Giving AQ another chance
Jun 2nd, 2007 by Lynne
For years, my sister and I bought every Amanda Quick book the instant it came out, even in hardcover. My sister was also a huge fan of the author’s contemporary romances published under her real name, Jayne Ann Krentz, while I bought up all the paranormals she wrote as Jayne Castle. But somewhere along the way, both of us burned out, not only on this author, but on most romance novels. I don’t know if it had more to do with our reading tastes changing or with recent trends in romance fiction, which both of us have felt “meh” about, at best.
Earlier today, my sister called me to tell me about some Stephanie James (a Krentz pseudonym from the early 80s) books she picked up at a flea market. In one she was reading this morning, the hero was a former moonshine runner turned accountant, and he had — get this — a gold tooth! ::boggle::
I was talking to a friend yesterday about how I hadn’t read a romance all the way through in, like, forever, so when John and I were in Publix earlier tonight, I decided to pick up Quick’s mass market release of Second Sight. You’d think hearing about the weird hero in the earlier book would’ve discouraged me from buying this, but I think it actually had the opposite effect. Go figure! :-)
Oh man — Stephanie James was absolutely my gateway drug to romance. I’ll never forget some of those titles and the way the stories connected for me way back when. But I’m not sure they’d stand up to a jaded, fully adult read, either. My big favorites these days tend to be crossover fantasy — Sharon Shinn, Anne Bishop, Judith Marillier (sp?), Elizabeth Haydon, and I even started re-reading the Melanie Rawn sunrunner books. The straight romances that appeal nowadays are further apart — I enjoy the dark, long, tough stories more than the quick-read pure romances anymore.
LOL, Chris! I think my gateway drug was *ahem* Barbara Cartland. I can’t believe how many of her books I read, back in the day!
I’m a huge fan of Sharon Shinn. She, Garth Nix, and Connie Willis are among my favorite SF&F writers. I’ll have to check out some Haydon and Rawn sometime when I get my TBR pile under control. At this point, it’s an entire TBR bookshelf!
Ah, well, if Barbara Cartland counts, then I have to give credit to the monarch historicals by Jean Plaidy, which led to Victoria Holt. But I was just marking time with those until I hit the Stephanie James books along maybe age 15 or 16…that’s when the real addiction kicked in.
My TBR has shrunk a good bit since we’ve been holed up in the rental condo, but now that we’ve got a house again…it’ll grow by leaps and bounds I am sure.
I’ve read just about every VH book ever written. LOVED her. I really should read some Plaidy, since I’ve heard those books are excellent.
I’m thinking my TBR pile will shrink a LOT when we move, too!
Hi Lynn!
I started my SF reading with Heinlein. Quit throwing tomato, I know he was a jerk, or at least I do now. Quick was my gateway to Romance, but after the ninth or tenth I burned out on her. The characters were too much alike at core.
Alice
Hi, Alice! I’m glad you’re feeling up to blog-hopping! I hope you’re feeling 100% healed very soon.
I hate to admit this, but I’ve never read Heinlein. It’s not because he had a reputation, one way or another. He’s just another author in my ever-growing TBR pile, alas.
I agree on Quick. It took me a long time to put my finger on the problem, and once I realized how alike the characters were, I couldn’t manage to ignore it anymore.
I have tried for many years to get Lynne to read Heinlein, without any apparent success. This is understandable. I think she would be bugged by way all the characters talk alike, but there are a couple of standouts. *The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress* is great social as well as scientific extrapolation, if you can get into the dialect, and has wonderful characters.
*Starship Troopers* soars despite (or perhaps because of) its essential corniness, and I count is as one of the minor reasons I enlisted in the Army. I don’t recommend it these days, though, without its necessary antidote, Haldeman’s *The Forever War*, an obvious homage/parody by a real-life Vietnam vet.
I would definitely recomend The Forever War over Starship Troopers. I loved The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress and Stranger In A Strange Land when I read them, but cant’ get into them now.
Lynn, I’d have been over here a lot more over the last few months if I hadn’t had a glitch with Bloglines. It hid your blog on your last move and wouldn’t let me re-sub.
Alice
Hi Lynne,
So how did you like Second Sight? Every JAK book, under any name, does have the same basic h/h. A lot of authors are like that. If I read one after another, it would bother me. But I can read two or three of her books a year and enjoy them.
Mmmmm. Heinlein (or he and the Mrs., is it?) is great, even when he’s cheesy. I always come back to Fear No Evil and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
Hi, Alice! I need to try Bloglines. It’d make my blog-hopping a lot more manageable, I bet!
Maybe I need to schedule some Heinlein once I’m done with Homer. Y’all are tempting me. :-)
I agree, Edie. If I’d only ever read a couple of her books, particularly some of her single-name historicals (Ravished?), I probably wouldn’t have noticed the sameness.
My mother warned me when she loaned me the first AQ that I should avoid reading them too close together. Years later when I told her why I wouldn’t read them anymore I ruined her on them. She started seeing the similarities too clearly
Alice