It’s reader confession time!! I love the whole “blurb catnip” subject ’cause we ALL have read those blurbs that just grab us and make us want to read it ASAP. Hence “catnip”. We go nuts over it just on the synopsis alone. 😉
But what IS it about the blurb, exactly? Do we tend to fall for a certain subject matter, time and time again? I know I DO. I’m a “forbidden love” addict (something that has the potential to go SO wrong and make me go OH NOOOOOOOO!!!!). Or the ultimate moody-brooding, uninterested hero with the whole “unrequited love” thing going on. Ugh. So hurty!!! I love it!
But today, we’re exploring Jan’s blurb catnip. 😉
Jan: Blurb catnip. Hmmmm.
I’ll have a second look if there’s some sort of arranged marriage or H and h reluctantly having to live or stay together then falling in love (duh).
H is superhot and protective but also loves kids and small animals LOL. h is strong and has moral integrity but maybe lonely or isolated by life circumstances and falls hard for manly man.
Aaaahhhhh. I’m lovin’ that book.
LOL!!!!! Oh yes I do love the arranged marriages too, ’cause it’s so hard for two strangers (or non-strangers but that don’t want to actually be together) to get along at first. And when they start… “clicking” and enjoying each other’s company, you can find me grinning ear to ear. I’m with you, Jan. AND YES. Nothing better than a hero that loves animals. *swooooooooon*
Er… P.S. Have you read M. Pierce’s Night Owl yet? It perfectly combines my love of brooding, uninterested and ornery pain-in-the-butt hero, and your love for a hero that loves animals. Sometimes it seemed that was the ONLY thing he loved. BUT OMG I LOVED HIM!!! 😛
How about you guys? Do you and Jan share the same book-blurb attraction? What’s YOUR blurb catnip?
D.G. My catnip…bully and arranged marriage. …Bully Book?!?! *ears perk up* catnip, catnip, catnip…..
Grey: And like magic… *poof* I appear. It was the word ‘bully’, it summons me, book catnip.
MichelleS: I love arranged marriages in PNR (especially with werewolves, they seem to do that a lot), and in historicals (oh no! the ugly duckling has to go to the big bad Scottish Laird). Heehee. In contemporary, not so much.
Jan: Michelle I think you’re right. Often this kind of trope works better in pnr or hr. It’s a bit harder to do well in a CR – the setup has to be really convincing or you just roll your eyes.
bev: Jan, Act Like It is not MoC , but a fake relationship of convenience.
MichelleS: You all know my catnip! “He wasn’t supposed to touch her. She was off limits. But he did it anyway.” – yippee. Who? Why? Total catnip.
Maryse: LOL!!!!!!!! Off limits is fun!!! 😛
Nay: Mine is definitely forbidden love. I also love hate>love, love triangles that are done well, and tortured, brooding heroes that want no part of a relationship, anything that makes the hero go in the total opposite direction of what his personality tells you he’ll do.
Robyn: Anything with forbidden in the title is catnip for me!
MichelleS: I love a flawed hero who is an author, so that’s just catnip right there.
Fabi: Oh my goodness, I love reading about those broody, standoffish Hs, especially if they have a strong helping of a-hole thrown in. 🙂 I love to see them tamed (or at least calmed) by the right heroine.
But my catnip? Goodness, I have way too many flavors to list them all. There is one, however, that has stood the test of time. (ha! “time”). Time Travel Romance has always been, and will always be, a favorite catnip flavor for me. Any time it’s mentioned as a sub genre or as part of the blurb, I will stop and take a double and tripple look at that book.
Lisa: My fave “catnip” is second chance romance. Love, love, love them.
Linda: Jen could you refresh my memory on book titles of the characters you listed please? Definitely one of my “”catnips.” Also when H or h is single parent. Love me those too!! …Single dad theme is catnip for me!!
Jen: Hi Linda! Ryan and Taryn are from Unscripted by Tina Reber. Jack and Keri Ann are from Eversea by Natasha Boyd. David and Evelyn are from Lick by Kylie Scott! If you haven’t read them enjoy!
Jan: Ooh yeah I’ve read some of these. I like the Kylie Scott stage dive books. Eversea and Unscripted I couldn’t get into so much. I’ve tried Unscripted twice and it’s very long. DNF for me :-/ I liked Eyes of Silver Eyes of Gold.
I’ll definitely check out Night Owl. Thanks Maryse 😀 I’ll have a look at your recs too DG. Thanks 😀
Debbie: Definitely arranged marriages with them hating each other then faking in love, maybe throw some abuse in there too, lol. I also love the marriage growing apart and going there separate wise only to wind up together again. And don’t forget about the sex slavery books and then they fall in love!
Donna: Don’t judge but I get giddy on potential stalker….Gotta take/have/own her…lol total catnip
Leslie M: Some of my catnips would be: love triangle, hot for teacher, office romance, single parent, grumpy hero, famous H w/regular h, forbidden (or cheating) *gasp*, bad boy meets good girl who tames him and I love anything with MC’s having close relationship w/sibs. (Like Katniss with Prim in Hunger Games).
Jan: Another fav of mine is friends-to-lovers. Oh that awkward but so sweet moment when they know each so well and finally both decide they will go THERE……..
Leslie M: Oooh Jan, me too! Friends to lovers is awesome.
Grey: I love these! Jan… You naughty little monkey! Love, love, love it!!! Thanks for letting us see inside your catnippy world! And thanks as always, Maryse!
