Monday, June 10, 2013

What the Feck (WTF): Virgins and Billionaires


What the Feck?! (WTF?!) 
Every Monday we talk about a book related topic 
that had us thinking WTF?! while reading a book 
or talking to others in the book community.





We have a special WTF post for you this week coming from 
Heather at Book Savvy Babes.



Thank you Jennifer for allowing me to rant today for WTF. I have had this rant on my mind for a while and I needed to get it out :)


Virgins and Billionaires


Let me start with this, I love contemporary romance reads, especially when they are erotically charged. I love the heat and the connection between the characters. With that said, I have to admit that I am weary of the Virgin and the Billionaire story line.

Let’s start with the virgins.

I have never really loved the innocent, virginal heroines in contemporary romance. I’m sorry, but it is SO unlikely that in today’s world a beautiful woman would make it past college without even getting to second base. I just don’t buy it. Most women today don’t get through high school very innocent. (Anyone remember spin-the-bottle or seven-minutes-in-heaven?) Put a beautiful woman in college, give her a few friends: She’s not going to be innocent for long. I don’t understand the appeal of virgins either. I mean, that first time, it’s going to flipping hurt. So, you take this innocent and put her in a situation where not only does she have sex for the first time, but it’s marathon, hard, pounding sex. Yeah, I really don’t buy it. I am over the virgins and “innocent” heroines.

Onto the billionaires:

Unless someone is a celebrity or a socialite who inherited, becoming a billionaire before the age of 30 is fairly absurd. Let’s look at the age. Graduating college leaves age at about 22. Then there is graduate school or climbing the corporate ladder. That takes time, years and years of investments and hard work. In fact, acquiring investment money, real estate, and business mergers that would net millions and billions of dollars take years to put in place and go through. Accomplishing all of that in under 8 years is beyond my scope of believability. There may be the occasional exception or genius that could possibly hit billionaire status before 30, but it’s not realistic to me.

There are only so many circumstances in contemporary romance that are reasonably believable for the virgin and the billionaire storyline. The storyline is getting over-played and is no longer original. I may enjoy the characters and the story in general, but it’s hard to believe. I do believe in successful, determined, career-minded people and people with self-esteem issues and bad past experiences. I can even understand either a virginal woman OR a billionaire character, if the circumstances are right, but the two combined make me roll my eyes.

So, there’s my two cents on virgins and billionaires.


How about you? Are you okay with the virginal, innocent Virgins and Billionaires heroine? Do you believe the billionaires before 30?

--Heather, aka Book Savvy Babe from Book Savvy Babes blog--



21 comments:

  1. Oh Im am so with you on this one. Gah!! And I'm so happy someone else feels the same way. Its really getting over-used and its so unbeliveable. I mean even in the PNR reads, im sick of seeing virgins, its like you said..in this day & time, it is rare a woman has not made it pass 2nd base.

    but at least there, the wealth has been obtained over years.

    Greqt topic todqy Ladies ;)

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  2. I agree...I really do not enjoy either of these tropes and they are EVERYWHERE right now. *ugh*

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  3. I am not a fan of them for a couple of reasons and agree with all of yours:

    1) I can buy one or the other but not that they would end up in the same circle. I don't think there are socialite virgins hanging around every corner.
    2) The young business billionaire thing--it might happen to like 500 people but really not that common at all (even in the age of startups)
    3) Every single one of them is into a dom/sub your mine forever lifestyle because I am the only man you have been with? Oh please!

    Not my favorite trope!

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    1. even the start-ups, it's not likely to net billions- millions maybe, but again, it still takes YEARS to get to that point.... And those start up people are more like the computer geek in mom's basement people, not the world's most beautiful man who likes to dominate everything....

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    2. Exactly or they are having to bust their ass because they are ripping off the technology from someone else. They don't have time to be nailing virgins in the board room. They probably don't have time to sleep!

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    3. Also because I was a virgin until I was 24--I can say that you don't wait that long and then be all "oh your cute let's get down tonight". There has to be some connection of something long term there (even if it doesn't work out that way). I am not talking marriage but something more than "oh you are cute and rich let me give you this thing that I never gave up before on your boardroom table" :)

      Of course I never had a billionaire offer I might have changed my mind LOL

      PS: I was totally geeky and awkward (the way most virgins are/were). I can't imagine that portrays the confidence all the virgins I read have LOL

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    4. I totally understand what you mean. It's the unlikelyhood of the innocent female agreeing to be sexually dominated... if she's still a virgin, there's reasons for it, you don't just give it up that easily. Its the combination of the 2 that has just gotten old for me. There's only so many ways to play that storyline

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  4. Millionaires, virgins and controlling assholes! Yeah, don't forget that..LOL
    I totally agree, it's being over done. I hope the publishers and authors move on.

