Fans of Interracial Romance discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Archived Threads
>
What Turns You OFF When Reading an Interracial Romance?
TheFountainPenDiva wrote: "So I'm going through my recommendations on Amazon and came across a BW/WM paranormal that looks really cool (the hero is elven royalty so I'm totally thinking Haldir, yum) but then the heroine is described as having "good hair and a great body""Are you kidding me? Good hair, for real?! I DNF'd a book when the heroine explained her cousins being jealous of her hair because she was half Hispanic. A heroine being lighter skinned is not even an issue for me, but one wearing it like a prize to set her apart from the common darkies is.
@pagan yea I woulda dnf a book for that nonsense too. Seeing how I'm an Afro Latina, it's a myth that all Latins have that weave like hair. When you have strong presence of African ancestry, you aren't going to have that mixed race hair type! I'm between 4a-4b and proud! Later for all that I'm a prize because I'm mixed nonsense!
message 754:
by
The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears
(last edited Jun 30, 2014 03:09PM)
(new)
You guys seriously, I am so close to being DONE with IR. PERIOD! I've been a huge supporter of this genre from Day One. I have been one of its many champions. I just KNEW that our authors were going to lead by example and showcase Black beauty in all its amazing connotations. I was sure of it. And for awhile that seemed to be happening.
I would LOVE to know what happened? Did I not get the memo? Am I not on that particular Twitter feed?
Honestly, I really just cannot take anymore of the colorism fail.
I. JUST. CAN'T.
Damn near EVERY book Amazon rec'ed for me recently that was BW/WM, the heroine is a Beyonce/Halle/Zoe-lookalike and "exotic". She's got hair down to her damn toes (lol), an ass like Kim Kardashian and boobs like Jenna Jameson (but real). Oh, and the "stunning" light gray or green eyes.
10 out of 25 recommendations for books (the others were for historical fiction, high fantasy and M/M romance) were BW/WM IR and ALL TEN featured heroines who would've passed the "paper bag test" with flying colours.
Someone pointed out the irony of this when most of the authors are dark-skinned themselves. And yes, it's definitely ironic. And sad. Perhaps deep inside they hate what they see in the mirror, what they've been told by the media and also by our own communities. Maybe this is a way to live a fantasy? I really don't know. I do know that I'm seriously thinking of calling it quits.
And that just sucks!
#WeNeedDiverseBooks isn't just about having more PoC, LGBTQ, differently-abled lead characters in books, but to showcase our infinite variety.
@fountainpendiva so curious to know your take on braids or protective styles when a character's hair is long
@maybe I'm biased, but I noticed I'm always the prototype for each character I think up. I try to change a few things around so they won't all look alike, but it's a little disheartening that many authors who are darker in hue continue to write these tropes. I honestly don't think there anything wrong with creating characters for you first :) I like a darker black girl because that's what I look like and want to see XD
message 757:
by
The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears
(last edited Jun 30, 2014 06:13PM)
(new)
Guinevere wrote: "@fountainpendiva so curious to know your take on braids or protective styles when a character's hair is long"Braids are perfectly fine. I don't see enough braided styles in IR. And braids/locs are versatile which opens all sorts of possibilities as to what a character can be interested in, like surfing or swimming.
Yes, I know Black women can have naturally long hair. I'm fine with that. I know we come in damn near every shade of brown. I'm fine with that as well. I know my fair-skinned/biracial sisters have their own crosses to bear dealing with colorism. I hate that too. We're ALL beautiful!
However, the media just keeps feeding us ONE kind of black beauty (Lupita Nyong'o notwithstanding). We ourselves keep feeding the machine--rap/hip-hop artists who make a point of showcasing "light skin/good hair", our hair care magazines which seldom (if ever) feature natural styles that aren't flat-ironed to within an inch of silky-straightness. Even Essence (a magazine I used to adore) hasn't been doing a better job showcasing intra-diversity. So when I continuously come across IR books where I'm force fed the "light is right" mindset, well, count me out. I stopped drinking THAT kool-aid decades ago, lol.
