Fans of Interracial Romance discussion

We all love a good IR but inevitably you're bound to come across an element in the story that makes you go ugh even if you generally like the story and plan to stick with it. What bugs you and what's the dealbreaker?

Stereotypes about black women as being "ghetto," as though there is no other way for black women to be.

Barbara,
www.barbarajames.net

I agree with Barbara about the ghetto theme. I also hate when the couple breaks up, behind race. Everyone is not against IR couples. Every black woman and white man are not afraid to be with one another. In many cases this is the only race they have ever been with.

"Caramel / chocolate skin" . Some may take it as a compliment I guess but never in my life have I. It's irritating, degrading, and is an easy way for a book or author to lose some points from me. If you really dislike the simple 'black' so much, there are non-food related synonyms for brown. If not, here's a suggestion... don't use a synonym.

And it's not just the fact that it's food. It's also the fact that I'm trying to picture this AA heroine and then it's ruined, yet again, by "caramel" which — naturally — insinuates light skin. And it's ALWAYS caramel. Meaning ALWAYS light skin. And NEVER dark, and it just sucks. I love me IR more than anything (any and all kinds), but I just need more variety. Colorism even in IR. It just hurts.

It hurts especially because I love IR so much because it's diversity, and it's just beautiful. After years and years and years of reading about white heroines, I was beyond happy when I discovered IR novels was a thing. Because it was something I could identify with and because I just love inclusivity. So just like white skin or light brown skin, I have absolutely no problem reading about it. But I can't fully identify with them, and it'd just be nice to have the option to have something to completely identify with.

To add to your point about caramel skin/light skin it also ties in with the persons hair. They will usually describe the person as having curly or wavy hair this is due to their grandmother or grandfather being some type of Indian. I don't know if its that difficult to write about black women's hair. I have no problems about black women wearing weaves and its used in the description. But I don't like always reading about her having wavy or curly hair. Most black women I know have 4c kinky coil hair. So I would like to see more of that in the description. Also I have seen that the person described as having a curly afro that they will put into a "messy bun". I don't know how others feel about it but to me there is a difference between curly hair and afro's.

I definitely would like to see more of that too!

These are some of my all time favorites:

*Rescue situations involving Domestic Violence and Homelessness...
*TSTL characters that sabotage themselves...
*Pornalicious dialogue that dominates the story with graphic sex depicting "Anal" and other stuff...
*Cliffhangers that leave you hanging for 6 months to a year + (I'd call out an author who has done that, but I'm better than that... )

-The plot and how it either start off really good, then fall way off.
-summaries that don't match the actual plot.
-Author who give you part one and but you're waiting upto three years for part two... (true story)
- Troupes using :
the ghetto or angry black woman.
Secret kid. (Ok... Some of those books are pretty good. But not all the time.)
Super rich hero.
Dudes who are a-holes but the heroine loves him. (I'm talking about the ones that take it pass the alpha male type & turn them into complete unfeeling monsters that don't grow throughout the story)
-Book with billionaire, hero/ heroine race in the tittle.
-One set body/colorism type heroines. (Authors are getting better at this. So this use to be one of my main issues)
- Heroines/ hero's who convert to childish behavior halfway through the book.
-Heroines ages ( I swear the older I get the less books I find to relate too.)

Kiara wrote: ""Caramel / chocolate skin" . Some may take it as a compliment I guess but never in my life have I. It's irritating, degrading, and is an easy way for a book or author to lose some points from me. I..."

I agree 100%. I want to read about someone that looks me, Black w/an afro or at least a kinky twist out. If there is billionaire in the title automatic pass. I would like to read a story where both parties are everyday people working at successful careers.

I am no prude, but some of the sex scenes are over the top and it takes soooo long to complete the act, I don't need damn near an entire chapter to describe the act. It's like some authors take 30 pages to describe the lovemaking when 8 pages will do.

The "Billionaire" and his "Black" whatever will instantly make me look past that book. It seriously bothers me! So black women can't be with a man from another race unless he's rich? One or two books like that is fine but it has become its own sub-genre.

FIVE years ago, I polled my readers concerning the IR romance genre. Here is the list of the cliches they no longer wanted to see:

psycho white chick
totally insecure black woman
ugly duckling that turns into the hot swan
unrealistic sex of any kind
Crazy black mom
Angry bm ex-boyriend
super rich studmuffin white guy
Precocious kid, really kids aren't always cute
Hidden pregnancy

Has the genre "improved" or stayed the same?

