Fans of Interracial Romance discussion

Arch mentioned something in the intro thread that got me thinking. A few folks have posted about how they're in an IR dry spell and I'm also in one as well. I think I've associated most IR books with contemporary romance and since I only read a few of them (I'm a speculative girl) mostly when I'm in the mood, I haven't been reading very much. Most of the paranormal romances are too graphic or thin plotted for me as well as some of the ebooks. So it's tough to find a good title in a groove that I like.

I do have a nice happy stack from Genesis Press that I can't wait to get through (I can't wait to catch up on their new titles). I may start reading Brenda Jackson's new release which is an IR I hear. Plus I can't wait until Karen White's Oct. release.

Other than that, dry as a whistle.

So how about you guys? Are you going through an IR dry spell? If so, why and what would make you grab more IR reads?

Same here, Rae.

I've been going through an IR dry spell, as well. Although I did read 2 IR's last month (BW/WM & AW/WM). I think it's hard for me to get very excited about reading IR's because the majority of the one's I've read have this Harlequin Romance feel about them, which I hate. I want to read an IR that doesn't feel like The Playboy Sheikh's Virgin Stable-Girl with IR characters inserted.

Yes, I am in a IR dry spell as well. I'm actually more of a historical and paranormal girl. I actually read a couple of IR books last week. They were just "MEH," so I am not exactly anxious to dive into more.
Don't know what it would take to help me get back my groove :)

Let me just say that I am glad for the writing challenge stories. Other than that, I have been reading non interracial books.

I'm a contemporary reader. Give me a good catcher story. A good bad boy hero or even dangerous bad boy hero. Tension! I love tension and no, I am not talking about sexual tension.

To me a good tension makes me feel the characters.

I love writing tension. :)

Ptlonestar, have you read Again? It has paranormal elements in it. It was DNF for me but you might like it. Also, one of the novella's in Hunters: Heart and Soul is an IR(BW/WM).

Noo, LL why did you link to that! Now I have to read it just to cure my morbid curiosity lol. I know what you mean though. I love a good meaty read although HQN's sometimes hit the spot when I want a quick romance. Lately I've been going for some more meatier fare.

Arch, yes! I've been reading the challenge stories and critting some of my writer friends' work and they are soooo goood. Lots of great stories that are unpredictable with characters I care about. I know what you mean about tension, too. The chemistry has to be there and the characters have to be complex. :-)

I think at this point, at least for me, I'm on the lookout for IR books that are not consciously IR romance, if that makes sense? Like picking up a mainstream book or a hidden gem and finding out it's IR. Kind of like Stephen J Cannell's Ride the Dragon or Richard North Patterson's The Race.

Rae wrote:"I think at this point, at least for me, I'm on the lookout for IR books that are not consciously IR romance, if that makes sense? Like picking up a mainstream book or a hidden gem and finding out it's IR.:"

This is what happen to me, when I have started reading Gone Too Far by Suzanne Brockmann and The Silent Cradle by Margaret Cuthbert. Both heroes is named Sam. There's Rae with Sam in The Silent Cradle and Alyssa with Sam in Gone Too Far.

I would love to find more unaware black woman/white man books too.

I had a back log of IR books to read so I really didn't have a dry spell so to speak. But I am always on the look out for new titles and good new authors. I always seems to see the same titles/authors over and over again.

I actually tend to like what Genesis Press puts out. They actually put out quality work, but they don't show excerpts or allow the look inside feature on Amazon. I have a few of their books on TBR, but I refuse to buy a new author without knowing his/her writing style. So I haven't bought as much as I could.

Rae, if you want to read mainstream books with an IR couple, I would definitely recommend George Pelecanos' The Night Gardener. I don't know if you like Crime fiction/mystery/ police procedural but this was a nice mystery with the main white cop character married to a black woman. Pelecanos writes race relations with a very assured hand and there is some nice family drama that counterbalances the crime fiction part of it.

Ooh! Thanks Tina. I love crime/mystery/suspense books so that would be right up my alley. :-D

I agree with you about Genesis Press. I'm still tracking down some of their old books from the 90s and am enjoying adding to my collection. I really wish they would add excerpts to their books as well. Sometimes it's tough to get an idea of the writing style and pacing and if the authors don't have a website, there's no way to check it out without waiting for reviews.