Savannah- Quad Motherin' Book Readin' Diva wrote: "When the two love interest have that great back and forth with sialog it just hooks me from the start. Billy London does that really well and its made a couple of hers my all time favorite IR's."Oh I just love LOVE Billy London's banterly (yup, I know it's not a word) dialogues! Where is the thread we can all say hail to Billy? She is one of my favorite IR authors. I love the tongue in cheek quality of her writing. Love her heroes, and heroines, love that the stories are mostly Europe situated (which ring lots of bells for me considering I live in Europe).
What I absolute hate about IR: recurring themes, type of hero's and heroines and problems by the same author. To the point that after reading 3 of her books you think: I've read this book before. And when you double check, it was not the same book. Because it definitely had another title. And the hero/heroine name was different. But the circumstances were kind of the same. I came across some authors guilty of this and it bugs me big time. Let's try something: I'll give a description and you tell me what author/which books I'm talking about. Yes?
Here goes:
*The heroine is always African-American full figured, average looking and wants an Alpha male (preferable some rich Native American) to marry her and give her some babies. She whines a lot about how he's only been seen with skinny blonde bimbo's and that he never gave her the time of day. The hero is always 10 years her senior and supposedly Alpha, translation: arrogant rude ass and would rather be in lust than in love with heroine, because he doesn't do love. He will force his will on her and she will always cave in. Of course she will whine about that too. He will call her out of her name on occasions and be sorry about that and send her expensive gifts like jewelry and set up trust funds for her to apologize (seriously?) And when, after some back and bouncing indecisiveness (his and hers), they finally get to their HEA, you've reached the point you just simple don't care that they did.*
I wonder, do you recognize the books? Or is it just me and my personal hang ups?
Savannah- Quad Motherin' Book Readin' Diva wrote: "I have to add that if we are talking about books where the black woman is throwing up the standard "she's white and beautiful why would you want me" in the guys face every other page -yeah, that's ..."Just put down a book unfinished because of this. I was screaming im my head to the heroine, get over yourself already. He's with you and not with whatever white girl he used to be, so yeah, he likes you.
When I caught myself screaming, I head palmed and threw my e-reader in the corner.
@PenDiva - Yeah, I am on a bit of an IR hiatus myself. In looking at my Amazon recs -- after I weed out:1) Russian Mobsters
2) Italian Mobsters
3) BDSM books
4) Books with Billionaire in the title
5) Books under 100 pages
6) Books by unknown-to-me authors priced more than 4.99
7) Books by authors whose writing style I really don't care for
8) Books with a typo in the title or grammatical errors on the first few pages
9) Books where the heroine is referred to as a 'Mocha' or 'Chocolate" beauty in the blurb
Then I am left with very few options. I am holding out for a few favorite authors to pen something new.
However Billy London has a new book out as does Shewanda Pugh -- those look very promising.
Lola wrote: "I'm so with you on the overpriced books. Quite a few books I passed on because of the price-page ratio. I would rather pay $6 for a 300+ page romance. Especially if there is good plot development..."Thanks both for saying this because I was starting to question myself if I was just being a cheap ass for not wanting to pay 5/6 dollars for merely 35K on words, especially if the book was by an unknown author. I did do it twice (because the synopsis sounded interesting) and was seriously disappointed.
message 763:
by
The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears
(last edited Jun 30, 2014 06:19PM)
(new)
Tina wrote: "@PenDiva - Yeah, I am on a bit of an IR hiatus myself. In looking at my Amazon recs -- after I weed out:1) Russian Mobsters
2) Italian Mobsters
3) BDSM books
4) Books with Billionaire in the tit..."
When I see typos in the damn BLURB, I know I'm giving the book a VERY wide berth.
After I weed out pretty much the same things as you (I don't mind BDSM but I have to know the author actually bothered with RESEARCH), there really isn't much to read. I definitely love Billy London too. I love the fact they've got that UK sensibility, her heroines are intelligent with just the right amount of spunk and sass. Her heroes make me want to move to London, lol.
I don't mind paying big bucks for an ebook. I just spent seven bucks on Cup of Blood because Jeri Westerson writes some of the BEST medieval mysteries since Ellis Peters. And her hero Crispin Guest is a total hunka hunka piece in chainmail, lol. The difference is I KNOW her work and it's always up to par. If a newbie author, especially in IR, wants me to shell out that kind of money, they'd better have their i's dotted and their t's crossed. It had better be something I've not read before, no colorist fail, no wishy-washy heroine or asshat alphas, and it had better be over two-hundred pages long.
