to wonder who still reads Mills and Boon books

[lostsoulsunited]

I keep seeing them come up on Amazon but I'm surprised they are still being published as they seem so outdated in this day and age - woman meets man, falls hopelessly in love, lives happily ever after.

@Nomorewine77 I learned a lot from M&B too, no idea where I acquired a copy at the age of about 12 but it was quite an eye-opener. I’d love to read that book again... it was about a woman who went on honeymoon to Hawaii and ended up shagging someone else accidentally when she was drunk (such romance...)

Have you been to the library? All of the libraries (different councils) round here seem to have a Mills and Boon stand. Book shops stick their noses up at them but its a very popular book series.

It's not something I'd ever considered but it's a great idea.

I've always written short pieces of erotica (not for publishing... Just to pique interest for others!)

I may be biased but it was good and always had a good response.

I thought about writing a whole book on it but then 50 Shades came out and the market became quite saturated, or so it seemed.

I actually think I'll give it a go! 😂

TonyTheDog What a lovely Mum and very special person. Thank you for sharing her with us and good luck with your writing if you decide to follow in her footsteps.

@FuckWhenDidIGetOld, try the Dare line.

@bridgetreilly could you recommend some of your favourites that are like that please?

I've read them for nearly 20yea now. Have a job where lots of mental challenge and my m&b books are like reading candy floss I love them for that (my monthly subscription is intrigue but love some historical!)

@bridgetreilly my message was in response to this post of yours

*Yes, sort of. But actually many of my very favourite ones are "marriage in trouble" stories rather than "meet cute" stories. In romances, there are always obstacles to overcome and baggage to deal with. They aren't pretending life is always easy.
*
Sorry, I didn't see your other responses on the thread and realised I should've clarified!

I started reading them around 13 and still read the odd one now, when i need a light read.

I mostly stuck with historical or i think it was called intrigue? All crime and danger etc.

My MIL.
I think the local charity shop does a v well out of a number of local ladies basically swapping titles between them.

I read loads of these when I was a teenager. Tbh, I think they were a bit harmful. Lots of the heroes forcing the heroines to submit to situations they had said no to, including sex, riding roughshod over their lives because they knew what was best for the woman and lots of no meaning yes when it came to sex.
In the end it always turned out that the man needed the woman as much as she needed him, but I don't think they were all particularly healthy when I was a teen and having to work out boundaries etc.
My mum had never read one and thought they were just mild romances.

I used to read M & B as a teenager. They were plentiful in charity shops or I’d borrow from the library. I remember that some were very well written and wonderful romantic escapism. I especially enjoyed the historical ones about the regency period. But some were dreadful with poor character development and a ‘then he said and then she said’ style which was clunky and monotonous. But otherwise many happy afternoons were whiled away in the company of an independent, feisty heroine and dashing, arrogant but ultimately tender hearted hero. Lovely 😊

As a 15 year old in the 90s I went on holiday to a tiny Greek island with my family. We ran out of things to read and M&B were the only books we found in English on a spinner outside a gift shop.

We bought one of each and my mother & I read the lot in a fortnight. 🤣

For the remainder of the holiday we were describing people in M&B talk...

"Look at that man in his tan slacks and loose knitted sweater, prominent Adams apple beneath steely blue eyes and a square jaw...."

When angry, the mean always spoke waspishly. When horny they spoke throatily. 🤣🤣🤣

There was a lot of "manhood pressing" and "urgency" in those tan slacks.

All of the women had peaches and cream complexions and an elegant chignon, delicate features that needed the slightest touch of make-up - a sweep of mascara and a touch of lip gloss. A lot of silk blouses too. 😁😁😁

Found out years later that a lot of my friends and colleagues had read them too. We had a great night out reminiscing.

I quite fancy reading one now, truth be told.

I’ve read them I don’t mind them.

Sorry, I didn't mean to de-rail the thread about my mum. I think the reason M&B were/are so popular was because of that simple need for escapism.
These days social media has probably filled that hole but the age old 'person meets person, falls in love, love is thwarted, reconciled' etc etc is always going to be a story.
M&B had quite strict guidelines on what was allowed and when my mum wrote them I think you couldn't 'go below the waist'. 😁

@TonytheDog OMG! I loved your mums books!
So sad to hear she died.
I read them and still do.

I picked one of those up 40+ years ago when my grandmother visited and read loads of them for about 2 years when I just turned 12ish. I loved them. They were so innocent with a big kiss on the last page. I so enjoyed them.

“her Mills and Boon name was Emma Richmond.“

I’ve read some of hers... they’re good

I don’t read mills and boon currently because they’re not on kindle unlimited, lol...but I like a wee romance novel. I like romantic comedy films as well..

They’re just escapism really and easy, I don’t need every book I read to be a great work of literature, well written is something else, but if I’ve got a spare hour and I don’t want something I have to think to hard about a mills and boon type romance is quite nice.

There’s a book called Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature by Janice A Radway that has some interesting ideas about why women read romance novels - it’s old, but interesting.

I’m an author and I’ve considered writing M&B loads of times. It’s a different kind of writing as there are set rules for each genre and you follow a consistent formula. There is a huge readership and I think the books are very comforting.

The other thing I would LOVE to write would be Point Horror but I don’t think they are a going concern nowadays.

@CaptainBrickbeard if you decide to write point horror PM me a link, I still love them years later and I'd love some new ones!

They great for total escapism you know the plot before you start! Enjoy several before as did some friends in our teens and twenty... some are vvv descriptive and should be 18 rated. They better story to the fifty shades which seriously put me to sleep which kinda why i read the mills and boom. Makes a change from peppa pig!

Point Horror are going to be made into an HBO anthology this year. 🤣

Aww my mum used to read them-are there any good subscriptions for the paper versions does anyone know? Her birthday is soon and it’s be a good blast from the past pressie!

@TonytheDog your mum sounds a wonderful lady, thank you for sharing your memories 💚

@captainbruckbeard Point Horror! I still have tons of mine and read them now and again-fantastic memories of being in bed on rainy weekends with a cup of tea absolutely demolishing books!

@CaptainBrickbeard even, sorry for the typo

7yo7yo and tabularasa oh that's made me cry a little bit - to know that you've read my mum's books. I'm really glad you liked them - she put me and my sisters and boyfriends/husbands in them, which is a tiny bit disconcerting but nice also. Writers draw on what they know.