Tuesday, September 18, 2012

A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis by Jillian Stone (Guest Post/Giveaway)

Today I am happy to welcome back steampunk, historical romance author - Jillian Stone! 


Name Your Favorite Romance Trope

There are many tried and true plots in the world of Romance novels. I know I have quite a few favorites and thought I’d list some of them here today, so we could have a chat about them. I’m pretty sure everyone will be familiar with these storylines, so here goes:

The Wager This one just might be the most over used of the classic romance tropes when it comes to Regency romance. If done well, however it is often a sure fire winner  with romance readers. Typically, these stories almost always begin with a wager in a Gentlemen’s Club in London.

The Handsome Devil Himself: His Hotness Another personal favorite of mine. You want to hate him, but he’s just so hot. This hero can be coarse, disagreeable and arrogant, but despite his hotness, there is no one in the world the heroine is more intrigued with. He toys with her, and is generally condescending––so he couldn’t possibly be attracted to her...could he? He often been called ‘the hero the reader loves to hate or hates to love’. Sometimes, he’s both! Example: Loretta Chase’s Sebastian in Lord of Scoundrel’s.

The Arranged Marriage Another tried and true romance plot which begins with childhood fairytales like Beauty and the Beast, and dogs a woman for the rest of her life. I read somewhere that these kinds of tales were told to young women (in the days of arranged marriages) to prepare them for their eventual husbands! This is another tried and true trope that gets reinvented over and over again.

Star-Crossed Lovers Romeo and Juliet. Enough said.

Furious Attraction. They argue, they bicker incessantly, they argue some more. They kiss. Hands down one of my favs, if it is handled well. Since we are on a Shakespeare roll, a great example is The Taming of the Shrew. Another example is Moonlighting, the mid-1980’s TV show, which notably produced a homage to Shakespeare’s comedy.

Right Under Your Nose Love this plot as well. Hero or heroine has been looking for love in all the wrong places. Ultimately they find it right under their noses. There is great tension in this storyline if the reader is rooting for the two to discover each other. And it takes a skillful writer to pull this one off as the audience/reader is usually way ahead of the characters from the get-go.

The Wallflower A perennial plot which will be retold over and over in fresh new ways until the end of time. Case in point Eloisa James latest release The Ugly Duchess, A more contemporary version might be Bridget Jones Diary.


Off to a Bad Start Hero and heroine are off to such an awful start it takes nearly the whole book for them to admit they’re crazy about each other. A nice complexity for this kind of story is if the hero is a bullying rogue-ish type and heroine is equally feisty. This creates lots of wonderful sexual tension.

Snowbound with a Stranger Heroine and hero stuck together for days with no outside disturbances. High concept, pure romance fantasy! 

Long Lost Love Robin Hood and Maid Marian, for example have been childhood friends and were in love before they were separated and later reunited. There is something about this plot that is classic and timeless for me, which is why I decided to build the love story in A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis around this trope.

Here's the back cover blurb:



When Fanny Greyville-Nugent's father suffers a gruesome death in the clutches of his own machine, mourning his loss is not the beautiful heiress's only heartbreak. Scotland Yard is convinced he was targeted in a plot to halt the rise of industry, and Fanny's former fiancé, dashing and dubious detective Raphael "Rafe" Lewis, has been assigned to the case.
For the estranged ex-lovers, bringing the notorious assassins to justice proves as tumultuous as quelling pent-up desires. Fighting peril and passion at every turn of a dangerous journey from Edinburgh to London, they are pursued by an anarchist group hell-bent on destroying her father's mysterious entry into the London Industrial Exposition.

When an astonishing discovery about the couple's failed engagement surfaces, the sleuthing duo realize they can trust no one. Rafe confesses new details about his infidelity and Fanny risks all to avenge her father's murder. But will Rafe and Fanny triumph over the pain of their past?

Attention commenters Share your favorite romance trope with for a chance to win a signed copy of A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis! And if you enjoy historical romance, romantic suspense, and “long lost love” is one of your favorite tropes, you just might give A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis a try! ;)

Thanks to Reading Between the Wines for inviting me back to blog today!
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~*GIVEAWAY*~
As Jillian mentioned above, she is giving away one copy of A Dangerous Affair with Detective Lewis to one reader today. (Open Internationally.) To enter, just leave a comment on this post answering her question and then fill out the rafflecopter below. Additional entries are available but not required. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

25 comments:

  1. Hmm, tough one. I've read every type there is. I think it all depends on the author as to whether they do it or not. But the Off To A Bad Start is one of my favorites.
    lisa(at)vetteklisa(dot)com

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  2. I love historical romance & my fav trope is the intelligent heroine who struggles unappreciated (until the hero that is!) in her desire to be able to use her talents in a man's world .

