Conventional and less conventional romance
May. 5th, 2018 09:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearWe just got back from our annual group gaming holiday, where many games were played, much food and drink was consumed, and much fun was had. Over the course of the week, I only actually played one game I hadn't played before: Fog of Love. It's a card-based two-player roleplaying game, where you each play one half of a couple negotiating their relationship. There are various types of scenarios you can play, including supernatural ones, but my friend Juliet and I decided to go with the basic tutorial as we were finding our way through the rules without guidance. You start by constructing your character, based on choice of gender and name, a selection of traits, an occupation, and several features chosen by the other player.
I was Arsehole Anthony, entrepreneur turned fashion model, while Juliet was Gentle Giles, the hard-working farmer. Our traits gave us goals to aim for in how we directed the gameplay. Needless to say, it didn't end well! We each achieved some of our trait goals, but neither of us steered the relationship to a satisfactory destiny and we broke up - which I think was probably for the best. Still, it was a lot of fun, and I'd be keen to play again, with a more complex setup.
In more conventional romance stakes, last night I finished The Shadow Sister by Lucina Riley, the third in The Seven Sisters series. This one followed Star in her search for her blood family, and started out as my favourite so far. It had a literary theme, and involved a delightful rare bookshop with an eccentric owner and a very appealing extended family. The past storyline went back to the 1910s and involved Beatrix Potter and an interesting heroine in the form of Flora. Unfortunately, things went rather awry in both storylines, with various characters doing ridiculous and annoying things. There were hints of more inclusivity and diversity in the peripheral relationships portrayed, but the ending was disappointingly traditional - again. Also, the shameful secret Star kept about herself until right at the very end was an appalling thing to present as a shameful secret, as there was nothing remotely shameful about it. Sigh. I still enjoyed the book overall, and will continue with the series, in the vague hope that the storylines get more interesting. But perhaps I'm expecting too much from an established and very traditional sub-genre of romance, and will continue to be disappointed.
I was Arsehole Anthony, entrepreneur turned fashion model, while Juliet was Gentle Giles, the hard-working farmer. Our traits gave us goals to aim for in how we directed the gameplay. Needless to say, it didn't end well! We each achieved some of our trait goals, but neither of us steered the relationship to a satisfactory destiny and we broke up - which I think was probably for the best. Still, it was a lot of fun, and I'd be keen to play again, with a more complex setup.
In more conventional romance stakes, last night I finished The Shadow Sister by Lucina Riley, the third in The Seven Sisters series. This one followed Star in her search for her blood family, and started out as my favourite so far. It had a literary theme, and involved a delightful rare bookshop with an eccentric owner and a very appealing extended family. The past storyline went back to the 1910s and involved Beatrix Potter and an interesting heroine in the form of Flora. Unfortunately, things went rather awry in both storylines, with various characters doing ridiculous and annoying things. There were hints of more inclusivity and diversity in the peripheral relationships portrayed, but the ending was disappointingly traditional - again. Also, the shameful secret Star kept about herself until right at the very end was an appalling thing to present as a shameful secret, as there was nothing remotely shameful about it. Sigh. I still enjoyed the book overall, and will continue with the series, in the vague hope that the storylines get more interesting. But perhaps I'm expecting too much from an established and very traditional sub-genre of romance, and will continue to be disappointed.
