I don't know...maybe it's because I watched the movie The Princess Bride recently, but I'm suddenly very, very interested in romance novels.

Can you guys please recommend some good books? Preferably something that induces swooning and girlish giggling! Thanks y'all! Peace out.

PS. Don't even THINK about recommending the Twilight saga. Been there, done that. Didn't like it.

*warning: I might not reply often, but hey, that's probably good news for you, because you can call me names if you want and I prob won't find out until later.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have never encountered a thread for which I was less prepared to respond.

Love,

RA

P.S. We should write our own, collective romance novel. Ideas? They might include Sally's mom's diary, for a start.

Nora Roberts (obviously), Katie MacAllister, uuuuuh cripes. I forget the rest. I recommend clicking on the shelf romance off the Princess Bride link in GR.

For a while there, I'd dig into my Maw-Maw's bag of romance novels b/c (1. free, 2. quick read and 3. FREE).

Revolutionary Road is a great romance novel.

Wait...no it's not.

Revolutionary Road is a hate novel....

Rachel, you might enjoy The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. The first book is titled City of Bones. It's chalk full of angst. I loved it.

What about Outlander? I read that, and a shitload of GR women seem to love it.

Ugh, I hated Outlander, but I also hate romance novels. I try to avoid hokey books, but you are right RA, many people love the Outlander series.

Outlander blew royal ass. I can't imagine going on for seven more books with such a lame plot.


Last summer I read a romance novel set on Kauai because we were leaving Kauai and I wanted something to read on the plane that would make me nostalgic and wispy. Glass Beach was romantic, sappy, and fluff. Certainly not The Princess Bride, but good reads nonetheless.

That is all I can offer.

The Far Pavilions

Hey! "The resource you requested doesn't exist."

GR is all wonky today. I'm going to go drink some coffee.

Booo wonky GR! Yay coffee!

I'm drawing a blank...

Unless, wait... Like The Princess Bride, which to my mind is a FANTASY with romantic elements. Okay, this I can do. The ones marked YA are teen books:

Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith. YA. Many similar elements to "Princess Bride" - dashing hero chasing the brave heroine while battling in the forest, and humor with a touch of magic. The sequel is Court Duel, although often both books are combined in one paperback.

Beauty: a Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley. YA. Self-explanatory. If you like Beauty and the Beast, you will like this book.

The Blue Sword also by Robin McKinley. YA. Kind of a "Lawrence of Arabia" setting, the heroine discovers her hidden magical heritage in the desert.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. YA.

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. A retelling of The Seven Swans, set in ancient Ireland.

Archangel by Sharon Shinn. SF. Angel-like humans protect and rule the world of Samaria, and the leader must find his mate before an important event... However, she's not thrilled with cooperating.


Oh! And NOT fantasy, anything by Georgette Heyer. I especially love The Masqueraders.

I love Robin McKinely, though my favorite of her's is The Hero and The Crown...

I've suggested Robin McKinley to several friends. She writes fun stuff, great character development and typically witty dialogue. So that's THREE recommendations for Robin McKinley on your list now. :)

I enjoy several authors who've written about lurve, although I have to admit that my reasons for enjoying them have to do with the character development or something else besides the lurve story which is secondary to what makes the books so enjoyable IMHO.

On that list:

anything by Jennifer Weiner - - stories from the perspective of strong young women - often storylines cross from book-to-book

anything by Dorothea Benton Frank - stories from the perspective of strong Southern women - often storylines cross from book-to-book

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley - an epic tale on the Arthurian legend as told from the perspective of the women in the story - it follows several love stories

biography -
Wallis & Edward: Letters 1931-1937: The Intimate Correspondence of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor - he gives up his throne for an American woman! Oh, the scandal!!! The correspondence from Wallis and from Edward reveal a fascinating love story.

Kate Remembered by A. Scott Berg - Spencer Tracey & Kate Hepburn... *sigh*

Mists of Avalon isn't strictly a love story. ;)

You could read nearly any Mercedes Lackey novel. There's an element of love along a fantasy line.

Tanja wrote: "Mists of Avalon isn't strictly a love story. ;)

You could read nearly any Mercedes Lackey novel. There's an element of love along a fantasy line."

That's not what I said about Mists of Avalon. I said that most of the stories I suggested had love stories as secondary elements. The love stories were bonus, in my opinion. :) That's the case with Mists of Avalon.

