I bet some of you know me, and some of you don’t. I read A LOT. I will read anything. But I think in most circles I am known for my love of kink, erotica, BDSM, shifters, and science fiction.
Today, I want to talk about the romance and attraction. I love when authors get under my skin. Good or bad. It lets me know I am still human. Authors create such beautiful characters, I run out of space on my love list. In books we can be attracted to anyone we please. The beauty of it, we can keep it a secret if we want.
The interesting thing about romance, is that it starts with attraction. Appearance, intellect, station in life, etc. With romantic fiction, the world opens up in a way we can only dream of. (After all, that is why we read.) We can be attracted to those outside of our real life without repercussion or explanation. We don’t have to justify why we are attracted to a character. We can revel in it. Lately, I have been asking myself what happens when you read something so mind blowing that you discover you?
That recently happened to me. It all started with the book Nervous by SM Johnson. This book blew my mind. I was opened. I was floating. Not in subspace, a kind of euphoria that I so rarely get when I am reading. (Becoming Sir by Ella Dominguez was the last one.) The romance was there, but it’s the character Avery. Watching him so effortlessly seduce Julian. Oh my. I was smitten instantly. The more I read, the more I was attracted. I do love a slow burn and this book offered that and more.
Everything else fell away. Conventions, society, all of it. And that my dears, reminded me of my crush.
I am not prone to crushes, but I have one. It was surprising when I realized what was going on. I didn’t discuss it, but I did isolate myself from the person. The person is an author. (Those of you who know me very well know who it is. I had the crush well before I read Nervous.) I reviewed one of their books, but I discovered that I could not continue to do so because I could no longer trust myself to be objective when it came to their work.
So back to this mind blowing book. It is a Dominance and Submission tale. There is courtship, but not the traditional kind. Of course because it is fantasy, things are not as real as we would like. Then again, this is why I read. It was sweet, loving, and warm. The thing about this book though. For some reason, it gave me the OK on my crush. I can revel in it and be happy.
That is the beautiful about the romance genre, something lovely will sneak up on you and there you are, attracted to a character (and perhaps someone in real life), and you have no idea what happened. I find that absolutely amazing. Inspiring even.
I collect book husbands, wives, girlfriends, and boyfriends all the time. I am attracted to them for a variety of reasons. Personality being the number one. I even have a list. When it comes to real life though, that is where it gets tricky. All those fantasy attractions get side-barred when a real person shows up. Inspiring romantic writing can do that. The tricky part is that I have found myself in uncharted waters. I know I am not alone, but I also don’t know how to express it. I find myself rereading the romances that comfort me in my attractions. They may not comfort others, and that is OK. I know it is.
All of this leads me back to Nervous. I do firmly believe that romance starts with attraction. I also believe that personality plays a huge part in it. I may not be The Dragon, but I have no problems with The Dragon in all of his beauty, charm, and grace.
Bio: I am just book dragon. You can find my reviews on www.thornsandink.com. You can find various articles, excerpts, and musing on The Official Thorns & Ink Blog
