I have a love/hate relationship with romance novels!

I didn't start reading until I was 15 or 16-years-old. I was at a small convenience store down from my house and picked up a little Harlequin romance paperback for 75 cents. Oh stop my beating heart! The whole thing led to that one kiss at the end of the book, but it was enough. I was hooked. I have an aunt and cousins that like to read. One time my cousin was staying with me, we were in our teens. We spent some time reading, stopping long enough to use the bathroom, get a snack and tell each other what was going on in our books and then right back to reading. Nice memories. Reading helped me deal with a bad marriage. It fulfilled what I wasn't getting out of my marriage. That aside, it also took me to places I had never been. Hawaii, Canada, England... It's like taking a vacation and it only costs a few dollars. I remember one time I was reading one of Johanna Lindsey books and when I finished, I had this huge smile on my face. I sighed and said 'now I'm going to Hawaii' and picked up her book called Paradise Wild and off I went. The only thing I read for 30 years was romance novels. Then some years back I noticed nothing I picked up could hold my attention. My reading tastes had changed. I like reading a lot of Amish mystery, horror with John Saul. I don't like blood, gore and guts. John Saul is a fast read. I still love romance, but it has to be really good and discreet. I don't like it when they start ogling each other on the third page. I like a good romance to have the romance as the third point in the story. My favorite romances are the historical romances, and I love a good time travel romance, but only if the hero or heroin goes back in time. I don't care for futuristic romance, unless they come to modern time and then go back. Not the year 2099 and stuff like that. I'm really in hog heaven these days. I found out I can download books to my phone. Now I can read anywhere, anytime. I was going to buy an ereader, now I don't need one. Personally I believe this men do exist. You know they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think these men live in the eyes and hearts of the women who love them. I think most people don't give each other enough time in life to find each other before they settle. Enjoy your books, but get back into the dating scene. Life is good, life is short. Enjoy yours.

I LOVE to read. I pretty much love to read any books. I have hundreds of books on all different things.. true crime, horror, romance etc. I love romance books but I usually wind up crying while I read them and then feeling depressed that I will never have such romantic beautiful things happen to me. I really like the dirty raunchier romance books the best hehe. You mentioned Danielle Steel. She is my all time favorite author. I've read probably 20 of her books and everyone I've cried while reading. They are amazing!

I love those books and I used to feel like you do about finding a guy like that. The reality is those guys are not real. They are (mostly) created by women...a guy created by a woman is going to be nothing like a real guy. I've had many men in my life, including 2 husbands and another two almost husbands and they, men, just don't think and act like we do so our romantic expectations will never be met.

I went through a phase of reading romance novels....but I never wished I could meet someone like that....I soooo knew it was a made up character in a book. the author can make them as appealing as she likes....just to make us read the book. I have read quite a few Danielle Steele novels, but I don't anymore....I don't like the fact that most of her books are about rich people....it drives me crazy. I like ordinary stories about ordinary lives....easy reads i guess you would call them.

I read romance novels once in a while. I enjoy the "thrill" every now and again. That happy ending is always nice to read about. :-) I feel like the books are somewhat unrealistic though. I mean I have a wonderful husband whom I love and romances me...but real life just is not like those books! They really are a fairytale. Although I'll admit, before meeting my husband, I read the romance novels more often in hopes of finding that dream man. I think you eventually come to find out that your dream man may not just be the man that's in the romance novel...he's so much more. :-)

Look.. i don't wanna sound like an * but.. WAKE UP! To stop dating guys because you want a man like in the books... well sorry I will tell you but there isn't such a man in the world. The guys in the books are made this way to be interesting and sometimes to be perfect. The points is you can't find the same man, but you can find a perfect man for you... and.. stop dating and reading books will not make you fall in love.. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong in the books.. but you must not live for the book and because of the book...

I'll read an occasional romance novel, I find some entertaining, but mostly I just want to slap some sense into those people. I understand that there was a time when a woman was thought to HAVE to have a man to take care of her, because she really wasn't allowed to own property - unless she was a widow... even then it was questionable... but I wouldn't want to live in those days anyway!

I always thought they weren't very interesting, but once one of my friends land me her book - she had bought it when she was vacationing, and i couldn't stop until the last page. It was really sad that the second tom was out of my reach for a two years. The trick was - it was also fantasy novel, and together they really managed to catch my attention. Pure romance have a little value for me, but now if there is also fantasy i give it a try.

I feel the same way! I love to read and always used to avoid roma nce novels. Then I got one by accident and read it and now I find myself reading those too. But I end up reading hte book, predicting everything that happens before it happens and then getting to the end of the book and going, 'that's it?' However, when the next one comes along I read it too. I guess I find them easy reads, easy to pick up and read a few pages and put down if I dont have a lot of time.