I wonder if we email them or their webmaster, we can possibly get them to add the info the pub's website?

In the meantime, I'll keep my ear on the indie ground to see if I come across any good titles and then rec them. :-)

This is why I write folks. I hate formula writing like LethalLovely said (that was funny btw). I want somthing outside the box without being too kinky or crazy.

I am writing a IR mystery for submission to a New York publishing house, and I have some ebook erotica I'm working on with a different slant on familar themes.

I think ever genre goes through a dry spell every now and then

That's why I am glad that I am a writer as well Stephanie.

Arch wrote: "That's why I am glad that I am a writer as well Stephanie."

Hear hear! :-D

:)

♠LethalLovely~HBBIC♠ wrote: "I've been going through an IR dry spell, as well. Although I did read 2 IR's last month (BW/WM & AW/WM). I think it's hard for me to get very excited about reading IR's because the majority of the ..."

Haha, I thought you were making that title up!!! WOW!! good call!

OMG! I thought this title was made up. It's a real book. Okay Harlequin needs to stop. ROFL!

I can see where you're coming from with the dry spell, although it's more of an issue with books that are my tastes, and don't seem to be stereotypical or too graphic for me.

I proudly admit I'm an unashamed Harlequin lover. I'd actually like to see more IR that have some tried and true HQN themes. I like the old school romances where the focus is on the building relationship. I don't think all HQNs are bad, so it's quite possible that those that were read were not good. I agree the titles are a turnoff, but that doesn't mean all the books are bad. Like any genre, there is good and bad, although I respect if some genres aren't to your taste.

The things I've discovered with being on Goodreads is we are all going to have different tastes. I have friends on here that we have about 95% the same tastes for the most part, but no one has completely the same taste as anyone else. To me that's good.

I agree with Arch that writing helps me because I can write the kinds of stories I'd like to read and see out there. I'm not saying I'm a great writer, but I do get that vibe I look for in a book in my stories.

I bought a bunch of IR books and I'm slowly reading them. Dmitry's Closet really impressed me, although the editing wasn't good. It was a complex, multi-layered story, although I can't say that there was much of an identification factor with Royal (she was a little too materialistic for my taste). Dmitry was just what the doctor ordered. I'd love to see more IR with anti-heroes and really great action/adventure plots.

I've never been into books focused on sex, although I do like good steamy love scenes when there is a strong emotional bond and chemistry between the characters. My issue is I'm really having trouble sifting through and avoiding the IR books that are too erotic for my tastes. Not to long ago, I bought a book that really was out of my comfort zone. Turned out I bought three other books by that author, and she's not my thing. But I did sell them to the used bookstore so someone else can enjoy them. So, I'm cutting back on buying IR books unless I get a book vetted by someone who has read it. Again, I want to make it clear, I am not dissing erotic books or authors, it's just not my thing. A reader has the right to like what she likes, if you know what I mean.

That's why reviews are so important. I'm glad that Genesis does still put out print titles that aren't too graphic in that sense, but they aren't too edgy in other ways, ie Action/Danger, etc., which this adrenaline junkie craves. I wish I could start a publishing company for interracial action/adventure romance.

That's actually a good point, Danielle. Although some of the HQNs have crazy names I've found some goodies in there that hit the spot for a short, to the point romance. I'm a bit on the fence for IR at HQN. I've read some of the recent releases and they weren't as good as they can be. But I see where you're coming from as far as what kind of quality of books you'd want due to what was released previously. Sort of like the greats of romance writing an epic story with IR characters. That I would so love to see as well. :-)

I so agree with you about Dmitry's Closet, I would love to see more anti-heroes like Dmitry (I agree about Royal, I read more for the hero lol) and action/adventure plots, too. Thanks to you guys in the challenges I'm getting some of that fix. :-)

I agree about erotic IRs. Not my thing but apparently they are popular with readers. I like more sensual romance rather than graphic. So wait until I can find out what's in the books. I wish more pubs posted warnings like Samhain so I know what I'm getting. Otherwise I vet as well.

