There is a whole generation of romance readers and writers who suffer from what I like to think of as 'Thorn Birds' Fever.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
By the time I was 10 or 12, I had discovered the lure of the romance genre - and the dusty copy of 'The Thorn Birds' on my parents' bookshelf.
As a lifelong romance reader, it's always satisfying to get to talk to other romance readers!
I love books where you feel you're having a romance with the writer.
As an author you hope your characters have sparks but truly in the end they have minds of their own!
People who would never sneer at sci-fi and murder mysteries have no trouble damning the whole romance genre without reading one.
Though by whim, envy, or resentment led, they damn those authors whom they never read.
In the end, what's any good reader really hoping for? That spark. That spell. That journey.
What's gratifying is that it's my books that are being read and reread until they're battered over the years. I love that.
I go to readings by fiction writers like Alice Walker, and I'm envious of the level of attention they generate.
Anyone who reads advice books about romance has one problem to begin with: bad taste in literature.