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Valentine's Day seems the perfect time to look at romance novels and today's romance novels aren't the bodice rippers that you might think they are. Today's romance novels are sexy, sassy, often funny and downright hot. No longer are they the sole domain of rich sheiks, doctors, cowboys and earls (but you can still find those if you want). Between their pages you will find NASCAR drivers, airplane pilots, hockey players, vampire hunters, werewolves and yes even the boy next door.
When I was growing up we had these boxes of books that would rotate in and out of our house. The boxes were full of romance novels. We'd read them, my mom would mark her initial in the front cover so she's know she read it, and after we had finished the box we'd pass it on to my grandmother or my aunt or to a family friend. Someone would pass another book on to us. I don't remember how old I was when I began dipping into them, I'd probably guess when I was just on the cusp of high school. They were available books to read and if I was reading books I was not bugging my mother saying I was bored so it was win-win for both of us. (Let me tell you, when you are that age and you read a rather steamy novel and the realization that your mother and grandmother read it too hits you...it's very, very weird.)
Many people some misconceptions about romance novels, the main one being that they wouldn't like them. Recently Richard Pickering, the Master at Arms of Paperback Swap announced to the members that he not only read some romance novels, he liked them and recommends them.
They were funny, they were sad…I got caught up in the stories and the characters. Definitely different. Engaging to a point. And I think I may have learned a thing or two about why this genre is so popular.
For a few years I had a New Years Eve tradition. I'm not much for going out on New Year's Eve (I'm really a homebody) so I would open a bottle of wine, run a bubble bath and settle in with a romance novel. It was fun, indulgent, and if did it at 9pm rather than midnight no one was the wiser. I remember the first year I did I read Katie MacAlister's The Corset Diaries. It was laugh out loud funny and her main character was authentic and trust me, not a character that you would have found in those older Mills & Boon romances that your grandma hid from you. It was quite a while before I discovered MacAlister's blog but I found that same sassy borderlining snarky humour that I loved in her books.
I've been reading romance author Jill Shalvis's blog for oh dear... a couple of years now. It's one of the first blogs I check every day and I enjoy it immensely. I'm rather ashamed to say that I've never read one of her books. But when the Smart Bitches and Dear Author recently started touting her most recent book, Instant Attraction, I knew it was well past time. I'm picking up a couple of her books from the library this weekend and I'm thoroughly going to enjoy myself reading them.
Over the years I'd read a good number of novels with baseball players but being a good Canadian girl I like me some hockey. I have no clue who to credit with this discovery but I have sent a mental note of thanks to the person who introduced me to Deirdre Martin and her New York Blades series. Yes, it's a series of romance novels that center around a New York City pro hockey team. I like them so much I'll even forgive her for setting them in New York City rather than Canada. If hockey's not your speed Harlequin has a line of NASCAR books - officially sanctioned and branded NASCAR books. You can even buy them in the NASCAR.com Superstore.
Janicu recently read one of the NASCAR books that she downloaded for free as part of Harlequin's 60 Year celebration and she was surprised to learn that she liked it.
While some people may think that romance novels have one foot buried in the past, the industry has really embraced new technology like e-books. Pretty much all romance publishers release their books as ebooks and Dear