JMoss wrote: "The "Billionaire" and his "Black" whatever will instantly make me look past that book. It seriously bothers me! So black women can't be with a man from another race unless he's rich? One or two boo..."

LOL to be fair "The Billionaire Were, Bear, Wolf, Biker, Bunny, Mob, Step, fill-in-the blank" has infected ebook romance as a whole, not just IR. But definitely irks my soul to see "The White or Black Anything" in an IR title.

FIVE years ago, I polled my readers concerning the IR romance genre. Here is the list of their "tired themes":

“She’s X, he’s Y. The attraction is taboo. So tired.”
“Her family hates him, and his family hates her.”
“No matter what tragedies happen, their jungle fever love will see them through.”
“Where’s the attraction? Where’s the relationship? Where are the common bonds these two people share? Why are these two attracted to each other at all? I read an entire book and didn’t get any answers to these questions.”

Has the IR genre improved or stayed the same in this area?

FIVE years ago, I polled my readers concerning the IR romance genre. Here is the list of their "character pet peeves":

“He’s rich, and she’s not. She’s “ghetto,” and he’s suburbia. She’s educated, and he’s gone to the school for hard knocks. He’s quiet, and she’s loud. He’s tall and hunky, and she’s short and sassy. This is getting old.”
“These writers create two of the most opposite, contrary people on the planet, and yet they expect us to believe that they are made for each other.”
“I am so tired of suspending my disbelief. They expect us to believe that these two people are from opposite sides of the tracks, but their love will put them on the love train.”
“Perfect characters tick me off, especially perfect heroines. Nobody’s perfect!”
“Authors pair tiny, not petite, tiny women with a hero who is this ferocious, gargantuan man. Her hero should be jabbing her in the eye with his elbow whenever they’re standing side-by-side.”
“There are too many light-skinned black women inside and on the covers of these books. What’s wrong with having dark-skinned women in these books? We come in all shades, right?”
“In real life, women may be attracted to a thug, but having a long-term relationship with a thug? Really? And the writer writes a series of books about this strange relationship? Would a woman really want to be in love with a kingpin or a Mafia boss or a criminal and all the danger that could bring to her and her children? Come on! Give me a bus driver or a mechanic or a fast food manager with big hands and a big heart, please.”

Has the IR genre improved or stayed the same in this area?

FIVE years ago, I polled my readers concerning the IR romance genre. Here is the list of their "plot pet peeves":

“The man is filthy rich, and she’s a Cinderella character who cleans his office or his home or tends his bratty children. Like that ever happens.”
“He pays for her little brother’s/mama’s heart/liver/brain transplant and they live happily ever after on their own private island in the Pacific. Really?”
“There has to be at least the possibility of their relationship ever happening to keep my attention.”
“In real life, you hook up with someone you like who is a lot like you. These two people have nothing in common.”
“Implausibility in any way, shape or form ruins a book for me. If I can’t believe it, I won’t read it. IR is becoming as unbelievable as fantasy novels are.”
“Older women are getting their groove on with younger men way too often, as if no one born in the character's decade could love or understand them.”
“The intimate scenes are often physically impossible and fiddle with my suspension of disbelief so much that it distracts from my enjoyment of the entire story.”
“I hate it when the hero is such a tough nut to crack that three-fourths of the story is over before the heroine gets a decent glimpse into the deep feelings he has for her. Meanwhile they've been through all kinds of near misses and tragedies and he still has trouble finding it in himself to open up to her. Both things have me muttering to myself angrily, and once I just flat out threw the book across the room.”
“Writers primarily use young, sassy women as their heroines as if older women are not involved in love.”
“I’m tired of the whole book being about people feeling all guilty because they love a black woman or a white man and all the family drama over interracial relationships. Guilt might be okay for a moment, but they need to get over it.”

Has the IR genre improved or stayed the same in this area?

J.J. wrote: "“She’s X, he’s Y. The attraction is taboo. So tired.” ."

This has gotten worse with new trend of White Supremacist theme IR now being a thing. Of course there has always been the throwaway race play porn books, those I'm not including in the mix. I'm talking about the full out IR romance novels. I'm not going to pretend some of them aren't actually written very well. Yet at the same time it's taken your point to the next level.

Love the list!

I like to read more 'active' romance (also gay romance), such as thriller romance/fantasy romance, so luckily many of these tropes aren't as heavy there.

Interesting to hear people's opinions if it's gotten better. I still see the Billionaire thing quite a bit.

