What's with all the leather and whips?

[samvara]

And apparently getting a little out of touch because ambling around Elizabeth’s bookstore checking out all the usual corners - science fiction, fantasy, detective, horror, lit fiction.. OK I just walked around admiringly because not having been into this particular store before it might have all sorts of things I want.

and umh, oh yes, there was a point hiding here somewhere..

*checks pockets*

I prowled through what in more innocent times was the 'romance' section but has now been divided into what I can only call the 'beat me I'm horny' section and the 'gosh I'm a virgin' section.

I asked the lady restocking the shelves whether there is a happy medium between books that features attractive women dressed in studs, leather and latex while yelping "I've been a bad girl Daddy!" and novels wherein sweet, virginal girls with PhD's meet strong manly types who, after a small misunderstanding, vow to protect and cherish them forever.

To my sorrow she replied 'err people don't ask those questions, they slide the book surreptitiously over the counter and try to pretend they aren't really there.' So I apologised for being indelicate but my question remains unanswered; what's with all the leather and whips?

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

I think the sort of romance you're after might be in the bestsellers section.

I dunno why all the leather and whips, but I do know that elizabeth's tens to have a lot of romance/erotic from a publishing house called black lace, and maybe that's their specialty.

[black-samvara.livejournal.com]

I'm not so much chasing a particular type of romance as intrigued by the extremes represented in Elizabeth's.

I mean it's a second hand book store so I am making the assumption that what they have is a representation of what your average local reader is chewing through and recycling. So either they are buying bondage!romance and shmoop!romance only, and recycling it; or there is a bunch of stuff that people don't recycle - or don't buy in the first place.

I'll go check out some retail places and maybe some adult shops.. am curious now.

[ironed_orchid]

Yeah, I was just assuming that the Marian Keyes and other chick lit, which is basically the modern version of romance, all end up in the best seller area, and so the romance gets reduced to harlequinns or black lace stuff.

[cricketk.livejournal.com]

books that features attractive women dressed in studs, leather and latex while yelping "I've been a bad girl Daddy!"

Yeah. They used to be in the Vampires and miscellaneous creatures of the night" section. I'm more interested in why they are now filed under romance...?

[juffles.livejournal.com]

Because vampires need love too.