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Cheating on my blog commentary: Romance's Foster Kid Ubiquity
Today I wrote a new piece for AAR's blog discussing the ubiquity of foster kids and former foster kids in romance novels. Here's a snippet:
"I just finished reading Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, a werewolf Christmas anthology edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner. One of the things that struck me about it was how many of the short stories - at least three, four if you count a child raised by wild dogs - involved kids either currently in the foster care system or having matriculated from it at some time in the past.
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe is a not a romance anthology, but it does have a number of author who write romantic paranormals or fantasy with a romance edge to it. And I have lost track of the number of times I've read books with foster care alumni as protagonists or heroes or heroines who rescue needy kids from the horrors of the foster care system. And the thing is, I can't decide how I feel about it.
On the one hand, taking in needy children fits in very neatly with the romance genre's heart-and-hearth foundation. Heroes and heroines are frequently outcasts or outsiders who have suffered, so their choosing to care for children in similar circumstances feels both touching and right. Romance requires a certain amount of closure for the reader: villains are caught and punished, deadbeat ex's get what they deserve, money lost comes back. Uniting a lonely, lost child with a caring, responsible adult is another way of providing that romantic satisfaction to the reader. And it's such an easy way to do it."
To read the rest, go here.