Task #16: An historical romance by an AOC

[Cristy]

Echoing the sentiment of several previous commenters, I find the romance challenges the least appealing. This will be my third year with this challenge (reading two books per task) and having to wade through so much drivel in the genre makes me audibly groan each time. I'd be interested in learning how much feedback BR gets on the tasks and whether the romance categories are well received?

[Sarah Anne]

Ariel wrote: "Can anyone tell me what AOC stands for?"

Stands for Author of Color :)

[Bonnie G.]

I love romance! I tend to read something heavy and something light simultaneously. Frequently the light reads are romance. Currently I am reading Eloisa James and John Boyne and adoring both for different reasons. I hate comics and graphic novels/memoirs, but every year there are at least 2 prompts for these and so I read them. I would have said I wasn't into westerns before last years challenge, but Book Riot taught me that I do like many. That is, for me, the whole point of the challenge, to read in genres that are not my usual litfic fare.

[ekr]

can anyone suggest more queer options for this category? and/or YA? (preferably not steamy)

[Mya]

willaful wrote: "Rachel -- That Could Be Enough is an f/f story, and I don't think Cole's books get very explicit.

The titles I have read by Alyssa Cole all have at least two sex scenes, some have quite a few more. An Extraordinary Union was one of the more sexy & explicit.

[Katrisa]

Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ wrote: "I don't like romance books much, but I think I can handle Alex and Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz for this task."
Thanks for the suggestion! I think I will choose this one as well. Romance is not my thing, but this book was actually already on my radar.

[Marie]

Doug wrote: "It is entirely possible that this category will be my downfall in being able to complete this year's challenge. Every year, I hope that there will not be a romance task...and every year...there it ..."

For categories I dread, I'll pick graphic novels or children's books, as long as the task description doesn't exclude them. There are a lot of graphic novels written by authors of Asian descent.

But for this one, I'm going to read either Indigo (set during the Underground Railroad) or Like Water for Chocolate (set during the Mexican Revolution).

[willaful]

Mari - Beverly Jenkins books are really lovely for historic detail, and they're genre romance, which LWfC isn't.

Mya -- You are right! I was thinking of Piper Huguley. Not sure how I came to be confused, since I don't usually read her.

[Jennifer]

rae wrote: "can anyone suggest more queer options for this category? and/or YA? (preferably not steamy)"

If you stretch the historical to include fantasy you could read Ash (a Cinderella re-imagining) or Huntress (a prequel to Ash).

The very few queer historical romances I can think of are all written by white people.

[Rachel]

Hi all. I'm the author of the Read Harder Challenge. I've been looking at some of the comments in this thread, and while I generally do not wade into these discussions because I and Book Riot do not "decide" what counts and what doesn't count for these tasks, I'm finding it impossible not to jump in now.

I'd like to give some context to this task and the fact that there are always romance tasks on the RH challenge (and likely always will be). The fact that so many of you are commenting that romance is "drivel" or that you hate romance as a whole category is precisely why romance likely will always be included. While I understand that not every genre is for everyone, including romance (and comics - this is a criticism I get for comics tasks too), the ENTIRE POINT of RH is to encourage you to stretch yourselves and your reading lives. Romance novels have a very defined criteria: a Happily Ever After or Happily For Now ending. Whatever happens prior to that in whatever context is only partially the point. Romance is a wide and varied genre and I encourage you to seek out sub-genres to fulfill these tasks. (But for the record The Color Purple is NOT romance.) Book Riot will be providing recommendations specifically for this task early in 2019 but there are a huge number of resources on Book Riot and elsewhere online that can help.

Romance readers are not less than or somehow stupider than the average reader. Romance novels can be complex and well-written and heartbreaking and full of complicated characters, energizing plots, and beautiful language. If you automatically dread all romance tasks, I'd ask you to examine why, especially if you're doing so without even attempting to find something that might appeal to you. Romance by authors of color are particularly underrepresented in publishing, historical romance by authors of color even more so. My hope by including these kinds of tasks is that you'll, yes, find a book or an author you may not have otherwise picked up that you love, but also to tell readers of all kinds and publishers of romance in particular that this is a niche worth filling.

