Romantic Fiction, Reality Shaping and The Work
- Thread starter Laura
- Start date
Tauriel
Dagobah Resident
I gloriously failed and went on reading in wrong order until dawn.....
There might be a need for 'Romantic Novel Readers Anonymous'.
After having read some of these books now I'm feeling quite raw and vulnerable.... like what has been safely hidden inside wants to see the light of day.
Interesting that the book you thought was so dark had such an interesting effect on you. Perhaps it wasn't so "dark" after all?
That's an interesting observation. And I think it is correct. It has that effect on me and others, too.
Now, I do want to warn people that there are some books that are supposed to be in this genre, and even some by authors that are included in our list, that are definitely NOT anything that any of you want or need to read. I've skimmed several that were just awful - pure perverted porn. So be aware, please. Mental and psychic hygiene is very important at this time.
I don't know why the particular author in question decided to write such stuff after writing quite a few very good examples of what we want. Perhaps it was just a money making thing.
I have also noticed this with TV series and movie sequels that devolve into the agenda of the dark lords of sleaze. I think their muse has left and all that the writers have left to offer is what will sell.
What is worse is when something comes along that is highly intelligent and witty and leaves you feeling wonderful and have it canceled because it does not include the politically correct perversions in the script.
I was some what surprised at the extent of psychological twists in Heartless. At one point, it looked all the family will fall apart when they are under the unsuspecting spell of psychopathic villiany and guilt inducing harmonal emotions. Some scenes remainded me of disasterous outcomes from harmonal marriage decisions that I happen to see in my close friends families as a kid. Actually, it immediatly made me depressed instantly until I processed the emotions. Balogh wrote very well about helplessness of the characters being under spell of terror. Villain perfectly fits into psychopath profile, but somehow it ended up being delusional behavior. One thing that comes out very clearly in these novels is loving care of the female protagonists that spread to the surroundings to change things for better.
I finished Dancing with Clara. It was touching and inspiring, especially the end - kind of restores the faith in human nature. There is a great deal of deep psychological understanding there. Love will not automatically fix you, but it may inspire you to fix yourself. Also, the type of love in this novel is quite genuine because it appears where it wasn't expected out of a tiny core of decency, and grows in spite of all human flaws. There is the theme of what faith in onself - or lack of - does to you, as well as forgiveness and redemption. There is also something about the idea that love is mostly something that you do, rather than what you feel. As with Courting Julia, my only complaint is that it seemed to finish too abruptly - but I understand I'll see at least some of the characters in Tempting Harriet.
Maybe dark wasn't the right word.
Maybe for all these books, it's a rehashing and recombining of all of the most terrible memories and wounds, and then somehow changing using the emotional and sexual energy and getting to the other side where the promise of a happy ending awaits. It's easier to touch the terrible memories with these books when there's always a happy ending. If these characters can face their fears and be open and honest, why can't I do the same or do more?
I'm 75% through The Daring Duke by Jess Michaels, book 1 of the 1797 Club, and it's the lighter fare that I wanted, though still tearing up here and there. I'll be ready to go back to Silent Melody next.
beetlemaniac
The Living Force
And what is doing but a creative expression, right? With love - which is to know - comes the seeing which allows one to creatively think of ways to love in the verbal sense. Using our minds and thinking of ways that we can serve others without forgetting that we may not actually be rewarded or appreciated for it, no expectation of what the outcome will be.
Whereas, being feeling centered can help when empathizing with others and their situation but when it is turned inwardly it quickly tends to become destructive and all about the self.
It reminded me of a passage from Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:
That was perfect, and exactly right!!!
I am a bit behind with this thread, so apologies if this has already been mentioned.
It sounds as if these novels stir up all kinds of things for you, Tuatha de Danaan, which is good! I hear you, though. These past few weeks I have felt very irritable, lethargic and depressed. But then, that's normal, we are processing old issues after all. Learning new healthy patterns/brain pathways can be difficult because we are also taking into account the mistakes we made in the past and the hurt that we caused, but then there is no free lunch! Keep reading and hang in there!
