Why I Read Romance

My third ever blog post was about why we fall in love with the characters in books, and while reading Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade, I started to think about why I read romance novels in the first place. Coincidentally, this story was the perfect opportunity to work through my odd fascination with the genre.

April is a geologist with a secret life as a fan fic writer for her favourite book/tv series, "Gods of the Gates," which becomes a lot less secret when she posts a cosplay photo of herself, exposing herself to the hateful nature of the internet. Because April does not conform to society's ideal of beauty, as a wonderful, curvy, fat (is the term used in the book) woman. As the hate comments begin to dominate her Twitter feed, the star of the show, Marcus, attempts to combat the negative comments by asking April on a date, only to find out that they had been corresponding for years as anonymous fan fic writers.

Just me, as I am

Although I had some ups and downs while reading this book, there was an underlying message I feel is important to discuss, more so than rating this book out of five. As April expresses to her online friends, "I think I desperately needed to read and watch the story of how a woman most considered homely and downright hideous could earn respect, admiration, desire, and eventually fall in love" (156).

This one line perfectly encompasses why I read romance novels; because I have not always been considered (by myself and by others) to be conventionally beautiful. There were times when I was bullied about my size, because I have never been and probably never will be a size 2. I read romance novels because I want to know it's possible to be loved not in spite of who I am, but because of it. That is the brilliance of the written word! Without images, you are left with your imagination. You learn about the characters, everything that makes them wonderful along with their flaws, and you witness them experience love, while hoping that it is real and true.

So yes, I did have a bit of a rough time reading the first twentish pages, and the ending was a bit predictable, but I have to confess that it was all worth it. The story itself was beautiful, and I love witnessing two nerds falling in love. I will likely be reading more Olivia Dade novels in the future!

Sorry about the long rant, but thanks for sticking with me until the end! If you have any comments, questions or review requests, please comment below, email me (theopinionatedbookworm@gmail.com) or follow me on Instagram (@theopinionatedbookworm1).

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