So, if any of you are like me, you finished this thing late Friday night. Those of you who had your shit together and finished it earlier, congratulations. Pricks.
This is my first book club, and my first foray into the world of romantic literature, so PandaRobots helped out with the questions here. Everybody thank PandaRobots.
So, my first impression of romance novels, if this is a good barometer for the genre, is they’re silly. But that’s cool, that’s their thing. Being unhappy because they’re not more serious is like disliking “I’m Gonna Get You Sucka” for lacking gravity. Well, on to some discussion topics.
1. Do you think the tension in Brittany’s and Luis’ relationship would be helped by changing the book to first person? We already knew the obstacles in place, and knew both sides to those obstacles. They weren’t anything a quick conversation over a latte wouldn’t solve.
2. So, the heart transplant was symbolic, right? I mean, there’s no way it could not be. Like physical scars to go along with her emotional ones, or developing the ability to love?
3. I’m totally as hot as the guy on the cover, right?
4. I get this is the third book in a series, and other people have been described in those novels, but I feel that had they aptly described the satellite characters in this story, they would have felt less like adults in a Peanuts comic strip. Your opinion?
5. According to romance novel guidelines and Vivi’s interview, romance novels have to end with a “Happily Ever After,” often explicitly or implicitly marriage. Is this necessary today?
6. Romance books aimed at younger readers have a more virginal male character and a female character who initiates the physical contact (or so PandaRobots tell me – I have never read a Twilight book in my life). This book is the opposite. Do older audiences (particularly women) want a partner more experienced than they are?
7. These women are courting eternal damnation in an attempt to seduce Luis. Have any of you ever behaved so irresponsibly in attempt to get into someone’s pants?
That’s all the questions from me. Feel free to ask some of your own in the comments.
