Which is your favorite sort of romance...and why?

4. They meet and interact for some reason, but not as antagonists, and become attracted to each other slowly. "Slowly" might mean one day or six months.

Caveat lector: Since I don't usually read romances, I might not represent the audience whose preference you seek.

I like them all, but number 2 is probably my favorite. I like JD Robb's In Death series because Eve and Roarke started out on opposite sides of the fence and ended up in the sack. 23 books into the series they are married, but still have some huge fundamental differences that keep things HOT!

Done right, any of the choices are completely engaging. I love when they are thrown together, by no choice of their own, and have immediate and simultaneous attraction and dislike/disagreement/and or resentment. They don't want to be attracted to the other, they just can't help it. They think they are fundamentally different, and they are in some aspects, yet they are also a lot alike. I don't like either one to be submissive. As a matter of fact, my favorite characters usually clash because they are both used to being in charge and they are thrown into this awkward situation where they must rely on each other. This can be done easily with choice #2 or 3. But if I had to pick one, I'd say #2 is my favorite.

Glad to hear your writing is going well, Cathy!

I like all of them. I like a variety of things, from what I read, to what I write. So I guess I'd want #4, all of the above. <G> The story on my editor's desk right now is a a renion story. I've done the strong initial attraction. The proposal I'm working on right now will be a combination initial attraction and a protagonistic relationship, which will grow and change. (At least, that's how I see it right now. That could change as I work on it. <G>)

Susan G.

My novel really isn't a romance, but alas! that's what the critics call it. Anyway, I'd say mine is #4. The H/h get "back" together due to circumstances, then get separated, and there's no guarantee of a HEA. So, really, it's not a romance, but a romantic story.

Oh, and the hero is not very likable either...

My fave

I like type No. 2 the best. It's what I write most often as well.

They're all great choices, but I think my favorite is:

3. The H/h start out as former lovers who separated due to job, school, or arguments. The plot offers the opportunity to rediscover each other since they've both changed enough to now make a great match.

#1 all the way.

What about another option - #5 - best friends who suddenly see each other as more? That is the hardest for me to write.

I'd have to say #2 is my favorite. I love sparks between the two MC's. It really carries a book.

Least favorite of mine? The ex-boyfriend/old-flame thing. I never pick up books with that storyline, but that's just my personal preference.

I probably lean tworads #2 but not the unrealistic 'panties constantly wet' version. I want to see a real person to person connection formed and then consumated not so that even if it is intense there are ups and down, anxieties etc.

That said I will go for any kind of meeting or reunion. My biggest hate is an overdone enemies scenario with a firespitting women who goes from clawing his eyes out to being swooningly rescued by him within a few chapters. If she really hates him I want real hate, if she has a real reason to change her opinion then that is fine but please no 'then I fell down a mine shaft and he came and held me against his sweaty torso and the hormones kicked in so I became the demure omega woman I always wanted to be' schlock.

1 is my favorite, although I like the twist that they are officially supposed to be enemies, or one assumes the other dislikes them even though they don't really. My favorite romances are the ones where one character is disliked by everyone and has a terrible reputation, and the other character is openminded, ignores the rep, and decides they like the first character. This works well in a captor/captive or arranged marriage setup, and is similar to the archetypal Beauty and the Beast story, with the exception that the beast doesn't turn into a prince at the end (*cough*totalcopout*cough*).

I also love romances where the main character has to adapt to a new world or body and learn a new skill (such as magic or manipulating virtual reality or the politics of an alien culture) during the course of the story.

I love novels where the heroes reunite unexpectedly after like eight years of not seeing each other. There has been a BIG misunderstanding between them causing them to now hate each other. When they see each other after all this time they realize they are still in love. Those books are my favorites and are the the most type I read.

I don't read any romance novel where the girl or guy marries someone else after meeting their significant other.

I like number two, but only in paranormal romance. I don't read any other kind of romance.

What sunandshadow said. I love arranged marriages and stuff in romances (one reason I love historicals so much) and I like when characters see beyond the public persona to the person inside.

1 here too. I've got a couple that are old friends that seperate then come back together after some time had passed, hang out together then things heat up and they explore what they ingored before.

When reading, I like them all! Preferably in rotation, for variety.

As for writing...I've only written 1 1/2 manuscripts so far, but the completed one is a #1.

MelRandall

sunandshadow said:

1 is my favorite, although I like the twist that they are officially supposed to be enemies, or one assumes the other dislikes them even though they don't really. My favorite romances are the ones where one character is disliked by everyone and has a terrible reputation, and the other character is openminded, ignores the rep, and decides they like the first character. This works well in a captor/captive or arranged marriage setup, and is similar to the archetypal Beauty and the Beast story, with the exception that the beast doesn't turn into a prince at the end (*cough*totalcopout*cough*).

I also love romances where the main character has to adapt to a new world or body and learn a new skill (such as magic or manipulating virtual reality or the politics of an alien culture) during the course of the story.

Click to expand...

First off, main character adapting to a new culture/world is pretty much all I write. I love to come up with new worlds and civilizations then pick an unsuspecting heroine, who thinks she's pretty level-headed and in control of life, and throw her into it and watch her sink or swim. I'm evil to my characters that way.

I love #2 because I'm not much of the love at first sight type. I like the "hate at first sight that grows into love" books (romantic comedy movies as well... like 'Kate & Leopold'). > To me, the conflict seems better thoughout the story. The "love at first sight" books tend to have flimsy conflict that wouldn't be a conflict at all if the characters just talked to each other (or maybe that's just the romances I tend to pick up). But, I also like #1 because it lends itself to #2 sometimes, like in arranged marriages and the like.

I like the whole arranged marriage setup deal. Scenario #1. Sometimes the woman marries the man she is "supposed" to marry. Sometimes she marries someone else due to whatever circumstances. Sometimes she's not even the original bride. Then they have to work through their differences, whatever they may be, because divorce isn't optional (historical fiction).

I actually like them all, just depending on my mood. My only requirement is that somewhere in the course of the book they have sex.

Probably my favorite though are romantic suspense and that's normally what I buy. I enjoy two people being thrown together in a tense situation and letting the sparks fly!

I've written the first two and now I'm working on the third one right now. Funny how that is. I tend to like #1 the best when writing though. Can't really explain why other than that's what I tend to be drawn toward.

I like #1.

#2, like in A Walk to Remember is good, too.

I like slow paced stories where party #1 finds out something troubling about the other party and has to do a lot of soul searching to overcome it. Likewise I like seeing party #2 dealing with earning party #1's trust and working to make sure he neither belittle's her issues nor tries too hard.

Then again I just read gen with a side of romance, except on rare occassion with comics.