From Foreplay to Positive Messages: Why People Love Romance Novels
Growing up, romances were considered the worst books to read in my house. At least certain romances were. High school and chick lit romances were acceptable to read at times and the classics were always fine. But traditional romances with a man and a woman embracing on the cover? Those were rubbish, they were misspelled, and only worth reading for the sex scenes that probably made up at least half of the book’s content.
After a certain age, I was allowed to read any book I wanted, but romances were still considered the least valuable genre. However, when I got to high school, romance novels were just too tempting.
Since they are available in all the places that sell second-hand books, it was not difficult for me to find romances and form my own opinions on romances. And it wasn’t long before I really liked them, so much so that I started my own blog to review just them. And millions of other readers love them so much.
There are many stereotypes that involve avid readers of romance, such as desperate spinsters, lonely women, and curious teenagers. But the truth is, Most romance readers are college-educated women who are married and have full lives. So while there is a level of escapism, there is much more to the appeal of romance than that.
Many women, including myself, like it because of the positive messages in the books.. The heroine almost always has insecurities about her body or her wits or personality and yet the hero is still completely captivated by her. For example in Lord Braybrooke’s Pennyless Bride By Elizabeth Rolls, Christina Daventry is incredibly insecure about her finances, appearance, and heritage. As the bastard daughter of a nobleman, she is just one wrong step away from being on the streets. Yet he somehow captures Lord Braybrooke’s heart without even really trying. While people could attribute it to the fact that she is really beautiful without even knowing it, that is not true of all romances. On The morning comes softly by DebbieMacomber, Montana rancher Travis Thompson marries a woman who does not seem beautiful in the least. However, he ends up falling in love with her anyway.. While not everyone thinks that finding love is the end goal in life, in romantic books it means happiness. Romance books say that everyone can find happiness without changing who they are.
While the positive message is appealing to readers of all ages, others, especially teens, have another reason to read romances.
“They help me study for the SATs,” a friend once told me with a laugh. “It’s weird, but where else am I going to read words like flowery, choppy, and loving outside of vocabulary exercises and classics?”
She was right. Even though my family thought that all romances are misspelled, I have found that I need to go to the dictionary with them more than with any other genre. It is not so much that they are trying to be “intellectual”. It’s more that there is a lot of emotion in romance books, even more than in other genres because the main story is an emotional connection. Sometimes ‘happy’, ‘sad’ and ‘angry’ just aren’t enough, so the writer turns to larger, less-used words to describe his characters and their surroundings. While this is not really a reason to read romance books, it is an advantage for some people. I know I’m not the only one who thinks that. In my school’s guidance counselor’s office there were some romance books with the SAT study material that had been selected for their vocabulary.
And, of course, a lot of people read romance for escapism. Many like the idea of a completely dedicated and self-focused man, without the distractions of social media, sports, or work.. Some compare reading romance novels to foreplay Because in romance books, women always have the full attention of men, which is also true for foreplay. For those in the teen crowd, they like to experience romance in books because they are curious or their own love life is lacking in sparkle due to poor selections at their school. But even those who are satisfied with their love life love romance books for escapism because They don’t just show an ideal relationship. They also show an ideal world, where there is always a happy ending, family gatherings are fun without stress, and days with bad hair are once in a blue moon. Even dystopian worlds are considered ideal, because they are full of excitement and danger, unlike our usual monotonous but safe lives.
No matter what your reason for love affair is, if you’re as avid reader as I am, you probably burn books easily. Sometimes I can read up to four a month. In reality, readers of romance read more than readers of any other genre. In fact, Scribd had to cut most of his romances because the cost of the books readers read exceeded the amount they got in subscriptions. However, it is often unpredictable whether the romance is good or not. Even the tight genres provided by Harlequin and Silhouette may have a few rags in a brand that you normally like.