I should have clarified: When I compared some of them to "Harlequin novels with superpowers," I was NOT specifically referring to Evanovich's books; I mean the urbanormal romantasy genre as a whole. It was originally a separate paragraph. (I know that Plum herself does not, in fact, have superpowers and is pretty much a normal human being with an...unusual job. And a hamster. I've been tempted to read the books for the hamster alone. Because...dude! HAMSTAH!)
I do know that Evanovich a) can actually write (her books aren't my thing, but the style is more disciplined than LKH) and b) isn't nearly as heavy on the romance as LKH. Mom keeps tittering over how "dirty" they are (Mom's a lightweight :D), but even from a light perusal I can see that they're nowhere near Harlequin level.
My point being that they're lumped in together with the darker, grittier stuff; although technically speaking they're shelved in the mystery section, they're often recommended for fans of LKH and the rest, when the two are actually quite dissimilar, and it all boils down to bad marketing. In fact, it's gotten to the point where the mystery, romance, and sci-fi/fantasy sections are all overlapping.* This new genre encompasses all three, with varying emphasis on each one, and it's grown so large I half-expect it to have its own section in bookstores in the future, because at this point it's just confusing for readers.
*LKH used to occasionally be classified as horror, too, but I think we all know those days have come and gone.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-12-06 08:18 am (UTC)I do know that Evanovich a) can actually write (her books aren't my thing, but the style is more disciplined than LKH) and b) isn't nearly as heavy on the romance as LKH. Mom keeps tittering over how "dirty" they are (Mom's a lightweight :D), but even from a light perusal I can see that they're nowhere near Harlequin level.
My point being that they're lumped in together with the darker, grittier stuff; although technically speaking they're shelved in the mystery section, they're often recommended for fans of LKH and the rest, when the two are actually quite dissimilar, and it all boils down to bad marketing. In fact, it's gotten to the point where the mystery, romance, and sci-fi/fantasy sections are all overlapping.* This new genre encompasses all three, with varying emphasis on each one, and it's grown so large I half-expect it to have its own section in bookstores in the future, because at this point it's just confusing for readers.
*LKH used to occasionally be classified as horror, too, but I think we all know those days have come and gone.