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nicmar 's review for:
Royally Screwed
by Emma Chase
Although I think the writing is lovely this novel gets 2 sad, predictable stars.
Lesson time:
A lot of people don’t know this but romance novels are the most difficult to write.
Romance is formulaic. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it means that certain things are off-limit. Like, for example, it’s totally not acceptable to kill off your main characters. (Bummer, because there’s tons of romance novels that would be infinitely more interesting if the hero or heroine died.)
Writing good romance is art and I’ve really come to appreciate it in the past few years. Because of it’s formula, even on page 1, the reader knows how the book will end. Happily Ever After. The characters will kiss and makeup and whatever conflict they had going on in the past 300 or so pages will disappear by the time the Epilogue comes along.
So, what’s the point?
The point is that seeing two people fall in love is exciting. A good romance writer makes the reader giddy with hope and love and then crushes everything in the second half of the story. For a romance to be interesting the reader needs to feel like there’s no way out. Because the reader already knows it will end happily ever after, instead of wondering how it will end they need to be wondering “How the hell are they getting out of this mess?”
There’s a stage in romance plot development called “All hope is lost” and if it isn’t done right, the entire story falls apart.
That’s what happened with Royally Screwed.
I never once felt like they wouldn’t be able to work it out. It was too easy. Too predictable. This novel suffered from the “everything is perfect and nothing bad ever happens” disease. By the 70% mark I was skimming and staring at the progress bar and hoping it would just freaking end.
Lesson time:
A lot of people don’t know this but romance novels are the most difficult to write.
Romance is formulaic. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it means that certain things are off-limit. Like, for example, it’s totally not acceptable to kill off your main characters. (Bummer, because there’s tons of romance novels that would be infinitely more interesting if the hero or heroine died.)
Writing good romance is art and I’ve really come to appreciate it in the past few years. Because of it’s formula, even on page 1, the reader knows how the book will end. Happily Ever After. The characters will kiss and makeup and whatever conflict they had going on in the past 300 or so pages will disappear by the time the Epilogue comes along.
So, what’s the point?
The point is that seeing two people fall in love is exciting. A good romance writer makes the reader giddy with hope and love and then crushes everything in the second half of the story. For a romance to be interesting the reader needs to feel like there’s no way out. Because the reader already knows it will end happily ever after, instead of wondering how it will end they need to be wondering “How the hell are they getting out of this mess?”
There’s a stage in romance plot development called “All hope is lost” and if it isn’t done right, the entire story falls apart.
That’s what happened with Royally Screwed.
I never once felt like they wouldn’t be able to work it out. It was too easy. Too predictable. This novel suffered from the “everything is perfect and nothing bad ever happens” disease. By the 70% mark I was skimming and staring at the progress bar and hoping it would just freaking end.