Nah, I'm not asking for much *grin*.
@Savannah: it's a damn good thing my Kindle has both a screen protector and protective shell, that's all I can say, lol.
Tina wrote: "@PenDiva - Yeah, I am on a bit of an IR hiatus myself. In looking at my Amazon recs -- after I weed out:1) Russian Mobsters
2) Italian Mobsters
3) BDSM books
4) Books with Billionaire in the tit..."
That plus:
Books with a secret baby.
Books with a guilt-trip inducing religious family.
Books with a 'big girl' with no self esteem.
Books where the protagonist's long, silky, curly hair and hazel eyes are determining factors.
Books with 'rap stars'.
Books with no development and insta-love.
Altagracia wrote: "What I absolute hate about IR: recurring themes, type of hero's and heroines and problems by the same author. To the point that after reading 3 of her books you think: I've read this book before. A..."It's not just you. I've read one book by this person and I know exactly which author this is.
Good job on the synopsis.
message 766:
by
The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears
(last edited Jun 30, 2014 07:31PM)
(new)
Altagracia wrote: "What I absolute hate about IR: recurring themes, type of hero's and heroines and problems by the same author. To the point that after reading 3 of her books you think: I've read this book before. A..."Whoever this author is, I need to stay FAR AWAY from them!
Yes yes yaaaaaaazz! Grammatical issues in the damn BLURB, y'all.Oh. and those blurbs where they damn near do a novella? TMI blurbs. Ridonklus.
Savannah- Quad Motherin' Book Readin' Diva wrote: "Yes yes yaaaaaaazz! Grammatical issues in the damn BLURB, y'all.Oh. and those blurbs where they damn near do a novella? TMI blurbs. Ridonklus."
What trumps blurb errors for me, is title WTFs. This isn't just a IR no-go zone, just something I'm seeing more of lately all around period.
Oh in the blurbs that quote every good Amazon review. What is that about?
Camille wrote: "It's not just you. I've read one book by this person and I know exactly which author this is."Wish I was as smart as you and kept it by just one book.
It's not just her though, I've encountered a few more. And to think of it, it's more formula writing than it being a recurring theme. If it was the latter it wouldn't be so bad, I guess. The greatest writers stuck to certain themes in their work. But this formula writing and copy-pasting your first book in the next book and so on is kind of self-plagiarism.
Camille wrote: "Good job on the synopsis."
Thank you!
Camille wrote: "...Books with 'rap stars'...."Because of the stereotyping? Or do you just don't like reading about rap stars? Normally I don't like books with rap stars either but somebody recommended Nobody's Hero by Melanie Harvey and I picked it up. Truly enjoyed it, too.
Self-plagiarism and utter indolence...and disrespect of the reader, I'd say. It's insulting to think people would be fine paying for and reading carbon copies.As for rap, personally, everything regarding rap is detestable.
Nobody's Hero was a good read for me. Very different. The dialog flow in terms of the the back and forth between the leads was a littlw co fusing ag times but it had nothing to do with the rap aspect. He was a musician....thats it. What type only factored in because he was white lol.
#WeNeedDiverseBooks@FPD — Don't give up on the genre yet. Not on my particular corner of it, anyway. If I ever get over my fear and procrastination* to finish them, I'll give you free reads of my high fantasy pieces. None of them are strictly romances, but, erm... couples coming together play important roles in at least two of them. And my heroines (all members of the same family for this series) are all dark-skinned, even though I am not. (For in-universe Historical Reasons, darker skin is held as something of an ideal in several of the societies, but there are also... issues with that.)
And there are braids. Braids – and kinky hair – are also valued (for the same Historical Reasons that dark skin is held in esteem).
The stories are essentially the equivalent of BW/AM, though, so I'll understand if you're not interested.
*Camp NaNo is at least helping inch along the novella in the series.
Mod
Tea wrote: "#WeNeedDiverseBooks@FPD — Don't give up on the genre yet. Not on my particular corner of it, anyway. If I ever get over my fear and procrastination* to finish them, I'll give you free reads of my..."
Never too many BW/AM, Tea! However, I would like to see more of them as full stories. I've found several out here, but most are novella or stories published in sections.
Ree
www.shireemccarver.com
Shiree, the main story* is currently slated to be a series of probably three, possibly four full-length novels.It's my NaNo project that's a novella. It's also the piece that most likely to get into share-able form the most quickly.
