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I wanted to spice up the Summer with a challenge to myself. I've decided to compare and contrast two sub-genres in the same type of fiction. Why? Well, it's just something I got in my head to do.
But if you take my challenge, pick two sub-genres of a genre of fiction (and they must be labeled as such on Amazon or wherever you get the book/audiobook from), and tag me on Twitter with a link to your analysis. My Twitter is @mrs_y_writer. To those of you who are Book Bloggers, please consider me challenging you to do the same. Simply tag me, and I will Retweet your reviews and comment, and I ask you to do the same for mine!
Here is some contest to the specific topic I have chosen to compare. "Clean Romance" vs. "Dirty Romance." I've heard this argument on Twitter. Some say that the clean ones are better than the dirty because of how tough it is to write romance without quickly slipping into some topics. Others say that clean romances are bland and preachy, and boring. That's a fundamental summary of some of these discussions I've seen; I've got no evidence, just these are my takeaways from the threads.
So, let's do this. Let's take two books that fit these categories, and I'll review them as per usual, then break them down with a compare and contrast. Ah, but what makes a romance clean or dirty? Here are the basic definitions I have to go by based on what I've seen on Twitter discussions.
Clean romance should be devoid of a sex scene but emphasize a kissing scene instead. You likely will not see cuss words in this kind of novel (hence the term clean). Regarding the plot, there should be about the same. It should be two people and their madcap start and beginning of a relationship. There may be a breakup part somewhere, but it will be about the budding and flowering relationship.
Dirty romance should have sex in it, and there is an emphasis on the budding relationship. This book should have some cussing and vulgarity in it (hence the term dirty). The fact that it has sex and vulgarity is a big difference. These don't have many if any BDSM or gravity/physics-defying sex scenes like their Erotica counterparts. Everything else, from how the people meet and their budding relationship, should be the same. There may be a breakup somewhere in it, but that's part of the formula of a romance novel.
To be clear, any review I do will have nothing to do with religion. I don't skew or move my reviews with any bias one way or the other. Everyone is entitled to whatever faith or belief they have, and if the book is covered in faith or belief, with no plot, I may note that. But as to the faith or belief system, I likely will not mention it unless it's a plot-driving device.
And also, no, I don't review Erotica anymore. That's more a personal preference. I like plotting and character growth with my romance, and I like sex scenes that make sense to physics and Newton's seven laws of gravity. Some erotica goes so beyond that. But clean vs. dirty, well, I figure this will be a good experiment to see what I like.
At the end of the two posts, I will post a compare and contrast with spoilers for both books just on my blog with my general feelings on them. I'm not sure which one I will prefer or not at the end, so this will be interesting. I would love to get some comments from anyone interested in this topic!
And so take this journey with me. Here is my review for the Clean Romance and my Dirty Review. I will post this coming week, With my Clean romance review.
