According to the date-stamp, I wrote this back in April and never finished it. Still haven't, but maybe I'll have more to say later.
I read another person saying in a public forum that they disapprove of romance novels because they lead to unrealistic expectations about love, even though she admitted at the same time that she'd never read one.
The public prejudice against romance novels continues to utterly mystify me. I can't think of any other area (food, beverage, films, vacations, bicycles, anything) where it would be acceptable to utterly dismiss an entire group even though you've never tried it. I hate peaches, but I've never eaten one. I hate Italy, but I've never been there. I hate red wine, but I've never tried it. You'd sound like an idiot. But if you say you hate romance novels without ever having read one, people just think you're intelligent and well-read.
Are there some horrible romance novels? Uh, yeah. There are also horrible mysteries, sci fi, fantasy, and literary novels. But there's also some good ones. We've talked about this before. No reason to re-hash the same old thing.
But having said that, I have to also say it's been a long, long time since I read a really good romance novel. And I've read at least a dozen in the past year that have been either disappointing or downright un-finishable. That's why I haven't posted anything here in so long. Sometimes I want to write a eulogy for the death of the romance novel, because it's been taken over by vampires and werewolves and magic and has turned into something that it wasn't. I've tried a bunch of paranormal romances and they're just not for me.
(interestingly, Sarah Wendell--in the podcast I mention in the next post--says that paranormal romances are on their way out. and all I can say to that is thank you, goddess of romance novels.)
maybe there will be more coming on this topic.
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