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Romance and Me: I’m a Gang Member Baby, so Why Don’t You Love Me?
Hey Everyone!
) we are talking about gang love stories.That is, those novels where (at least) one of the characters is a gang member and which detail is crucial either because it shaped that character’s personality and outlook on life/love/relationships or because it causes difficulties for the couple.Caro: I haven’t read many gang books but the only ones I read were fantastic. I read Perfect Chemistry 
Stella: I haven’t read any romances set in a gang environment yet, but my thoughts would be exactly like yours Caro. I would imagine that the main attraction of setting a story in this environment would be the include this sense of constant danger, to heighten life, so that the characters feel that they have to live every day to the fullest because they never know when it will be their last. Gangs make the perfect modern setting for the age old story of Romeo and Juliet. Nowadays there aren’t that many obstacles lovers face, but death serious feuds still exist between gangs, so they make the ideal setting for some intense and thrilling love story between starcrossed lovers.
And what’s your take on the “gang love”?
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Have not read any gang hero books.
I have read one book, where the hero goes undercover into a gang for so many years, that he begins to question if there was a right or wrong anymore..since the apparent good guys killed almost as equal to the bad guys. In the book, he doesn't really escape unscathed.. He gets shot while keeping the heroine out of harm's way, and she doesn't escape unscathed either.
Until a few months passes by, where she's trying to recover / put it all behind her, and the hero barely manages to survive.. before the gangsters target her and he has to get out of hiding to save her again..
It was bloody, messy, and one of the touching romances I'd read… And I must say, though I don't remember the book name / author, the story is still as fresh in my mind!!!
And I guess that's proof to how good a gang romance can get – if handled properly! And HEA possible too!
I recently read Jessica Andersen's Storm Kissed. The hero was the head of a gang before landing in jail. That part of the backstory helped to mold him into the man he was. If you haven't read the story STOP HERE…SPOILERS!!! At first, Dez's background turned me off because it was so violent. As the story progressed, I was impressed with how Jessica Andersen used it to help define parts of Dez's personallity. In the end, it will make him a good king and worthy of the trust of his team. I think a skilled wordsmith can have gang members in their stories and make it really work.
I haven't read any books in which the lead(s) is a Gang member although I have read books in which characters "ran with" a gang in their youth or something (such as "The Blue Girl", a YA by Charles de Lint). I don't think I want to read a book with an active Gang member hero(ine). I don't read books with Mafiosi either. That whole setting just doesn't appeal to me in any way, HEA or no. Maybe it just feels a little too close to real life to me.
The Downside Ghosts series by Stacia Kane (UF). Both of Chess' love interests are part of a gang (on opposing sides even to make it even more interesting). I'm not much into gangs normally, but Kane is brilliant in writing her characters and I can't help rooting for Terrible who's quite a hoodlum actually.
@Ju Dimello: Wow, sounds like an intense novel! But what a story if it stayed with you so vividly. I agree, sometimes even upsetting and dark books can be so good!
@Jen B: Ok, I just read your comment's 1st part as I haven't read the book, but will ahve to check it out. Thanks for the recommendation! 🙂
@Sheree: I haven't read any either, but I can't deny that old gangster movies set in the '20-'30s are exciting. MAybe because of the old glamour?
@Sullivan McPig: Yay! Thanks for that info, I have the whole series on my shelf, really should get around to read it! I'm curious 😀