A couple of days ago, one of my friends on Facebook said that romance novels are a dying breed. In her opinion, everyone is reading contemporary fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, fantasy/paranormal, and dystopian novels.
“I haven’t read a romance novel since I was in high school and I have no intentions of ever reading one again. They’re for naive young girls and love-starved little old ladies with cats,” she claimed in her post.
I highly disagree. I love romance novels. I love them so much that I’m writing them. Romance novels are as different as the authors who write them, the plotlines the authors create, and the characters authors torture between the covers of the novels. I do read other genres, but when I’m down or in a bad mood, give me a romance novel to boost my spirits.
Torture in a romance novel? Yes. Think about it. Authors do not torture the hero or heroine as we’d normally think of it unless the torture is happening in a historical or gothic romance. There might be a bit of the rack or another device in one of those. (Eek!) No, romance authors are more subtle than that. The heroine meets the guy of her dreams, whether she knows it or not. Then the author puts obstacle after obstacle in their way, giving her multiple reasons to cry her way through an entire year’s production of tissues until the author finally relents and lets the heroine find her happily ever after with her dream guy.
Romance novels are definitely not dead. Take a look on Amazon, and you’ll agree that there are romance novels set everywhere from the Artic to outer space and in every time from the dawn of time to the end of the universe. Go to your local bookstore and linger in the romance aisle. Watch patrons select their books and carry them up to the checkout, anticipation in their eyes. You know they can’t wait to get those romance novels home and crack the covers. I know because I am one of them.
Look around you as you go about your daily activities. Notice the people reading, whether on their tablets or a paper book, hardback or paperback. Take a gander at the titles of those books, and I’ll bet you you’ll find at least one or two romance novels amongst the books, if not more.
I certainly hope that romance novels aren’t dead. I’m a romance novel author and would be heartbroken if no one read my novels. I haven’t published any yet, but I am working on it.
— Julia