When IR romance was "young" (think Sandra Kitt in the '90s), I believe some writers thought it would easy to write IR romance because of the inherent "Romeo and Juliet" conflict. Despite my concerns, Kensington marketed my first novel (RENEE AND JAY, 2001) as "The Romeo and Juliet for the new millennium." I believe the genre stagnated for a number of years because of this overdone "taboo."

I think readers today are less interested in angst and more interested in how you hook 'em up. If a character is in a "first time" IR relationship, explore it but don't beat it to death. If a character has "been there, done that," there's no need to explore it much at all.

I believe that IR should be more about folks than race. Two folks are trying to make a relationship last despite other folks or because of other folks. I set up the racial differences up front, and then let them build the relationship. In this way perhaps (and hopefully) we can pull IR romance out of the taboo and sensationalized rut it's in and make it more mainstream.

J.J. wrote: "When IR romance was "young" (think Sandra Kitt in the '90s), I believe some writers thought it would easy to write IR romance because of the inherent "Romeo and Juliet" conflict. Despite my concern..."

I totally agree with all this. Thanks for the Sandra Kitt name check because that was the first IR books I ever purchased. My physical copies of IR have special places in my collection, and heart. Don't get me wrong I love my Kindle but sometimes I need the nostalgia fix of the feel of pages turning in my hand.

J.J. wrote: "FIVE years ago, I polled my readers concerning the IR romance genre. Here is the list of the cliches they no longer wanted to see:

psycho white chick
totally insecure black woman
ugly duckling tha..."
LOL- well then JJ - I guess you won't be reading any then, because that about covers almost every book

My dislikes are a few and already mentioned by many others. I just want to add:

Dislike: The moniker tag of billionaire attached to every Tom, Dick, Harry and his dog, when clearly it is impossible by any logic or the actual plot of the story that the hero is a billionaire. The last damn stupid book that I threw aside was about a dentist who was a billionaire. Really? In which drug induced universe????

Deal Breaker:When the author either through fear or some other crap makes the hero biracial, and you only discover this in the last chapter or when you are already 3/4 way through the story.

Dislike:Stories in which the vajayjay is thrashed and thrashed and thrashed ad infinitum... and thrashed some more.

Deal Breaker:Stupid out of left field drama, that has absolutely no bearing to the how characters were developed. Simply written to create drama.

Deal Breaker:Ridiculously bad grammar,spelling, misused words... that have you correcting practically every sentence.

Dislike: Shifter and vampire books generally. Are you telling me that a black woman can't find love unless it's with a dog a wolf or some damn animal or someone dead? Having said that, I have to admit that I can stomach Sydney Addae's wolf series and actually do like it...

Dislike:Neurotic idiotic heroine where the fool runs away or breaks up with the hero because of some stupid reason. It used to be she goes to the bathroom and hears two heifers talking about her and her man or some other totally idiotic BS.

Deal Breakers: stories told in parts. Parts that are not complete stories in and of themselves. Hell to da no!!! Even if the story is told within 3 months - I am still not doing this. Tell a full complete story and if you want to add a continuation of the H/H's life or other supporting characters by all means, but do not think I am going to invest time and money in 50 pages every however months or years you put out another 50 pages.

Thank you much for creating this topic - it feels so good to vent...

Oh almost forgot... as a 40 something year old person, I am sick and tired of reading about 20 something year olds.

No! No damn 20 year old person can have accomplished so much in life. What, does this person live in a TARDIS or something?

My dislikes-

-- In any IR romance where the heroine in black the only signifier of the heroine's race is on the picture book cover. I don't need to have the romantic conflict to be about race (i don't want the romantic conflict to be about race) but don't erase the heroine's race completely.

-- The hero is perfect but the heroine is not. He is hot, handsome, six-packed and she is frumpy, plain or always talking about how fat she is. He is reasonable and loving while she is mean or bitchy or constantly rejecting for dumb reasons.

-- The hero is white or Asian, rich, went to an Ivy league school and yet his dialogue makes him sound like he is a member of Wu Tang. If dude did not go to an HBCU or grew up in the hood then no, dialogue like this: "talking out the side of my neck" should not come out of his mouth. White or Asian men do not code switch in this way.

-- too many IR romances have become synonymous with erotica. If you are writing an erotica then that is fine. Make sure it is labelled that way. But a romance novel should use sex scenes to enhance the story, not overpopulate it.

Denise wrote: "Kiara wrote: ""Caramel / chocolate skin" . Some may take it as a compliment I guess but never in my life have I. It's irritating, degrading, and is an easy way for a book or author to lose some poi..."

