Reading older books - social issues

I'm an HP reader.  *wink*  And I buy HPs by the box of ebay and kijiji, so I read lots of the older HPs.

Some things I've noticed:

- heroines used to be 18 or 19 fairly often, and seemed like schoolgirls not women.

- if the hero/heroine were split up for a while, there's never really much of a chance he was faithful, even if they were married.  The hero isn't a man if he is celibate.

- the H/h have a guardian / ward / cousin relationship....  this is done more often in older books, especially the "cousin" one which is now never touched on.

- careers for the heroines... now have tons more variety.  I think before it was like, farmer's wife or daughter, man-eating reporter, daddy's little socialite/charity hopper.  I over simplify, but there obviously has been a big change in career life of heroines. 

Um... so there's some things.  Adding to the pile of things to chat about.   

Kaelee... happy belated birthday! 

I agree with the variety and "tackling issues" stuff.  I just wanted to point out one take on fidelity and marriage that stood out for me this month.  The hero was married to a woman, and she was unfaithful, and his reaction to it was forgiveness!  I was really pleasantly surprised to read such a different take, it really looked at the woman without blaming her entirely, and it showed that not all cheating women/men are whores to be hated and condemned.  The hero not condemning his wife was probably the most loving thing he could do in the situation.  Though it was a bit of a journey for him working through his feelings. 

2754
Taken by the Maverick Millionaire
Anna Cleary
Harlequin Presents

Back Cover:

Overheard…
Cate Summerfield never meant to eavesdrop. Now powerful Tom Russell must stop her from exposing details of an important deal.

Overpowered…
He'll keep Cate very close—seducing the beautiful blonde will be no hardship at all!

And in way over her head!
Cate knows Tom's not just a ruthless billionaire—but can the girl from the wrong side of the tracks ever be more than his convenient mistress?

Spoiler Warning: All my reviews contain spoilers to some degree  

Favourite Scene:

She flashed Tom a provocative glance and swept down her lashes. With a small seductive smile, she thrust a hip forward and sashayed over to him like some voluptuous sex siren. She stood as close as she dared, her body almost touching his.

She heard Olivia’s sharp intake of breath, then the room grew still. Tom Russell seemed to freeze, as if his very nerve fibres had skidded to a halt.

Conscious of the blood pounding in her ears, Cate lifted her hand and lightly speared a tentative finger into the hard abdomen above his belt buckle.

He hardly appeared to breathe.

Pulsingly aware of the raw, masculine chest beneath the fine fabrics, she walked her fingers up his tie, then in mock feminine possession made a pretence of adjusting his shirt collar. She slid a languorous glance up at him through her lashes, then her lungs seized. His grey eyes clashed with hers, alight and blazingly sensual.

Unsmiling, he held her gaze for one breathless, scorching second, then in a swift, slick movement snaked his arms around her.

‘Or this?’ he said.

Before her shocked heart could slot back into its place he pressed his mouth to hers.

Another Fav Scene: (the hero kind of cracks emotionally)

The tough, hardened shell locking in his pain threatened to crack and splinter open. As the kiss broke and he gazed at her he’d never have believed it possible that he, a man, could be composed of so much rawness. He tried to rationalise it, explain it to himself, but his brain felt like a boiling pot of things he was tired of thinking about.

The only thing he could be rock-sure of was that he felt deeply and overwhelmingly affected by Cate Summerfield. He heard himself saying, and he’d never meant it more, ‘I want to make love to you. You’re…of all the women I’ve known, you must be the sweetest…You’re the one…The one I’ve been…I’ll adore you for ever, Cate Summerfield. Do you know that?’

He seized her and pushed her down on the pillow. Her mouth was bruised from kissing, but he needed to kiss her again. There was no way he could stop.
  

My Review: 

The heroine is a reporter who's stuck doing obituaries and wants more.  She does a pithy obit of the hero's father, and then attends the memorial service and overhears some sensitive business info.  The hero needs to keep her from reporting it, and he makes a deal with her to get the excluseive interview later, if she will wait for it to be sealed up first.  He also decides he needs to tie her to him and keep her busy, so he kisses her and pretends a relationship, which quickly becomes real and passionate. 

Whew.  The hero was well-written here.  He had been married to a really good idealistic career woman (wow, a hero chose an intelligent woman as his wife?  This is a rare deviation from the socialites and models in the HP line).  But even with a "good woman" the marriage had flaws: the wife found someone else during a work trip away, cheated, and couldn't look her husband in the eye.  I felt I could see this couple.  Then suddenly she died before they could decide if they would divorce.  Two years have passed, and the hero still sees his dead wife as his ideal woman, he's blinded himself to her infidelity and only let himself focus on the good things about her.  He was a forgiving man too, he wanted to trust in her fidelity, he wanted to believe that she just slipped up and wouldn't do it again, that their marriage could have survived.  During those two years, he hasn't slept with anyone else, until he meets the heroine and feels this intense passion for her.  He says some things to her in bed that are just so endearing.  He's very loveable. 

