been reading romance novels
Why is it that every hero and heroine fall in love in a matter of days or (in the most egregious cases) hours? Is that really how it works? I mean, it seems really fast and kind of stupid. I can count on my hands the number of times I've seen people take longer, and those books/movies are usually among my favorites (Devil in Winter, Savage Damsel and the Dwarf, Penelope). And Shards of Honor doesn't count, because... I say so, I guess. ZARTRAM WILLS IT.

Props to Anne Stuart for having a hero who realizes that no means no, incidentally. He was getting pretty hot and heavy with his heroine and had just given her an orgasm from oral sex, even, when she said "no." Most heroes that I can think of would've just kept right on going, but this guy stops. *pets him lots* I think that's when I was convinced he was good for this particular heroine.

And how sad is it that I feel like this is something that should be praised? Argh. Okay. Not getting into the rape discussion from a while ago.

No, actually, Shards of Honor doesn't count because we get to see a continuing love story for the people in question. It's not marriage and that's it, I'm not left wondering how these two are going to work out the rest of their lives. I get to see it. I get to see them manage and navigate intimacy and kids and in-laws and civil wars and all those other pesky problems you get with marriage, and they do quite a nice job, thank you very much. And that's not just me shipping it like FedEx.

Incidentally, when Frederick met Katherine she was engaged, and it wasn't to him either. I must figure out how this works. I suspect it's going to make me strongly dislike Katherine's poor mother, but what can you do.