Very well put. In Mary Balogh's Web of Love the war against Napoleon takes centre stage at one point in the book, which was exactly what I needed. A few months ago I read Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind which deals with the Civil War in the US and her descriptions of the ravages of war were excellent and very helpful to me. My mother told me she was allowed to read the book for a history course at university! According to her professor it was that good. Some people may think that these romance novels are just that, fiction written for lonely housewives, but the knowledge of war these writers share with us is priceless IMO.
I come from a family where the second world war seriously uprooted the lives of my parents and grand-parents, not just during the war and in the immediate aftermath of it but later in life when my parents had children and passed on the unconscious impact of war on us kids. Except for some anecdotes they never really discussed their experiences and I never realised how the emotional impact of war exerted itself in my life until recently.
I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I feel this novel helps me process my family history, since I have felt a deep need to explore war, the way I felt the need to explore (romantic) relationships. And I agree with you, ryu, that we can learn a lot from these inner and outer battlegrounds and how to deal with them and tap into that 'resilience of the human spirit'.
It is so interesting and helpful to read everyone's experiences in this thread, for everyone different issues come to the fore and it's a fun exercise to think about it all. I finally finished 'Seven Nights In A Rogue's Bed' (Sons of Sin Book I). I wasn't very captivated for the first half, guess that's why it took so long to finish, but that changed for the last half of the book. Several themes resonated with me like broken trust, betrayal of someone even though the reasons could be understood, realizing when one has felt sorry for oneself long enough and then the standing up for love and fighting for it by daring to feel and to be vulnerable, daring to bare the soul to the other and eventually learning and knowing that all hurts can be healed, always. Love works wonders. As beetlemaniac says so beautifully:
I also noticed that being engrossed in this book made me feel much less occupied with the global craziness and much more thinking about the values and the interactions of peoples etc in a new world. A wonderful tonic and i really feel i now can more 'enjoy the show' that is before us.
Ordered the paper version books of Web of Love series. But will buy the rest of the Sons of Sin books as well now. Can't wait to start!
I also noticed that being engrossed in this book made me feel much less occupied with the global craziness and much more thinking about the values and the interactions of peoples etc in a new world. A wonderful tonic and i really feel i now can more 'enjoy the show' that is before us.
Ordered the paper version books of Web of Love series. But will buy the rest of the Sons of Sin books as well now. Can't wait to start!
I'm about to read the third book of the Devil Riders series by Anne Gracie. This is The first series i'm reading and thus far i must say that i love these novels, they are very light, warm, lovely. While reading the first two books of the series I've felt a rich spectrum of emotions, it was a sweat roller coaster 
and I'm starting to enjoy it 
I would like to thank Laura for opening the thread and for the advise she gave us to read these novels for the benefits they'll have on us especially during these trying times. Thanks Laura i needed that wakeup call, that's for sure.
Now back to reading.
Edit: grammar.
and I'm starting to enjoy it I would like to thank Laura for opening the thread and for the advise she gave us to read these novels for the benefits they'll have on us especially during these trying times. Thanks Laura i needed that wakeup call, that's for sure.
Now back to reading.
Edit: grammar.
IOW, love is an action, not just a feeling or emotion, focused externally on the other.
Thanks for this beetlemaniac.
For me, that was the main theme of the novel Dancing With Clara.
I finished it too this week and it was beautiful indeed. I must admit that sometimes I felt my hart sinking for the characters who were suffering quite a lot in some parts of the story, but then, there was also sweetness and joy... and a good ending, of course.
Certainly, what the story shows is that love can grow when you really want the best for the person. Even if things start for 'wrong reasons', so to say, love can grow because there's the intention to make the other person happy, to be kind to one another. It grows from doing what is best for the other person. And also from knowing the other person, because it is only possible when we see beyond ourselves and discover that there's another person in front of us, with his/her own suffering, perspective, mistakes, guilt, history. That's also a theme in this story.
It was also beautiful to see how that intention brought purpose to Freddie's life and the necessary awareness of the fact that he had to change his ways, because he started to truly care, though it took time for him to realize that what was growing inside of him was love. The sense of purpose and caring became precious to him, so Clara became precious too. And finally, they had to really know each other, to disclose their true feelings so that they could finally really come together.
I'm looking forward to Tempting Harriet now, I wonder what her story will be about.