I take into consideration the feedback I receive about RH every year when I'm designing the new task list. I'm open to all constructive criticism. But criticism that I shouldn't include romance because you don't like the genre is not criticism I'm going to listen to, particularly not when the feedback from the other direction -- that readers have discovered that they love romance after "being forced" to read it for RH -- is so overwhelming.

[Tamara]

I appreciate the Romance category specifically because it challenges me; although every year I recognize the wide net I cast. "Romance" gets stretched to "highly romantic" for me, for example. And I guess I stretch historical romance to mean "set in the past," although I recognize these are specific publisher's genres.

Titles I've come across that may fit (some I've read; others I have yet to):
Remains of the Day (Ishiguro); In the Skin of a Lion (my favourite Ondaatje novel); Call Me By Your Name (if 1983 can be considered historical, though I'm sure it can't but read the book anyway; it's beautiful.)

And if you want something more hefty subject-wise, maybe consider authors from an array of countries around the world, where romance and politics (and history... or historical fiction) often overlap (as an added bonus it could be translated by a woman, for a double-up):
Eva Luna (Allende)--there are plenty of others to choose from her
Love in the Time of Cholera or One Hundred Years of Solitude (Marquez)
A Suitable Boy (Seth)
A Riot of Goldfish (Kanoko Okamoto)
A Change of Skin (Carlos Fuentes)--and others probably fit this category
Like Water for Chocolate (Esquival)
My Name is Red (Pamuk)
The Map of Love (Ahdaf Soueif)

[Bonnie G.]

Thank you, Rachel. I read across many genres, and am a proud and regular visitor to Romancelandia. I am grateful to see these great writers get their due.

[Kelly]

Rachel wrote: "The fact that so many of you are commenting that romance is "drivel" or that you hate romance as a whole category is precisely why romance likely will always be included. While I understand that not every genre is for everyone, including romance (and comics - this is a criticism I get for comics tasks too), the ENTIRE POINT of RH is to encourage you to stretch yourselves and your reading lives. Romance novels have a very defined criteria: a Happily Ever After or Happily For Now ending."

Thanks, Rachel.

If I have to read true crime, y'all can snuggle up with a romance. ;)

May I suggest Sherry Thomas? She's an Asian-American author who is one of the best romance writers out there. Her Lady Sherlock series is an excellent mystery series, but her historicals are among the absolute tops. I particularly adore His at Night and Not Quite a Husband.

A few other suggestions:

The Twentieth Wife, book one in the Taj Mahal trilogy by Indu Sundaresan
Courtney Milan's Brothers Sinister series, particularly The Suffragette Scandal
A Summer for Scandal and The Infamous Miss Rodriguez by Lydia San Andres
To Love a Scandalous Duke by Liana de la Rosa
Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin
Hamilton's Battalion: A Trio of Romances, a trio of short stories inspired by the world of Hamilton. Two of the three novellas are written by AOC - Courtney Milan and Alyssa Cole.
Agnes Moor's Wild Knight by Alyssa Cole -- it's a short story, only 40 pages or so, and it's the only romance I know of featuring a black woman in the Tudor court.
The Cost of Hope by G.S. Carr

For me, I will probably read the new Ms. Bev, Rebel, and the second and third books in the Loyal League series, A Hope Divided and An Unconditional Freedom.

[April]

Rachel wrote: "Hi all. I'm the author of the Read Harder Challenge. I've been looking at some of the comments in this thread, and while I generally do not wade into these discussions because I and Book Riot do no..."

Thank you thank you thank you Rachel! It makes me sad to see all the hate and dismissiveness heaped on romance readers. If someone has tried romance and not cared for it, fine- just don't be rude about it. If one hasn't tried romance and is being judgemental about it, they're just being a hypocrite- one shouldn't judge what one is unfamiliar with. Romance is not my preferred genre (though I've liked what I've tried), but I've been treated with derision for liking scifi/fantasy, and it's maddening. I'm looking forward to the recommendations, and to stretching myself a bit. Also, it'd be nice to see a little more love for graphic novels and manga- this is about getting out of our comfort zones, folks, embrace it! And if you just can't get through the challenge without complaining about it, you might want to ask yourself why you're doing the challenge in the first place.....

