So “Twilight” has some sort of secret baby plot? Or it is just the angst of romance? Which is found in any number of books. And if that is how vague you are going, I don’t think your argument is a sound one.

And “Jane Eyre”????

Greek Tycoon = Rochester

Is that it?

I still would not want to read “Jane Eyre” over and over again every month with various plot changes like ‘Greek’ vs. ‘Italian’ or ’shipping magnate’ vs. ‘prince.’ It’s not the plot that makes me think “Jane Eyre” is a good read, so much as HOW she wrote it.

Jane Eyre.
Twilight.

I don’t see how the plot of these books are similar to books on the bestseller lists. Just because they involve romances? Greek tycoons and secret babies don’t show up in many bestsellers I have read.

Plus, there is a big difference to me in HOW something is written rather than subject. Basic plots are not unique, but how the book is written to expand upon the basic plot is unique.

Nothing wrong with that. If people enjoy reading it, go for it.

Just not for me.

I think it does have a certain romanticism to it that is more readily accepted in different countries. Like how the over-the-top telenovellas in latin America are watched by men AND women, whereas American soap operas are for female audiences almost exclusively. I think there’s a different sensibility. Here, reading something about romance might not be viewed as masculine, but elsewhere, reading about these ultra-macho males taking charge of their women might be viewed differently.

Interesting possibilities…

And yes, I think there is love in a lot of parody (sometimes just contempt, but often, love). Someone who reads more HPs than I do will have to answer the question, however, as to whether there is parody in any HPs. I’m guessing not, though. There is already so much contempt for these kind of novels that my guess is that the people who produce them and read them are ultra-sensitive to anything that has a whiff of the contempt.

but i definitely agree, the fans and the writers are completely serious in their love of this category.

Although I am curious – do you think parody can’t be produced by fans? for instance, imitators of cheesy low-budget b-movies poke fun at their source material, but I think they’re still fans of that source material…

And I read quite a bit of paranormal romance (and love it! Michelle Rowen is one of my favourites) and I agree that that the alpha-male script is pretty typical of a lot of it, but I also think that in that genre you are more likely to encounter subversions of that script than you would in Harlequin Presents, where they sort of set the alpha-male type up just to knock him down a peg or two – I wish I could think of a good example right now…

I’m reminded of the scene in Romancing The Stone with Juan, who reads Joan Wilder’s books to his workers every week… and wonder if that could actually happen to a romance writer.