I agree, Denise!! I have yet to read an IR story EVER where the heroine has an afro or 4C or ANYTHING. The closest thing I've come to is one story where she has big and past shoulder-length curls. Agh!!!! (Although tiny bonus points because eventually there was a mention of her wearing a bonnet at night at least)

Another pet peeve.... IR with racially ambiguous heroines on the cover. Nope they're not even 'caramel'. I'm saying most are likeeee light light skin where if you blink you'll miss the inch of melanin their skin holds (which was probably washed away in cover editing beforehand as well).

WHERE

IS

THE

MELANIN???

That's all I wanna know.

I was mid-reading a book when I noticed a cover change from a semi-brown heroine to a completely white-washed heroine, and it actually just kind of hurt my feelings. Seeing that change before my eyes. I don't know if it's just me. Most of my pet peeves regarding IR feels like it is. But this stuff (lots of great examples in this thread — I'm so thankful for this thread) just makes me want to give up sometimes.

Justine wrote: "Oh almost forgot... as a 40 something year old person I am sick and tired of reading about 20 something year olds.

No! No damn 20 year old person can have accomplished so much in life. What, does ..."

Amen!

Kiara wrote: "I have yet to read an IR story EVER where the heroine has an afro or 4C or ANYTHING. The closest thing I've come to is one story where she has big and past shoulder-length curls...."

There are a couple of books where the heroine has a curly or kinky afro ... Cree by LaShawn Vasser and Pumpkin by Ines Johnson come to mind. There are others where it's mentioned about not getting the heroine's hair wet (in the shower) and other books where the heroine puts a scarf on before she goes to bed. Lots of books of late has the hero preferring the heroine's natural hair instead of it being relaxed.

Rosie wrote: "Kiara wrote: "I have yet to read an IR story EVER where the heroine has an afro or 4C or ANYTHING. The closest thing I've come to is one story where she has big and past shoulder-length curls...."
..."

I just looked up your suggestions, and they unfortunately didn't appeal to me but if you EVER come upon or remember any pleasseeeee don't hesitate to pm or let me know. What you just stated is exactly what I would love to see but never have. Thanks in advance!!

J.J. wrote: "FIVE years ago, I polled my readers concerning the IR romance genre. Here is the list of their "character pet peeves":

You've made many good points ...

“Perfect characters tick me off, especially perfect heroines. Nobody’s perfect!”
==>Agreed. I need my characters to be somewhat flawed a la real life.

“Authors pair tiny, not petite, tiny women with a hero who is this ferocious, gargantuan man. Her hero should be jabbing her in the eye with his elbow whenever they’re standing side-by-side.”
==>I thought it was me. But I read one book where the hero was 6'7" and his love interest was 5'5"! Really? Can we say awkward? Standing and ...

“There are too many light-skinned black women inside and on the covers of these books. What’s wrong with having dark-skinned women in these books? We come in all shades, right?”
==>I just had a conversation with a friend ... what's wrong with being a dark skin black woman with (dark) brown eyes with natural hair. This is not a knock against light skin women. It just would be nice for this genre to be more inclusive.

Give me a bus driver or a mechanic or a fast food manager with big hands and a big heart, please.”
==>Yes, will someone please write more books about people having everyday jobs. He can work in the office, where he's NOT the boss.

“Older women are getting their groove on with younger men way too often, as if no one born in the character's decade could love or understand them.”
==>I love reading stories about love at any age, but particularly older folks experiencing romance for a second or third time around.

“The intimate scenes are often physically impossible and fiddle with my suspension of disbelief so much that it distracts from my enjoyment of the entire story.”
==>I thought it was just me because sometimes I've had to re-read a scene several times for clarity and I'm like he put what where? How ... if he's 6'7"?! It's physically impossible given the height disparity. The other thing is the stamina these characters seem to have after a long day at the office. Three and four times at night with no missionary position thrown in. These couples ARE amazing in bed! LOL

Rosie wrote: "There are a couple of books where the heroine has a curly or kinky afro ... Cree by LaShawn Vasser and Pumpkin by Ines Johnson come to mind. There are others where it's mentioned about not getting the heroine's hair wet (in the shower) and other books where the heroine puts a scarf on before she goes to bed. Lots of books of late has the hero preferring the heroine's natural hair instead of it being relaxed. ."

Rosie I have Black Hair Realness folder to track such moments.
These are heroines with either natural hair, a relatable hair routine, casual mention of them wearing weave, braids, hair bonnet, or something. Sadly only have 6 books on it. To be fair, made way after reading most of the IR already in my collection. Which means there could maybe a few missing.

