One of the things that I love most about romance is that there is something out there for everyone. You like cute and cuddly contemporary romances? There are numerous authors out there for you to try. You like virginal heroines in historical settings? Got a dozen authors you can choose from. Angst ridden vampires more to your liking? Try this, this and that author. Really, there are plenty of authors out there who have written what you’re craving and all you have to do is search them out.
Just like the different genres in romance, there are romances taking place all over the world. From the historical ballrooms of Regency England to the wild wild western frontier’s of America to the beautiful islands in Greece. Love knows no bound. People fall in love, all over the globe and there are stories out there taking place all over the globe. I was talking to my friend the other day and we started talking about the settings of our romance novels.
What settings are popular amongst romance readers? Can the setting in a novel be the kiss of death like some covers can be? Does the setting of the romance really matter as long as there is that happy ending?
I’m not sure.
You see, prior to this discussion, I didn’t pay much attention to the setting in romance novels but I remembered back a few years ago when Holly suggested that I read Heart of Fire by Linda Howard. When she approached me about reading this book, I made a note and then checked the book out online.
Here’s the blurb for the book:
A fabulous lost Amazon city once inhabited by women warriors and containing a rare red diamond: it sounded like myth, but archeologist Jillian Sherwood believed it was real, and she was willing to put up with anything to find it — even Ben Lewis. Ruffian, knock-about, and number one river guide in Brazil, Ben was all man — over six feet of rock-hard muscles that rippled under his khakis, with lazy blue eyes that taunted her from his tanned face. Jillian watched him come to a fast boil when she refused to reveal their exact destination upriver in the uncharted rain forests — and resolved to stand her ground. Neither of them could foresee what the days ahead promised: an odyssey into the fiery heart of passion and betrayal, and a danger that would force them to cast their fates together, immersed in the eternal, unsolved mysteries of love….
I remember reading that blurb and thinking, “The jungles of South America? Meh.” I almost crossed this book off my list because I didn’t think I would enjoy a book that was set in the jungle. It’s not a very romantic place to fall in love, or so I thought. Holly, being the persistent book pusher that she is, forced me to read the book.
So I did and I loved it.
I loved everything about this book. The setting, the romance between Ben and Jillian and hell, I fell hard for the pervy hero of the book, Ben Lewis. I’m sure you all remember the post I did on Ben Lewis (and my love for him) that Holly resurrected and brought back to life here on Book Binge. Heart of Fire ended up being one of the best books that I’ve ever read. It’s still in my Top Ten of favorite books I’ve ever read in my life. That’s how much I love this book and I’m so glad that Holly made me read this book because at first, I hesitated.
I find myself wanting to read another book set in the wild jungles of South America or wherever just as long as I get some good jungle lovin’ (doesn’t have to be jungle fever, just some jungle lovin’) but I can’t seem to find any anywhere. Does anyone have any titles that I can put on my TBB List?
While I have you here, let me ask you this: Would you read a book set in the jungle? A romance where the hero and heroine are on a safari through the wild jungles and fall in love or would you like me, hesitate to read something like that? Curious minds want to know.
Also I must ask the questions from before, What settings are popular amongst romance readers? Can the setting in a novel be the kiss of death like some covers can be? Does the setting of the romance really matter as long as there is that happy ending? What settings have you not seen enough of and would like to read about?
Yes, this is 20 questions. =P
Favorite modern setting: New Orleans hands down. I love when an author creates an atmosphere with her setting.
Good post. I love Linda Howard but I probably would have passed on this too b/c of the setting. However, now I’m going to have to get it. UGH, and I have so much to do.
Good post – tweeting it. 🙂
Heart of Fire is one of my all time favorite books so yeah, I’d read a book in the jungle!! If LH writes it, I’d read a story that takes place on Mars 🙂 Setting isn’t too important to me.
It’s not the setting of this one that would deter me, it’s that awful, overdone and overwritten book blurb that would.
Watching him come to a fast boil? An odyssey into the fiery heart of passion and betrayal? Just…stop. Please.
That aside, the setting hasn’t ever really bothered me specifically, it just all has to sound like it’ll work together if it’s going to interest me enough to pick it up. That blurb doesn’t sound at all like what was in those excerpts. The book sounds much better because of the excerpts -t hank goodness.
Added it to my wish list. Thanks!
I’ve read two Linda Howard books and HEART OF FIRE was one of them! And I do have another Amazon/jungle recommendation for you. A COMPANY OF SWANS by Eva Ibbotson. So, so good. It was re-released a couple of years ago marketed for YA but don’t be deterred. Aspiring young ballerina runs off to the Amazon with touring ballet company. Meets mysterious expat theater owner. Goodness ensues.
