Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Silhouette Bombshell RIP

The sad news today is that as after January 2007, Harlequin is terminating their Silhouette Bombshell line because of poor sales or as the announcement says, "Silhouette Bombshell has not been able find a broad-based readership".

The Silhouette Bombshell line is my favorite of the series romance lines. I'm a romantic person at heart, but I find a lot of the romance sans mystery or action to be too, um, boring. Particularly if it involves a secret bride, a secret baby, or cowboys. An endless dissection of a relationship simply for the sake of the relationship puts me to sleep...

Heroine: Does he like me? What did he mean when he said that? Was he being critical? Am I fat? Is he jealous of my very good male friend/neighbor/co-worker? Why do I do such stupid things all the time? etc etc etc

Hero: Does she like me? Does she hate me because she didn't go to bed with me? Why do I bother to try to help her? Why does she talk to my friend/her friend/her co-worker more than me? What does that mean? Am I fat? etc etc etc

*yawn*

The Bombshell line featured savvy kick-ass heroines. The line varied from the traditional romance book formula by allowing books to be written in the first person--not requiring, just allowing. Stories could also be told in the third person and stay in the heroine's POV for the entire book. I liked this a lot. I like being along for the heroine's ride and not knowing what the guy is thinking or planning until he says it or does it.

Harlequin Intrigue has the mystery, but the books still follow the third person, alternating heroine/hero POV formula. The focus is also more on the guy saving the day, not the girl. These are a weak alternative, in my opinion--but they will be all I have for a while.

Of course, there's always paranormal romance...kick-ass female vampires/werewolves/witches...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel the same as you. I wish they'd bring them back. I'd never read a romance novel before these because most of them made me want to throw up. These were real action stories, where she just happened to dind love along the way. Romance for an empowered woman.

Jana said...

I too feel the same. The Silhouette Bombshell series spoke to me. I get action, romance, and kick ass heroines all in one. I loved it! I even wished they continued with the line, especially the Athena Force series and IT Girls series.