The Bell Curve of the HEA

The other day I was pondering why some books work better for me than others; why some books leave me dissatisfied at the end, even when they meet the genre conventions of the HEA.  Perhaps I'd had too much pizza but I came up with what I like to call "the bell curve of the HEA".  (*I'm aware that it's not actually a bell curve, but it is a curve and it sounds good so I'm keeping it.  Also, maths isn't my strong suit.  Go with me here.)

It isn't an absolute answer, but it does go toward explaining why some books don't work for me.

In most romance novels (perhaps this is true of other genres also but I'm sticking with what I know), the "happiness graph" might look something like this:

May Round Up

on Paper/eBook

Play With Me by Alisha Rai - B+ Fun and super sexy short (about 100 pages) about Tatiana and Wyatt.  They dated in high school and college and were each other's first lovers.  They discovered kink with each other.  But things fell apart.  Now, 10 years later, they meet up again.  After they meet, their chemistry is still so strong, they agree to spend one night together.  

“I met you when you were chubby and had frizzy hair and acne.”

A gasp escaped her lips. So she’d had a bit of an awkward phase. Bringing it up now was hardly gentlemanly. “Shut up, Caine.” 

“My point is, I wanted you then. I still want you now. When I walked away from you all those years ago, I knew that wanting would never stop.” He tucked a strand of hair—sleek, not-frizzy hair, thank you very much—behind her ear. “Prettiness helps, Tatiana, but you and me? It’s always been more."

I loved that there was more to Wyatt's attraction than just the physical.  And it was the same for Tatiana.  Their connection was far more complicated than lust.

Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Why I read it: I picked this one up from NetGalley.  I loved Pushing the Limits last year and was so looking forward to where this author would take Beth... and Isaiah.  I had read the first chapter in the back of Pushing the Limits so I had a fair idea that Isaiah wasn't the hero.  He's the hero in the next book.  Cannot Wait.

What it's about (from Goodreads):  "I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

What worked for me (and what didn't): I loved this.  On Goodreads, it says the book is just over 300 pages but on my reader it was showing up at just over 600.  Who knows why.  But regardless of the actual length, the book was a pleasure to read.  I really like Ms. McGarry's writing style.  I like the alternating POV chapters, from both Beth's and then Ryan's perspectives.   The present tense fit the immediacy of the book too. 

Why fade to black doesn't work for me. Except when it does.

I finished Susanna Kearsley's The Shadowy Horses a few days ago and I started thinking about "fade to black" or "bedroom door closed" books.  As a generality, I prefer my fictional bedroom doors wide open and the lights left on.  But I started to wonder why that was - and why some books which do fade to black work really well for me.  And here's what I came up with.

I think there are two aspects at play during a sex scene in a romance (as opposed to erotica) - there is (often) something physically arousing about it and there is something I'm going to call, emotionally arousing.  I can't say I'm immune to the physical "symptoms" of a well written sex scene but for me, the bigger payoff is in the emotionality.  I think very often the sex scene creates a "shortcut" to the emotional arousal I'm seeking - the heightened emotions which are often present being key here.

Fade to black books, with only kisses (and few kisses) do not usually give me the emotional arousal I'm seeking when reading romance.  What causes this emotional arousal?  Well, it can be kissing or handholding, the hand on the small of her back as they walk, her hand in his (or his in his for that matter).  It might be internal dialogue or conversation (conversation is the better of the two) where the couple's emotional connection resonates (“When the day shall come that we do part," he said softly, and turned to look at me, "if my last words are not ‘I love you’-ye’ll ken it was because I didna have time.”  Jamie to Claire in The Fiery Cross - although The Fiery Cross is in no way a fade to black book of course.).  In a sex scene it can be the desperation of one to physically connect to the other, the primal claiming of "mine", a more tender or reverent loving after a crisis perhaps, the delight one partner takes in the body of the other, the care taken in ensuring his/her satisfaction - the physical display of the emotional connection.  

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Why I read it: Jane from Dear Author has been tweeting about how good this book is and she talked about it on the latest DBSA podcast. I'm not usually a YA reader, but I was intrigued enough about the story to request this from NetGalley.

What it's about: (from Goodreads)  "I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.  

So wrong for each other...and yet so right.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.  Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

What worked for me (and what didn't):  This story sucked me right in from the beginning and even a Thailand holiday couldn't tempt me away.  I read it almost non stop on the plane and then stayed up late that first night to finish it.  Yes, it is set in a high school, with characters who are just about to turn 18, but it felt very adult to me. Both Echo and Noah were dealing with grown up problems and, for the most part, in a grown up manner (yet it still felt authentic to their actual ages).  Told in the alternating first person POV from both Echo and Noah, the story starts when Noah and Echo are both assigned to have mandatory counselling with Mrs. Collins, a new school counsellor who is part of a special funding programme.    Mrs. Collins is a little too good to be true but she does have some fun quirks which make her very likeable and not just a prop.