Kimberly Gardner

Not the kind with test tubes and the periodic table. No. The kind of chemistry I mean is romantic chemistry.

It’s that undefinable something that happens in a well-crafted romance, the thing that makes my heart go pitty-pat as I read, the thing that keeps me turning the ‘pages’ well past my bedtime.

That’s the best definition I can come up with and, yeah, I realize, that’s not a definition at all. Suffice to say that even though my defining skills are not up to the challenge of saying exactly what romantic chemistry is or how to create it when writing, I know it when I see it.

And I know when it’s just not there too.

Now, I would never publicly bash another writer’s work. So I’m not going to mention the titles or authors of the last two books I’ve read where the chemistry was sorely lacking. What I will do is try to figure out why and what those authors might have done to turn up the heat.

Both stories are contemporary, m/m romances with blurbs interesting enough to make me shell out around $7. Both had characters that could have been yummy in situations that could have been yummy. Both were explicit in the detailed descriptions of intimate scenes.

But even given all that, there was zero spark. I couldn’t have cared less if these couples ever got it on or found their HEA. And that’s just wrong.

In the first case, a romantic suspense, there were a ton of plot devices that I just didn’t believe that continually had me going “Huh?” In other words I wasn’t able to suspend my disbelief long enough to get caught up in this couple’s attempt at finding love.

In the second, a strict contemp, I just didn’t believe the pov character’s attraction for the other hero. Yeah, the author kept going on about how gorgeous and classy and all-around nice the guy was, but she didn’t make me feel that thrill low in my belly that comes with true attraction. And again, I couldn’t have cared less when/if they ever got it on.

I didn’t finish either book though there may still be hope for the second. Although if I can so easily put a book down even after the first kiss …

So, yeah, chemistry. How do you know if your story has it? And if it doesn’t, is it possible to fix such a basic flaw?

Any thoughts? From writers? Or from readers?