Paganalexandria wrote: "Rosie wrote: "There are a couple of books where the heroine has a curly or kinky afro ... Cree by LaShawn Vasser and Pumpkin by Ines Johnson come to mind. There are others where it's mentioned abou..."

Pagan: I'll keep track and send you a message so you can add it to your list. Sometimes "hair realness" is mentioned in the dreaded "billionaire" genre.

Rosie wrote: "Paganalexandria wrote: "Rosie wrote: "There are a couple of books where the heroine has a curly or kinky afro ... Cree by LaShawn Vasser and Pumpkin by Ines Johnson come to mind. There are others w..."

I just named my shelf that to track anytime it felt real life black hair moments, versus the sideeye I'm usually giving when reading books. It's not about extensions, weaves, versus hair growing out of your head. More about shower sex, including a shampoo, no conditioner, 10 second wash and go ridiculousness. Just a messy bun, and viola perfect black hair. This is the anti-Real Black Hair moments that keep that shelf number so low. I just want mention of tangled regret. Pineapples at night, sleeping with scarves, the hero seeing her not on fleek sometimes, finding it adorable.

Heroine's hair can be laid, just kind of over every character only having type 3 hair at most woes, usually more like type 2 descriptions.

You guys couldn't have said it better.

Paganalexandria wrote: "This is the anti-Real Black Hair moments that keep that shelf number so low. I just want mention of tangled regret."

I wish we'd had this conversation sooner. I just read a book where the heroine either didn't do anything to her hair after a shower or didn't tie it up before going to bed. In the morning she complained about her tangled hair. I will start keeping track.

Pineapples at night? What does this mean?

Latest craze are the messy buns, which would basically be an afro puff for me once it dried. Very few books talk about conditioning the hair. There was one story where the hero (for nights spent with him) purchased all the hair products the heroine used at home. She was very pleased about his thoughtfulness.

Rosie wrote: "Paganalexandria wrote: "This is the anti-Real Black Hair moments that keep that shelf number so low. I just want mention of tangled regret."

I wish we'd had this conversation sooner. I just read a..."

Yes, that sounds nice; something I'd want to see the hero do.

All my characters have natural hair except one. Every do from
Micros to TWAs to BAFs. I've been natural since 1998 and love it.

I don't use that hair typing system because it annoys me that nappy hair is last. Supposedly created for our texture and we're still last. (Sorry, major pet peeve!)

I don't think it was a deliberate choice to give my heroines natural hair, I just love all the cool hairstyles I see black women with and I'm too lazy to do them on my own hair so I give them to my characters. Usually there's some mention of it. In one she's taking her braids out and discussing how much braiders charge to do it and the hero helps. I've had several where they twist their hair or use a satin pillow. I don't have them wearing a scarf because I hate those damned things. They give me a headache!

My fave is a model with a big ass fro who uses her platinum pick to assassinate a dude! I love that book!

I don't pay hair all that much attention in books I read so I can't say that much about it.

I don't like the whole alpha hole rich man play Captain Save A Ho. But then I hated that when I read mainstream books too. Worked in social services too long to see that as romantic.

Rosie wrote: "Paganalexandria wrote: "Pineapples at night? What does this mean?"

A common method used when trying to extend a twist out, or wash-n-go. Gather my hair to the top of my head, tie a scarf around the edges, but the ends fluff out at the top before bed. My personal variation of this is two high puffs because I love my hair to be big.

Roslyn wrote: "...I just love all the cool hairstyles I see black women with and I'm too lazy to do them on my own hair so I give them to my characters. Usually there's some mention of it. In one she's taking her braids out and discussing how much braiders charge to do it and the hero helps. I've had several where they twist their hair or use a satin pillow. I don't have them wearing a scarf because I hate those damned things. They give me a headache! ..."

Rosyln this is the stuff I love. My grandmother was a hairdresser and spent so much time in her shop growing up. I love the variety of Black hair in all it's forms. I don't care if it's dreads, TWA, Toni Braxton cut, hair weave down to your butt, thick long unrelaxed manes, or anything is possible. I even include the over represented "water-wavers" in that mix. I just wish they weren't the go to beauty expression cheat for writers. Hate that it's become a book-peeve on par with using celebrity references instead of character descriptions for me.

Paganalexandria wrote: "Rosie wrote: "Paganalexandria wrote: "Pineapples at night? What does this mean?"

