kitchen, was thrown out at the age of 12 and became a prostitute on the streets to support his drug addiction, found religion when he nearly died at 18, became a member of the church, got a PhD (yes, a PhD), got a girlfriend (the love of his life, of course), gets engaged, and gets a brain tumor.

And that was the first 50 pages. Then they have a mystery to solve, in which he finds out his *real* family is really rich and Italian, so they go antique shopping in Italy.

No, Mustard, yours are actually realistic, and funny on purpose. I was laughing through that book, but I don't think that was the intention.

[House of Mustard]

Holy smokes.  Was that a book that was accepted by Covenant?

I read an LDS romance about a year ago, that was decent enough, though nothing special.  Then, five pages from the end, after the guy and girl getting happily married, the guy is diagnosed with serious, debilitating depression.  Two pages later, he worked through it, and everything was okay.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

wow. I find that premise of recovering from severe depression in two pages nearly offensive. Certainly ignorant. Bad story-telling is hardly the worse crime there.

It sounds more like a mood swing than a cure.

[House of Mustard]

I have an editor buddy (not my editor -- a different one) at Covenant, who is a 30 something unmarried male.  He can't stand having to read romance novels all the time.  I think he's going to snap one day and take an Uzi to Enrichment Night.  He's requested to work solely on children's books, but he still has to read a lot of romance stuff as part of the submission process.

[stacer]

Yes, it was actually accepted by them. And it was on the shelves a few months later.  

The thing is, Covenant has made their bread and butter in the Mormon Harlequin market. It's a niche market that has an audience. I'm embarrassed that there are so many of us that like such trash.

[MsFish]

Oh, wait.  Is this is where I - the Married Mormon Girl - am supposed to jump in and insist to you (the Skeptical Single Girl) that it really DOES happen that way? Or something?

No no no no no.  I'm not doubting romance.  Or relationships.  I just don't think it happens the way it happened in this book, where the guy sees the girl and automatically knows that she's the one for him and then as soon as he convinces her they live happily ever after.  I mean really.  


And Mustard--I was only saying that apparently you *can* write Mormon romance that way.  I wasn't trying to slight *all* Mormon fiction.  Just the badly written stuff.  Perhaps I should read your book instead next time...

It's a niche market that has an audience. I'm embarrassed that there are so many of us that like such trash.

Yeah.  That's what gets me.  Why did I stay up all night reading the thing?  To compensate I stayed up last night reading a Tamora Pierce book, which was much better written, but I put it down at 12:30 and went to bed.  I finished it in the morning, rather than depriving myself of sleep.  I just don't get it.  

[Dex1138]

I knew after our 3rd date that I was going to marry my wife. It's rare, but it does happen.

[Fellfrosch]

Emotional string-pulling is practically the oldest literary tradition in the world, and certainly not unique to Mormons. Romance is the best-selling category in virtually every bookstore in America

[fuzzyoctopus]

I knew after our 3rd date that I was going to marry my wife. It's rare, but it does happen.

yeah and J.T. knew 3 weeks after meeting me he was going to marry me.

I don't deny that it happens, I just resent the way that some authors muck it up.

[MsFish]

I maintain that knowing someone for three weeks is very different from seeing them for three seconds without *ever* talking to them.  I'm sorry, but I don't believe the spirit works that way.  It might say, "go talk to that person," but at least in my experience it doesn't say, "see that person over there who you've never seen before?  You are going to marry them."  Ridiculous.  

And as for it not being just Mormon fiction, that's very true, but I think it irks me more in schmatzy (as in not all, just some) Mormon fiction because they take spiritual things and twist them to pull on your heart strings, and portray it as reality.