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Upset by "Romance genre"
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Is there a category called 'Feel-good Romance'? If not, look for those words in the book description.
It does seem to be a fashion that everything ought to be 'dark' and 'edgy'Hopefully it will pass. I might get Tallis Steelyard to rant about it.
But back to your real point, just out of interest I put 'feel-good' romance into the Amazon search bar and got 75 pages of books. So Kath's advice could be the answer to your problem
Well, although I am new to writing it is my understanding that a novel is not classed as a romance unless it has a Happy Ever After (HEA) ending, or at least a Happy for Now (HFN). To have a major character in a ri=omance die is definitely a No-No.
Romeo & Juliet. Everybody dies. Okay it's a tragedy as much as a romance, but still...Point is, tragic romance is nothing new, and it's been around long enough not to be a fad.
I think a lot of people would regard tragedy and romance as two separate genres.Tragedy, as well as thrillers and horror can have a 'love interest' but they're not romance
With Romeo and Juliet it was written as a tragedy and the love interest is there to heighten the tragedy. You go into it knowing that this isn't going to end well :-)
Before I rush off to work the book was "Lord of all things" by Andreas Eschbach. Really good book, but main character dies at the end.
I suppose it's true to life. Spoiler alert - we all die in the end.
Kath wrote: "I suppose it's true to life. Spoiler alert - we all die in the end."not so far we haven't ;-)
Kath wrote: "I'm not at the end yet!"Keep it like that :-)
Anyway I got Tallis Steelyard to rant ;-)
https://tallissteelyard.wordpress.com...
Thanks to Nappy for the inspiration and Gingerlily for the picture
Thank you all. The thing is, it is not the sort of thing you can ask on Good Reads if a main character dies at the end, because it will spoil the book for everyone else.I am just a bit cross that it came up under romance in Kindle Unlimited. I don't think there is any point complaining to Amazon. I shall try "feel good", I am not sure how that is going to work with paranormal; sci-fi; historical, but I am going to give it a go.
Tim wrote: "Romeo & Juliet. Everybody dies. Okay it's a tragedy as much as a romance, but still...Point is, tragic romance is nothing new, and it's been around long enough not to be a fad."
It's romance, but not 'a Romance,' by the Romance conventions. Here 'romance' used to mean love story, or even just novel. Capitalized (if people are being careful), it has a bunch of conventions that readers expect the writer to follow. Well-known Romance writers push the envelope, but Romeo and Juliet probably doesn't qualify.
Hi Nappy - I enjoy the occasional (undemanding) magic and romance read and I've just come across Annabel Chase. As I said in the morning thread a few days ago, I used magic and romance as keywords in the Kindle search and then eliminated the obviously x-rated lot!
I'm slightly torn. I do think it's perfectly possible to have a romance story which is also sad, even tragic, but on the other hand I can understand people wanting a cheery read and assuming a romance would supply that.It might be helpful if the sad ones were described as tearjerkers, or something like that, so readers knew what they were getting.
I have four romances available through kindle unlimited, which have upbeat endings - they're not paranormal, sci fi, medieval, regency, fantasy romances though.
Patsy wrote: "I'm slightly torn. I do think it's perfectly possible to have a romance story which is also sad, even tragic, but on the other hand I can understand people wanting a cheery read and assuming a roma..."If everyone followed the same boundaries, it would be great. The main one being they get together in the end and live happily ever after. This seems to me to be the main point of romance novels. I am just using the Wiki definition.
I personally don't mind how they get there. I have read novels where main characters are blinded, maimed; where there is rape and pillaging; where lots of background characters are being murdered. That is fine, sometimes I am in the mood for these types of romance. But at the end of all these books the main characters with the love interest are sort of together, if not married and walking off into the sunshine.
I just wish there was a standard that writers had to stick to, or that Amazon stuck to, so I didn't end up with a 'tragedy' instead of a romance.
Thank you I will go and have a look at your romances. .........mmm! I don't know your name, how am I supposed to find them?
Elizabeth wrote: "Hi Nappy - I enjoy the occasional (undemanding) magic and romance read and I've just come across Annabel Chase. As I said in the morning thread a few days ago, I used magic and romance as keywords ..."Thank you, I will have a look.
Although the Amazon categories are supposed to be based on Book Industry Study Codes (BISAC) the Amazon categories are author-or-publisher chosen, and since it is believed that they can be manipulated in ways that enhance the chances of sales success, they aren't necessarily going to help you, the would-be reader, as much as you might hope :(. Sorry about that ...
Nappie, click on Patsy's name and you'll go straight to her author page.Hopefully some more of our romance authors will pop in here to tell you about their happy ending books.
I don't read many romance novels though I've read a few of the Jayne Castle paranormal ones, mainly set on alien planets in the future, and none of the main characters in those died. Minor characters yes, as they always have the characters solving a murder mystery, but not the protagonists.
I was wary of spamming by putting links to my books if they're not what you want, but as it seems you may be interested, these are my romances - Leave Nothing But Footprints
A Year and a Day
Escape to the Country
Firestarter
I don't read romance. I did when I was young but not for years. My sister has a romance constantly on the go. Pure escapism and why not?She'd completely agree with you about having a happy ending, Nappie.
Back home they're published by Harlequin Romance. I think it's the North American branch of the company that is Mills and Boone in the UK.
You can pick up used paperbacks quite literally for a dime a dozen.
I bet there's a website where you can download out of copyright books for free.
I'll have a look later.
When I want a bit of light reading with a feel good factor I'll read someone like Christina Jones' books. Full of magic and romance.This was the first one of hers I read - Hubble Bubble - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hubble-Bubbl...
Hi Nappy,I write romance so have found your post / complaint very interesting! I wouldn't say a story has to have a happy ending to be a romance but, yes, the majority of romance readers probably do have an expectation of a HEA, so that their abiding memory of a book is uplifting.
Here's a link to a Goodreads group specialising in romances with happy endings:
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/3...
Catherine
UK Amazon Kindle Forum
Books mentioned in this topic
Love Story (other topics)Escape to the Country (other topics)
A Year and a Day (other topics)
Firestarter (other topics)
Leave Nothing But Footprints (other topics)
This is my first time here.
I have been moved to post because I have been upset by a book I listened to. Now, I only listen to romance books, I have pay for a Kindle Unlimited subscription.
My definition of a romance novel is one I found on Wiki:
The romance novel or romantic novel discussed in this article is the mass-market literary genre. Novels of this type of genre fiction place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending."[1] There are many subgenres of the romance novel including fantasy, historical romance, paranormal fiction, and science fiction. Walter Scott defined the literary fiction form of romance as "a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvellous and uncommon incidents".[2][3]
I like paranormal, sci fi, medieval, regency, fantasy romance. I tend to go for these, because I can suspend belief about what the female characters get up to. If not, I end up screaming at the the characters.
So I read this really good book, over 4 stars on Good Reads and one of the main characters dies at the end. My life is crap enough, I really need to listen to relatively happy endings.
I remember years ago watching "Crouching Dragon, Hidden Tiger" I ended up waking up in the middle of the night, going why did she jump? Then a friend said watch Hero, it is really good. I watched it and in every scenorio the main character dies. It is just not for me.
Anyway moan over.
Can anyone tell me what to search for on Kindle Unlimited, so I get romance without one of the main love interest dying at the end? Thank you.