Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

so, I want to know... what's your guilty pleasure? Is it vampires, vikings, highlanders? Is it firemen, men in uniform? Is there a certain "something" in a romance that will suck you in... every. single. time.? On the flip side, what's the one thing in a romance that will completely turn you off - your big pet peeve in a book?

My biggest guilty pleasure is Alpha-male cowboys (although my reading list doesn't suggest it - I have a stack of Diana Palmer books a mile high to log)

My biggest pet peeve in a book is when a heroine dresses as a boy... oh that and when the heroine is full of herself and selfish. Only Scarlett is allowed that honor.

I love the whole 'you're-my-one-and-only, soul-mates destined to be together' thing. That being said, this is most likely why I hate love triangles. In my books, in my shows/movies. Doesn't matter where, I just hate the dreadful shape altogether. Love triangles almost always leave a bitter taste in my mouth. I'm not a fan.

Another thing I love to read about is small, quaint towns where everybody knows everybody. Maybe because I live in a huge friggin city where I couldn't even tell you my own neighbors name cause I don't know it. I guess I like the simplicity of Small Town USA. Throw in a small-town love story and I'm golden! But don't make it a triangle! ;)

I would have to say that my biggest guilty pleasure is a big alpha-male and like Rachel I hate love triangles. Especially when the girl ends up with the guy that I didn't want her to be with.

My guilty pleasure is reading anything with Dukes. The more arrogant the man is the more I love it!! The character being wealthy isn't bad either :). I love reading from the male perspective of a book and why he is drawn to the heroine. The one thing that I don't like is when either the hero or heroine already have children with someone else. I lose interest when a child is involved that previously belongs to them. I prefer that they have their own children together whether they are married or not.

I love the Bad Boy that really isn't a bad boy at all. I love any vampires. And I love hottie cops.

I hate the romance story where the two love interests have constant miscommunications and misunderstandings and then all is forgiven and made right...on the last page! No fun!

I really enjoy it when the love interests don't fight their love and spend the book making it stronger and I also enjoy the soul mate concept.

Like Melissa, I love the Bad Boy who really is just misunderstood and proves it. Also love guys who set their sights on a woman and stop at nothing to get her- focused, unrelenting wooing.

I don't like adultery, cheating of any kind, girls that dress like boys for some kind of disguise, lies and misunderstandings between the couple (I really don't like mistaken identity story lines or when one person lies about or conceals who they really are until the end).

I love Beauty and the Beast as well as marriage of convenience themes (sorry I couldn't pick one). Also love dark, brooding, taciturn heroes:)

My biggest peeves are love-at-first-sight stories, sugary sweet tales, miss goody-two-shoes and a hero or heroine with no pride at all.

I like a Beauty and the Beast and the destined soul mates themes. I don't like love triangles or the big misunderstanding (usually if someone just asked, it would be resolved), and hate, hate, hate cliffhangers. I'll read the last couple of pages of a book first to make sure there's no cliffhanger before I buy it.

Cliffhangers are horrible and I think I`ve had one on almost every book now the whole summer-are the authors doing this so much more or have I just hit a rough spell with the dreaded things?

Oh, I too love the Beauty and the Beast theme! I also like where the hero sacrifices something major all in the name of love but doesn't tell the heroine, yet she finds out later in the story what he did for her. *sigh*

Can't stand miscommunication themes.

I have been loving weres and shifters lately. I don't like instant love or sex quickly in the book. I like the characters to fall in love. I think I love the flirtation more than the actual getting it on. LOL. I think it is the courtship and getting to know each other that draws me in to the romance.

I also don't like stories that are too much action and not enough romance. I like PNR more than UF I think for this reason.

As for paranormal creatures I don't care for, I am not into fae or aliens very much. I don't know why.

I love brooding bad boys. Also like sports players and protector type guys (like muscle bound secret agent to protect her type thing).

I don't like when they fight against each other the whole book and it wraps up in the last 25 pages or so. Don't care for triangles either (only because once I picked the wrong guy and got mad when the book was over, so I steer clear of those).

Not so much into paranormal. Like contemporaries. I like both steamy sex or sweet romances without much sex, as long as it's a good love story.

I love brothers!!! Hot, sexy brothers who each get a story and an HEA of their own.

I'm a sucker for UST until the last possible minute. Just makes the climax (pardon the pun) that much sweeter.

Also, I gotta have romance. I don't care much to read about no-strings-attached relationships... unless they start out that way and then develop into something more. But if it's just a 'wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am' type of story then it doesn't do anything for me.

I love an alpha who is sweet only for his gal (mate). I like the whole "Mine" mentality. I like instant attraction, soul mates, or destined for each other type stories.
I adore brooding highlanders or really, to be honest, any type of highlander.
I used to be all about vampires, but that has changed to weres. Again, I think it is that whole alpha personality I like.
And I like to spice up my reading with erotica here and there. I still like them to have a HEA, but that can include with a m/f, m/m, m/f/m, or a m/m/f. It's all good to me.

Guilty Pleasures
Stalkerific heroes
Broody/dark/grumpy heroes
Fated to be mated
Tortured heroes/tormented heroines
Warriors/soldiers/military
Werewolves
Angsty books with happy endings
Marriage of convenience
Exotic Locations
Pregnant heroine (by hero)
Virgin hero/Celibate hero
Sweet, loving heroes
Dangerous heroes of any kind
Nerdy/Geeky characters

Pet Peeves
Adultery/Cheating
Lying to each other/going behind each other's back
Promiscuous heroes/heroines (I don't mind if the guy has a rep as a rake as long as I don't have to see it.) I don't really like the heroine to be promiscuous at all (no offense to anyone)
Romance book that is too erotic (I don't read erotica for a reason)--also, too much sex, not enough plot
Love Triangles
Cruel/hateful characters who have no reason to be that way
Happy for Now endings

My Guilty Pleasure.