Setting matters a great deal to me. My favorite authors can make the setting itself a character. I love that. Makes me feel like I’ve really been to that place and walked its streets.
Linda Howard wrote another jungle road romance – Midnight Rainbow which was fab too. Another oldie but goodie.
I am not keen on lawyer/courtroom settings, even though one of my fave books features 2 lawyers and part of the book is in the courtroom! Sandra Canfield’s Voices On The Wind.
When I was a teen and tearing through Harlequins at top speed, Amazon/jungle stories were among my favorite. There was that one about a girl who needed to go in the jungle (can’t remember why) and hired that mercenary as a guide, but he was mistakenly lead to believe she was a nun and she didn’t tell him otherwise, thinking that would protect her (didn’t quite work, of course)…niiiiice. I have many fond memories like that. 🙂
However, nowadays, I’m not sure I’ll be as interested in jungle books and such. If the story sounds original, yes, but a lot of books with exotic locations have that “done to death” feel to them. For several years now I haven’t wandered much from a few conventional and familiar settings: North America (NY and New Orleans are favorites), London, Paris, Scotland (mostly historicals) and Ireland. Rather weird, since I’m such an enthusiastic globe-trotter :-). I watch a lot of movies set in original/exotic locations, though. Romancing the Stone, Zorro, The Spanish Apartment…and series that tend to make the characters travel around the world, like Tomb raider, James Bond and Jason Bourne.
Great post, Rowena.
It’s funny, a few years ago I went on safari in Africa and one of the things that struck me is how the guests are completely dependent on the safari rangers. The rangers are your first and only defense against, well, everything out there in the wild. We had lions swarm our jeep at one point and I was scared straight but our ranger was cracking jokes like it happened every day. Which for him, it did. Definitely a setting that could lend itself to all sorts of fun scenes in a book. Wait… I see it now… the heroine is this total city-girl who’s completely in over her head on the safari, and the ranger is this tall, dark, ultra-sexy type who never gets involved with lodge guests, let alone fancy city-girl types… Hmm… I think you might be onto something with this… 😉
Does setting matter? Sometimes.
There are so many good books waiting to be read that I have been known to pass up books that could be great because they don’t fit nicely into my library. I’m most guilty when I puruse the library shelves, but if someone trustworthy hands me a book and says “You must read this” I’m much more likely to give it a shot.
Jungles would work just fine for me – I think they might be like Swamps…. so now I want the next Toni McGee Causey book.
Doesn’t matter what setting. It depends on the characters within the setting. Does it make a more exciting?
Mary M. I think that book was a Sandra Brown novel. Devil’s Own. I know that one was in the jungle and I’m fairly certain that the heroine claimed to be a nun.
Rowena, did you ever read The Charm School by Susan Wiggs? Quite a bit of that book takes place in Brazil, and there’s a great love scene in the jungle.
I love small-town books. I’m picky about those, though. I don’t like the silly cliched ones where everybody’s involved in everybody else’s business. I like the ones that are more about peace and quiet and community.
I also love books set in lakeside towns or in small coastal towns.
I’m not interested in books that take place in the Middle East, Africa, or Asia. Not even Eastern Europe, really. Not because I have anything against those cultures, but because I’m a lazy reader and it’s a lot of work to read books in incredibly unfamiliar settings.
So basically anything in the Americas or Western Europe.
Okay, that makes me sound very Anglo-centric. LOL Oh well. At least it only applies to books.
Can’t stand jungle books! I read this one only because it’s Linda Howard. It was… pretty good for a jungle book. 😉 Even The Wildest Shore by Lisa Cach, which has some wonderful writing and a unique style, cannot get me to truly like a jungle book.
I do love A Company of Swans but it’s mostly jungle-free. — willaful
if I don’t have too much on my list at the moment, the setting won’t deter me, but if another book ‘sounds’ more interesting I’ll bite a lot quicker.
One that I’m thinking of that I just read was Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I’d never read any of her books and to be honest the blurb did nothing for me (the cover either… looked like it was from the 80’s). The review on this blog did however and I got it and LOVED it.
Guess I’ll go read me some Amazon lovin’. 😉
Hehe, I just finished that Linda Howard book a few days ago 🙂
In all honesty, setting does not matter to me one way or the other. It’s never been an issue–either positive or negative. I just like a good story, no matter where it takes place.
I’ve never been fond of books set in the jungle. The ones I have taken the time to read have bummed me out.
As for settings I have a yen for Regency and Georgian. But like any book or reader it depends on how the writer lays out the story and if it’s good story or ends up a bad story
Flip,
New Orleans. You know, I do love and prefer SK’s Dark Hunter books when they’re set in New Orleans and the other book that I read set in New Orleans by Linda Howard, I really enjoyed too. There’s a certain air about New Orleans that seems very romantic so yes, I agree with you. New Orleans is great!
