tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-630346294397505634.post2310283004145087850..comments2024-03-28T07:00:12.226-04:00Comments on Romance Novels for Feminists: Searching for My Harlequin PastJackie C. Hornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04146684628443152376noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-630346294397505634.post-36657806631148124642023-12-14T13:35:55.088-05:002023-12-14T13:35:55.088-05:00Super miejsce https://groups.google.com/g/rytual-m...Super miejsce <a href="https://groups.google.com/g/rytual-milosny-opinie" rel="nofollow">https://groups.google.com/g/rytual-milosny-opinie</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-630346294397505634.post-57357535576979542232022-11-28T17:58:59.814-05:002022-11-28T17:58:59.814-05:00Ladne miejsce.Ladne miejsce.Pozycjonowaniehttps://linkowanie-seo.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-630346294397505634.post-47627079531200950182014-07-26T11:07:21.250-04:002014-07-26T11:07:21.250-04:00What makes you think so, Willaful? What's diff...What makes you think so, Willaful? What's different about the two groups?Jackie C. Hornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04146684628443152376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-630346294397505634.post-35836067491270015132014-07-25T12:36:45.361-04:002014-07-25T12:36:45.361-04:00I think many 80s categories wear much better than ...I think many 80s categories wear much better than current ones. (Or say, the ones from 5-10 years ago.) willafulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17201963128584310884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-630346294397505634.post-12928489018916605592014-07-15T10:18:23.425-04:002014-07-15T10:18:23.425-04:00Dora:
Thanks for sharing. I didn't encounter ...Dora:<br /><br />Thanks for sharing. I didn't encounter Woodiwiss in my teen years, and have only read bits of F&F in recent years. Interesting to hear about other Woodiwiss titles, and your own reflections on your responses to a teen reading them. You make me curious to take a look at SHANNA.Jackie C. Hornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04146684628443152376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-630346294397505634.post-10919178903084462472014-07-15T10:15:37.924-04:002014-07-15T10:15:37.924-04:00So cool that you were able to find non-sexist cate...So cool that you were able to find non-sexist category romances in the 1980s. Not surprised by the Judith Arnold--she's an RWA chapter-mate of mine! Haven't read BEST FRIENDS, though--will have to take a look!Jackie C. Hornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04146684628443152376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-630346294397505634.post-33520871651399531912014-07-15T10:13:27.934-04:002014-07-15T10:13:27.934-04:00Am thinking it would be worth my while to give som...Am thinking it would be worth my while to give some Betty Neels titles a read (or perhaps I'll discover it's a re-read?) Thanks for adding your thoughts, Miss Bates.Jackie C. Hornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04146684628443152376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-630346294397505634.post-5378453093698226312014-07-15T10:12:35.298-04:002014-07-15T10:12:35.298-04:00Ah, I haven't read any Betty Neels. Is she one...Ah, I haven't read any Betty Neels. Is she one of the writers who avoided the suck fairy?<br /><br />I really do have to re-read WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND. It, along with A WRINKLE IN TIME, were the go-to books of my adolescence...Jackie C. Hornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04146684628443152376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-630346294397505634.post-87028798323993563932014-07-15T09:34:54.670-04:002014-07-15T09:34:54.670-04:00Can I say "Kathleen E. Woodiwiss"?