A common method used when trying to extend a twist out, or wash-n-go. Gather my hair to the top of my head, tie a s..."

I just Googled images ... it's a cute hair style ... I never knew that hairstyle had a name. Thanks Pagan.

Erin wrote: "We all love a good IR but inevitably you're bound to come across an element in the story that makes you go ugh even if you generally like the story and plan to stick with it. What bugs you and what..."

I'm soooo sick of seeing the billionaire crap. I'm soooo sick of seeing babies on covers of IR books. I feel the topic of IR romance is being cheapened, degraded, and marginalized by constantly repeating these themes.

Inevitably, it's always the white male that has all the power and wealth and black women are portrayed the opposite and conquered by white, powerful, wealthy men. This story format is the norm in alot of IR books. This is what turns me off. So darn tired of seeing that scenario.

My biggest gripes in this sub-genre

* "The ... and the black ... " in the book title
* "BWWM" in the book title
* "thick" as a description of body type (I hate this in general anyway)

but also some of my biggest gripes in romance overall

* the stepbrother - overdone
* the billionaire (or even just extremely wealthy) - waaaay overdone
* the surprise pregnancy - ditto
* the marriage of convenience - ditto
* the virgin/near virgin female and experienced male - ditto and so bloody unrealistic
* slut shaming females but not the males (and "man-whore" is NOT shaming) - waaaay overdone - we all know that double standards exist, why perpetuate them further in fiction?
* talking about "protection"... who talks about protection IRL? You talk about condoms, rubbers, jonnies (UK only maybe?), the pill, the shot, IUD's, the coil, the implant etc... please be realistic!
* lack of discussion about the morning after pill. - IRL the first thing most women I know who have had unprotected sex is get themselves wherever they need to to get this!

Ooops, sorry for the rant! Some of these things get in the way of a good read for me, and some of them make me literally scream out loud if I come across it in the book, but with some of them it turns me off reading a book to start with and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I wonder if authors are aware of some of the ways they can alienate a potential reader?

Herekittykitty, I disagree with you about the virgin female and experienced male. I'm writing a dangerous bad boy story called Trespassing and my heroine (Sanjar) is a virgin and my hero (Cop) is not a virgin. He knows and he's okay with that. He's celibate.

I haven't read any billionaire romances except for part of FSOG, which I did enjoy. I sampled a couple others, but I guess I just couldn't see the point in following a story where a rich man rescues a destitute woman. I felt like I already knew the plot too well. Maybe, I'll come across one that I like, but I honestly just skip over them unless they're free; then I dump them in the Cloud. I wouldn't mind checking out ones where the woman is not so destitute or desperate. Plus those stories seem to have insta-lust as a prerequisite, and that's pretty boring to me.

Immense Dislike:I'm half the way through a book and there has been no description of the heroine except that she's tiny. I have no idea if she's black, white, pink blue or a Martian. Why do I have to work so hard for this?

Arch wrote: "Herekittykitty, I disagree with you about the virgin female and experienced male. I'm writing a dangerous bad boy story called Trespassing and my heroine (Sanjar) is a virgin and my hero (Cop) is n..."

That's cool, we're all entitled to our own opinions and mine about that trope is that it's mostly unrealistic (based on my own life and experience of those around me). In fact it's one of my biggest dislikes in romance and one that I try to avoid if possible.

Good luck with Trespassing!

Justine wrote: "Immense Dislike:I'm half the way through a book and there has been no description of the heroine except that she's tiny. I have no idea if she's black, white, pink blue or a Martian. Why do I have ..."

Now the description of "Tiny", I think is desperately problematic! Does it refer to body shape/size, or does it refer to height? I have seen heroines described as being tiny but their height given as 5'6 or 5'7"... which is not tiny by any stretch of the imagination! I'm only 5'3" and I don't feel tiny! Short definately, but not tiny! Even compared to a guy who is 6' or more, I have often felt small but never tiny... but again this is just my opinion.

Regarding not knowing the race of the heroine, whenever I read a book like that I'm never sure how to feel about it, should I be annoyed that she is not described as being anything other than WAS? Or just take it that she is because she is not described in any other way? Or should I be glad that it's not deemed important to the story to specify either way and left up to the reader's imagination? Unsure about that one...

Herekittykitty, everyone should read what they like. I don't read erotic books and a lot of IR books are erotic. It's normal for a woman to be a virgin, even for a man to be a virgin, because everyone is not having sex. I think that reality should be in books as well.

Arch wrote: "Herekittykitty, everyone should read what they like.

Totally agree.