When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes--Desiderius Erasmus...
A room without books is like a body without a soul--Cicero...
You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend--Paul Sweeney...
Friday, August 26
The Perfect Heroine?????
It's the 21st century, is it possible to find a 25 year old woman who is not only a virgin, but never been kissed, vegan virgin?? Oh, she's also beautiful and a social activist. And guess what--their first kiss is their wedding kiss.
Honestly, I don't understand the obsessive need for purity in romance novels. Of course, that's probably why I don't read books that feature those heroines--what books do that these days anyway? Am I so jaded that being an experienced, meat-eating woman is nothing to get upset about>
Yes. I have a great friend who's beautiful, but rather shy. Virgin and never been kissed. Though I doubt she'd wait to the wedding. She just hasn't found the right guy and has been busy with school, etc.
And knew of a couple who waited for their marriage to kiss.
OK, the kissing thing would bug the crap out of me. The virgin thing I can buy - but hello? No kissing? Ever? No way. I mean, didn't some boy steal a kis when she was in grade school?
What really gets my goat is when the book is a contemporary and the heroine is not only a virgin, but extremely naive. "You're going to put what where?!?!"
Hello? She's never seen an R rated movie? Watched Cinamax? Read Cosmo? Seen a sexy advertisement in a magazine?
My sister is a 25 year old vegetarian virgin who's never been kissed :D Seriously. Nice girl, too -- decent looking. She's also the type of person to take care of my parents unto their death. Fits that martyr-ish heroine thingy to a T.
Much as I adore her, I don't know that I'd want to read a book about her. :D
Megan, Maybe it's the NY thing, but these heroines annoy the hell out of me.
Nicole, I would like to say the heroine was quite religious, but she was really just uptight. I know there are sweet and shy women out there, but this didn't fit the character. She was obnoxious and rude and judgemental.
Wendy, I can agree with the virgin thing too, but the no kissing and not being religious left me scratching my head.
I've noticed a shift away from virgin heroines to more sexed up heroines especially in contemporary romances and as a reader who prefers V heroines I am buying less contemps for that reason. I'm curious as to what brought this rant up? Was it a book? What's the title?
OK - this is just my opinion, but: Why would this be the perfect heroine? I judge heroines this way: 'would I want this person as a friend?' If my best friend was a virgin-veggie-rights' activist, she would probably be passionate and preachy. I could live with the passionate. But the preachy part would drive me crazy. In my experience, veggies wince whenever anyone orders a steak or they join PETA and screech when they see a fur coat or leather shoes. And virgins can't help thinking that anyone who sleeps around is slutty. (It makes them feel better, I suppose.) Since I don't think I'd be able to spend much time with someone like this, I don't think I'd be able to sympathize with this sort of heroine in a book.
Hi Erika, it was a novella in an anthology, I don't have the book in front of me. The heroine was so rude and judgemental demanding a change in the hero's behavior before going on a second date, no drinking, no dating, must do something "good" everyday for a month before she would go out with him again.
Sam: I don't have a problem with a 25 year old, never been kissed, vegan virgin. The problem came in with her being so judgemental.
I think the author was trying to portray a "playboy" and a "prig", one of the other characters describes her as a "self-righteous prig" and that's exactly what she was, but the "playboy" didn't come across as a playboy at all, rather a typical 30 year single man.
11 comments:
Honestly, I don't understand the obsessive need for purity in romance novels. Of course, that's probably why I don't read books that feature those heroines--what books do that these days anyway? Am I so jaded that being an experienced, meat-eating woman is nothing to get upset about>
Yes. I have a great friend who's beautiful, but rather shy. Virgin and never been kissed. Though I doubt she'd wait to the wedding. She just hasn't found the right guy and has been busy with school, etc.
And knew of a couple who waited for their marriage to kiss.
OK, the kissing thing would bug the crap out of me. The virgin thing I can buy - but hello? No kissing? Ever? No way. I mean, didn't some boy steal a kis when she was in grade school?
What really gets my goat is when the book is a contemporary and the heroine is not only a virgin, but extremely naive. "You're going to put what where?!?!"
Hello? She's never seen an R rated movie? Watched Cinamax? Read Cosmo? Seen a sexy advertisement in a magazine?
Yeah, it's the naive thing that bugs me.
Wendy, I wasn't kissed until I was 19. Really. But I sure as hell knew what was going on way before that.
The couple who waited to kiss were quite religious.
My sister is a 25 year old vegetarian virgin who's never been kissed :D Seriously. Nice girl, too -- decent looking. She's also the type of person to take care of my parents unto their death. Fits that martyr-ish heroine thingy to a T.
Much as I adore her, I don't know that I'd want to read a book about her. :D
Oh! but I should add -- yeah, she's not naive. She knows exactly what's going on, and what she's missing.
Megan, Maybe it's the NY thing, but these heroines annoy the hell out of me.
Nicole, I would like to say the heroine was quite religious, but she was really just uptight. I know there are sweet and shy women out there, but this didn't fit the character. She was obnoxious and rude and judgemental.
Wendy, I can agree with the virgin thing too, but the no kissing and not being religious left me scratching my head.
Meljean, your sister sounds like a saint.
I've noticed a shift away from virgin heroines to more sexed up heroines especially in contemporary romances and as a reader who prefers V heroines I am buying less contemps for that reason.
I'm curious as to what brought this rant up? Was it a book? What's the title?
OK - this is just my opinion, but: Why would this be the perfect heroine?
I judge heroines this way: 'would I want this person as a friend?'
If my best friend was a virgin-veggie-rights' activist, she would probably be passionate and preachy. I could live with the passionate. But the preachy part would drive me crazy. In my experience, veggies wince whenever anyone orders a steak or they join PETA and screech when they see a fur coat or leather shoes. And virgins can't help thinking that anyone who sleeps around is slutty. (It makes them feel better, I suppose.)
Since I don't think I'd be able to spend much time with someone like this, I don't think I'd be able to sympathize with this sort of heroine in a book.
Hi Erika, it was a novella in an anthology, I don't have the book in front of me. The heroine was so rude and judgemental demanding a change in the hero's behavior before going on a second date, no drinking, no dating, must do something "good" everyday for a month before she would go out with him again.
Sam: I don't have a problem with a 25 year old, never been kissed, vegan virgin. The problem came in with her being so judgemental.
I think the author was trying to portray a "playboy" and a "prig", one of the other characters describes her as a "self-righteous prig" and that's exactly what she was, but the "playboy" didn't come across as a playboy at all, rather a typical 30 year single man.
Yeah...doesn't really sound like "the perfect heroine".
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