1. Virgin hero/ Virgin heroine
2. A good bad boy.
3. Nerds
4. A dangerous bad boy
5. Best friends turns lovers

I have some themes I don't care for.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Happy for Now endings "

OH! these are a huge pet peeve of mine too. Its one of the reasons I don't read J.D. Robb in death series... and something I barely tolerate in the Stephanie Plum books. Love Stephanie Plum, but the happy for now always annoys me.

Fani wrote: "I love Beauty and the Beast as well as marriage of convenience themes (sorry I couldn't pick one). Also love dark, brooding, taciturn heroes:)

My biggest peeves are love-at-first-sight stories, su..."

A great marriage of convenience story that I just read in July was Parting Gifts by Lorraine Heath. This was a great read (better than a goodread lol).

I'm not into werewolves and vampires (those were good back when Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi played the parts--and if you have to ask who? you are too young to know).

I like Time Travel Romance. I like it either way, person from the present goes back in time or someone from the past comes forward.

I like romance, don't mind sex in the book but I don't need a "blow by blow" (pun intended).

Triangles in a series get old if not resolved. Example is the Hannah Swensen series by Joanne Fluke. This is a cozy mystery series for those of you who don't know, and the Mike vs Norman thing is beyond annoying now at book 13. I love this series but enough already, pick one and at this point I'm like Rhett, frankly I don't give a damn which one it is (although Norman is my preference). Some have mentioned the Stephanie Plum books and the triangle between Stephanie, Joe and Ranger. Actually Ranger is just her fantasy man, I don't think there is a real triangle there.

I like both contemporary and historical romance but if it is a historical I prefer United States 1800s either before or after the Civil war. The Kitchen House was 5 star but it ended too soon. Also The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser also a 5 star.

westerns and cowboys!! love love love Lorelei James and Beth Williamson's Cowboys! Also Sarah McCartney

Denise wrote: "A great marriage of convenience story that I just read in July was Parting Gifts by Lorraine Heath. This was a great read (better than a goodread lol).
"

Thanks Denise!

Denise wrote: "I'm not into werewolves and vampires (those were good back when Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi played the parts--and if you have to ask who? you are too young to know)."

Too funny. And I suppose next you're going to tell me Colin Clive was the best Frankenstein when everyone knows it was Peter Boyle.

Guilty Pleasures: Paranormal (vamps, shifters, weres, ghosts, etc), Alpha military males, BDSM, athletes (hockey, baseball or football players), Musicians.

Pet Peeves: I'm not a fan of inspirational romance/lit.

I have to admit I'm a sucker for hunky Scotsman! Nothing like a big burly manly man in a kilt!! It sends chills up my spine and if I hear them talk ....*shiver* it's like just read me the phone book and don't stop! ..... so I guess anything Highlander, and I'm in. =)

Love epic forbidden love. Hate adultery- to me "I do" really does mean until death do us part.

Heather,

I love a good hunky Scotsman too!! In a good one, you can almost hear that wonderful brogue.

As far as the paranormal goes, I really like psychic or ghost stories better than the vampire ones.

My pet peeve is story lines where the heroine is either stupid or antagonistic throughout the whole or almost the whole book. The ones that make you roll your eyes and think "Give me a break!"

Bodice Rippers. I confess to likine the "forced seduction" scenes as long as they aren't out and out rape. You know the ones where she really wants him but is just a little reluctant. I'm also a fan of the captured/kidnapped/compromised into marriage plot line.

Photojim wrote: "Denise wrote: "I'm not into werewolves and vampires (those were good back when Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi played the parts--and if you have to ask who? you are too young to know)."

Too funny And I suppose next you're going to tell me Colin Clive was the best Frankenstein when everyone knows it was Peter Boyle. ..."

Photojim: I actually didn't pay much attention to the Doctor, I liked the Monsters. My favorite was Lon Chaney Jr., he seemed like such a troubled soul. I went out onto YouTube and watched Colin Clive VS Peter Boyle and yes, I would have to say that Colin Clive gets my vote.

Many guilty pleasures!:

Beauty & Beast
Angsty books(think Diana Palmer) where the hero majorly screws up with the heroine (but not a fan of adultery)
immortal warriors
Scottish/Highlander lords
Experienced heroes, rakes/rogues (I don't like it if the heroine in a HR has had more than one lover before him)
Friends turned lovers
Military heroes
Alpha males

And I love it when the hero (not the heroine) is keeping his true identity secret from the heroine, falls in love, and then has to scramble to get himself forgiven when all is revealed (think The Pretender, Passion, On Thin Ice, Fearless...)

Guilty pleasures:

Melanie, I too like:
Highlanders, Clans and anything Medieval
Beauty and Beast
Men in uniform (cops, firemen, military, etc.)
Alpha males

I also love:
Rakes and rogues
Boddice rippers
Erotica/romantica
Tortured heroes
Marriages of Convenience
wallflowers who find love
older heroines
vampires
Time-travel is fairly new to me, but growing on me!

Pet Peeves...well, I'm still trying to figure them out. However, I guess off the top of my head, I'd have to agree with Maria. Not a huge fan of inspirational/religious or anything too preachy.