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  5. I'm with you on this topic! Oy! And to make matters worse these virgins with a tiney tiny bit of pain and multiple orgasms their first time. REALLY? REALLY?

    Billionaires I've only read a few but yeah it's getting ridiculous.

    I agree both together is too Fifty Shades-ish.

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  6. I just thought that It was some kind of personal flaw that I don't like stories AT ALL that focus on the women being a virgin. I feel that it takes away from who she really is. Very few stories does it fit the character. Beautiful and sexy virgin is always hard to buy. I won't even go into the billionaires *facepalm*

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  7. Okay, the first billionaire was a novelty and interesting. The next, okay maybe a different spin. Now, it's just getting old.

    You'll find some young MILLIONAIRES emerging in the investment banking world and it's not abnormal (I've met a few) but the billionaire category makes the trope on the absurd side when they achieve this before age 40.

    Regarding the virgins, I've never cared one way or the other but do find it hard to believe, as you so perfectly put it, if they've spent four years in college. Some give perspectives to explain it but why is it even necessary? It just takes away from the romance, IMHO.

    Thanks for bringing up this topic. I'm happy with the hero simply being successful...he doesn't need to be so über wealthy that it has the story take the easy way out to explain how he can orchestrate control.

    Enough already.

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  8. I've not read any of the stories about Millionaires/Billionaires. But I've ran across some of the virgins. Why do we even need to know that about a character? Yeah if it adds to what makes the character the way they are, ok. But just to use it as a plot device. No thanks.

    And as hard as it is to believe.... there are some out there in their early twenties. I personally know a couple of college ages gals/guys that are. But it's a personal choice they make and they are in the minority. Maybe this would work better in the "new" genre... New Adult. WTF that is.

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  9. Great rant and these are my least two favorite types of characters.

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  10. Love your rant and totally agrees!! I don't have a thing against one of them, but when they're always together? It's unrealistic. And why does the Billionaire always comes with a tortured past? You'd think he'd be in a mental institution somewhere but not making tons of money. And he's always the sex expert with some kind of dominant tendencies. Every time I read a blurb like that I skip the book. I don't even bother anymore.

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  11. Great post! I read everything, but when the two come together in one book--the billionaire and the virgin--it had better be very well written to keep me from a major eye roll.

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  12. I really don't understand the innocent and naive virgin thing either. I mean, who's reading these books? Women right? Aren't we supposed to identify with our heroines? And how many women in our society are going to identify with an innocent, naive, virgin...most of us are a) going to be disgusted, or b) going to feel bad about ourselves because that's not us.

    The millionaire thing...well, I get what you're saying, but a girl can dream...right?

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  13. I totally agree on both. Hate em!

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  14. I agree about the virgins. I can sometimes stomach it, but mostly, it's a pretty big turn off. Mostly, you read it and they are the best sex partner right out of the box. I'd rather read about someone who has experienced life.

    I do understand about the billionaires. While you're right, it isn't realistic, but the story is fiction. We want to read fiction to experience things that are not real. We want to live our live vicariously through fictional characters. I would love to have a man where money was no object. This gives me that chance. With that being said, most of the billionaire stories out there drive me crazy. They are all knock offs of 50 Shades, which I've never read.

    I just wish authors would right the story that comes to them instead of pandering to the trends that are out there. It is mostly the publishers fault for pushing the authors in that direction.

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  15. I was a virgin until age 22, but I was never innocent. *Oops!* My friends use to ask if I was waiting until I was married, err no. I mean that's cool if you are and all, but I never saw marriage in my future. I just knew I had to have some kind of connection with someone as opposed to the random-nameless or just-for-kicks sex, even if it didn't last forever. But as I said, I still wasn't innocent, so it frustrates me to no end when I read about the "I've never been touched *there* before, oh my!" virginal heroine. *Facepalm*

    As for the billionaire dominant man... honestly the ONLY one for me is Gideon Cross. I don't read any other "Billionaire Dom" or "Billionaire Alpha" stories. I feel like after Crossfire I've read them all. Plus, I'm with Ning, why must they ALL come with a tortured past?! *headdesk*

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