{"id":5173,"date":"2007-05-15T02:25:27","date_gmt":"2007-05-15T02:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shilohwalker.wordpress.com\/2007\/05\/15\/what-do-you-want-out-of-romance\/"},"modified":"2007-05-15T02:25:27","modified_gmt":"2007-05-15T02:25:27","slug":"what-do-you-want-out-of-romance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2007\/05\/what-do-you-want-out-of-romance\/","title":{"rendered":"What do you want out of romance?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I read romance because a romance gives me that warm cuddly, awwwwww feeling.\u00a0 I love that feeling.\u00a0 It’s the same feeling I get when I watch Bruce Almighty <\/em>or The Return of the King<\/em>.\u00a0 (That kiss at the end?\u00a0 …. whoa…)<\/p>\n

I read romance because it’s going to be about a guy and a girl who fall in love and live happily ever after.\u00a0\u00a0 There will be issues.\u00a0 It’s not much of a book if there’s not some sort of trouble in there, but they will resolve it.\u00a0 They will fall in love and I know there’s a promise of a happy future.\u00a0 It doesn’t have to end with orange\u00a0blossoms and white lace as the heroine walks down the aisle.\u00a0 But I know it will end with them together.\u00a0 (This trend lately that have\u00a0romances that don’t end HEA…as in the H&H not together….???\u00a0 Don’t like it.\u00a0 I avoid those books at all costs.)<\/p>\n

I read romance because of that happily ever after.\u00a0 There are very few things that guarantee a HEA.\u00a0 I love sci fi and fantasy but I’m not guaranteed a HEA.\u00a0 One of my fave fantasy series is the Valdemar books by Mercedes Lackey and several of her books have ended with one of the main, if not THE main character getting killed.\u00a0 Still love the books, but when I’m looking for a HEA, I’m not going to pick up a fantasy unless its one I’ve read before and I know what I’m getting.\u00a0\u00a0 The Stardoc <\/em>books?\u00a0 Anybody that knows me knows that I’m a total Stardoc <\/em>junkie and I’d read SL Viehl’s grocery list if she let me.\u00a0 However…if you’ve read Endurance <\/em>or Rebel Ice,<\/em> you know that she doesn’t always end her books with that cuddly awwwww feeling either.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No, if I want that\u00a0 awwwww feeling, it’s gotta be a romance.\u00a0\u00a0I don’t read them for the sex, although when the love scenes are well written, they add to the story.\u00a0 They enhance it, the same way a good sex life enhances a happy marriage. But a romance book, whether it’s erotic, mainstream or inspirational, shouldn’t be all about sex.\u00a0 A good erotic romance will steam up the pages, oh yeah, but it isn’t all about sex.\u00a0 It’s about a couple of people falling in love.<\/p>\n

I don’t read them because I’m miserable with my life and I need the escapism.\u00a0 Quite the contrary, I have a wonderful life.\u00a0 I’m married to my high school sweetheart, we have three beautiful kids and we can afford to take a vacation every now and then to someplace nice.<\/p>\n

I don’t read them because I can’t comprehend ‘deeper’ books.\u00a0 I can comprehend them just fine, but they appeal to me about as much as…oh…. an ice pick in my ear.\u00a0 Not at all.\u00a0 I don’t need ‘deep’ books. Deep translates to depressing.\u00a0 Deep translates to the same kind of reality crap I can see on the news.\u00a0 I don’t need The Lovely Bones<\/em> on my bookshelf.\u00a0 That. Book. Was. Depressing.\u00a0 End of discussion.\u00a0 When I want deep, I read my Bible.\u00a0 If I want depressing, I can watch the news. When I read…I wanna relax.\u00a0I want romance.\u00a0 Some people I know have given me that haughty little sniff, oh…so you read romance?\u00a0 I read real books.\u00a0 <\/em>Uh…last time I check, romance was real.\u00a0 It happens in the real world, right?\u00a0 People fall in love and get married all the time.\u00a0 Some even stay married.<\/p>\n

Real <\/em>too often translates to lit.<\/em> I\u00a0can read lit and understand it pretty friggin well, but it bores me.\u00a0 I don’t like being bored.\u00a0 If it doesn’t bore me, it depresses me.\u00a0 I hate being depressed even more than I hate being bored.<\/p>\n

That’s why I read romance. It’s entertainment.\u00a0 It’s relaxation.\u00a0 It’s a feel good thing because I know true love will triumph.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I’ve seen too much reality. I’ve lost a child. I’ve taken care of battered, abused children in my job as a pediatric nurse and before that, I worked in nursing homes.\u00a0I’ve watched people die while I stood by their bedside.\u00a0 I grew up around crap I don’t, and won’t, discuss.\u00a0 So I’m familiar with reality and I have no trouble dealing with it.<\/p>\n

But when I’m reading…I want enjoyment. That’s why I read romance.\u00a0 What about you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I read romance because a romance gives me that warm cuddly, awwwwww feeling.\u00a0 I love that feeling.\u00a0 It’s the same feeling I get when I “What do you want out of romance?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10161045129738658_54762468447":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_bluesky_dont_syndicate":"","_bluesky_syndication_accounts":"","_bluesky_syndication_text":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[44,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-romance","category-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat do you want out of romance? 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