“Same old stuff…He wants to take us in a different direction, tamer games, more commercial titles. The fact it’s my company and I’m not interested makes him bawl like a newb with more ego than sense who’s spent the last hour being camped…”

Hallo and morning all! Allyson here, and I’m feeling just a teeny, tiny, tad ranty. Really just a little bit though.

I have a confession to make. As a contemporary romance author, I should be a huge fan of the genre, right? I mean, that seems to make sense. And here’s the thing, I love a good love story (see what I did there?). Like with any genre, especially in a world where anyone can publish anything at any time, and trends assault us on an hourly basis, not everything out there is quality.

But a lot of it is. I’m a huge fan of Tawna Fenske, for instance. Cathryn Fox, Becca Jameson, Tiffany Reisz (okay, not The Original Sinners books aren’t romance, but they’re shelved in the romance section in B&N, and they do have love stories in them, so I’m cheating and citing them anyway).

I’ve been struggling with this, trying to figure out why I’m so picky about my romance novels. But to be honest, it’s why I’m so picky about any novel. It’s why I struggle to find an urban fantasy book I enjoy, it’s why I can’t finish so many of the contemporary fiction books I pick up.

I can’t relate to the characters. And it’s not because they’re not well-written characters, or because the characters aren’t relatable. They’re just not for me.

I don’t expect every character I read to have a similar profession to mine – though it might be nice every once in a while to read about a female programmer in a story that was about the person and not about the fact she was an oddity. I don’t expect them all to like the same things as me, or listen to the same music.

But when I run across that character who’s got a unique blend of insecurity and confidence – who knows when to stick up for themselves, but still has self doubts. When I find a character who doesn’t define themselves by the flock of people they’re surrounded by, but rather by their own qualities. Who knows what true friendship is and doesn’t sacrifice intelligence for the sake of appearance. Who knows the difference between falling in love with someone, and falling in love with the idea of someone loving them.

Those are the characters I swoon for. Make me believe they believe how they’re acting, how they’re feeling. Show me they have a good reason for it. Whether it’s a love story, or a high-stakes espionage, convince me that person deserves to succeed in their quest because of who they are, because they earned it, and not because the author needs them to.

That’s not asking too much, is it? What do you require of your reading?