[Elizabeth]

I have a couple of Jeannie Lin's Tang Dynasty books checked out of the library right now, so I'll most likely get to one of those first.

[Lucia]

Hi there! I'm compiling lists of everyone's suggestions in case that's easier for anyone (I know it is for me!) c:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

[Michele Lynn]

I enjoyed the book Dark Genesis several years ago. It's a romance series set back in the days of slavery. It touches on the dehumanization that slavery was and how this young girl was able to find love and her own humanity. Fair warning it's also fantasy since the man involved is a vampire.

[Marie]

April wrote: Also, it'd be nice to see a little more love for graphic novels and manga

We had an interesting discussion in one of the graphic novel threads last year about how the "hatred" for comics was actually frustration. People who read comics all the time don't realize how much information they're able to quickly absorb from a panel through years of practice. For someone who has only read text-based media, comics can be confusing and even intimidating. You have to learn how to read (and look) in a whole new way. Once that confusion was brought to light, people on both sides of the debate lowered their defenses a bit.

I wonder if something similar might be going on with romance. When I see a veteran romance reader, she's reading at a rate of about 1-2 seconds a page. It seems like she's absorbing the information in a way that I'm just not.

What I'm curious about is how romance readers find tension that makes a romance a page-turner for them. When I know that the characters will resolve their differences and end up together in a HEA, the tension drains from the story for me.

(Hopefully this doesn't come across as complaining or dismissive - I'd genuinely like to know how romance readers approach the genre.)

[Nadine in NY]

Marie wrote: "What I'm curious about is how romance readers find tension that makes a romance a page-turner for them. When I know that the characters will resolve their differences and end up together in a HEA, the tension drains from the story for me...."

It's the difference between the journey and the destination. If all you care about is the destination, then knowing it will be a HEA makes it dull. If you enjoy the journey, then the book can be a treat.

[Bonnie G.]

Well said Nadine! Exactly, its how they get there, and also sharing the experience of falling in love is fun.

[Stephanie]

Kelly wrote: "Rachel wrote: "The fact that so many of you are commenting that romance is "drivel" or that you hate romance as a whole category is precisely why romance likely will always be included. While I und..."

Thank you for recommending Sherry Thomas. I found her Sherlock books from last year's challenge so I will be reading her for this prompt this year.

[Kelly]

Marie wrote: "I wonder if something similar might be going on with romance. When I see a veteran romance reader, she's reading at a rate of about 1-2 seconds a page. It seems like she's absorbing the information in a way that I'm just not.

What I'm curious about is how romance readers find tension that makes a romance a page-turner for them. When I know that the characters will resolve their differences and end up together in a HEA, the tension drains from the story for me. "

Speaking for me alone, the tension is not in will they get there, but how will they get there.

For example, the pleasure in a Poirot novel is not "Will Poirot be able to solve this murder?" because of course he will, that's why we love Poirot. And the certainty that he will solve the murder is actually part of the pleasure of reading those books. Unlike real life, when murders are often unsolved, or when people are convicted on hunches, or when families of victims never have answers, in a mystery we have closure and we read for the certainty of that closure. So the narrative or dramatic tension lies not in whether, but in how he will solve the murder. What clues mattered, what are red herrings, who are the wrongfully suspected and who are the hidden criminals? That's why you read those kinds of mysteries.

Similarly, with romance, we know the couple will get together and find their happy ever after/happy for now. That certainty is part of the pleasure of reading romance, part of the fantasy and escapism of the genre. Again, in real life, romantic relationships are not certain, there's always room for doubt, but in romance, the outcome is certain. So the dramatic and narrative tension is not in whether the characters fall in love, but in how the characters fall in love. How do they meet, what are their circumstances, how do they grow and change, how do they come together, what forces tear them apart, how do they overcome and become better partners? That's why you read romance.

[Lorna]

Therese wrote: "I'm going to read The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas's because the series is entitled The d'Artagnan Romances. I have wanted to read this book for a while and this is a good time."
Now that is a clever workaround.