Seneca,
You just finished Heart of Fire? What did you think? Did you love it as much as Holly and I did? Huh, huh? Did you? Did you review it? Are you going to? Let me know, curious minds (well my curious mind) want to know.
Crystal P.,
Thanks! You should definitely check it out. I hesitated and ended up loving it so maybe you will too.
Katie R.,
LOL, on Mars! I would too!
K Mont,
You know exactly what was going through my head as I was reading the blurb for the first time. =)
Angie,
Thanks for the recommendation! I read a lot of YA books as well so this would be right up my alley. A COMPANY OF SWANS by Eva Ibbotson, here I come! It’s been added to my wishlist!
I totally know what you mean about making the setting being a character itself. Authors who can do this will have me coming back for more each and every time. =)
Willa,
I’m gonna have to check that book out. I’ve got MR in my TBR pile but I’ve never gotten around to reading it, must fix that soon. =) Thanks for the heads up.
I, actually love lawyers in my romance novels, especially lawyers who prove that not all lawyers are stuffy button up types that have no sense of humor (which is pretty much how I picture lawyers in my head). Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James does a great job of showing the side of lawyering that I think is too fun. You should read it!
Mary M.,
Do you have any titles that I could try looking up. Especially the one you mentioned in your comment about the heroine pretending to be a nun and falling for her mercenary hero, sounds like a great romance tale!
Cursing Mama,
I know what you mean about shelf space, it really sucks because I wish I had space for every single book that I want but that’s never the case. *sigh*
Julie,
Oops! I skipped right over you. Sorry sweets. Write that story, you’re in the same category as LH. If you write it, I will read it. =) Even if you set it on Mars. =P
So seriously, write that story, it sounds like it could turn out to be a good adventure and I have faith that you could make it work!
Comingalive,
Devil’s Own by Sandra Brown, eh? I’m gonna have to look for that. I’m interested in reading it, thanks for that.
I know what you mean, as long as the setting makes the story pop, I’m all for it.
Jen,
Added that book to my list and am looking for it right now. Thanks for the book pimp, if you think it’s a good choice then I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.
Have you read The Quinn Brother’s series by Nora Roberts. I know you think she’s overrated but the Quinn’s brother’s series is one of my favorite series out right now and I think you should give them a shot. The series is set in the Chesapeake Bay and soooooo good. You should definitely read it.
Willaful,
To each his own, I guess, huh? =) That’s okay, I’ll like jungle books enough for the both of us.
Mary,
Oh! I’m so glad you enjoyed NBC, I really enjoyed that one as well. Have you read SEP’s latest, WHAT I DID FOR LOVE? You’ll see Dean’s Mom in that book, she’s a friend of the heroine. Blue and Dean’s book will always hold a special place in my heart because I so enjoyed their story. It was too funny and just perfect for the both of them.
Ranearia,
What jungle books have you read so far?
I just wanted to pop in and say, “HA! I told you so, I told you so!” and also, be careful what you say about Ben or else Daph might cut you.
I think setting can be important. I’m completely over anything set in Regency England right now, but I’ve read many that worked in that setting in the past. I think it’s just all about the author.
Kat Martin has a contemporary series set in the jungle. Remind me later and I’ll get the titles for you.
Mary M. I think that book was a Sandra Brown novel. Devil’s Own. I know that one was in the jungle and I’m fairly certain that the heroine claimed to be a nun.I just looked up this title and I can’t confirm that’s really it. I read that book in my teens, so well over a decade ago, and it was a French translation since I didn’t speak English at the time, so the title and characters names are probably different. I think my mom might still have the book on her Harlequin shelf… I’ll check see if I can find it.
I travel a lot in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and would really like some contemporary romances set in those places. One of my favorite books is “Prince of Ice” by Marcia Rose (set at an Alpine ski resort in Austria) and I loved reading about the Christmas traditions and it has a very gorgeous Austrian hero. But it was written in the 80s. I’d even like some set in Eastern Europe – a long time ago, Harlequin Romances had a lot of northern/middle European settings, but a lot of that seems to have moved to Itay, Greece, Spain and Latin America. If anyone has any good reads set in Germany, Switzerland, Austria or even Czechoslovakia I’d love to hear them.
Anything other than WW2, please. There is so much more to Germany and Austria than just those 12 horrific years of Hitler.
The story about the mercenary and the nun is named Forever by Lynn Turner. It is a Harlequin book. I have very fond memories of this book – the hero is alpha as can be and there were some pretty funny moments in it.