*The research for the main books has taken months, and I've only written bits and pieces – things about the characters/scenes that have popped into my head and are too good to lose – as I've built the world and its cultures (well, only the three most prominent cultures, so far). Once I'm done with Camp Nano, I'll get back to the actual writing there.
message 778:
by
The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears
(new)
Tea wrote: "#WeNeedDiverseBooks@FPD — Don't give up on the genre yet. Not on my particular corner of it, anyway. If I ever get over my fear and procrastination* to finish them, I'll give you free reads of my..."
I've decided to just take a break from IR for awhile. I do that every so often, shift genres. I'm kind of in a medieval mystery mood *grin*. But I'm waiting eagerly for your work, and Guinevere's (lol, no pressure either of you).
Tea wrote: "Shiree, the main story* is currently slated to be a series of probably three, possibly four full-length novels.It's my NaNo project that's a novella. It's also the piece that most likely to get i..."
Great Tea! Make sure you let us know when they are available!
Ree
www.shireemccarver.com
Metal Love Songs by Shiree McCarver
message 780:
by
The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears
(new)
TheFountainPenDiva wrote: "Shiree, just bought Metal Love Songs. I plan to take my time and enjoy it."Thank you. I hope you enjoy it. The only review I have on Amazon is from someone who obviously didn't read the warning I placed in the front of the book so if you click on sample you will see it. This isn't a book for anyone with any kind of phobias. I don't mind people disliking my book, but it's not my books fault it's a genre or situation you don't like, that's personal, this is why I put the warning. Because I know a few people get put out over the F-bomb and their is a lot of F-bombs. Never hung out with a bunch of musicians that didn't cuss like six shooters. Maybe a Christian band or two.
Thank you again!
I guess this hasn't been my month for choosing IR books that aren't FULL of things that drive me crazy. I made it to about 12% with this last one because each chapter had more and more ignorant, unnecessary, racially insensitive statements.
A book came across my feed as being available for .99 for a limited time. It is by an author who had written quite a few IR romances so this is not her first time at the Rodeo. It is getting fairly good reviews at Amazon, with an average of 4-stars. However, even good reviews are citing bad editing, grammar and usage issues. The lower starred reviews are saying the grammar and usage issues are "Glaring" and "egregious".
What gets me is that one of the reviews on Amazon says something like "yeah the editing and grammar was bad but I'll forgive it for 99 cents."
See to me, the shrugging forgiveness of poor product offers no incentive for the author to do better. Like I said, this is no first time author. As long as badly edited books full of grammatical and usage errors continue to get high 4-5 star rating and people recommend them, then that is what we are going to keep seeing.
.99 is still most of a dollar store purchase. Hell, some Jiffy mix. 3 packs of Kool Aid for cryin out loud. I am not knowingly wasting JACK.
Mod
Tina wrote: "A book came across my feed as being available for .99 for a limited time. It is by an author who had written quite a few IR romances so this is not her first time at the Rodeo. It is getting fair..."I completely agree and I'm very frustrated by that.
Arch wrote: "Women from all races slice their wrist."IAWTC, and I was very uncomfortable reading the comment that prompted it.
Tea wrote: "Arch wrote: "Women from all races slice their wrist."IAWTC, and I was very uncomfortable reading the comment that prompted it."
I don't know what IAWTC means but it wasn't my intent to make anyone uncomfortable or be offensive. I don't have a problem removing the specific example for what turned me off about the book.
Mod
Some people that review books are not writers but that does not make them grammar pros either. If a person is going to come at someone for grammar they better know what they are talking about.
I do not buy ebooks or even pay full price for a book. I either rent a book from the library or buy books from twenty-five cents to fifty cents.
If an author has contact information I think people should go to that person in private about grammar and editing issues. I have read a lot of stories with editing issues.
I am a firm believer in trying before yoi buy. I know that a lot of ebooks are not at the library but maybe the library can get them one day. That way you can try before you buy.
Can we correct the grammar in comments, too?