Jan: 😉
Maryse: …my book trope “catnip”. I LOVE jerk-heroes that eventually redeem themselves, but lots of work for it. 😉 In books. Only and always in BOOKS. Just putting it out there so the Universe doesn’t get any ideas. LOL!!! Oh ALSO!! Castaway/survival books are my favorite (totally my catnip) Devastating circumstances, and you have to depend on each other… and then the bonding. And the crazy fears. MINE!!!
Michele G: Kelly Elliott’s Never Enough was amazing…sexy bull riding single dad with baggage…mmm catnip!! I can’t say enough about how immersed I became in this book! I highly recommend!!
Lisa A: Cheating, marital strife, psych thriller. That’s catnip for sure.
Victoria: marital strife This trope is like catnip to me!
Joy: Uuuuuuhhhhh, this trope is so me! I love older man/younger woman theme. It’s my catnip, meeeeeow. Its odd because I’m the older woman that married a younger man, lol.
R. Renee: Thirty six year old widower and a 21 year old quirky blonde? Obviously my catnip…
Ann: older woman younger man … this trope is my catnip
Tessa: FAE! BULLY! FANTASY WORLD! So, just pure catnip
Kathy: my catnip of widowed Dad with small children. I definitely recommend it.
Ela: Banned = catnip
I love arranged marriages in PNR (especially with werewolves, they seem to do that a lot), and in historicals (oh no! the ugly duckling has to go to the big bad Scottish Laird). Heehee. In contemporary, not so much.
You all know my catnip! “He wasn’t supposed to touch her. She was off limits. But he did it anyway.” – yippee. Who? Why? Total catnip.
LOL!!!!!!!!
Off limits is fun!!! 😛
My fave “catnip” is second chance romance. Love,love,love them.
My catnip is famous rockstar/actor and regular girl! Like Ryan Christensen and Taryn Mitchel, Jack Eversea and Keri Ann Butler and my favorite David Ferris and Evelyn Thomas!
Definitely arranged Marriages with them hating each other then faking in love, maybe throw some abuse in there too, lol.
I also love the marriage growing apart and going there separate wise only to wind up together again. And don’t forget about the sex slavery books and then they fall in love!
Jan, Have you read Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold?
Don’t judge but I get giddy on potential stalker….Gotta take/have/own her…lol total catnip
Jen could you refresh my memory on book titles of the characters you listed please? Definitely one of my “”catnips.” Also when H or h is single parent. Love me those too!!
Ohhh like The Unwanted Wife, Virtue and Vanity, and Sparrow….LOVE a good “arranged” marriage…especially when there is a deception on the H’s part. You know one of those it was a business deal with a parent kinda thing…and then BAM, h finds out and all heck breaks out. The Unwanted Wife is an older one but one of my favs.
Hi Linda! Ryan and Taryn are from Unscripted by Tina Reber. Jack and Keri Ann are from Eversea by Natasha Boyd. David and Evelyn are from Lick by Kylie Scott! If you haven’t read them enjoy!
Ooh yeah I’ve read some of these. I like the Kylie Scott stage dive books. Eversea and Unscripted I couldn’t get into so much. I’ve tried Unscripted twice and it’s very long. DNF for me :-/ I liked Eyes of Silver Eyes of Gold. Michelle I think you’re right. Often this kind of trope works better in pnr or hr. It’s a bit harder to do well in a CR – the setup has to be really convincing or you just roll your eyes.
I’ll definitely check out Night Owl. Thanks Maryse 😀 I’ll have a look at your recs too DG. Thanks 😀
DG, who is the author of Unwanted Wife and Virtue and Vanity?
BTW, when I checked out Unwanted Wife on amazon.au, one of the choices it offered was:
Unwanted by the White Billionaire (Interracial BWWM Doctor Pregnancy Steamy Romance)
Uh huh…………. *snorts*
Oh well, I guess there’s an audience for it somewhere………
Jan, Act Like It is not MoC , but a fake relationship of convenience.
lol Jan… that is definitely not the same one. The Unwanted Wife by Natasha Anders and Virtue and Vanity by Astrid Jane Ray. Warning on V&V it starts with a very strong violent act…could be a trigger for some. But all of these are CR.
Mine is definitely forbidden love. I also love hate>love, love triangles that are done well, and tortured, brooding heroes that want no part of a relationship, anything that makes the hero go in the total opposite direction of what his personality tells you he’ll do.
Oh my goodness, I love reading about those broody, standoffish Hs, especially if they have a strong helping of a-hole thrown in. 🙂 I love to see them tamed (or at least calmed) by the right heroine.
But my catnip? Goodness, I have way too many flavors to list them all. There is one, however, that has stood the test of time. (ha! “time”). Time Travel Romance has always been, and will always be, a favorite catnip flavor for me. Any time it’s mentioned as a sub genre or as part of the blurb, I will stop and take a double and tripple look at that book.
Some of my catnips would be: love triangle, hot for teacher, office romance, single parent, grumpy hero, famous H w/regular h, forbidden (or cheating) *gasp*, bad boy meets good girl who tames him and I love anything with MC’s having close relationship w/sibs. (Like Katniss with Prim in Hunger Games).
Thanks DG. I’ll check those out. bev, thanks. I think I downloaded a sample of Act Like It ages ago but I don’t think I even read the sample. *goes to find sample of Act Like It*
Another fav of mine is friends-to-lovers. Oh that awkward but so sweet moment when they know each so well and finally both decide they will go THERE……..
Oooh Jan, me too! Friends to lovers is awesome.
I love these! Jan… You naughty little monkey! Love, love, love it!!! Thanks for letting us see inside your catnippy world! And thanks as always, Maryse!
😉
I am drawn to those mountain men. They seem to find a lady in distress in the middle of nowhere!
Yessss!!! You know I love that too!