Bodice rippers
I have a guilty secret. When I am really tired or feeling a bit stressed, I do tend to pick up a bodice ripper for a bit of light entertainment. Don't need to think and everyone ends up happy in the end. The plots are sketchy at best and non-existant most of the time, but that's not the point. Anyway, I recently read a book that would even have most BR writers shaking their heads in disbelief. This author obviously aced Plot Contrivances 101. Here it is for those of you who are above such inferior book :D Beautiful (tall, thin, blonde), well educated, successful woman receives distressed call from mother (flightly, disorganised) from a foreign country asking her to come and rescue her from her la-*test*-('") drama. Dutiful daughter goes, but is snatched at the airport and taken to a local prince who has kidnapped her mother. He will release her mother if the young woman (who is actually a princess in this country but didn't realise it) will marry him to secure his claim to the throne. Young woman is then kidnapped (10 minutes before her wedding) by head of national security who is seeking to keep the 'battle' for the throne honest and fair. (he is of course, the brother to another prince who also has claim to the throne). Princess and head of security fall in love (although they fight their overwhelming attraction). Head of security is handsome, muscular, and intelligent with an air of command. His sister (who is secretly in love with the first prince) takes the heroine's place at the wedding to help give them time to escape. This deception is not discovered, of course, until after the wedding has been consumated (someone please explain how that is possible :roll: ). Anyway, to cut a long story short. First prince realises that he is really in love with the woman he actually married (who has since run away) and leaves to find her. Princess realises she is desperately in love with Head of Security and rather than returning to her previous life, decides that she really does want to stay in this fictional European principality and rule with fairness at his side. So, we have a princess who didn't know she was a princess falling in love with a glorified security guard, who turns out to be a prince himself. The bad guy, who manages to have sex all night with a woman that he doesn't realise isn't the woman that he planned to marry, discovers true love himself which makes him repent of his wicked ways. The mother discovers some backbone, the people of the principality rejoice as justice and freedom are restored and all is right with the world. So does win the 'most contrived plot of the year award' or can someone top it?
I have a guilty secret. When I am really tired or feeling a bit stressed, I do tend to pick up a bodice ripper for a bit of light entertainment. Don't need to think and everyone ends up happy in the end. The plots are sketchy at best and non-existant most of the time, but that's not the point. Anyway, I recently read a book that would even have most BR writers shaking their heads in disbelief. This author obviously aced Plot Contrivances 101. Here it is for those of you who are above such inferior book :D Beautiful (tall, thin, blonde), well educated, successful woman receives distressed call from mother (flightly, disorganised) from a foreign country asking her to come and rescue her from her la-*test*-('") drama. Dutiful daughter goes, but is snatched at the airport and taken to a local prince who has kidnapped her mother. He will release her mother if the young woman (who is actually a princess in this country but didn't realise it) will marry him to secure his claim to the throne. Young woman is then kidnapped (10 minutes before her wedding) by head of national security who is seeking to keep the 'battle' for the throne honest and fair. (he is of course, the brother to another prince who also has claim to the throne). Princess and head of security fall in love (although they fight their overwhelming attraction). Head of security is handsome, muscular, and intelligent with an air of command. His sister (who is secretly in love with the first prince) takes the heroine's place at the wedding to help give them time to escape. This deception is not discovered, of course, until after the wedding has been consumated (someone please explain how that is possible :roll: ). Anyway, to cut a long story short. First prince realises that he is really in love with the woman he actually married (who has since run away) and leaves to find her. Princess realises she is desperately in love with Head of Security and rather than returning to her previous life, decides that she really does want to stay in this fictional European principality and rule with fairness at his side. So, we have a princess who didn't know she was a princess falling in love with a glorified security guard, who turns out to be a prince himself. The bad guy, who manages to have sex all night with a woman that he doesn't realise isn't the woman that he planned to marry, discovers true love himself which makes him repent of his wicked ways. The mother discovers some backbone, the people of the principality rejoice as justice and freedom are restored and all is right with the world. So does win the 'most contrived plot of the year award' or can someone top it?