I absolutely agree that NO authors work is perfect and it's reasonable to expect a typo here or there. What I'm referring to are books that are FULL of grammar and punctuation errors . . . ones that make it obvious the book hasn't been proofread. I just don't think there's an excuse for that or any incentive for the author to improve when readers acknowledge that the book is a complete mess grammatically but still rate it high and continue to purchase the author's unedited work.And I know that grammar isn't an issue for every reader. Where the problem comes in, for me, is when reviewers who DO care about that get beat down for expressing their opinion about it. When authors put their work out for purchase (or even offering it for free) they are inviting both praise and criticism of it. And I don't personally believe a reader has to be good with grammar to have expectations that the author whose work they purchased should. That's just me, though. Bad grammar and punctuation is a pet peeve of mine.
Mod
The answer is no. This is a peaceful group.
Mod
Arch, it's true that people's tastes differ and that individuals have the right to purchase whatever (legal) books they wish to purchase. They also have the right to rate those books however they want, fairly or unfairly, even. Especially at Amazon (where there the moderation of reviews and ratings is something that many authors have complained about when it goes against them).However, readers who depend on reviews to help them choose books also have the right to be disappointed, frustrated, or even angry with high ratings on books that have objective problems, such as multiple SPaG errors.
I have a feeling that I'm going to anger a lot of people with a review I'll be writing soon: the book is full of such errors (as well as usage errors), and that's also a pet peeve of mine because I find it nearly impossible turn off my inner-editor when reading. If I hadn't promised the author a review, I would not have read as much of the story as I have. However, I did persevere, and I discovered that there's an excellent story beneath all of the errors I've encountered. So, I'll be writing a review to reflect that if the story continues to be excellent. But the rating I'll end up giving? It'll probably be misleading to anyone who doesn't also read the review, and I'm prepared to learn that I've annoyed people.
Mod
message 797:
by
Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors
(last edited Jul 04, 2014 06:03PM)
(new)
Mod
I don't agree with sniping in reviews. I understand that a writer may push a button and if you're reviewing for yourself, that ire is likely to come out in your review. But at the same time, immaturity and meanness will come back against a reviewer in the end. A writer is going to move on and write another book, but the words you say in a review to be mean and hurtful will stand forever. That's my personal ethics as far as reviewing. I have given a few harsh reviews in my time, and I won't deny I feel some trepidation at times when I post them. But I feel that being honest is the best policy. I am probably lenient on some aspects that other reviewers might be tough on, and vice versa. I admit that the more indie books I read, the more jaded I get. I feel that there is a tendency to get away with bad writing techniques that can be avoided with practice and with good editing. I'm not perfect, and I make mistakes, and I understand that writers are the same. However, I also believe that one should make a quality product because I was raised to believe that I should always do my best and do something I can stand by and be proud of. I don't think that writers should compromise themselves or their work by settling for hack writing or third-rate storytelling. That will mean different things to different people. But whatever you're writing, write it as well as you can.
I looked for Metal Love Songs on Amazon and it wasn't listed. Can it be purchased elsewhere?I look forward to your book Tea. I like BW/AM books. Maybe we need a BW/AM writers group :) I have one I want to work on (doing research) after I finish my current novel I am determined to finish.
I personally think there's a difference between a reviewer giving an honest opinion of his or her reading experience and taking that opportunity to be mean and nasty. And despite the fact that I might not like or agree with a person using a review to personally bash an author, I do respect that each person is entitled to her opinion and can express it how she sees fit. What I have a problem with is the hypocrisy that often comes with that. The same reviewer who feels she can give one-star ratings to books she doesn't like is the same one who comments and criticizes other reviewers for exercising that same right with books she happens to like. I honestly don't understand what's to disagree about when responding to a person who is describing her own reading experience. Why is there even a need TO refute what another person thought about a book? These sites are designed to express opinions about the books we read so I don't understand why there are so many instances of personal attacks and hateful exchanges between strangers who simply had a difference of opinion. I really enjoy having conversations with people who have opposing points of view. I just hate when they resort to name calling or one person thinking her opinion is superior to everyone else's and therefore the only one worth hearing.
Mod
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Fans of Interracial Romance
Books mentioned in this topic
Cold Warriors (other topics)A Thankful Love (other topics)
Against the Odds (other topics)
From Across the Divide (other topics)
Tears of Heaven A Love Story (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Jewel Adams (other topics)Tilly Bagshawe (other topics)
Judith Krantz (other topics)
And...to the curb it goes. Sad, because it really sounded like an incredible read.