So - I've been thinking a lot about this thread lately so I figured I'd post and see who sees it - turns out I'm somewhat back in Cal-and-Min land because one of the biggest sci-fi releases this year is also a Rom Com...not even joking...so I decided to give it a go. Basically, what happened is that sci-fi grand master Connie Willis (a Hugo and Nebula winner for time travel novels dealing with the 14th Century and WWII), decided to write a novel about telepathy why it's probably not something that we'd actually want if we could have it - and of course the guise she came up with was to embed that point in a Romantic Comedy about two near-future denizens of Silicon Valley who decide to get brain implants so they can sense eachother's feelings....horrible idea, absolutely horrible - especially when the woman ends up hearing the thoughts of someone she wasn't supposed to. Anyway, I'm three chapters into "CrossTalk" and I think, in this case, Romantic Comedy actually makes a great foil for a telepathy novel - especially when written by someone with the science chops to really get deep into the implications. But it got me thinking of y'all, so I figured I'd share.
I am reading a Rom Rom about a writer chick, and some weird rockstar guy. It is called Tease Me:Teased and Broken by Ashley Black. I find it to be pretty funny though. (About 8.7 chapters in.)
Pretty good after three chapters - although the main character "Briddey" just went in for her operation so no telepathy yet. I think the hectic office environment is well done, and the characters are a bit over the top but I think suitably so for the type of book it is. You've got all the standard archetypes - the MC is a high-flying my-career-is-my-life type, her extended family are this hilariously close-knit crew of Irish-American Catholics who fret about their kids and their messed up relationships and give Briddey crap for not always being around the family gatherings (which as someone who has one of those families, Willis nailed). The boyfriend comes across as a borderline sociopath, and the nerdy genius dude who works in the basement is both charming and ridiculously awkward. There's even an overly intelligent eleven-year-old who gets all the deadpan laugh lines. So, all the stock Rom-Com pieces are there, almost as a nudge-wink to the audience, and I'm interested to see how it all goes to hell in a handbasket.
