Romance Quest!: ‘Proof By Seduction’ by Courtney Milan

[wolffyluna]

I think I may have to admit that I just am picky about romance novels. Maybe it's a just a situational thing in this case, because I had the siren song of a book that I was halfway through and enjoying in my ear when I picked this up from the library, and that may have made me have a lower bar to dropping this.

But still.

I think I am just picky.

I had two main problems in the 50 (large print!) pages I read.

The Romantic Lead(s)

There were two options for romantic male lead, and in my opinion? Milan picked the wrong one.

So our female lead is Jenny: A fortune teller who goes by the name Madame Esmerelda, who is faking it and knows it.

And the two male characters we are introduced to in the first scene are: Ned: One of Jenny's best clients, swears by her predictions, a bit of a sap. (Jenny feels kinda bad about lying to him, especially because of something I will mention later.) Wants to convince Gareth that Madame Esmerelda is for real. Gareth: Ned's cousin(?), Marques, all about the scientific method, and Logic, and Reason, and Not Believing In Silly Parlour Tricks, and Poking People For HIs Own Amusement, And Being A Bit Of A Dick.

Guess who's the love interest. Guess. Not the one with interesting conflict or chemistry!

Jenny and Gareth's conflict is 'he wants to prove her wrong. Also, sexual tension.'

While Jenny and Ned's--

When Jenny and Ned first met, Ned was suicidal. He asked her if there was any reason to keep living. Panicking, she claimed she saw happiness in his future.

This was the start, and basis for their relationship. Jenny cares deeply about Ned, but she knows her relationship is built on lies and-- things that are possible, but that she claimed with more certainty than she had.

AND IMAGINE THE CONFLICT.

They're falling in love, and Jenny has dance around/deal with/etc the fact that she has lied an awful lot to him. Heck, you can even keep Gareth! Without him being the love interest, but instead just someone who cares for Ned, who's worried about him being taken in by a charlatan, and being drawn into a bad match with a commoner, no less-- he becomes a really interesting and sympathetic anatagonist.

And I can picture the confession/HEA scene at the end:

Ned: It turns out your predictions were right after all! Jenny: What? Ned: [clasping her hands tenderly] You said that you saw great happiness in my future. And you were right, I do have great happiness. Because I get to be with you.

And my heart would explode with feels.

Except Milan didn't offer me this. No, she offered me limp competition between a Logical Dick and Jenny, Who Isn't Living Up To Her Character's Full Potential.

Sexual Tension, and How It Isn't Done

This here, is another shining example of my pickiness.

The point where I dropped this book was a scene that I think was designed to build up the sexual tension. And for other people maybe it would? But I just found it annoying.

Gareth basically ends up in Jenny's personal space, and declares an intention to get her into his bed, in a sort of contest-y way, as in part of their own going contest re: proving that Jenny is lying. And I'm sure other people would find that sort of promise sexy. I found it just cemented my opinion of Gareth being a dick, because he was treating Jenny's... sexual availability as a prize to be won, and his desire for her another stick to poke her with and fluster her.

It also came weirdly early in the story? It felt like the equivalent of a horror movie dropping a jumpscare 10 minutes in before they've built up the tension, except instead of a proper jumpscare they just put the monster prop up real close to the camera and wiggle it limply, so you can see that it is rubber and goofy, and then remove any sense of it ever being threatening ever.

Except, like, the romance novel equivalent of that.

Comments

[lb_lee]

Yeeeeeah, I DEFINITELY have run into that kind of limp "being a dick = sexual tension" thing, and the "total dick = HOTNESS" thing, and it didn't impress me then either.

I really like the idea you had, though! You should write it! ;p

[wolffyluna]

Yep, just gently file the serial numbers off, no one will ever know.... :P

[chocochipbiscuit]

sometimes I think that people think "being a dick = CONFIDENCE" because yeah, confidence can be hot! And sometimes, people are accidentally dicks or come off as dicks because of their own insecurities! As in "ugh that person's an ASSHOLE they won't even speak two words to me!" while the other person is going "asdfgh they're so cool I can't even squeak out two words to them!!!" but those are uh. All entirely different tropes.

[wolffyluna]

I think Milan may have been going for 'he's prickly on the outside but inside he's sweeeeet~' and him being sexually forward in what I'm sure she intended to be an attractive manner.

For me, both main characters in a romance have to be likeable from the beginning, because I'm going to spending a lot of time either in their head or reading about someone else thinking about them. Which doesn't mean there can't be conflict. But you've got to avoid anyone being a dick.

[chocochipbiscuit]

I agree! In order for me to be invested in the romance, I have to be invested in the characters, which requires me to like both of them.

I was chewing this over because I was thinking about some of my own grump/sunshine or ships involving assholes, and I think part of it is just...genre expectation? Like when I'm invested in the characters from genre fiction, I have a chance to root for them and see them grow without necessarily thinking that romance is going to be their endgame. So I'm more accepting of 'unlikeable' (or at least less likeable) characters in that setting because I am still rooting for them to save the world/slay the monster/find the treasure or whatever.

On the other hand, jumping into something that is explicitly labeled as 'romance' makes me recalibrate my expectations.

(And...now I'm thinking about the 'bad boy' archetype in romances and how much I hate most of them. But again! Context matters a lot, and how the author chooses to frame that character!)

[wolffyluna]

Yeah, for me context and genre matters to. But I think also in favour of unlikeable characters in genre fiction-- with genre fic, I can read for the plot, even if I dislike some of the main characters. In romance, the characters are the plot. Also, most genre fic I find has more major characters than romance, so if there's a character I dislike, they're more likely to be 20% of the book, unlike romance's 50%.