Sixteen-year-old Tiny Sinclair begins her first year at Charity Ambrose Finishing School in 1953 already feeling like an outcast: her mother, a glamorous movie star, is dead, and her father is imprisoned under suspicion of being a Communist. All her classmates seem to have it so easy: beautiful Betty is an elegant and popular socialite, while Diane, the richest girl in school, is dangerous and mysterious (and, for some reason, hell-bent on ruining Tiny's life). When a classmate is found dead and Tiny becomes the number one suspect, the situation seems to go from bad to worse. Determined to clear her name, she sets about searching for clues, when the unexpected happens: Diane and Betty want to help her solve the mystery. The unlikely trio dive into sleuthing, searching through old records, connecting clues, and scampering about the dark campus and nearby woods to search for the killer. When more students begin dying, Tiny, Betty, and Diane discover that the enemy they're looking for might not be entirely human. It will take trusting each other, a resurgence of ancient magic, and help that stems all the way back to the founding of the school for them to realize that all secrets must eventually come to light.

This study aims to explore gender norms within the romance genre when they are no longer applied on a romantic relationship between a man and a woman. Through a close reading of the novel Power Plays & Straight A’s by Eden Finley and Saxon James, the study examines the main characters, Foster Grant and Zach Sawyer, to observe how they fit into the roles of a traditional romance hero and heroine. The main source for this observation comes from Janice Radway’s study Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature (1991) which exemplifies the differences between the genders with the use of contrasting traits. The characters are also analysed in a societal context to observe how they abide by traditional masculinity and how their sexuality plays a part in it. There is also an overview of the novel through the perspective of both a traditional romance as well as a queer romance novel, in which terms like escapism, happy endings and coming outs are explored. Finally, there is a section specifically focused on desire and how it has changed within the genre, which is applied because the novel in question is an erotic novel as well as a romance novel. The conclusion showcases how the characters cannot be assigned to a typical female nor male role, as they both possess the traits traditionally assigned to both genders. As for their role in society, traditional masculinity is questioned, seeing as the character of Foster specifically embodies the rules of masculinity through his athletic pursuits and place within the jock culture – but would still get shunned because of his bisexuality. Furthermore, the novel possesses several traits of a traditional romance novel, most importantly the happy ending, while also including typical queer romance traits – such as a coming out scene. Desire also takes a prominent role since both main characters have an equal craving for the other. The overall conclusion of this study showcases the changing tides of the romance genre and how, despite its formulaic layout, it doesn’t render the ability for change of a genre that once seemed predictable. / Denna uppsats utforskar könsnormer i romancegenren när det inte längre tillämpas på en romantisk relation mellan en man och en kvinna. Genom en närläsning av romanen Power Plays & Straight A’s av Eden Finley och Saxon James, undersöker studien huvudkaraktärerna, Foster Grant och Zach Sawyer, för att observera hur de passar in i rollen som hjälte och hjältinna utifrån en traditionell romance-roman. Den primära forskning som uppsatsen bygger på är Janice Radways studie Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature (1991) som exemplifierar skillnaderna mellan könen med användning av motsatta egenskaper. Karaktärerna analyseras också i ett samhälleligt sammanhang för att observera hur de förhåller sig till traditionell maskulinitet och den påverkan som karaktärernas sexualitet har i förhållande till den maskulina kulturen. I uppsatsen görs även en översiktlig studie av romanen genom perspektivet av både en traditionell romance och en queer romance, där jag utforskar begrepp som eskapism, lyckliga slut och att komma ut. Slutligen finns det ett avsnitt som fokuserar på begär och hur det har förändrats inom genren, vilket tillämpas eftersom romanen i fråga är en erotisk roman såväl som en romance-roman. Slutsatsen visar hur karaktärerna inte kan tilldelas en typisk kvinnlig eller manlig roll, eftersom de båda har egenskaper som traditionellt tilldelas båda könen. När det gäller deras roll i samhället ifrågasätts traditionell maskulinitet, eftersom karaktären av Foster specifikt förkroppsligar maskulinitetens regler genom hans plats inom sportkulturen - men ändå skulle bli avvisad från machokulturen på grund av sin bisexualitet. Romanen innehåller flera drag av en traditionell romance-roman, viktigast av allt det lyckliga slutet, samtidigt som den innehåller typiska queerromance drag – som en komma ut-scen. Begär tar också en framträdande roll eftersom båda huvudkaraktärerna likgiltigt får sukta efter den andre. Den övergripande slutsatsen av den här studien visar romancegenrens föränderliga tidvatten och hur den, trots dess typiska formler, inte hindrar möjligheten till förändring av en genre som en gång framstått som förutsägbar.