The Smoke Thief by Shana Abé is a good mix of fantasy/romance.

Yeah, there's nothing I can add to this thread...

except that ^_^

OOoooh! I have a good one:
The Pillars of the Earth and its prequel & sequel. Good stuff. Some romance, but it's written from a dude's vantage so there's talk about boobie size and pubic mounds, etc. Plus, interesting stuff about Gothic architecture.

Randomanthony wrote: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have never encountered a thread for which I was less prepared to respond.

Love,

RA

P.S. We should write our own, collective romance novel. Ideas? They might include Sal..."

----------

I'm touched. I'm new and I managed to catch you unprepared! Awesome!

Ps. I wouldn't mind writing a collective romance novel! ...But wth is in Sally's mom's diaries...will it burn my eyes or ruin my ability to ride unicorns?

Thanks for the great recommendations, guys! I'll look up the reviews a little later!

Peace out!

Ps. I wouldn't mind writing a collective romance novel! ...But wth is in Sally's mom's diaries...will it burn my eyes or ruin my ability to ride unicorns?

That depends Rachel, how to you ride the unicorn?

Jim wrote: "Ps. I wouldn't mind writing a collective romance novel! ...But wth is in Sally's mom's diaries...will it burn my eyes or ruin my ability to ride unicorns?

That depends Rachel, how to you ride the..."

...Is this a trick question? How else do you ride a unicorn? On its back...duh??

You caught me Rachel it was a trick question.

Everyone knows you ride a unicorn standing on your head while spitting nickels.

Jim wrote: "You caught me Rachel it was a trick question.

Everyone knows you ride a unicorn standing on your head while spitting nickels.
"

Everyone = you?

That's not how I ride unicorns. Used to be. But choked on a nickel and nearly died.

Did you have an out of body experience, Rachel? I mean when you almost died.

Impossible to have one. Dude, when you're riding a unicorn, it's an out of body experience in itself. Jim would know, too, because apparently he rides unicorns standing on his head while spitting nickels.

Okay its not really a romance, but how could I pass this up! Get Off the Unicorn

Damn, GR is being glitchy today and the linkie doesn't work. Its a real book, I promise.

In a totally unrelated discussion on unicorns, I'm wondering if I should add "Kate Remembered" (not a big fan of autobiographies). Has anyone here read it?

LOL...okay?? Hey, I looked up Romance in the GR search engine, and it appears Nicholas Sparks' books pop more often than others. I'm not really all that up for reading The Notebook, but any suggestions?

Ach...forget it. I want fairytale romance for the time being!

Nicholas Sparks is rather dull, imo. Man resists love, finds a snarky woman who opens man's closed heart. Woman dies and man's heart remains open.

Nicholas Sparks bleaugh.

Heather wrote: "Nicholas Sparks is rather dull, imo. Man resists love, finds a snarky woman who opens man's closed heart. Woman dies and man's heart remains open."

O. I. C...okay then! I've added a few books to me to-reads, any other suggestions?

Stardustby Neil Gaiman is another favorite of mine. It isn't necessarily a romance per se, but I definitely got a Princess Bride vibe from it.

Helen of Troy by Margret George. Its a great love story.

I liked Stardust, too. Perhaps I've read more romance novels than I realized. This makes me question my manhood.

I third the Stardust suggestion. RA, you shouldn't question your manhood because of a book - surely it's not that fragile.

If only more men read romance novels...

Morgan wrote: "Stardustby Neil Gaiman is another favorite of mine. It isn't necessarily a romance per se, but I definitely got a Princess Bride vibe from it."

I've already read Stardust and I thought it was AMAZING!

I'VE GOT IT! I BOUGHT THE SPRINKLEYS!

The sprinkleys?

*confused*

In some places they're called jimmies.

We call them Jimmies in Wisconsin, but they call them sprinkles in Chicago.

I was just reading an article from the NY Times about this, believe it or not.

What are sprinkles/Jimmies? Are they what I call a long john?

Um. Yeah. I have no idea what either of those things are. Jimmies? Sprinkles? Are these cupcakes?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprinkles

and...

http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultim...

There should be a confectionery treat that uses both colored rice,sprinkles, and jimmies together.

We call them sprinkles in TN...