Comments on: Give Me Sexual Tension or Give Me Death by Elizabeth Amber

By: orannia

orannia — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:34:44 +0000

Susan – I think I know which suspense book you’re talking about…and yes, I was shocked too, although I can kind of understand the author’s reasonings for doing so… It was still a huge shock!

By: Elizabeth Amber

Elizabeth Amber — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:31:31 +0000

Oh, man, Susan, the death of the hero or heroine that I’m rooting to get together would drive me crazeee! I’d be rewriting that one in my head for sure. I’m visiting my mom this week, and she and I were talking about HEAs. She doesn’t need an HEA. She wants to be moved by a story even if it causes her to feel the characters’ pain. I agreed that I want to be moved and that it can be a painful battle to find happiness, but I need the characters to prove themselves deserving of and to find the reward of that happiness. ~ Thanks so much for stopping by to chat!

By: Susan Kelley

Susan Kelley — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 03:11:51 +0000

I like HEA even in the books I read that aren’t romance at least for the main characters. I recently quite reading a suspense author because in the most recent book in the series she killed the hero who had slowly been working his way into the heroine’s good graces. Live is too rough and difficult at times to look for more sadness in my entertainment. But go ahead and make it a battle to find that HEA, but they have to get there to make me happy.

By: Elizabeth Amber

Elizabeth Amber — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:57:09 +0000

Hi ChrisseyAnn,
I remember Skye O’Malley, too, and I really enjoyed it. Honestly, I never read the rest of the saga, only because of my life at that time took me away from reading for a while, so I didn’t know about the Velvet/Jasmine books. Having someone else raise a heroine’s child is a definite tear-jerker–I get more upset about the unhappiness of a child in a story than that of the hero/heroine. However, even though I might be upset by one book within a series not winding up happily, I’ll still give the other books a shot once I’m invested in the characters. I envy you in a way. My reading horizons would certainly be broadened if I liked HEA and non-HEAs! )

By: Elizabeth Amber

Elizabeth Amber — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:49:04 +0000

Hi Karin,
Thanks for stopping by. I agree wholeheartedly!

Hi Bonnie,
Nice to see another Kensington author here. Linda Howard is a major favorite of mine and great with building sexual tension. Her early books were among the first romance novels I ever read. I also thought Kresley Cole did a fantastic job with building sexual tension in her A Hunger Like No Other. And Bonnie, you write wonderful stories and characters, which I hope everyone gets a chance to read!

Hey Orannia,
Thanks so much for your thoughts. My heart aches for characters when I read books like this. Sometimes I’m in the mood for that, and at other times I want the assurance of that HEA. Just hearing that the main characters go through a lot and then have to part kills me! And it means I probably won’t read a book. Sadly for me, because that means I’ll miss out on some great books!

By: ChrisseyAnn

ChrisseyAnn — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:04:08 +0000

I neither want, nor need a HEA at the end of EVERY story I read. And it really all depends on the story. I know that sounds lame, but it’s true.
Sometimes I think that the two people are better off without each other by the end of the book. Perfectly normal, well adjusted people don’t always belong together after the initial sexual tension has worn off a little. Much less some of the characters in books….
And as for liking sexual tension, or heaping trouble?? Well, I like both. It’s very plausible for there to be trouble because of and in-spite of the sexual tension. And vise-verse.

I have totally rewritten stories in my head before. Case in point: Bertrice Small wrote some books about a character named Skye and her daughter Velvet (Skye’s youngest child from the O’Malley Saga), and in the first one about Velvet (This heart of mine, O’Malley book 4) Velvet’s daughter, Jasmine is left in India and raised without her. That was a real tear jerker. But it was in the middle of the book! I soo wanted to rewrite that in my imagination into a happy ending right there, and quit reading… but it was worth it for Velvet by the end of the book. She did have a HEA with her first husband, in the end, just not the one I wanted her to have, (but then she’s not my character). The trade off for her HEA with Hubby #1 was that, her second husband had to die and she had to go through some pretty major emotional turmoil.
But I respect the decision Ms. Small made, to make Velvet’s life such hell, it spawned a whole half dozen (or so) more books about Velvet and Jasmine’s descendants.

