Hmm. My tastes in romance especially are not well-described by typical genre categories. What I like in a romance:
* Exploration of intense emotion -- not *just* love itself, but the uncertainty surrounding new love and other attendant feelings. Fear of being hurt, of doing inadvertent harm, desire, need to please, misery of perceived rejection, inevitable fallout from misunderstandings, and ultimate accord when the various obstacles are cleared. I prefer this kind of thing be explored in loving and perhaps excessive detail. :D I can forgive quite a lot of other flaws in a story that does this kind of thing well. * Multiple viewpoint characters. I feel like the best parts of a romance go on inside the protagonists' heads, so I dislike seeing only one view of them. * Likable protagonists who enjoy one another's company and find each other loveable. (A non-romance reader would think this last redundant, but I bet you know EXACTLY what I mean. I really hate the 'I hate him but I lust after him so I guess this is love let's get married' trope.)
Things I dislike: * Jealousy and possessiveness, especially when cast as proof of True Love. YUCK. * Love triangles where one or the other must be chosen, especially when coupled with the above. * love at first sight -- not a dealbreaker, there are plenty of good love-at-first-sight romances, but generally I prefer my characters to love each other based on experience and actions and not Magikal Special Connection. * Heavy reliance on contrivances to drive the story. You know, like where the protagonists are repeatedly forced together or apart by highly unlikely events. I don't mind a remarkable coincidence or maybe two, but when they start stacking up it throws me out of the story.
Other genre stuff -- historical, sf, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal, whatever -- is not so much the issue. I like 'em all, even contemporary. :)
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* Exploration of intense emotion -- not *just* love itself, but the uncertainty surrounding new love and other attendant feelings. Fear of being hurt, of doing inadvertent harm, desire, need to please, misery of perceived rejection, inevitable fallout from misunderstandings, and ultimate accord when the various obstacles are cleared. I prefer this kind of thing be explored in loving and perhaps excessive detail. :D I can forgive quite a lot of other flaws in a story that does this kind of thing well.
* Multiple viewpoint characters. I feel like the best parts of a romance go on inside the protagonists' heads, so I dislike seeing only one view of them.
* Likable protagonists who enjoy one another's company and find each other loveable. (A non-romance reader would think this last redundant, but I bet you know EXACTLY what I mean. I really hate the 'I hate him but I lust after him so I guess this is love let's get married' trope.)
Things I dislike:
* Jealousy and possessiveness, especially when cast as proof of True Love. YUCK.
* Love triangles where one or the other must be chosen, especially when coupled with the above.
* love at first sight -- not a dealbreaker, there are plenty of good love-at-first-sight romances, but generally I prefer my characters to love each other based on experience and actions and not Magikal Special Connection.
* Heavy reliance on contrivances to drive the story. You know, like where the protagonists are repeatedly forced together or apart by highly unlikely events. I don't mind a remarkable coincidence or maybe two, but when they start stacking up it throws me out of the story.
Other genre stuff -- historical, sf, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal, whatever -- is not so much the issue. I like 'em all, even contemporary. :)