One of the main reasons I stopped reading Romantic Suspense (or the reason I read so little of it) is the lack of believability. I talked about this once before (Sex Sells, But I Ain’t Buying It), but I don’t buy for one second that in the middle of a shootout, or knife fight, or flight for your life in a jungle that the only thing on your mind is sex.
Lately I’ve been having another issue with believability. This time it’s the time frame in which so many couples seem to fall in love and find their happily ever after. Admittedly I’ve been reading a lot of category romances lately and more often than not the relationships in those aren’t given a lot of time to develop. Even so, a lot of straight contemporary romances and romantic suspense novels seem to take place over the course of days and/or weeks.
I don’t believe a relationship – generally speaking of course – can be determined in a matter of days or even weeks. Really, how well do you actually know a person in the first few weeks you’re together? That’s the time when we put on our best face, because we want to keep the person. It isn’t until later that you stop picking your towels up off the bathroom floor, or start leaving your dirty underwear hanging over the side of the basket, or splashing water and/or other gunk on the bathroom mirror. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Many times I don’t even think about the timeline when I’m reading the book. It isn’t until I’ve finished it that I think about the amount of time that actually passed. Other times I notice right away and it really pulls me out of the story. I can’t help but think, “Really? You’re in love and getting married and ready to have babies together but you’ve only known each other two weeks?? Seriously?”.
There are exceptions of course. Many authors use the friends/acquaintances-to-lovers or rekindled flame theme to get around the time issue. Others just write the stories in a completely believable way. But more often than not I’m left shaking my head and not at all convinced the relationship can withstand the test of time. Not after a few short weeks.
Do you have problems with believability? Ever finish a book and think to yourself, “No effing way that happened in 2 weeks”? Do you have other believability issues?
Everyone that knows of my reading Pet peeves knows that is #1 on the list. The whole “Hi my name is travis and I love you FOREVER and EVA!!!” leaves me with a nasty feeling in my mouth and I get the urge to throw the book against a wall. As you mentioned there are some that can actually write the scenario well enough to allow me to believe that there is a HEA in the future for the couple but most people cannot pull it off and should be creative enough to get around the problem. I could go on forever ranting about this – it annoys me quite a bit – but I’ll leave it with a Thanks for sharing my frustration on the topic.
Def agree. That’s why I like the friends to lovers storyline. Any recommendations along that line…??!!!
like mollie, there’s a reason why i usually read the rekindling/old friends turned lovers plot line–they’re more believable. i definitely agree with everything you said 🙂
Yup, nodding. The worst offenders, IMO, are erotic romances. Not that I don’t love me some erotic romance, but still…
Wow, I just had this happen to me lately. I never really noticed this speed in all my years of reading. I read an anthology the other day and the stories were shorter than usual. It seemed like they raced to get the love scene in. Two were totally unbelievable and the other stories were longer and probable. I shook my head and thought they were the craziest stories I’ve ever read. Glad I’m not alone!! Sue
So in agreement – glad I’m not the only one! Enough with the magic “attraction/sex” pheromones -nothing worse than going from “I hate you” to “take me now” in a single meeting. Another peeve is the hero being a complete demeaning, degrading asswipe, practically raping the heroine and later she’s incline to be forgiving and understanding. Please – girlfriend, get a clue then get a gun!!
I don’t have problems with believability. Anything goes 🙂 I don’t usually follow the time span that closely…
Absolutely agree. And probably the biggest deterrent (for me) to straight contemps. I don’t buy it totally in RS or military RS either, but at least there I have the suspense portion to distract me.