slight hijack
Eve Dallas? Roarke? ~sigh~ I’d love to have their relationship. Talk about fiction. They are just so damned *understanding * of each other!
I love those books. Still waiting on some from the library, since they’re so popular the list is looooong and though I like them, I don’t like them enough to pay the price for hardcovers.
I’ve never fantasized about it. Not even, let alone tried to knowingly date a guy like this in reality. Sounds like an excellent way to pick up a venereal disease to me.
KM
Yeah, but he wasn’t the philanderer type. He was the aloof, unapproachable type. Very different.
I’m not at all drawn to the “hooking up with a wild guy settles him down” motif, but Mr. Spock was my Star Trek boyfriend for many, many years. 
Y’all are reminding me of that poem from “The Last Unicorn,” where the protagonist is waiting for a true lady to cure him of his wandering ways.
Excerpt:
(hope I didn’t quote too much…)
Brent Spiner said he got a lot of fan mail too, as Data.
If it’s not too personal a question, Selkie – if a romance novel were targeted at you and your fantasies, how would the story go?
Because Spock is really a “savage beast” underneath and they wanted to tame him, or because opening up his green, logical heart would be just as great a challenge?
Are you sure you’re worthy of your username? 
(I know, I know, kinky != promiscuous . . .)
I read one once that squicked me out. The heroine had been kidnapped and forced to travel with the band of kidnappers, used for sex by all of them throughout their travels. This was of course before her true love rescued her.
So the band of baddies shows up at some cottage in the country where the woman who lives there has to feed them etc. The country woman is envious of the heroine, because at least something is happening to her! :eek: 
I thought that somehow this represented some bored housewife reader who gets off on these books, even when they include gangbangs, peril, etc. Scary. Luckily that was not a recurring theme.
Both.
What about the most famous case of a woman “taming” a womanizer?
Warren Beatty and Annette Bening.
I wonder what her secret was.
She got him when he was 55 and his urges had cooled just a bit?
Isaac Asimov also got a lot of female fan reaction for his robot character R. Daneel Olivaw. An awful lot of women have a thing for highly intelligent, emotionless, self controlled men, it seems.
An awful lot of women like vibrators, too.
Penis-shaped, penis-sized or better, comes with no bullshit attached.
Hmmm… good question. Hamsters absolutely loathe me today, so I’ll keep it short.
[ul]
[li]Light on the discussion of the physical characteristics (both his and hers). Physical relationships between demi-gods bore me to tears. [/li][li]The brain is the sexiest organ, so lots of genuinely witty banter back and forth between the couple. They need not be beautiful, but they darned well better be articulate! … and smart, and educated (whether self or formal, I don’t care).[/li][li]Both parties somewhat unconventional and successful more on their own terms than society’s, but not fringe whack-a-loons either[/li][li]The romance builds slowly and gradually, rather than “I knew the instant we met”[/li][li]… and based largely on those little “I thought I was the only one who read this/did that/felt that way” moments where they recognize their mutual compatibility[/li][li]Neither party was actively seeking a partner, but found one out of circumstances and a gradually building admiration and appreciation of the other[/li][li]Sex recognized as an important part of intimacy, but not the be-all, end-all of it[/li][li]Speaking of sex, I’m all for those “rip the other person’s clothes off” as the next woman, but sometimes it’s those little touches of a hand on the shoulder or a nuzzle on the neck that make one go weak in the knees. Lots of those little moments, please. [/li][li]Let me stress again: equals. Both occupationally successful, both of at least roughly equal financial standing, education, etc. I don’t expect a point for point match, but “rich prince marries housemaid” stories make me grind my teeth. [/li][li]Absolutely no forced sex, babies, broken commitments to other people, giving up of virginity, prostitution, or rescues (financial, physical, or otherwise). Ever.[/li][li]No weddings, or at least no wedding porn. Married couples can be just as romantic as unmarried couples, but I have a deep-seated loathing of traditional white frilly dress weddings and expect my protagonists to feel the same way. I’m also allergic to “Will he or won’t he pop the question” thoughts. If the story needs a gold band to prove they love each other and should be together, it has failed. [/li][/ul]
I’m not opposed to historical romances per se, but they usually don’t work because of gender imbalances imposed by the setting.
Selkie,
I was tempted to recommend Jayne Anne Krentz to you, until I reached this item:The romance builds slowly and gradually, rather than “I knew the instant we met”
Somehow. I just don’t think you’d be happy with the timelines in either the book I’ve got at present, or the one I read before that. I won’t swear that they meet the rest of your criteria, although I think they meet most, but they darn sure have some element of instant attraction, leading to not quite so instant sex, leading to speedy wedding plans by the end of the book. Not that I was going to spend a lot of time thinking up authors for you to try, just that I’ve got Krentz on the brain today, and . . .
Not to speak for all of Krentz’s works, but these two also fail the “equals” things. Rich, powerful males, and women with career and monetary issues. Not Prince and pauper, but more disparity than one might hope for.
Hey, I appreciate any thoughts at all! Of the authors who have been recommended to me before, Jennifer Crusie came the closest to working for me, although overall it was all a little too … light and fluffy, maybe? … for my tastes.
I’ve noticed that the romantic relationships I buy into the most tend to occur in other forms of genre fiction, where I think it’s expected that the romance is a byproduct of the main story. These relationships tend not to be fleshed out enough for me to glom onto them as “romances,” but they at least follow the basic patterns I prefer. A Cup of Light is a good example.
Selkie, do I have the author for you! Barbara Trapido. I’d never bundle her work into the romance genre, but her books are full of amazing relationships between witty people. I’d recommend Noah’s Ark first as it stands alone (Chapter 20 - in which Camilla determinedly and resolutely seduces Arnie - is my utter favourite piece of writing ever) Brother of the More Famous Jack, and its companion novels, share a large cast of awesome characters. They’re not a series, you don’t have to read them in order. Her latest, Frankie and Stankie, is autobiographical, and much less romantic, but still a wonderful read.
Selkie,
Makes sense to me. Some of Nora Roberts more recent books–Northern Lights and Angels Fall (and that other one which I can’t remember the name of, which you probably wouldn’t agree met your criteria because he thinks of her as dream girl from the moment they meet–though they’ve actually “met” a half dozen times before the scene where she moves in next door to him) meet many of your criteria.
On the other hand, it occurs to me that given your enjoyment of books where the romance is a byproduct of the main story (and the comment about Crusie), that maybe you just find pure romances to be lacking a little in substance. I can sympathize with that. Despite my general enjoyment of the romance genre, I do sometimes like books like The Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold because it feels like there is a bit more substance. It’s a fantasy novel, and likely to be labeled that way, but a good case could be made for it belonging in the Romance category. Though I won’t swear that it meets all your criteria.
I’ll have to investigate* A Cup of Light*, looks like it might appeal to me.
araminty and also Trapido.
I spent 5 hours on the train last week, so in prevention I bought a couple no-need-to-think books. The second one has turned out to be more of a romance than I thought; I’m having quite some fun looking for all the spots where you can tell the writer is British, for example when she gives Californian prices in pounds 
There was a scene where a girl was trying to drag some guy to bed (where I come from, “seduce” implies subtlety) and he, who’s been bedding any woman who came within shotting distance and was willing, says “I don’t like promiscuous women”. So… what do you think you’ve been bedding, nuns? I imagine the intent was to mean “agressive”, but really!
I love McMaster Bujold. Will try Trapido.