Plundering the Romance Novel by Ionia Martin
Description from Amazon
A silly, satirical romp into the land of romance novels and pirate adventures, full of romance clichés and humour. This book is a short novella, just over 10k words.
Have you ever wondered what goes on in the minds and hearts of romance novel heroes and heroines? No? Good, because this book won’t be helpful with that at all.
If romance clichés drive you mad and you like Monty Python style humour, this may be the perfect book for you.
From the twisted mind of a sometimes writer and lifelong reader, you are certain to have less brain cells than you started with after reading this book.
Captain Stormy is the typical romance hero/villain archetype. He follows the Romance Hero Handbook to the letter, but he is about to figure out that nothing in his guidebook is going to prepare him for the trials he’s about to face.
Uncooperative heroines, lack of treasure, severely delayed sex scenes, a missing crew and an old man’s butt cheeks later, Stormy has a story to tell you.
Even pirates have bad days.
*contains some mature themes and language
My Review
★★★★★
It is apparently bad form to give a book 6 stars out of 5, so I guess I will just have to go with 5 stars out of 5. I am not happy about it though. It deserves 6. I want to give it 6.
If you like spoofs then you will love this. Ionia Martin, the highly regarded book reviewer, has combined her incredible talent as a writer with her incisive intellect and wit, and experience of a barrel load of romance novels, to produce a book that is a veritable joy to read.
‘I absolutely loved reading this book’, said I. ‘I am an undeniable fan of satire and lampooning, and this had me rolling in the aisles. I mean, really, my sides actually split. No, seriously I am in quite a lot of pain.’
Now it is possible that one may get a little annoyed on occasion, when reading certain romances, by that feeling of deja-vu, that we have heard it all before, or that it is like all of the other books that have gone before in that genre.
Well I tell you what. This one is something a bit different. Sure, it takes all of those romance cliches and plot devices that are the bread and butter of the, oft maligned romance novel, but it turns them on their head. Embracing each and every one of them, the author manages to weave a riveting, fun filled course through the Stormy waters of piratical romance.
The description indicates that this is a silly, satirical romp into the land of romance novels and pirate adventures, full of romance cliches and humour. And so it is.
I happen to think it is a lot more than just that though. I think that if you look a little deeper, then you will see the incredible insight required to create a work with this depth of understanding of the sacred lore of the romance novel.
An absolutely fantastic read that I cannot recommend highly enough. In fact I am going to go read it again, while you zip off to get your own copy.
Now go buy it. Now!
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