Déjà vu

I may not have noticed it so much had I not read the books back to back.

Two Historical Romances by authors living in different countries, both published in 2009 by different publishers, yet the stories so similar the writers could have been following a template.

Handsome noble tortured hero - check

Beautiful determined heroine - check

Dastardly relatives in need of heroine's inheritance attempt to force her to marry a friend who will share the wealth - check

For her safety, hero must spirit heroine to his isolated country home near the ocean - check

With the love and support of heroine, hero undergoes a harrowing catharsis, meets his demons, and is cured - check

Pages of steamy love scenes - check

HEA - of course

Both books are well-written, have unique individual style, a good sense of place and time, and unobtrusive yet endearing secondary characters.

But I would have enjoyed the second book more had I not read the first, or had more time elapsed between readings.

Not the authors' faults. Not the reader's either. I guess I'll chalk this up to coincidence, and the limitations of the genre.

This all gives me pause in my own writing. One of my works in progress knowingly contains an oft-used plot device as a subplot, and my job is to twist it so it doesn't seem business as usual.

Hopefully the characters will assist me with this task.

~Where did I read that there are only five or so different plots and all the good ones are gone?

 
--Cat