Sweet romances by POC recs?

[oyceter]

So, I am now in the mood to read sweet romances, preferably by POC.

Books and/or authors that fall into this mood: Alex Sanchez, Marjorie Liu's Tiger Eye.

Books and/or authors that didn't make it: Marjorie Liu's other books (like, but the latter books have too much plot and too little sweetness for this mood), Nalini Singh (don't like), Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's Dirty Girls Social Club (too modernly ironic, materialistic and contains an abusive husband and a cheating fiance, but I have her YA Haters checked out), bounced off Jason & Kyra

Books and/or authors on my to-read list (thumbs up or down appreciated!): Valdes-Rodriguez's Haters (not sure if it's romance?), Kirin Narayan, Kayla Chronicles (not sure if it's romance?), Derrick Barnes, Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet

Other notes:

1. By POC, please. POC characters also a plus.


2. For some reason, I am gunning for sweetness right now. Sex is fine, but not necessary, and sometimes I feel romances go too much for sex and too little for the emotional. What I'm looking for is somewhat more on the lines of kdrama romances like Coffee Prince or Dal Ja's Spring or shoujo manga; basically, believable, every-day characters falling or stumbling into love. Something that makes you go "awwwwww."


3. Also, I'm trying to get into black romances, but don't know where to start. Any pointers highly welcome!


4. I've been following The Brown Bookshelf, though most of its picks skew a little young.


5. GLBT a big plus!


6. Issues ok, though preferably not "how I was confronted with racism for the first time," because I just cannot deal with that right now. Also, some angst and heartbreak ok, ditto with bittersweet unrequited longing, though I'd like a happy ending.

Yay for LJ information gathering!

Comments

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Kayla Chronicles isn't really romance. That's more along the lines of YA POC chick lit, IMO. It's told in a great voice though, and I liked it. Its cast is more or less entirely POC, IIRC.

[oyceter]

Darn, I thought so. I mean, I am still looking forward to reading it, but somehow am in the mood for romance right now!

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

ITAWTC.

[maerhys.livejournal.com]

Mother Tongue (http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Tongue-Demetria-Martinez/dp/0345416562) by Demitria Martinez, possibly? Fits most of the bill, big on the sweetness aspect. This is a wonderful book.

[oyceter]

Oh, that looks good, thank you!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Kirin Narayan's Love, Stars, and All That was my rec, right? Seriously, I don't even like most sweet romances, but I adore that one.

My Beautiful Laundrette is a movie, but it so exactly fits your bill otherwise that I have to rec it: British-Pakistani writer, has issues but is not a problem movie, and is about a gay interracial couple (one of whom is a very young Daniel Day-Lewis!) who open a laundrette. And while I'm reccing movies, Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding also qualifies, but you've probably seen that one already.

[oyceter]

That was indeed your rec ;).

Oh, movies are good too! I will check those out; I've been meaning to watch the Mira Nair one for forever, but haven't gotten around to it.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

I belong to this group on MSN:

Interracial/Multicultural Romance Readers Group (http://groups.msn.com/InterracialMulticulturalRomanceReaders)

They're a lively bunch although a little bit more skewed on the Black/White side, ocassionally recs will come through for other cultured romances. Plus, a number of members are also authors with both e-book and mainstream publishers. There's at least one person on there who maintains a monthly list of Interracial Romances.

Romance in Color (http://romanceincolor.com/) is a great place to start with if you want to find out about Black romance novels. They cover mainstream publishers and break things into categories (Young Adult, contemporary, inspirational, etc.) making it easier to check things out. They also have reviews.

Re: Ask and Ye Shall Receive

[oyceter]

Links!! Yay, thank you!!

[minim_calibre]

Regarding #3, I find Beverly Jenkins compulsively readable. (As a writer, she has stylistic quirks that should, based on my tastes, annoy me, but somehow, I just devour her books despite them.)

[oyceter]

Thanks for the rec! I will check her out.

Sexy/Dangerous

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Wow, this one sounds like the best romance ever:

Wearing her shades, a black Stetson, and snakeskin cowboy boots, security agent Maxine "Max" Blake is the baddest thing walking. Ex-marine, ex-cop, and a whole lotta 'tude, Max doesn't have time for anything but her job. Her latest assignment: to protect Dr. Adam Gary. Her problem: he doesn't want her there.

