Retreating into romance

Last year, it took me 5 months to read ONE book. This year, I’m starting my 12th book in the same amount of time.

What changed? I discovered romance. It’s not something I’m particularly proud to share. 

On the hierarchy of acceptable books, nonfiction books are at the top, followed by self-help, then every genre of fiction except for romance, which is the smut at the bottom. And that’s what I find myself going back to week after week.

Four books I checked out from the library at once (I read all before the due date!)

I’d love to read a nonfiction book – something intellectual and relevant to my life that teaches me something. But when I pick up a nonfiction book, it’s so heavy with the weight of expectation and obligation that I put it back down – the expectation that I should read something serious and the obligation to finish something even if I don’t enjoy it.

Romance novels don’t have that same weight. They’re light-hearted, easy to read, and, most importantly, they’re predictable – and that’s exactly what I need in my life right now. 

This past year has been anything but predictable between the responsibilities of taking care of my two young kids, balancing full and part-time jobs, and taking care of my aging dad who has seemingly never-ending health problems. 

When I feel overwhelmed by the very real responsibilities of my life, I can retreat into romance and relax into the predictability of it all.

I recently finished a romance novel, Talk Bookish to Me by Kate Bromley, where the main character, Kara, is a romance writer (...of course she is…) and her love interest believes that all romance novels are carbon copies of each other since they follow the same basic storylines. Kara responds by comparing romance to baseball: 

“[It] would be equivalent to me asking you if every baseball game you watch is the same. I mean, they’re all just playing baseball, following the same rules and always ending the same with one team winning. It must be boring.

In baseball, they’re going through the same motions with the same end-goal in mind, but you’re still happy to follow multiple teams and watch them play because every game is different and exciting.”

With romance, the question isn’t if the characters will find love, it’s how. That’s comforting and predictable, so much so that I might reach 36 books by the end of the year.