Monday, January 24, 2022

The Romancies: Part 3 - Favorite Scene

 



*Books eligible could be published in any year, they just had to be read by me in 2021. 
Clicking on book cover brings you to my review


Nominees:

       

    



1.  Unbound by Cara McKenna

There were multiple scenes that could have made the nominees list but I try to use the Romancies to highlight as many different books as I can, so, even though it was tortuous, I whittled it down to one.

Scary as this was . . . telling her these things was like a bloodletting. The initial cut hurt like hell, but with it done he could feel the toxins escaping, making room for relief. 

The hero Rob is the stereotypical visual of a manly man, there's a scene where he's chopping wood in a flannel that I wanted to nominate that has the heroine Mary having some Feels. What I loved so much about this story was how the author played with power dynamics and duality of "manliness" and Rob's need to be subservient in the bedroom. This scene is when Rob finally opens up to Mary about his wants and desires that he's felt so ashamed off all his life and Mary not letting him shied or hide away from what she sensed in the bedroom and it just made my eyes water. The way Rob not only finally gets what he wants but realizes that he doesn't have to be ashamed of it. It's obviously not a full turn around because the shame he holds is a lifetime accruement but the beginning is there and I love when the romance genre gives readers this, acceptance and love for who you are.

Honorable Mention:  The ending but I can't put it here because it is too much of a spoiler.


2.  Wild Rain by Beverly Jenkins

If I read a Jenkins in the year, it is almost assured to show up as a nominee in Best Scene. This author's family dynamics never fails to hit me in the heart and gut. This time it was between the hero Garrett and his father. The scene is of them having a heart to heart and Garrett trying to tell his father how he wants to live his life his way and his father trying to explain why he tries to control and hold his two children so tightly. It's about love, different generational struggles, and that complicated parent-child relationship and Garrett's father's reasonings will make your eyes water. 


3.  Love at First by Kate Clayborne

This is kind of three scenes but I'm getting around this because it's all in the same spot and they all tie together. The leads first and second meetings sixteen years apart and then the ending balcony scene. GAH THE ROMANCE


4.  A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant

Another one that I was tortured with picking out only one scene! I went with one-ish, two scenes that tie together that ended up having nothing to do with the romance.

Of course no girl in this cottage was likely to attend balls, but the simpleminded daughter might have to remain here always, watching her younger sisters grow past her to contrive their own establishments. 
This observation, thought, and feeling from the hero Theo hit hard. I feel like a lot of the time the compassion and empathy is directed to the family of an intellectually disabled member, instead of the person themselves. Usually, the hero or heroine is caring for them and it's always, "How noble of you!". The last of this little thought feeling was just, watery eyes. 
He’d come here with honorable intentions, and indeed, he could feel the first sparks of anger struck within him—but they were promptly smothered by thick, poisonous shame. What man could stand under Mrs. Weaver’s awful gaze and not suspect a monster lurked deep inside him after all? 
Oh this scene. Theo's went back to the house that Christine, the intellectually disabled girl, and brought gifts. Her mother Mrs. Weaver sees them close together and thinks Theo is trying to seduce her with gifts. Theo's angry and disgusted, at the situation and himself and I know we're probably supposed to feel bad for him but I was all about Mrs. Weaver in this scene. She breathes the fire at him in a way that she doesn't have to say a word, he owns the estate her family lives on, but Theo knows he's not getting pass this warrior to take advantage of her daughter. The guts, because of consequences, the love, and the bravery showcased by Mrs. Weaver here, just LOVE. 


5.  An Unlikely Governess by Karen Ranney

"Do you believe in love at first sight, Miss Sinclair?"  
"No."  
He laughed softly. "Now who's the cynic?"  
"Why fall in love with someone's appearance? People get sick, or grow old. The character matters more than looks, Mr. Gordon. Wit, intelligence, kindness, all matter more than appearance."  
"So, you would have love come after a conversation?"  
"Perhaps."  
"How long would it take?"  
"The conversation?"  
His smile chided her. "Falling in love."  
"How should I know if it's never happened to me?"  
"Perhaps we should talk longer, Miss Sinclair, have a few more conversations."  
He looked away, and it was just as well, because she didn't know how to answer him.  

Y'all. I mean, this stopped me in my tracks. Our stoic contained hero Devlen, just dropped a huge emotional bomb in a way that delighted the hell out of me. This was a hidden depth moment that always make me sit-up and pay attention, he's essentially saying, "I love you, now catch up!"


6.  The Marriage Game by Sara Desai

It's not all watery eyes and deep thoughts here in WhiskeyintheJar Romance, this scene gets nominated for pure pervy. At around the halfway point, the leads' tension finally snaps and we get a pretty hot clothes getting stripped off in an elevator sex scene.


7.  A Lowcountry Bride by Preslaysa Williams

I lean towards more broody books and those tend to have angsty parental relationships, so when there's obvious love there between child and parent, they hit me a little harder. There's a scene between the hero Derek and his daughter Jamila where he is doing her hair and it was so sweet I felt my eyes water out of nowhere. 