So like I said, I think it all depends on the story or book… It wasn’t the Happy Ending I would have picked for Velvet and Jasmine, but it wasn’t my story to write and it all worked out in the end. It was still a good book and a well written story, and I don’t think it detracted from the Saga, over-all.

By: Elizabeth Amber

Elizabeth Amber — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:50:50 +0000

Aloha Jan, and thank you so much. I’m glad you came by, and I’m thrilled that you’re enjoying the satyrs. I know what you mean about sadness in your own life making you turn more toward HEAs. With the bad economy, I find I’m reading more HEA romance novels. Other than that, I usually read nonfiction. I think the first book I ever read with an unhappy ending was Gone with the Wind. I LOVED that book, but I think I rewrote that ending in my head for years. I couldn’t stand that Rhett and Scarlett didn’t get together because I cared so much about them. I love good, realistic banter, too. We were talking about that on Claudia Dain’s blog here on Romance Novel TV a few days ago. Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Susan Andersen are great at that. Oh, I so agree about a series ending. Even if there’s a happy ending, sometimes I’m so wrapped up in the characters that it’s almost as if the author killed them, because they’re suddenly gone! I know other readers feel that way because I hear from them asking about what happened to characters after the book ended, and I’ve heard other authors saying that happens to them as well. Hugs, and take care.

By: Elizabeth Amber

Elizabeth Amber — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:38:44 +0000

Hi Beth, I’ve noticed that I tend to remember books with unhappy endings. I don’t want to, but I do. Before I started writing my first novel, I rewrote endings to movies and books with unhappy endings. Only in my head, not on paper. The Bodyguard is a perfect example of one of those movies I remember well and rewrote the ending I wanted them to have.

You’re welcome, Heather (re your comment about the process of writing Lyon’s turmoil). I’m surmising you must be one of those people like me, who read the endings of books to be sure there’s an HEA before you buy or check it out of the library. And by coincidence, I just got back from lunch out with five other authors, and we discussed this topic. Someone (the only guy at the table) mentioned Nicholas Sparks and said he won’t read any more because of the unhappy endings of those you mentioned. Even though he enjoys NS otherwise.

Hi Larena, thanks for your kind words about the satyr series. I love writing them and although I’m deliriously happy every time I finish one and send it off, there’s a part of me that wants to keep writing about those characters because it’s hard to let go. I’m not a vamp reader, but I’ve heard J. Hill is great. I’ll have to try to angel and mermaid books. Thanks for the suggestions.

Ah! I’m visiting my mom and she just called me for happy hour, so I’ll be back in a few.

By: orannia

orannia — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:05:19 +0000

Hi Elizabeth,

I’m another reader who liked the sexual tension, especially if it builds slowly….Bolero like

As for books that make me cry – the same ones always pop into my head when I think of that question: The Last Herald Mage series, particularly the last book Magic’s Price, by Merceds Lackey. Yes, it’s classified as fantasy but…the ending is so sad. The other book that springs to mind is another fantasy book – To Ride Hell’s Chasm. The two main characters went through so much but had to part. No matter how hard I try I always have tears pouring down my cheeks after reading these books.

By: Bonnie Edwards

Bonnie Edwards — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:19:58 +0000

Put me firmly in the HEA camp. I don’t need to watch or read stories with death as an ending. We all know it’ll happen eventually…it’s the hope-filled journey I want for characters. Mine and everyone else’s.

I, too, feel more than my dh when it comes to movies. I get engrossed, care, sigh! Laugh…far more than he does.

As for sexual tension, I agree with the Linda Howard to-die-for tension. So wishing I could write like that! But I get antsy and get them into the sack.

What a fun topic!
Bonnie