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  3. I've always enjoyed the Wallflower trope.

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  4. Tough one... I think that my favorite trope, although it always depends on the author, is the damsel in distress... I know it's overused, but I'm never tired of reading stories where the heroine is in grave danger :)

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  5. hum i don't really have one, it will depends on the authors'style etc i think

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  6. I like all kinds of reunion stories between the hero and heroine.

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  7. Really don't have a favorite. Depends on the story and the writing.

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  8. It's too hard to pick just one. I love all types. It mainly just depends on my mood of the moment.
    Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
    cassandrahicks1989@yahoo.com

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  9. It's too hard to pick just one. I love all types. It mainly just depends on my mood of the moment.
    Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
    cassandrahicks1989@yahoo.com

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  10. I love to read period but I do have a soft sport for historical romance.

    jeninquincy at gmail.com

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  11. I love it when the heroin surprises the hero - perhaps with unusual skills.
    sallans d at yahoo dot com

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  12. I love all those Romance Tropes you mentioned, but especially those containing “long lost love”! I already have this one on my wishlist, but would love to win... thanks for the chance!!!

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  13. They're all great tropes and if they have a hint of comedy,
    well.. even better, especially if they're bickering, fighting
    and trying to find a solution to get them out the pickle
    they've found themselves in.This looks really good.
    divavixenqueen(at)gmail(dot)com

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  14. The Arranged Marriage would be one of my favorites. I love watching the couple work things out.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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  15. My favorite trope is the marriage of convenience.

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  16. I really don't have one that I like more than any other. At the same time I can't say I have found one I don't like. As long as the author makes it believable and not too predictable I will usually get on board and like it.

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  17. Lisa, Off to a bad start is a wonderful trope because there is a built in obstacle!

    Linda, A smart, struggling heroine and a hero who recognizes her brilliance...yeah, I'm with you!

    Alyn, I love wallflowers...and I always root for them!

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  18. Anna, Since I write historical romantic suspense, I have to be careful about how I approach the damsel in distress as it is so often a plot element in RS. Still, you want to give the hero an opportunity to be heoric. Wierdly, it's a difficulty!

    Miki, All if these tropes have been used since forever, and they are very much dependent on the imagination and skill of the writer.

    Na, Renunion or long lost love: You will enjoy A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis

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  19. fundinmental, Cassandra and Jen, You all sound like you're pretty open to any storyline!

    Di, Oh that's a nice one! Often used in paranormal or urban fantasy!

    yadkny, Yes, I believe you would enjoy A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis

    divavixenqueen, Yes, I think you will enjoy Det. Rafe Lewis and Fanny as they work through their issues on the run!

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  20. Marybelle, Arranged marriage, I personally love the awkward scariness of this situation. Dark and strange with lots of potential for a turn about!

    Maureen, Marriage of Convenience, a Regency romance favorite! This one (for me) has possibly been done one too many times...?

    Texas Book Lover, I'm with you, I love quite a few of these tropes!

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  21. I love the Best-Friends-Younger-Sister trope! I think it has to do with my childhood love of a friends older brother :) For the longest time I wanted him to wake up & see I was the woman of his dreams. Its ok though, I have my own love story now and he's in jail :) I think it's a good thing that my wish didn't come true, lol. I think your book 'A Dangerous Affair With Detective Lewis' sounds great. Thank you for the giveaway!!!

    -Selena Mc

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  22. Selena Mc, Sounds like you dodged a bullet and a trope!

    I do love the Best Friend's Brother/Sister trope! I think it does harken back to childhood crushes.

    Good luck!

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  23. I like a lot of different tropes. One of my favorites is a fairy tale theme.
    castings at mindspring dot com

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  24. I think my favorites would be
    1. Furious Attraction
    and a very close
    2. Wallflower.

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  25. My fav is paranormal romance and I usually stick to that genre but I dabble in urban, contemporary, historical, and erotica. sdylion(at)gmail(dot)com

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