Romance & Relationship in this book

Use this forum to discuss the December 2019 Book of the month, "E-M-P Honeymoon", by Dorothy May Mercer
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kdstrack
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Re: Romance & Relationship in this book

Post by kdstrack »

The title does not match the main theme of the book. Tom and Kelly's honeymoon is used as a pretext for the setting and for Kelly's discovery, but the main theme focuses more on the EMP threat. The romance and honeymoon were overshadowed by Dear Leader and the terrorists. There is some romance in the story, but it is not a romance genre book.
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Post by AntonelaMaria »

kdstrack wrote: 22 Dec 2019, 21:08 The title does not match the main theme of the book. Tom and Kelly's honeymoon is used as a pretext for the setting and for Kelly's discovery, but the main theme focuses more on the EMP threat. The romance and honeymoon were overshadowed by Dear Leader and the terrorists. There is some romance in the story, but it is not a romance genre book.
You sum it up really good.
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Post by Fazzier »

jeminah28 wrote: 01 Dec 2019, 20:11 My assessment is the book tackles more on the relationship towards their team than with a romance. I like the way the author presented the bond between the newlyweds in the book. It is up to the reader to think that the couples romantic life is already sugarcoated with the word 'honeymoon.'
I agree with you the relationships were team-inspired rather than romance-driven. Classifying it as a romance novel, therefore, wouldn't accurately describe it.
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Post by Areej Tahir »

Tom and Kelly's Relationship was lacking connection and was a tad bit boring. Author didn't explore it much and therefore I wasn't rooting for them anyway.
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Post by [Danielle] »

The lack of relationships as a whole in this novel disappointed me. Yes, it was lacking romance, but it also seemed to lack authentic interactions between characters in general. I wanted more character development and definitely more intimacy (physical or emotional).
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AntonelaMaria
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Post by AntonelaMaria »

[Danielle] wrote: 25 Dec 2019, 12:19 The lack of relationships as a whole in this novel disappointed me. Yes, it was lacking romance, but it also seemed to lack authentic interactions between characters in general. I wanted more character development and definitely more intimacy (physical or emotional).
Yes, It seems that the characters needed more development too.
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Post by Jimy Tan »

I agree , its unfortunate the romance she envisioned for them did not shine throught in the story .
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Post by Nerea »

Romance is vaguely represented, but the whole story is filled with action and science too.
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Post by ErikaP13 »

If a book has the word "honeymoon" in the title, it's fairly reasonable to expect romance in it. Here it just kind of seems like some romance was added to the story for the sake of adding it. There's romance there, but it's secondary to other things.
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Post by lucia_kizas »

The romance book plot is something that revolves around the romance, even if it's packed with suspense and action, but this does not seem to be the case. In general, this looks more like a political thriller.
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Post by Letora »

AntonelaMaria wrote: 01 Dec 2019, 11:11 How do you feel about romance and relationships in this book? Would you categorize this book as a romance novel? What relationship was the most interesting one?
I wouldn't label this as romance either. I think it would be more along the lines of light fiction. It was a fast-paced read, without complicated context, or need to puzzle things out. The romance aspects of the book were lacking. I think readers were just supposed to assume the relationships existed instead of having them be built up. I didn't find any of the relationships very interesting.
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Post by AntonelaMaria »

Letora wrote: 27 Dec 2019, 11:07
AntonelaMaria wrote: 01 Dec 2019, 11:11 How do you feel about romance and relationships in this book? Would you categorize this book as a romance novel? What relationship was the most interesting one?
I wouldn't label this as romance either. I think it would be more along the lines of light fiction. It was a fast-paced read, without complicated context, or need to puzzle things out. The romance aspects of the book were lacking. I think readers were just supposed to assume the relationships existed instead of having them be built up. I didn't find any of the relationships very interesting.
Like the magical word, the honeymoon was supposed to make the reader assume there is a romance? Yeah, I think so too. There wasn't many complications for sure. There were some mystery-solving elements with some action but the romance was lacking.
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AntonelaMaria
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Post by AntonelaMaria »

lucia_kizas wrote: 27 Dec 2019, 10:55 The romance book plot is something that revolves around the romance, even if it's packed with suspense and action, but this does not seem to be the case. In general, this looks more like a political thriller.
Exactly! I have read many books that label themselves as romance suspense were the plotline was heavy with action, murder mystery and even thriller elements still there is underneath it all a romance going on that kind of tie it all together. This was missing that for me. So I really don't think it should be labeled as such.
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Post by AntonelaMaria »

ErikaP13 wrote: 27 Dec 2019, 06:37 If a book has the word "honeymoon" in the title, it's fairly reasonable to expect romance in it. Here it just kind of seems like some romance was added to the story for the sake of adding it. There's romance there, but it's secondary to other things.
I came to the same conclusion the word honeymoon should represent that there is a romance going on. I just missed the point with them being leading characters and book is also named after them, later on with new characters being introduced and a possible relationship between Sharon and Steve, Tom and Kelly kind of fall into the background.
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Post by J_odoyo »

Personally I wouldn't classify this book under romance genre. Tom and Kelly's relationship was so tasteless. Perhaps the author did this intentionally, but it made me see nothing like romance in this novel. Although I liked Sharon and Steve's relationship, there was no much to it to hint romance, especially in such a new relationship.
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