I was at the Mills & Boon site to see if I could buy a few for an upcoming overseas trip and while browsing, I realised two things:
- there are still names that have been around since the 1950s
- there are new names I don’t recognise at all
No between. It’s either that or this. Boo. I have a lot to learn, it seems.
And there is another thing: it seems that the dominant group of M&B category romances is American. (Digressing a bit: I found out recently at Dear Author that M&B does accept American grammar and spelling usage. I wasn’t happy to learn this because, I don’t know, British grammar and spelling usage is so M&B. One respondent explained it depends on the nationality or an author, which makes sense.)
While browsing at the M&B site, I couldn’t find a new British author. Penny Jordan? No thanks. Anne Mather? Nah. Lynn Graham? Pfft. Paula Marshall? Whaaat?! This was when I realised how out of the loop I was. It had been ages since I read a M&B (as opposite to Harlequin). The ‘Cotswolds cottage- or small London flat-dwelling sensible secretary with a Mini car and a younger ungrateful brother’s education to support’ kind. Well, I just want to read something British. I know it’s odd, but I want it.
I can’t explain the difference between US and UK category romances, apart from the obvious-such as settings. I just can’t seem to articulate well. There’s a distinctive ‘style’ that I’m in the mood for. The only word comes to mind is ‘practical’, but that’s not right. Clipped? Conservative? Reserved? I have no words. Australian romances tend to be between UK and US in terms of style. A mixture of reserved and bluntness if that makes sense? Or am I talking rubbish?
Speaking of which, I learnt something new. I googled for info on M&B books to see if there are any titles I should try when I stumbled this Metro article – It’s Hotter Under the Covers With Erotica by Ed West – that has this bit:
A taboo was broken in 1982 with the first oral sex scene, in Antigua Kiss, in which the heroine turned down a kiss from the hero: ‘There are other places to kiss,’ he informed her ‘darkly’ before she surrendered to ‘waves of ecstasy’.
This surprised me because I honestly thought it was a M&B category romance, not a M&B historical single title. I’m not sure why I thought this, but I suspect it was a librarian who told me during my short-lived library training.