[Rachel]

The Three Musketeers is not a romance. Again, I encourage you to not try to find loopholes, but look for an actual romance that might appeal to you. There are plenty of historicals that take place in that time period.

[Martha]

Another potentially helpful link: https://bookriot.com/2018/01/04/nativ...

[Michele Lynn]

No one has mention Stacy Reid, she's still fairly new but has a few historical novels out I believe most are Victorian era.

[Linda]

Bonnie wrote: "Every year....it is a progressive term in the US intended to promote intersectionality and originated by Black and Latinx activists. As usual White folks show up to tell Black and Brown people they..."

Wish we had Like buttons...

[Susanne]

Linda wrote: "Bonnie wrote: "Every year....it is a progressive term in the US intended to promote intersectionality and originated by Black and Latinx activists. As usual White folks show up to tell Black and Br..."

👍 :)

[Cathy]

Are Latin American authors always considered AOC? And does it have to be technically genre fiction? I'm thinking of using García Márquez's Love in the Times of Cholera for this. It's a love story, and historical. Would something like that count?

[Ariel]

Rachel wrote: "Hi all. I'm the author of the Read Harder Challenge. I've been looking at some of the comments in this thread, and while I generally do not wade into these discussions because I and Book Riot do no..."

Well said!

[Stephanie]

Tamara wrote: "I appreciate the Romance category specifically because it challenges me; although every year I recognize the wide net I cast. "Romance" gets stretched to "highly romantic" for me, for example. And ..."

Just piping in that since Rachel said "Romance novels have a very defined criteria: a Happily Ever After or Happily For Now ending" Ishuguro "Remains of the Day" does not count though it is great.

[Kate]

Cathy wrote: "Are Latin American authors always considered AOC? And does it have to be technically genre fiction? I'm thinking of using García Márquez's Love in the Times of Cholera for this. It's a love story, ..."

I think the idea behind this category is to read something that you might find in the Romance genre section of your local library or bookstore. Love in the Time of Cholera, although a great book, is shelved in the general fiction section, not the romance section.

Respectfully to all those trying to find loopholes, I don't understand attempting a reading challenge like this if you are totally unwilling to expand your reading horizons. Life is too short! If you just want to read what you want to read, there is nothing wrong with that - but it's not what Read Harder is designed for. I'm not a manga reader AT ALL, and don't usually enjoy science fiction or horror - but I'll be reading manga this year and read science fiction and horror last year because it was the spirit of the challenge.

[Cathy]

Dear Kate: I was not trying to find "loopholes," I was trying to define the challenge, because I've never done this before. That is why I asked the question.

[Stephanie]

Cathy wrote: "Dear Kate: I was not trying to find "loopholes," I was trying to define the challenge, because I've never done this before. That is why I asked the question."

I agree that you weren't--someone else threw "loophole" into this thread.

I first read romance for the last year because of this challenge so I was very new too and found it as varied a genre as any. Some of it I loved and some I hated--just like every other genre. I am glad Rachel defined it as HEA--I find that a much more useful definition than what I had thought it was (basically "picture of jacked man on cover").

[Kate]

Cathy wrote: "Dear Kate: I was not trying to find "loopholes," I was trying to define the challenge, because I've never done this before. That is why I asked the question."

My comments weren't just directed at you - I apologize if it came across that way! I still don't think Love in the Time of Cholera is really a romance... but it is categorized that way by some Goodreads readers on its page, so YMMV.

[Kelly]

Michele wrote: "No one has mention Stacy Reid, she's still fairly new but has a few historical novels out I believe most are Victorian era."

New author to me! Thanks Michele!

[Cathy]

Sorry, I'm going to have to quit right here. If I ask for clarification of a challenge and get accused instead, this is just going to make me feel miserable. Best wishes to all of you!

[Allie]

Cathy wrote: "Sorry, I'm going to have to quit right here. If I ask for clarification of a challenge and get accused instead, this is just going to make me feel miserable. Best wishes to all of you!"

I'm sorry you feel this way, but these threads are specifically for asking questions and getting feedback. Not all of it is feedback you're going to like, as people don't have a problem saying when books don't meet the challenge tasks. I don't know the correct answer to whether all Latinx writers are AOC, as in your original question. But I do know that in the spirit of the challenge, Love in the Time of Cholera is not a romance.

