Romance novels have always been an outlet for women in a repressive society to privately explore their sexualities. From Lady Chatterley’s Lover to Twilight, the pages of romance novels are often so much more than frivolous escape; they are a much needed safe haven especially for young women. I’ve read a lot of romances at a lot of different points in my life and I can definitively say they can get pretty off kilter and dark! Today we’re talking about that strangeness as a response to sexual repression and the queen of gothic romance herself, Cassandra Clare. Monsters, thrills, and yes, another incest plot. All that and more!
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* The first five minutes of this episode have a little click in the background. Sorry about that, folks!*
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Here’s what to put in the queue if you liked the episode.
Something to Read: The Last Hours
I know I recommend a lot of five alarm chili pepper romances but I promise that is not all I read (really! I swear!). I love seduction and smolder as much as I love ghost pepper erotica and no one does the former quite like Cassandra Clare. She really is a master of delicate intensity, of prolonging satisfaction to the point where you swear you hate her (but you don’t. You love her.) The Last Hours is a trilogy beginning with Chain of Gold and ending with Chain of Thorns which you will have to await its January release for. More such sweet denial from Mrs. Clare. The books have peak Victorian sexual tension as well as a heartbeat of danger and thrill to keep you going until that fade to black. They’re a bright, fantastical world filled with corsets
Something to Watch: Far From the Madding Crowd
Speaking of Victorian era, hush-and-sigh romance, this film is absolutely exquisite. It’s number one on my “No Scrubs Watchlist”, the list of movies I watch when I’m thinking of dating another handsome twit with a bad credit score. It’s bucolic, erotic, and serene. Plus you get a happy ending. This movie is also great if you just don’t have it in you to read a Victorian romance. But if you do, hey, two recs in one.
Something to Listen to: You’re a Hopeless 19th Century Romantic Playlist
A little ridiculous, a little romantic, and very escapist. Good shit.
The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare and Incest Plots as a Literary Device