One slight thing: I would have liked the heroine to be the one to say "I love you" first.  I thought the hero was more vulnerable than her and it would have been good for the heroine to make herself vulnerable and give him unconditional love.  

My Rating: 4/5 stars, very good...  my fav thing about this book was the HERO, it has a wonderful hero.  The hero was very unique.

My thoughts on how the Presents & Romance Series have evolved over time:

In the 70s: H - considered old at 35+, & for h - around 22.  The h’s (no direct mentioning of virgins, implications-yes) goal in life would be to marry, stay home & raise kids.  H - rich, successful; h-poor, very innocence.  Holding hands, kisses & hugging were considered very intimate.  None or Very Rare mentioned that they had sex.  The story usually from h’s point of view.  Cinderella-type-fairy-tale-love-story.  

In the 80s: h - pampered if rich, or very very poor, naïve, innocence, virgins; career - secretary, nurse, model; goal - stay at home after marriage.  H: 30s, rich, successful.  Rarely have widows or divorcees, widowers-yes.  Get physical, threatening to pull h over H’s lap, h could slap the H.  Sex scenes, probably once or twice in a story, description were more on sensual than actions; lot of kissing.  Rare pregnancy or un-plan pregnancy incidents.  Rarely named types of illness (cancer & such).  The H & h could be step-siblings, grow up together.  The story usually from h’s point of view.  Cinderella-type-fairy-tale-love-story.  

In the 90s: A 25+ virgin h would consider herself old & odd, their career: models, secretary, clerical jobs, more independent.  Plenty more kissing, descriptions of passionate sex scenes' actions (once or twice in 1 story), use of condoms, birth control pills. Millionaire H – 30s, 6’ tall, slept around the block several times, but expected the h to be virgin. Some pregnancies, but not too many accidental ones. Less talk of slapping or threatened to slap each other.  Touch a little on: drug, alcohol abuse, smoking, adoption. The story mostly from h’s point of view, a little on H’s thoughts.  Fairy-tale-love-story.  Romance Series more tune down.

Presently: Big age jump for the h, some 30+.  Some h older than the H. Widows, widowers, divorcees, step-kids, etc made up the h & H.  Plenty more h was independent, brainy, held high-paying career, business woman.  Less emphasis on H being h’s first man.  H still slept around the block, at least 6’ 4” nowadays.  Plenty of very very hot sex scenes, very descriptive (size & texture) of BOTH female & male organs.  More accidental pregnancies & the h hiding kid from H.  Many ‘mistresses, ‘billionaire’, ‘revenge’.  Background story involve family problems (gambling, child abuse, domestic violence, alcoholic, drug … etc.) , illnesses (cancer, infertility, … etc.), adoption of h’s baby.  Both h’s & H’s thoughts would be told.  Cover pics more explicit, almost soft-porn.  Not so much as fairy tale, but still love story no less. Romance Series remains tune down.

One thing, for all these years, I don’t recall reading any abortion incident (maybe for supporting characters).

Kaelee...  *nods*  Well, I read books from the HP/HR series that were published anywhere between 1970s to present, sometimes I find keepers in each decade.  So even judging from different standards of what's acceptable, what's enjoyable can very well be a book published a decade before I was born.  *grin*   It's funny to think of it that way.

Orchid...  I read a funny quote, from JR Ward's paranormal BDB series: "Her breasts were superb.  The best money could buy"  (just made me snort)   Talking about social issues in the ages...  surgery!  lol. 

WOW...  Orchid....  We could totally make a game out of saying ridiculous lines like that.

Like say.... we could make it masculine.

"Wearing only a robe, he stalked towards her with confidence, the jut between his thighs made her gulp and worry about where his boxers were"

I'm sure we could make so many other lines shocking by just using naughty words or funny euphemisms. 

Has the robe parted?  Are you trying to kill me here?  See...  I didn't even think of that when I wrote it.  I was more mocking the fact that he thought he was sex on legs.  It would be nice to have him realize the robe came undone and glance down embarrassed and flushed.  It's funny when a hero blushes.  Doesn't happen often. 

I don't think of it as mocking the authors....  really.  It's just you can't take every moment in a romance seriously.  Sometimes just looking at a line with the wrong thought in mind...  you'll laugh even if the author is a masterful storyteller connecting with the emotions of the moment. 

Ha...  I was embarrassed at first buying in the store, now not so much unless the cover or title is really provocative. 

Funny thing...  once there was this sales clerk... I'd bought books through her cash register maybe two or three times... she started asking me what the book was about and studied the cover as she rang me in.   I'm pretty sure I blushed, it was a risque HP cover about revenge/mistress or something.  I was like "it looks like a fun light read"  And we started talking about chocolate somehow. 

