Thrillers, memoirs fill in the gap

As treasonous as it might sound, there are times when I'm just not in the mood for a romance novel.

I might, instead, pick up the latest exotic thriller by John Burdett that features a Buddhist cop in the red light district of Bangkok or maybe even the most recent "Thursday Next" novel by Jasper Fforde.

Recently, I've been on a bit of a nonfiction kick, reading all of Jon Katz, a memoir of a journalist's surreal experience during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in "Heart Like Water" and the chronicle of a former boy soldier in Africa in "A Long Way Gone."

Currently, I'm reading a biography about Henrietta, Countess of Bessborough, the glamorous, political 18th-century aristocrat who's the fascinating subject of Janet Gleeson's book, "Privilege and Scandal."

No matter what book happens to be on my nightstand, though, I almost always appreciate a good love story. In fact, my personal radar for romance is as fine-tuned as one of those metal detectors responding to something gold buried 6 inches under the sand. No matter how insignificant to the overall plot, I just find a love story adds some spark to the book. It gives the story some emotional weight and tension that I find hard to resist. So hard, in fact, that I usually stay up all night just to finish the book.

One of my favorite love stories in a nonromance novel is "The Sunne in Splendour" by Sharon Kay Penman. This sprawling book tells the story of the War of the Roses from the perspective of one of history's most infamous figures, the evil hunchback king Richard III. Only in Penman's evenhanded writing, what emerges is the story of a young man passionately in love with his frail wife who's torn between duty and honor.

Another favorite is "Daughter of the Game" by Tracy Grant in which a prominent Regency-era couple must grapple with the kidnapping of their son and the secrets both kept from one another when they first met as spies during the Napoleonic Wars. If you track down this out-of-print book, be sure to locate its sequel, which is fascinating because rather than going forward with the couple's story, "Beneath a Silent Moon" actually takes place earlier, telling their love story in reverse.

"Birdsong" by Sebastian Faulks still resonates in my mind years after having read it, and the reason has everything to do with the love story. Same thing with "The French Lieutenant's Woman" by John Fowles, which is a wrenchingly sad story of unrequited love and sacrifice. And Charlotte Bronte's "Wuthering Heights," which has the tortured love story between Heathcliff and Cathy.

Unlike a romance novel, many of these love stories don't end with "happily ever after," but for me, that's part of the appeal. I guess it's the journey more than the destination that I find so fascinating.

The endings can be really depressing for a hopeless romantic such as myself, which is why I often go back to Connie Brockway, Lisa Kleypas, Theresa Medeiros and the other romance writers.

Sometimes I need my "happily ever after," and what better place to find it than in a romance novel?

Reach Rebekah Bradford at rebekahbradford@hotmail.com.