Myth #3: Romance novels are utter tripe with no redeeming value
Some of them are, and some of them aren’t. I’ve picked up romance novels that were so bad I couldn’t get to page two. (Well, ok, page thirty. I’m a fast reader and like to give a book a chance.) I’ve also picked up fantasy novels which were equally bad.
Sure, more often than not, romance novels don’t come with an entire mythology behind them (though Diana Gabaldon’s books do, for example), but some are remarkably well-written, with complex and interesting characters and plots.
And some are not.
Some are really clever and funny, some are not.
Some are good reads, and some aren’t.
Like anything else.
Look, I feel the same way about vampire novels (Christopher Moore excepted) you might feel about romance novels, but I have very respectable English professor friends who would argue about that with me (and probably win – I couldn’t take any of them in a fight), and so I have to say this:
It’s a matter of taste.
Just a matter of taste.
If you’re not into something, it’s much easier to write it off as worthless. There’s not much point in arguing about it.
My feeling is this – if writing (yellow journalism aside) gives people something that fulfills some emotional or intellectual place in their heads, it’s worth something.
On to Myth #4: Women read romance novels because they’re unrealistic about men…
Professional computer geek and linguist living in Germany, doing infosec stuff and being the freakiest mother ever.