Dude, the heroine is a former Marine! With Rottweilers!

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

I think Vikram Seth's Golden Gate is fairly sweet, but note that it is entirely in verse. It has GLBT. (Hm, I think I am more used to LGBT as the acronym. I wonder why.)

I don't quite remember. Maybe some of Banana Yoshimoto's books would qualify?

Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood has its oddities and definitely parts are sad, but for me at least, there is much sweetness as well.

I saw that you said movies are good, too. You've probably already watched Saving Face? What about anime? I forget if yuo've seen Honey & Clover or Nodame Cantabile.

P.S. You made me curious about Coffee Prince, and I saw that my channel lineup has AZNTV, which was rerunning episodes. I liked it -- not enough to watch on my own, but definitely something I would be happy to watch with friends or a girlfriend. But the annoying thing was that TiVo wasn't given episode numbers or summaries or original airdates, so I couldn't tell what episodes were being shown when. Plus, apparently AZNTV is shutting down in a couple of months. Dang, that looked like a channel with stuff I'd actually want to watch :(

[oyceter]

I have Saving Face on my list, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Definitely seen H&C and LOVE it, have been holding off on Nodame Cantabile due to conflicting reports (also, I don't know why, but I haven't been in the mood to watch anime or jdramas lately).

Coffee Prince! It is awesome! I am willing to pimp via CD!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

This reminds me, I should make a post asking for a somewhat similar set of recs, in a not-really-genre that I like a lot: historical novels or nonfiction with protagonists who belong to some sort of minority group (POC, GLBT, Jewish, etc) but the book is not about the travails of being oppressed. Preferably cheerful in tone, and definitely nothing which concludes in a concentration camp or slave ship.

Examples: Sarah Waters' "Victorian lesbians" novels, Sholem Aleichem's Adventures of Mottel the Cantor's Son, that sort of thing.

[oyceter]

Do, do! I will grab recs from it as well!

Btw, I just checked out Sonia Levitin's Strange Relations, which looks like it is about Jewishness and Hasidic Judaism in particular, and the cover is all cheerful and happy. And I've seen funny titles like Lucy Frank's Oy, Joy and Melissa Schorr's Goy Crazy, both of which look promising, though I haven't read them.

Um, all these are YA, though, since the YA shelves are smaller and therefore easier to troll for titles. Oh! You recced Ellen Wittlinger to me and I saw she has a new book out with an FTM hero called Parrot Fish.

[octopedingenue]

Despite its (to me) unsatisfying ending, Breakfast With the Ones You Love by Eliot Fintushel has a very chipper Jewish apocalypse, mystical alien spaceships, an adorable underground prayer cabal, a charming/crazy True Messiah, and a snarky/crazy heroine who can kill you with her brain if her talking cat lets her. Also, pancakes!

Still kicking myself for giving my copy away.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I just picked up Sherry Thomas's Private Arrangements (excerpt (http://www.sherrythomas.com/arrangements.html#bookexcerpt)); the author's Asian-American, although I'm assuming no COC (Victorian historical romance).

Also I got the first Dirk & Steele novel. Will report back.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I am currently waiting for PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS to arrive! Funny!

Or, we're reading the same recs....

I hope you like the Liu book. They are fun.

[kate_nepveu]

first Dirk & Steele novel

Hah, me too.

Oyce needs a version of your world domination icon.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Also! Cathy Yardley looks interesting (http://likesbooks.com/cgi-bin/bookReview.pl?BookReviewId=698) (POC author, with at least one COC). I first heard of her when she sold a book described as "chick lit about an aspiring mangaka", which is coming out 2009. (Okay, the sale descriptions didn't use the word "mangaka.")

[oyceter]

Eeeee!

Also, LJ is evil and I am not getting comments and missed this!

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I tried a couple of the Kimani romances, which seem to be more category-style than anything else, and couldn't get into them--the writing was too flat and straightforward for my tastes.

[oyceter]

Hrm, ok. I saw their YA imprint, but Witch Willow gave it a thumbs down as well.

[oyceter]

Note to self, check out:

David Yoo
Lan Cao
Karen Grigsby Bates
Caroline Hwang