Shady title eh? I've been reading so many romance novels lately I think it's becoming difficult for me to speak normally. Exactly how many romance novels have I read in the past two weeks? err.. let me see.. I'm too embarrassed to count.
While they are juicy, steamy, sometimes very very embarrassing to read (and I continue to do so) I wonder, should I be embarrassed to admit that I read them? My brother used to say that if he catches me with another one of them, he will burn it. My sister while rolling her eyes and calling me names reads them nevertheless. My husband, well, he calls them p**n for girls. :)
OK so here's the gist. I don't read Mills and Boon or Harlequin. I'm partial to the historical kind. With dukes and earls and damsels in distress. You know the kind I mean. I wonder if it is because we, the ladies, are now supposed to be (and want to be) strong, independent and confident with hardly ever a need to be rescued by a dashing hero. But then when I come to think of it, the heroes in our lives do come to our rescue (to quote yet another romance novel) at the drop of a hat.
So, are we really any different from the ladies in those books? Here's one aspect that makes us definitely different from them. The number of children they produce. For example, I was reading a series of books about eight siblings, each book dedicated to the love life of each sibling. To start with, eight children? Well that's a little overboard. To top it all, the last of the brothers (It was four brothers and four sisters by the way) gets married and the poor woman whom he marries produces, WAIT FOR IT, nine offspring. Nine. Yep. You read that right.
I have friends who love a romance novel. And I have some other friends who hate them. Considering that every book shop carries a selection of romance novels to choose from and the fact that people continue to buy them, maybe people do actually like them. (Behind closed doors)
Do you read romance novels ladies? or gents? There is absolutely nothing wrong with a man reading about how another handsome and dashing man with a devilish gleam in his eyes came to the rescue of a frail young lady is there? heh.. hee.. :D
You are hopeless ! :P I only read them when you leave some of them on my pillow and I read a page or two and then being the person that I am, have that urge to find out the ending so end up reading them. Unlike you, I don't read the plot before I read the book. And sorry to say this, but I end up hating them anyway.
ReplyDeleteOh please!! you lurve them.. :P
DeleteI do read them - sometimes. Sort of like 3 sugary romances per year :D Its not that I hate romance, in fact I can't usually enjoy a book or a movie unless there's a little bit of romance thrown in.
ReplyDeleteIts just that I like romance in the form of Bronte, or Austen.
Too much (certain Barbara Cartland books come to mind) feels like overdosing in turkish delight. :D
The classics I love.. Im a devoted Austen fan. And all the Bronte sisters. :) It's these ice creamy, and indeed turkish delighty stuff that I was talking about. Goodness have I fallen! :)
DeleteSounds like you're reading Georgette Heyer... if so, it's sweet and damsel-y, but hardly "porn"... I used to read the moire historical Danielle Steels, but ended up feeling like I was inside a strawberry icecream cone!
ReplyDeleteHi Angel,
DeleteGeogette Heyer? I really Like Her. Actually "the Conqueror" is one of my all time favourites. :) What my husband referred to as "p...." is Julia Quinn. :)
*groaaannn* The Conqueror ! @#*%!!!!!! :P
ReplyDeletestop groaning! where is it anyway? You gave it to some shady fellow and I never got it back!
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