[Doug]

My problem with this particular task of the challenge is that I have read romance before. It’s been a part of the challenge for 3 years now. It is the only genre fiction that appears on the challenge every year now. I truly appreciate that other people like romance and am glad that it exists for them, but it is not my thing and never will be. I don’t expect a romance task to go away forever, but it would be nice to have at least one year off from it.

[Allie]

Doug wrote: "My problem with this particular task of the challenge is that I have read romance before. It’s been a part of the challenge for 3 years now. It is the only genre fiction that appears on the challen..."

Try a different subgenre then? Goodreads has lists of genres that include science fiction romance, time travel romance, paranormal romance, western romance, and several others, and I know you can find further breakdowns for genres on wikipedia.

https://www.goodreads.com/genres/romance

[Allie]

Doug wrote: "My problem with this particular task of the challenge is that I have read romance before. It’s been a part of the challenge for 3 years now. It is the only genre fiction that appears on the challen..."

(Sorry, apparently I am irritated today.)

But really, it's your challenge. No one is keeping tabs on you. If you don't want to do it, don't do it. *shrug*

[Bonnie G.]

Doug, comics have been on every year too. Each year with different parameters. That is how this works.

[Allie]

Doug, I was thinking about this more while I was eating breakfast (sorry about being kind of an exasperated jerk yesterday). My first thought was to look up romances that are written by men, though you haven't really specified what it is you don't like about romance as an entire broad category. Can you be more specific about what turns you off about the genre, and tell us some that you've read and why you didn't like them? That might make this easier for getting better suggestions.

My second thought, as I was googling male romance novelists and the books that are recommended for dudes who don't like romance, was that damn, the parameters of this one specifically (must be an AOC, must be historical) limits this one a LOT more than some of the previous challenges have. I've been searching for like 45 minutes and I've found only one male non-white author that also writes romances, but they're not historicals.

[Pamrev]

I dreaded delving into the romance novel category for the 2018 challenge, and then I happened upon Indigo. Beverly Jenkins has a new fan in me. This book, and probably most of her novels, would work for task #16.

[BookWormBen]

Sarah Ruth wrote: "Tracy wrote: "I'm going to trust everyones recommendation for An Extraordinary Union here, but this is another one of those categories I'm not all that enthusiastic about ( a few of..."

I'm in the same boat. This is the only task that I have NO IDEA what to choose. Romance novels tend to bore me immensely and I have yet to finish one, outside of Jane Austen (which I really consider more comedy/satire anyways).

[BookWormBen]

Pam wrote: "I dreaded delving into the romance novel category for the 2018 challenge, and then I happened upon Indigo. Beverly Jenkins has a new fan in me. This book, and probably most of her nov..."

This book does sound like the most interesting premise, to me, out of everything that's been listed. I'll give it a try!

[Pamrev]

ProfBen10 wrote: "Pam wrote: "I dreaded delving into the romance novel category for the 2018 challenge, and then I happened upon Indigo. Beverly Jenkins has a new fan in me. This book, and probably mos..."

Don't misunderstand. This book IS "romancy." But surprisingly it really held my interest!

[Kelly]

Teresa wrote: "The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo is set in 1920s London ..."

I just finished this and it's delightful. I loved Jade's voice, so no-nonsense and matter of fact and unapologetic. It's also written as a diary so it would work for Task #1, for those double dipping.

[Teresa]

I read The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo. It was ok, not horrible. For any who want to multiple-dip, it's a self published, historical romance, epistolary novella.

[Bobby]

Allie wrote: "I've been searching for like 45 minutes and I've found only one male non-white author that also writes romances, but they're not historicals...

Frank Yerby wrote a number of historical romances.
Wikipedia has this comment: “In 1946, he published The Foxes of Harrow, a southern historical romance, which became the first novel by an African-American to sell more than a million copies. In this work he faithfully reproduced many of the genre's most familiar features, with the notable exception of his representation of African-American characters, who bore little resemblance to the "happy darkies" that appeared in such well-known works as Gone With the Wind (1936).“