Romance novels is weird

[msmcknittington]

In the current trashy book I'm reading (which is "Angel" by Johanna Lindsay -- so old it's got a Fabio clinch stepback for a cover), there's something that's just bugging me a lot. I take it for granted that the heroes in romance novels are supposed to be phenomenally handsome and virile to a fault. That's just the way it goes and probably the way it's gonna go for as long as there are books about twue wuv! between a silly girl and a powerful guy.

But this book just isn't conveying the whole hot dude thing to me. It's got that tradition of early '90s romances where the hero's hair is disreputably long, he's domineering* at first but has a change of heart when he realizes he wuvs! the heroine, he shoots people for a living . . . so it's got all the tenets of your basic Western romance novel. Bad dude meets good girl, add trouble, shake vigorously, and the end result is a cocktail of love. Except for one thing.

The gosh-darn hero is described as constantly wearing a bright yellow slicker/raincoat. Over all black clothing, natch. So every time the slicker is mentioned, instead of imagining some really handsome dude in a raincoat, I imagine this guy. Only more bumblebee-y.

Not good, Johanna Lindsay. Not good.

_{*Seriously, who finds someone who's constantly trying to control your actions, telling you you're wrong, and is insanely jealous a good life mate? Why did that cliché persist so long in romantic fiction? Drives me nuts!}

Comments

[bklynwebgrrl.livejournal.com]

I almost spit my tortorlini out at my computer when I saw the picture of the fisherman.

I hear ya... what romantic guy wears a yellow rain coat? Everyone knows true manly men heros wear london fog or one of those australian outback all-weather trench coats.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

You should have seen my face the first time I read the slicker description!

A drover's coat? Yeah, those are pretty cowboy-hot.

[bklynwebgrrl.livejournal.com]

I had this idea for years that I wanted to marry an Australian sheep farmer. I like sheep. I could raise sheep. And I have a weakness for accents.

Something happened though since I ended up with a German auto mechanic.

Go figure.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

I had this idea when I was in high school that I'd never marry a farmer, but the idea is looking better the longer I'm at home.

Is your husband German German, or only German by ethnicity?

[bklynwebgrrl.livejournal.com]

ethnicity... a few generations in now.

i'm second generation