8.  The Wildest Ride by Marcella Bell

If you read this book, then I know you're thinking, this has got to be the low slung towel on the hero cowboy scene, something along the lines of 
his late in the day, his face was all five-o-clock scruff and shadowed planes in low lighting and she fought the urge to run her fingers along his jawline.
Are those scenes tucked away in the ol' memory bank? YES. But, the scene that earned the nomination was the scene where the heroine Lil fights to prove and remind people that "girls had try" too. It's one of the personal chips on my shoulder, the disappointment/anger in my heart and that simple phrase "girls had try" had my eyes watering.


9.  The Wives of Bowie Stone by Maggie Osborne

Again, so many scenes to pick from! Like I said, I like broody, angsty tear your heart out and this damn book wrecked me. The scene I whittled it down to:

"I'm not going to help you destroy yourself." He drew a breath and looked at her, trying to recall how she looked and smelled when she was fresh out of a bath. "Getting drunk won't change the past. It's time to forget the past, clean up your life and move on."   
"I am so sick of your lectures! Stop drinking, stop smoking, stop swearing, stop remembering … I might as well stop living!" She stared at his tight jawline. "You just don't understand, do you? There's nothing in this whole miserable world I'd like better than to forget what he did to me! And I could forget if only I'd had the chance to say my piece and shoot the bastard. Everything would be different!"  
"It's too late for revenge. You've got this crazy idea that Frank Blevins can still see you and hear you. He's dead, Rosie. Blevins has been dead for three years. I'm sorry you didn't get to say your piece, and I'm sorry that life isn't fair; but it's too late to change that. It's over now."

It's when the heroine says "stop remembering" that I got that gut punch. I picked this scene out of all the others because it's more towards the beginning and it shows the reader the pain the heroine is in, giving context to some of her thoughts and actions and how the hero isn't going to help her and is going to help her. It's a lot of the crux for the raw open wound this story is. 


10.  Devil's Daughter by Lisa Kleypas

As Justin crouched to stare at the carving more closely, a glass marble dropped out of his pocket and hit the inlaid parquet floor. Dismayed, Phoebe and Justin watched the little sphere roll away rapidly. But its momentum was brought to an abrupt halt as the dark-haired man pinned it with the tip of his shoe in a display of perfect timing. As he finished his conversation, he bent to pick up the marble. The housekeeper bustled away, and the man turned his attention to Phoebe and Justin. 

I loved this moment! "Brought to an abrupt halt, turned his attention to" It gives that zing of anticipation that I love in the beginning of romance books, the spark I keep talking about missing from historical romance stories lately. That moment that makes you feel giddy as the two leads make that first contact and enter each other's orbit. Gah, I love this reading feeling!



Winner:



Mrs. Weaver's love. I'm telling you, just typing up that snippet for the nominee selection had my eyes watering all over again. This scene with all the love and consequences wrecked me. I'm signing up for romantic love when I read a romance genre book but damn if romance doesn't deliver in a thousand other ways.


2020 Winner

















Have a favorite scene that sticks with you from 2021? 
 Next time, Favorite Quote...

5 comments:

  1. I read Unbound a 2-3 years ago. So, not that long, but I remember the poignancy. The only other book I read on this list was Love at First and I got to say that some of my favorite scenes in that book were with Gerald. But I can't say they were necessarily romantic. lol

    When it comes to romance, my favorite scene was in The Rose Code. Gah! Mab's wedding night. Romantic, but also poignant since Mab was a hard nut to crack and her new husband "got" her. Even though they barely knew each other.

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  2. Gerald was on the list to be a nominee for Favorite Secondary Character! He just got edged out but, yup, his convos with Will were something special.

    Mmmk, I'm going to have to add Rose Code to my tbr (I'd not even heard of this book??) based on that alone.

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    1. I only discovered (or actually decided to read) Kate Quinn's books this past year. Rose Code was my first and favorite of her most recent foray into WW2 fiction. Prior to that I think she was writing Roman and Medieval fiction/romance? Her books are very much women's fiction w/ romance and The Rose Code focuses on England during WW2. Some don't like the ending as much, but I loved the whole book and take the ending with a grain of salt. :) Do you do audio? If so, her audios are usually narrated by Saskia Maarleveld who is fabulous.

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    2. I feel like I'm starting to wear a little thin on WWII historical-romance-women's fiction, there's been so many the last couple years. The Roman and Medieval I'm intrigued to check out.

      I don't do audio, I've tried but concentration just isn't there for that format.

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    3. The nice thing about The Rose Code is it all takes place in England. It's about the German code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park and the women (and men) who worked there. It focuses particularly on three women who are hired for their specific skill set, their friendship, as well as each their different lives and romances. I'm ALWAYS hesitant to begin a new WW2 novel, but Kate Quinn is refreshing and fun. With the England setting, there's no Nazi's, holocaust victims, or the horror of those type of settings. It's war time, so there is some intensity with that element, but it's almost entirely relegated to the focuses I mentioned above.

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