Kissing in the Morning--Romantic or Gross?

Mints can't compete with morning breath. I have polled many people and have never encountered even one who would share anything more than a held-breath peck before brushing.

I have never believed a first-thing-in-the-morning kissing scene in a book or film.

Even offering a mint (much less cutely force-feeding her one) would make me laugh quite a lot and I wouldn't believe it. It wouldn't make me think the hero is necessarily selfish, but it would make me think he was a little weird and goofy.

Did they shower and dry off properly before having sex? If not, that's what I'm grossed out about.
So, tend to my needs and have them shower and wait twenty minutes so they are dry before anything romantic happens...

Really, that's trivial. Just have them kiss. No reader is going to put down your book for that.

This is the same idea as: When do these character pee? It doesn't matter, so forget about it unless it's relevant.

If the hero is the type of person to pop a mint in her mouth, deflating the entire situation, go ahead.

WillSauger said:

When do these character pee? It doesn't matter, so forget about it unless it's relevant.

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Oh course it matters, Will. Okay, maybe not to us. . .

Hmmm, my thoughts?

How long have they been in a relationship? Are they to the farting in front of each other stage or do they pretend that neither poops?

See, I think kissing in the morning is about what stage of the relationship you are in. There are things that people put up with in the beginning of the relationship that would be scissors in the eye offenses later on. And vice versa. It has to do with the people and the progression of their lovefest. It also has to do with the personal preferences of the characters. Cause some characters can be written to hate normal bodily functions and smells, while others don't care so much.

I guess... it depends. Not much of an answer. lol

Well yeah, I'd say that's unromantic. Did he have a mint too?

An analogy I'd offer, to echo what others have said - do you thinking kissing is gross in historial fiction, back when people didn't have good dental hygiene, and couldn't have brushed their teeth?

I always used to watch Xena Warrior Princess (what? Like you're perfect?), and it amused me that this warrior princess from antiquity who lived rough had beautiful, dazzling white teeth.

I do wonder if deep, tongue-y kisses were as prevalent before the advent of oral hygiene. Scope and Crest have done a lot for romance.

I think about things like that. My characters tend to have really good hygiene, even on the run.-lol- Oh, but even worse than the morning after kiss, is when the author has the guy go 'down below' on her and there is no mention of any kind of cleanup. -urk-

I had my guy bring her a glass of orange juice because he thought she might be thirsty.

I always assume fictional characters don't suffer from morning breath like us poor real people.

sunandshadow said:

I always assume fictional characters don't suffer from morning breath like us poor real people.

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Exactly And somebody else mentioned what it was like before the advent of dental hygiene. I mean if it's not modern day, how bad is kissing anytime?

A lot of romances already call for a lot of willing suspension of disbelief, so as a reader, I wouldn't even think second about a morning kiss or morning sex. I mean romantic protagonists are into each other on a superhuman level

When reading, I usually have a, "Ew... morning breath," thought, but it's not enough to stop me from enjoying the book. I think how it fits in the story depends on the storytelling. Do what seems right to you.

Morning breath in real life = gross beyond belief.

Morning kissing in fiction writing = romantic. But don't call attention to the morning breath issue by trying to fix it with a mint. The reader can assume the characters either don't have stinky breath or the author just didn't detail the dental hygiene ritual.

I would find it weird actually, it makes him seem like he would find her gross to kiss until she's had a mint. Surely most men are happy enough that they've got a naked lady in bed with them that they'll overlook a bit of morning breath.

It wouldn't bode well to me, it would say he's not prepared to take her for who she is, all of her flaws and imperfections. He might appear to be the kind of guy who'll expect her to be perfect all of the time and go off her if she falls below those impossible standards. Could make him seem a bit neurotically germophobic too.

If he's in the bathroom when she wakes up, can't she grab a mint herself? Maybe there's a jar of them on the table beside the bed, or she's got some in her purse which is handily nearby. That would seem natural to me. We all want to appear at our best, especially in the early days of a relationship.

I've never found morning breath to be a big deal. I kiss my husband before I get out of bed every morning, and before I leave for work, while he is still in bed.

Thirteen years later, he will still sometimes protest that he hasn't brushed his teeth, but it's never bothered me a bit, and on the rare occasion he's the first one up, my breath never has seemed to slow him down.

I wouldn't worry too much about the morning breath. I think the mint could be cute if it's in response to her protest (either that moment-or historically if they'd had a past) but if he produces one without her protest it strikes me a bit oddly. It's not quite insulting, but it's iffy unless she has brought up the concern. So I'd say no mint-unless you are going for a sort of cute-comedy moment where she always panics about morning breath and this time he came prepared.

I dunno, personally yeah I'd rather brush my teeth first.

I think it would be somewhat humorous to give her a breath mint, not really selfish but somewhat lol-worthy.

If you want to keep it 100% serious I would omit it.
Or if you want even funnier you can either keep/remove it but still have a comment about morning breath. Hope that helps.

I say, forget the breath mint and forget the morning breath altogether, unless you want the character to shy away from the kiss because she's worried about her own breath. Especially if this is their first time and the relationship is new.

If the scene is done right, i.e., romantic and spontaneous, your reader shouldn't even be thinking about it.