Yeah GP is my go to for sensual romance but I agree, they could be a bit more action/adventure/edgy as far as the storylines. Right now they focus a lot on the contemporary romance aspect. I wish you could open up a publishing company, Danielle. That would definitely be my go-to place for edgy IR! :-D

I admit, I've haven't read Harlequin in a good mintue. Mainly because the stories were all similar (and the titles were crazy). But if any of you can recommend any gems, it would be appreciated. :)

I tend to steer clear of HQ-Presents. I honestly can't get over the titles and how absolutely constrained the box is for the characters. The woman is either a mistress, a secretary or a virgin or all three. The guy is always ginormously rich and powerful I know it is their biggest selling line but I just can't go there.

And it isn't even the fact that I think there are some very old fashioned notions at play because I LOVE finding the old school Harlequin American Romances or the Supperomances many of which are somewhat old fashioned by today's standards. I think I like those two lines especially because they do have some stories with some meat and some bite to them. A couple months ago I was into a cheating husbands theme in books and one of the better, more nuanced books I read on that trope was in the harlequin line.

in re: IR romances, I don't mind erotica, but I find that for a very small, niche genre to begin with, the erotica tends to overpower the non-erotica.

On the whole, I think erotica is like a weed (or the paranormal) -- it has really taken over and grown and permeated the whole genre. But the problem is the tiny IR sub-genre isn't robust enough at this point to handle the numbers of erotica. So that is why it sometimes seems that is all we're seeing. It doesn't help that erotica is what helped to usher in ebooks so many ppl see that as a good alterna route to get published esp. when it seems like trad NY pubs aren't rushing to publish IRs.

What would really kick start the genre is for Harlequin to publish more IR. They have a reach and a name recognition that can't be beat. It is too bad that they seem so resistant to them.

I don't read erotic books and I know that a lot of interracial stories are erotic stories and plus ebooks. I don't own an ereader and I don't plan on buying one. I know that some stories probably can be downloaded to my computer, but I like to have a printed book in my hand.

My computer could crash and I could lose everything on my computer. I wouldn't want to buy an ebook and lose it.

Now, I wouldn't mind reading a sweet IR romance ebook story that I can check out from my library. I don't know how the library gets ebooks, but I know that my library could use some Interracial stories. They would save me from having to go to the library and checking out a printed book.

Some ebooks are short.

Harlequin Presents are the most fun to me. Lots of drama. :)

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Harlequin Presents are the most fun to me. Lots of drama. :)"

They do have a lot of drama.

I know if they start having interracail stories, they will continue with those silly titles.

I doubt they'll ever have IR stories, other than sheikhs and mediterranean guys. They're still a lot of fun for me. I know most people don't get why some readers love Harlequin Presents so much, but that's cool. Not all the books I read and enjoy have to be IR, but I do love good IR when I can find it.

They had an imprint and I forgot the name of it. It was their Romantic Comedy line. Does anyone remember the name of it? I loved that one.

What it Silhouette Duets or Yours Truly?

I enjoy a lot of non-interracial books.

Arch wrote: "I don't read erotic books and I know that a lot of interracial stories are erotic stories and plus ebooks. I don't own an ereader and I don't plan on buying one. I know that some stories probably c..."

If your library has Overdrive, they can lend out ebooks. I'm not sure if a lot of IR books are available there but I know most of the big ones are.

Tina wrote: "On the whole, I think erotica is like a weed (or the paranormal) -- it has really taken over and grown and permeated the whole genre. But the problem is the tiny IR sub-genre isn't robust enough at this point to handle the numbers of erotica. So that is why it sometimes seems that is all we're seeing. It doesn't help that erotica is what helped to usher in ebooks so many ppl see that as a good alterna route to get published esp. when it seems like trad NY pubs aren't rushing to publish IRs.

What would really kick start the genre is for Harlequin to publish more IR. They have a reach and a name recognition that can't be beat. It is too bad that they seem so resistant to them. "


Too true, Tina. The milder books do get lost due to overall numbers in the genre.

Unfortunately, a writing campaign won't help since HQN seems resistant to that. Although they do say they take subs, it seems like they're more open to IR from their in-house authors. I guess we'll have to keep knocking at the gates and writing stuff we want to read to change things.

Rae wrote: "If your library has Overdrive, they can lend out ebooks. I'm not sure if a lot of IR books are available there but I know most of the big ones are."

Yes, they have overdrive.

Great! You may be able to check out their catalog from your home and check out ebooks that way. :-)

Yeah, I'll have to look into that.