The Changing Relationship
Booty calls, one night stands, f$%k buddies, friends with benefits – these are all common phrases that are relevant to today's relationships. Hell, many long term relationships actually start out with one (or more) of those labels. My last boyfriend and I ended up drunkenly “hooking up” twice before we ever went on a real date. Our relationship lasted for a year and a half before we went our separate ways over communication issues. My current boyfriend and I started out as friends with benefits and kept that groove for about a month and a half before we both finally realized we were too emotionally attached to each other to not lay some sort of more permanent claim. Our relationship is something truly special. He is something truly special. Which brings me to the point that a lack of traditional courtship doesn't cheapen a relationship. (I'm just going to say the word RELATIONSHIP again. Because I can. And because it seems to be my word of the day).
So why do so many writers cling to the traditional romance formula of the past? Enter stage left Jane Doe #336. She is a strong, independent virgin just waiting for her Prince Charming to come along. She could be a Victorian lady acting far beyond the realm of her station or she could be a barista at the local coffee shop working her way through college while she gets her second PhD. Depending on the storyline, Jane Doe #336 might be jaded in love and/or determined she doesn't need a man to be happy. Until she meets John Doe #5,679. Also depending on the storyline, they'll either hate each other at first and a cataclysm will bring them together, it'll be love at first sight, or he will slowly melt her heart with his undeniable wit and charm (and good looks because all men look like Greek gods, of course). Or she'll fall in love with him for no good reason and he'll try to keep her away because “he's not a nice guy and not worthy of her.”
Bitch, please.
Honestly, this is why I prefer the erotica genre to traditional romance, because it seems so many erotica writers have pulled their heads out of the sand and strayed away from the realm of fantasy and more towards some sense of realism in their stories. Women have multiple partners. Not every relationship is monogamous. Not every hero is a Prince Charming/Adonis clone. And thirty-six year-old attractive virgins are nonexistent. As they should be.
COMING MAY 2012, the first book in Ana Hart's One Powerful Addiction Series: Reborn.
Meet Daniel Webb. Daniel is your fairly average twenty-something year-old living in the bustling city of Stone Hills, Arkansas. High school graduate. College drop-out. Employee of a local coffee shop where he spends the majority of his nights hovering over a hot grill. You know, a totally glamorous lifestyle ...
Oh, yeah, and Sarelia, an elder spirit of the Lower World, gifted him with powers beyond his wildest imaginings only a few months ago. Some people would have been grateful. Others would have simply been in denial.
All Daniel feels is resentment.
Because honestly, Daniel's life is kinda sucking at the moment. His girlfriend Malorie dumped him. He's crashing on his brother Mark's couch (who's being a bit of a dick about the whole thing), and his best friend, James Harin, won't stop smothering him with pity.
But when Daniel bumps into the sexy Alyssa Vega at The Pub and ends up going home with her for some no-strings-attached fun, something finally seems to be going right. Alyssa is just the spot of normalcy Daniel needs in his freak show of a life.
Until his sexy one night stand turns out to be a freak just like him. A rather badass freak, as a matter of fact.
So much for normalcy.
This isn't your grandmother's romance. Join the revolution. http://www.OnePowerfulAddiction.com/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Ana Hart is a writer of erotica, romance, and everything in between. With her mind constantly in the gutter and her fingers never far from a keyboard, Ana delights in weaving stories that will not only titillate but that will also make one stop and think and question their perceptions of their own world.
Stalk her online on her Blog, Twitter, and Facebook.
Check out one of Ana's shorts in Just One Bite Volume Four.FREE at All Romance ebooks.
From larger than life movie stars, to mutants on the run, vampire pleasures for sale, and love that spans lifetimes, good versus evil, and sacrifices made in the name of love, Volume 1 brings you the 2011 Just One Bite paranormal romance finalists representing stories in the 1 to 3 flame range.
Great post, very interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteI'm still a lover of the romances, but I appreciate a good erotica now and then, even the ones that don't end with a HEA for the couple. It's true--what read in our romances (and erotica novels at times) are not very realistic of the real world. But then again, that's one of the main reasons I turn to them. My life isn't very interesting, there isn't a Prince Charming waiting for me at home, but that's okay, because I can turn to my favorite books and live vicariously through them.
Would I rather have the Prince Charming at home and the exciting life? Hell yeah! But until that time, books are a *fairly* good substitute. :)
Enjoy!
The_Book_Queen
TBQ's Book Palace
Thank you so much for having me on the blog today! It was a lot of fun :) For anyone wanting to check out the One Powerful Addiction website, unfortunately I'm having a little problem with the domain name right now, but you can still reach the site by going to http://onepowerfuladdiction.blogspot.com! The domain name should be working again at the beginning of March :)
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for weighing in, Book Queen! You know, I love to escape into my books, too, but lately I've become more aware of just how fantastical some of those books are. For example, my boyfriend was reading a popular YA book with a strong romantic element to it the other day that I LOVE and he was enjoying it, too ... until he finished it. I asked him what was wrong with it and he said he liked the story, but he hated the hero of the story. "He was just too unrealistic," my boyfriend said. "All he ever did was focus on her. He never had a life of his own. I just wish he'd had a little more depth to his character."
And that really opened my eyes! Maybe in seeking out our own idea of the "perfect" relationship through our stories, we are making our characters out to be flat and dull?
True. Even fantasy isn't perfect. Or should I say it can be too perfect. Perhaps that is why life is so much, well, more believable, at least most of the time. :)
DeleteEnjoy!
TBQ