Note: This post contains some spoilers. And a duck.
Sometimes, in romances, I feel like I’m doing a lot of work. One of the heroes, say, makes the same dastardly mistake time and again, yet their love interest PUTS UP WITH THIS without ANY DUCKING DISCUSSION! Or the heroine refuses to stand up to the hero, but we’re DUCKING UNSURE WHY! Or the hero is such a rotten egg that turning the page feels like eating a pair of pinking shears!
This is why I’d like to buy Carol Marinelli the kind of cocktail that has multiple umbrellas on top.
Duck: And pondweed vodka. That’s my favorite.
See, in her book Billionaire Without A Past, Marinelli tells the ducking story. There’s movement in her voice, and her sentence flow is frankly voluptuous. Her characters feel like real flesh-and-blood people whose flaws are understandable. In scene, Marinelli shows us her characters, thereby letting us sit in their conflicts so that we get to know them intimately. Yet when the story needs to ramp up, she tells it, steering us to the next enticing plot point with a deft hand. It’s a gorgeous, scenic ride. She knows just where to take us.
Duck: Hmm. Perhaps she’s a duck.
Pet peeve: Writers who say stories should be shown not told. In truth, storytelling demands telling as well, otherwise we sit in everything, including the washing up! Pace requires telling! Intimacy requires showing! (Imagine if you showed someone your whole, dull day! They’d be begging you to do some telling, just to get to the fun bits!) Anyway, Carol Marinelli clearly gets this. She’s a master of knowing where to sit and where to pick up the pace. That’s why this is such a page-turner for me.
Also, as a survivor of sexual abuse, I have a lot of respect for how she handles this sensitive topic. She even deals with a history of same-gender sexual abuse without offending yours truly, which, considering I’m queer, is very much appreciated.
But note to protagonist on proposal scene: Listen, pal, if you’re serious about this consent m’larky, you do actually need to pop the question.
Have a great week, my friends.
Romancey Pants 