Romance Novels? I read them!

I read romance novels and I'm damn proud of it. My favorite genre to read is romance. The genre has a very bad reputation and is often belittled and looked down upon. Honestly, I find that offensive. The only real reason it is treated this way by society and the media is because it is heavily saturated by women. That's right, society making fun of romance is pretty much sexist in origins. 

When did I start reading romance? Honestly, it feels like forever but I believe my first "romance" novel came around the age of 11 and it was a V.C. Andrews novel. If you know anything about V.C. Andrews, you'll know the content is quite mature. From there, I was all about reading romance. I had read things like Gossip Girl and stuff before but once I picked up that first Andrews novel, romance owned a piece of my very soul. 

Why do I read romance? This is such a loaded question. In short, I'm a hopeless romantic. I believe in soulmates, in compliments of myself in another person and in the power of love. It's kind of funny since in today's day that is pretty much a laughing matter and considered "old school," but I grew up on musicals with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire falling in love and singing and dancing off into the sunset. I like that the books ultimately have happy endings because life, in general, can be very disappointing and dissatisfying. Also, it's my escape from my own issues and feelings of loneliness. Lastly, romance has so many sub-genres that you can literally touch so many different walks of life while still in a romantic notion. How amazing is that?