'...Can I say "Kathleen E. Woodiwiss"?<br />'Shanna' was serialised in a mag my Mum took in the early 80s, so I was about 14, like you. Back copies were piled up in the basement, and I went through them with a strong sense of doing something I had better not be caught doing. 'Shanna' was a revelation and hands down (sorry) the most exciting sexual experience of my early adolescence. I soon found 'A Rose in Winter' in our public library, and I loved that even more, even though now, looking at them with adult eyes, I see that Erienne is a lot more conventional and passive than Shanna. But Shanna struck my fourteen-year-old self as a bit of a high-maintenance bee-yatch. Prig that I was, I disapproved of that; and I could never quite see why Ruark - who is clearly a darling - puts up with her. Except, yes, of course I understood: you can be as spoilt and moody as you like, as long as you are beautiful. Ah, yes. Lesson learnt. Looking at Shanna now, I see that she is more badass than the girls in other novels I read. Marrying a jailbird in order to shut up her father, who wants her to marry a toff - that's pretty gutsy. I'm sad to think that my teenaged self understood implicitly that that kind of behaviour would never be condoned in a chubby girl with glasses and braces. <br />I also read 'The Flame and the Flower', but that went too far the other way. Even at 14 I saw that a rape is a rape, and Heather is a wimp, and Brandon Birmingham is a domineering ultra-alpha bully. A suspicious as I was of Shanna's caprice, this went against the grain, too.<br />As for 'his purple-helmeted warrior of love' - yeah, there are more things purple in these novels. I'm sure Ms Woodiwiss made a calculated choice here and was laughing on the way to the bank; but the writing style actually makes it impossible to re-read these with pleasure.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08806737132311228036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-630346294397505634.post-56243589564741970792014-07-13T10:58:36.154-04:002014-07-13T10:58:36.154-04:00Yes, I've gone back and reread some category r...Yes, I've gone back and reread some category romances I first encountered as a teenager. As I'm only four years younger than you, the few Harlequins that are still on my shelves come from the eighties.<br /><br />Surprisingly, I still enjoy them, although I don't respond similarly because I've changed. The books can be easily read the same time and you only see they are outdated because of technology -mainly. I think those that I liked most stand the test of time. I will only mention those I read as Harlequins and not those category romances written by authors that became famous later so I worked on their backlists (I'm thinking about Sandra Brown, for instance):<br /><br />'Captive of Desire', by Alexandra Sellers is a Harlequin Super Romance (#13) published in 1982. It's about a journalist and a Russian writer. The most out-dated aspect of it is the Soviet Union, of course, and all the references to the gulags. <br /><br />'A Gift of Wild Flowers' by Georgia Bockoven, Harlequin Temptation #57, was published in 1985. A photojournalist and a man looking for himself in the Sierra Nevada mountains. <br /><br />'Best Friends' by Judith Arnold, American Love #161 (1987). The perfect friends to lovers story. <br /><br />They could have been written today. Nothing in the behaviour of the male protagonists makes them overwhelming or bodice-rippers. I think that's why I liked them as a teenager. They were respectful, strong and caring without being condescending. And the sex was very simple and not explicit. Perfect for my young years, I think.Bona Caballerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08999745390738959715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-630346294397505634.post-64241423491884735312014-07-12T21:57:41.642-04:002014-07-12T21:57:41.642-04:00I remember reading romances with gluttonous freque...I remember reading romances with gluttonous frequency for a few years in my early teens and your reasons for doing so, I think, very much, echo my own. I left them behind, I thought forever, for the loftier ideals of culchah and literachah ;-) but have returned, most happily, and with great contentment, recently. <br /><br />I cannot remember any of the titles, or authors I read, though I have no doubt they were very much like Ms Steele's. I do recall the de rigueur anger the heroes exhibited. And because, like Barb, I'm an admirer of Betty Neels, I thought about a recent scene I read in her DAMSEL IN GREEN, in light of your great post. The hero, Julius, has rescued the heroine, George (I know, I love that Georgina is affectionately called "George") from near-drowning and hypothermia from a nearby lake. He treats her roughly, dumping her unceremoniously on her bed. He's brusque, cold, and angry, even though he was initially concerned when he pulled her out of the water. She confronts him about his manner. And because Betty Neels is where the wheat is sifted from the category chaff, he says, " ... men are always angry when they are frightened." (Maybe it's a stereotype of men,) but I appreciated what Neels did here, at the very least gave Julius a psychologically viable reason for his behaviour, an understandable one, even a sympathetic one. It's my favourite moment in the novel. It resets the emotional equilibrium.Miss Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17728640346939007988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-630346294397505634.post-59525503770487961972014-07-12T21:23:54.185-04:002014-07-12T21:23:54.185-04:00Well, I'm going to try (for the 5th time) to p...Well, I'm going to try (for the 5th time) to post a reply to your most excellent essay<br />Hooray for actually finding The Missing Book! That is fabulous and so clever of you.<br />And I'm glad you got to read it and you didn't actually 1)gag or 2)throw the book against the wall!<br />As for your missing book--good luck! The revenge marriage was a standard trope in Harlequin romances of that era! I cannot begin to list the authors from the '70s who used that plot line!<br /><br />To answer your end of post questions--well, I'm afraid I'm of no help. I am older than you (by more than a few years): so I latched onto category romances in the mid-70s as a young married woman with a new child. And I gobbled them up--especially Betty Neels. But the object was to find another! new!(to me) author!! One whose books I could read while my baby napped!!<br />That said, I have, over the years, tracked down my absolute faves from my early teen years--to very mixed result! Alas!! I found that the suck fairy had attack about 2/3rds of them. Why didn't I notice that the author couldn't write a clear sentence, that s/he had socially unacceptable social biases (race being the big one)? And so on and so on. But the ones that have stood the test of time (Hello! 'Witch of Blackbird Pond"!!)--priceless!!!!Barb in Marylandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374278685536530837noreply@blogger.com