What strikes me is that the photos of the bare masculine chest is hairless (only one exception  I've noticed). I don't read Blaze -where the  bare chest  is normally seen- so I can't know in particular if the male in those books is described as hairless or not . Certainly in the Desires and Presents I've read they describe chest hair. I do not imagine the  heros being the types to go and get a chest wax. Similarly it often looks like the male models have had their face waxed.

The pictures of past decades presented a more rugged handsome man as opposed to the usually "pretty-boy"  models that  are used now. They  don't look like the ruthless millionaire type in their thirties. A squarer jaw is needed methinks. On one I even thought makeup was used to give a bit of chin definition and it appeared to be a pretend five o'clock shadow. 

Disclosure: still have issues  in a series with the cover pictures of identical twins looking completely different with even different hair colour

I hope when the last Dante book comes out they use the same model that portrayed  Marco.

Kaelee...  that comment about "her breats were superb.  the best money could buy" was not directed at the heroine.  But you know, I think I have read an HP where the heroine had had surgeries and something with her breasts done, not sure if it was up or down sizing.  She'd had a lot of self esteem issues and for some reason she wanted to reinvent herself physically after an inheritance.  Then she met the hero AGAIN as a new woman.  Wish I remembered more about that book because it would make a good discussion point. 

Chocolate, yummy.  I heard somewhere that there is a connection between chocolate & sex.  Maybe that's why the store clerk thought of chocolate. 

Well the obvious link is pleasure censors going off in the brain.  Endorphins?  *wink* 

And hey!  Who's the one who commented on going to the YOUNGEST cashier with romance purchases?  I'd think the youngest sometimes would be blushing or giggling. 

For me, man, woman, age...  meh.  The only person I might not go to is someone embarrassing that I know.  Like once at a library I picked out a stack of 15 HP romances and rang them through with this woman, and she started chatting to me and turns out she was a neighbour/friend of my sister's boyfriend's family. 

The boyfriend's sister was an English teacher at my high school, and all the English teachers knew me, I was like the pet for EVERY single teacher I'd had for English, Gr. 9 - I went back and peer tutored for that lady, Gr. 10 - this lady told me to submit poems for a contest, Gr. 11 - just chatted all the time, Gr. 12 - this was when the boyfriend's sister tracked me down and asked me to submit a short story for the high school / city contest because she hadn't had many good/serious entries. 

So I thought... crap....  are all the English teacher's going to think I have trashy tastes now?   Lol....  (University profs REALLY put down Harlequins during lectures!  A man and one woman referred to Harlequins by name, and even more just vaguely referred to them... but you KNEW that it was Harlequins)  

Today, I read mostly the HR and HMR lines. In HS, I read whatever was in the house. I know that my mom subscribed to the HR line, but there were also HPs in the house, so comments to "back then" would refer to HPs and HRs.

I remember heroines almost always being innocent and having no skills to fall back on to support themselves. Yes, the heroines have gotten older (or got older if you're not from NA and that "gotten" grates on your ears LOL -- go to Donna Alward's latest blog entries if you wonder why I brought that up). The heroines have also gotten much better jobs/careers/options than they had before.

I don't remember so many baby stories when I was younger . . . I remember pregnancies, but the hero always married her. I remember talking to my friends in HS and we thought that there was no sex 'til (or till ha ha) the h and H were married except sometimes, but then again, he always married her. And sometimes not even waiting to see if she was preggers -- they'd done the deed, he had to make it "right" or it took longer back then to know and they didn't want the scandal.

Nowadays the heroine's background is more vague and I assume that she's not inexperienced. Actually, sometimes she's lived with someone. Sometimes she's divorced, even. A modern woman. Jessica Hart has been allowed to write several HRs in the last few years with heroines not only in their '30s but also in their '40s (at least two in their '40s).

Heroines today might be divorced with kids. In the older books, I think if they'd been married before it was to the hero or they were widowed.

Oh, I remember several amnesia storylines where she was married to the hero or had been in love with him, but somehow now she doesn't remember anything, including who her family is or the fact that the man she's now falling in love with is already her dh (and he hides it from her b/c they'd had a big fight or whatever). I can't see that storyline flying so much today. Of course, it would be easier today to find out who someone is. 

There were lots more decriptions of food and clothes and so on and maybe even the heroine in the older books. Or maybe more mentions of her hair color or eye color or body type. Which maybe loops back to her not having so many options.

In the older books, you had more orphans or "all alone in the world" type heroines who were kind of rescued by the hero. I like the stories today where you get a feel for the community and the family -- even if there isn't a biological family for the heroine, she's often formed a family of sorts with her friends and neighbors. So, the hero is just filling out a life that she's built for herself, not rescuing her from a dull, grey, living paycheck to paycheck life.

Better get going and doing some chores . . .

Penn, hoping I didn't ramble too much