The Romance Travelogue

A romance travelogue (or is it, travelogue romance?) has a kind-of-a plot--buried in a whole lot of detail.

Basically, the story begins when the hero or heroine is swept off to . . .

Japan
A Greek Island
The Caribbean
Alaska
Hawaii
France
Australia
California

. . . basically any place that might appear even vaguely exotic to the protagonists. The readers are then given a tour of the area, replete with scenic descriptions and a little bit of history.

And there's some romance in there somewhere.

Actually, people now do slideshows ONLINE!

In fact, one is often left with the impression that the writer of a romance travelogue decided, I must travel to write this book, then came back and got excited about telling the readers about the trip! The book becomes the equivalent of inviting the neighbors over for a slideshow (do people do that anymore?).

And truthfully, one can learn an enormous amount from these books. Generally speaking, romance aficionados are impressively well-read readers with a broad knowledge base. Georgette Heyer knew what she was doing when she closely researched the Regency period up to and including the change in fashions by year.

I require the classic narrative arc no matter what I read, so I was pleasantly surprised by The Best Worst Honeymoon Ever by Andrew Grey. The primary male protagonist is dumped at the altar by his gold-digging (though not entirely evil) husband-to-be. Instead of taking the gold-digger, he takes his best male gay friend and his best friend's son on his honeymoon to Bonaire.

I tend to balk at stories where overly cute children bring people together. I also tend to balk at stories where people rebound into the arms of the perfect person. In this case, Grey pulls it off. The child is a good kid yet still a kid. The adults have to figure out a way to make romance, friendship, and parenthood work. There actually is a climax: a confrontation with the gold-digging ex and an allergic reaction to a stingray.

In the meantime, I learned a lot about reefs, Bonaire, snorkeling, snuba diving . . .

Travelogues tend to be pure fantasy--they are all about being plucked from ordinary life and planted, for a variety of reasons, into a vacation environment with great food, great art, and great entertainment. Everybody relaxes. Nobody gets stuck in the middle of a monsoon. It's escapism at its best. And the best romance travelogues will deliver a story yet at the same time never forget: you are here to have fun.