Everything I Know About Love I Learned From Romance Novels Read Online Free PDF Page A

person’s life, whether it’s the fantasy of romance, or the fantasy of being an unstoppable warrior, or knowing you’re the smartest person in the room, able to solve any puzzle with observational skills and the ability to quirk one eyebrow. The time spent in escape and fantasy, regardless of the venue of the escape, is fulfilling because it presents a time of rest and quiet while one is awake. Some people watch TV, some folks play games, some build or create things, and some people read—and some do all of the above, though not necessarily at the same time. One would hope not, anyway—might be messy.
    A third benefit that romance readers receive, according to Harlequin’s research (which I am told fills many a PowerPoint presentation), is the validation of seeing their lives, their stresses, their beliefs, and their values reflected in fictional narratives. It’s reassuring to see confirmation of your own beliefs and to find someone or something that is like you. This is part of the reason that inspirational or Christian-focused romance is popular: it is reassuring for a reader to see a validation of personal values, and to realize that one is not a freak for wanting to attend church, for finding community in a spiritual setting, or for wanting to be chaste.
    Within the romance genre, there exists the validation of the belief and the desire for a happy ending, and the idea of a perfect someone who will create happiness in tandem. Perhaps this explains why romance readers are in romantic relationships themselves: they’re repeatedly reading about successful relationships, and creating ones for themselves as best they can.
    This is not to say that every romance reader is in a happily blissful relationship—not true. Some are single, some are partnered and miserable, and some have a relationship that’s in progress. But the affirmation of seeing conflict resolution and the acquisition of more self-confidence played out over and over again with different problems and different people can create a belief in the possibility that, if a fictional heroine can overcome that problem, surely one’s own difficulties can be battled into submission. It’s pretty simple: seeing kicking of ass inspires one to kick ass.
    These benefits of reading romance, as Harlequin puts it, are only some of the reasons why romance readers are so devoted to the genre—and boy howdy, are we devoted. This dedication is one unique quirk of the romance reader. We turn to romances and stories of courtship again and again. We finish one book and immediately seek another. We read romances that vary in settings a few hundred years or even light-years apart from one another, but we return to the stories of courtship repeatedly.
    One reason that fans of the romance genre read so much of it is that there are few experiences as thrilling as falling into an electric attraction or a feisty relationship with someone you’re seriously, seriously into. Falling into like, into love, or even into oh-my-gosh-I-want-to-kiss-you is a heady and delicious experience.
    Author Julia London says that her readers thank her for the ability to re-experience their joy and excitement through fiction: “They have thanked me for giving them a romance to fall into. I think that feeling of falling in love is something we have all experienced and for many of us, that falling in love has turned to companionable love. Yet the feeling of falling is something we want to experience again, and I think readers can do that safely in a book and keep the love without giving up the love we have. It’s not that readers idolize the hero or heroine and wish their own spouse was more like that person. Reading romance is about the emotional attachment and connection, and enjoying that thrill in a contained narrative (one that guarantees a happy ending—don’t forget that part).”
    Reading about the emotional experience allows the reader to enjoy it vicariously, to feel the emotional pull