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In Love with Romance I confess: I’m addicted to romance novels. Look at my bookshelves (and my reviews), and you’ll see it’s true. I was introduced to the beauty of the Christian romance novel when I was a pre-teen, and since then there’s been no looking back. Even when I was reading juvenile stories, I would fantasize about the happily-ever-after the eleven-year-old girl would have somewhere down the road. Perhaps there’s just something in my makeup that demands this. But as someone who’s read romance of every variety, from Christian to mainstream, comedy to drama, suspense to mystery, I’ve got to say it: when the characters’ love isn’t convincing, I’d rather be reading an economics treatise. Recent example: I was sick a few weeks ago, too tired to do much of anything, so I picked up a novel that had been lent to me. I picked it up thinking I’d breeze through it while I rested and that I’d get back to work the next day. Instead, I found myself so irritated with this bestseller that I was hard pressed to finish it at all. Why? Because the hero and heroine, who hadn’t met each other before the second chapter, did nothing but argue. I mean nothing but. They were snapping and snarling at each other from their first exchange, and not once did they show each other their softer sides. And yet, they were supposedly falling in love. How? Why? It didn’t make sense. It was as though the author had set out to write a romance, so she wrote one in spite of the fact that her characters didn’t agree with her. They ended up together, but it felt totally forced. I’ll gladly admit that sometimes successful couples are comprised of people I wouldn’t have thought were compatible. But I have to assume that those people show each other faces they don’t necessarily show the rest of us, something to link their hearts and souls. That’s what love’s supposed to do, and that’s what I like seeing in a book. Some of my favorite stories are the ones where the hero and heroine are so very different that I’m left amazed at how they come together. Amazed–and convinced. Love isn’t an easy thing. It’s complex and complicated and sometimes downright difficult. And what’s more, it really isn’t always enough to ensure a happily ever after. There’s more to life than romance, more than that blush of first love. Reading romances has helped me see that as clearly as life itself has. But I think one of the reasons I so enjoy them is because they remind me of those beginnings, of the beauty of it. In Revelation, John rebukes one church for forgetting its first love; that as a man should always adore the wife of his youth, so should the church love Christ. Reading the Bible helps me to remember that fire for God. Reading love stories helps me remember the fire for the man I love. You’ve probably heard the horror stories–marriages ruined by romance novels, because the women had such lofty expectations of their husbands that said husbands had no way to keep from disappointing. But I have to say this: anyone who honestly expects that particular type of romance novel to have a mirror in reality is so silly that she’d probably have found some other way to make unreasonable expectations even without the books’ help. Romances aren’t designed to be an outline of what every romance should be. They’re stories–which means that often they’re escape from reality, and, when truly good stories, lessons, too. One of my favorite things about Christian romance is that the characters never just simply fall in love–they always have to work at it, work at their lives, work on themselves to make it work. Sound familiar? In real life, love isn’t easy. It isn’t just a feeling, it’s a decision. My husband and I promised each other when were teenagers that no matter what happened, we’d work through it. Our love isn’t about rose petals and champagne. But you know. . . we’ve had our sweet moments. And when I read a touching romance, I love to cuddle up with him and smile as I remember my first love, my lifelong love. There’s just something in me that demands it. Wanna give me your take? Questions, comments, silly statements? Email me at BtL@ChristianReviewofBooks.com View Other Columns: Celebrating the Tradition |
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