naomi_jay | Fated to Mate (Reply)

NB: This was supposed to be one short post, but it’s turned into an epic rant, so I’m breaking it up. More to come.

I read Jacquelyn Frank’s Jacob over the weekend (a book I absolutely loved, I should add), the first in her paranormal romance series, The Nightwalkers. The love story saw Demon Enforcer Jacob entering a forbidden relationship with human Isabella. I think it’s safe to say that such cross-species romances are old hat in paranormal romance, with the powerful alpha male vampire/werewolf/demon/elf/squid/whatever claiming his less-powerful mate in a flurry of passion and angst.

The single element I disliked about Jacob is an element that’s just as common in paranormal romance: the “fated to mate” idea. Soulmates, bondmates, breedmates, call them what you will, they’re everywhere. And it kind of annoys me. It reduces the romantic tension in the story if Incontrovertible Destiny says that Alpha Male X is absolutely going to be with Female Z. Characters fall into instant lust, which transmutes into True Love in a matter of days. There are no barriers to their relationship – no arguments over whether they both want kids, or whether Alpha Male X should really go around beheading other vampire/werewolf/demon/elf/squid/whatever for their forbidden relationships. The conflicts they face are always external, never internal.

In Jacob, for example, the only real obstacle to Jacob and Isabella coming together is the fact that she’s human, and Demons are forbidden to mate with humans. This is ancient, deeply entrenched law in Demon society. And yet nobody bats an eyelid when Jacob brings home his human. Sure, a few people mutter that maybe it’s not a great idea, but nobody really opposes them. And once Demon King Noah has decided that Destiny has brought Isabella to Jacob, then even that obstacle is removed. This leaves purely external threats against them, as necromancers seek to enslave Jacob and kill Isabella. It’s dramatic and it’s great reading, but we all know they’re going to fail. Destiny says so.

Part of this is, I think, a matter of practicality. Paranormal romances tend to be stand-alone novels within wider universes. We have a rotating cast of characters, all of whom are waiting for “their story” to be told. So the romances need to be wrapped up by the end of their book. Equally, the Happily Ever After ending is in itself a massive part of the romance genre’s appeal. We want to see people happily in love. I wanted to see Jacob and Isabella happily in love. I just felt like they should have had to work for it. But because they were fated to mate, there was never any option beyond Instant Lust/True Love.

The Instant Lust factor is a big part of the fated to mate concept. Characters who have been physically isolated, celibate and introspective immediately become warm, passionate and sexually active once they’ve met their destined partner. Isabella lived a relatively solitary life before meeting Jacob; she has a sister she’s close to, but no friends. She has a job she enjoys, but it keeps her isolated from other people. She lives for her work. She’s a virgin.

Once she meets Jacob, she’s instantly in lust, sexually aware and prepared to abandon her old life to be with him despite knowing nothing about him. It’s as if she didn’t really exist before meeting him. Indeed, she even says something to that effect – that her whole life was simply preparation for being with Jacob.

Personally I find that a little depressing, like you can’t be happy and fulfilled unless you’re in love, and even then only True Love will do it. It’s one of the reasons I never got past the first book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Beth Dark Lover was an object to be claimed by Wrath, not a woman to be valued. And it happens in a lot of romances. The women can offer nothing except their wombs, and prior to meeting their destined mate, they don’t want to offer those to anyone. They’re cynical, or disinterested in love and sex. Only by consuming their relationships with their fated mate are they brought to life.

I don’t think this says much for women, personally. Especially as the women, no matter how feisty and strong they are or become, generally end the novel pregnant and under the protection of half a dozen vampire/werewolf/demon/elf/squid/whatever. And again, I know this is part of the fantasy. The idea of the One True Love has universal appeal for good reason. But sometimes, for me, it just doesn’t work.

Thoughts? Am I’m being too harsh? Bearing in mind that this is a genre I love, am I reading too much into all this?