Romance Book Week Part 2

Am I too late? More questions from CindyS. Very hard questions. Here are my answers such as they are:

1) What romance book do you secretly love?

Gosh, I don't want to admit it. You are all going to be disgusted with me. I have mentioned repeatedly how Catherine Anderson's books are sickly sweet and most of you shy away from them. But one book of hers I really loved: Always in My Heart. It's a marriage in trouble story (which many people hate) about a couple whose two children (which many people hate in romance) run away from home to camp out in the mountains, hoping that this will force their parents back together. And of course, it works. Very sappy, but I loved it and it's on my keeper shelf (in the back where no one can see it). I wager there are some other secret loves, but this is the only one I'll admit to.

2) Name a hero that had you at 'Hello'.

Probably an Anne Stuart hero, which is totally unexplainable. I just recently read A Rose at Midnight and from the beginning of the book one side of my brain kept telling me "this guy is a complete bastard" and the other side was saying "I love this guy". Makes no sense. Maybe it's because I know any AS hero is going to be dark and tortured (my favorite type). So I fall for him immediately. Like Bastien in Black Ice.

3) Name your favorite 80s bodice ripper.

I have blocked out most of them from my memory. Hmmm.. is Something Wonderful by Judith McNaught considered a bodice ripper? I loved it. I need to re-read it to see if I still do love it.

4) What kind of heroine do you wish could be eradicated from the earth?

The type that don't think they are good enough or pretty enough or smart enough for the hero. Their self esteem is in the toilet. Like Cher in the movie Moonstruck, I want to slap the heroine and say "Snap out of it!". When this goes on throughout the whole book and she seems hellbent on ruining the HEA, I want to strangle her. I can see where there are damaged women (victims of abuse, rape, neglect) who need therapy for this but I don't want it dragged on throughout the entire book ad nausem.

5) Can you name a book or scene that you loved even though you know in real life you'd be telling the guy in a real dangerous voice that if he didn't move his hand pronto his ballcourt was going to take a beating.

Oh, this is a really tough one. I like Cindy's suggestion of 'sexy desperation'. So I checked my spreadsheet and came up with Duncan's Bride by Linda Howard. Do you remember the scene where they have sex in the bed of the pickup? Repeatedly. over. and. over. OMG. Can you imagine having sex on that very hard corrugated metal? Can you imagine how that would h.u.r.t.? I think Howard mentions how sore the hero's knees got. But nothing was mentioned about the heroine's back!!! Not to mention, you know, that private area that gets way too sore after only TWO times in a row. I used to tell Bob to back off if he got any ideas about sex on the carpeted floor. Not. comfortable. period. OK, I'll admit we did that a few times (TMI) but never in the back of a pickup! I need a mattress. Even a sleeping bag would be rough. DB mentioned that the hero puts a shirt under her. Oh, please, give me a break. NO. That won't make it better. Plus the back of a ranch pickup has got to be dusty and dirty. Yuk!

But I LOVE LOVE LOVE that scene. Can someone explain why this is one of my favorite sex scenes of all times? I re-read it whenever I'm in the mood for a very sexy read. I guess I like the fact that he was so extremely desperate to have her and nothing was going to stop him. Not discomfort, not dust, not the fact that the cows were watching (ok I made that up).