In praise of romance...

I think there must be something in the water, or perhaps the general non-romance reading population are finally catching up...but today I was alerted to TWO articles praising the romance genre. The first:

http://www.bustle.com/articles/175941-i-read-a-romance-novel-for-the-first-time-and-i-learned-the-stereotypes-are-absolutely  sets out to slam all the stereotypes and perceptions that people have about romance books and the protagonists etc.

The second one https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/24/mills-and-boon-romances-are-actually-feminist-texts-academic-says talks about an academic researcher who claims Mills and Boon books are actually the 'literature of protest' and feminist texts.

I don't know about that... I guess that's for people cleverer than me to debate. But I do know that I love to read about strong sassy women who won't settle for second best, who value their self worth and won't take any crap. Overcoming obstacles is something we all have to face in life, believing in love and a HEA keeps me going when things are going wrong.

When I tell people I write romance for a living I generally have to wait out the pause before the other person answers. (I secretly LOVE telling people what I do every day!). I usually get a fabulous response but, a few months ago I was out with a 'literary bunch' and when a man found out I 'made money' from writing he asked what I did. I told him I wrote romance and he literally turned his back to me. Honestly. Turned away from me without saying a word. I was pretty shocked and lost for words. His attitude sums up the ignorant, the snobby and the downright ill-mannered- someone who's never read a romance book in their lives but thinks they know what it's all about because of some 1980s book cover they once saw.

I don't care what other people think, though, I just love to read them and to write them. I love the thrill of making life complicated for my hero and heroine, I love living vicariously through my heroine (because, yes, I do! I'm always smarter, funnier and sexier in my books). I love going to conferences and meeting the strong sassy women who write and read these books and sharing my love for a bloody good plot twist and a gorgeous hero we all fell in love with. Mostly, I love it when a reader tells me a story (and not necessarily one of mine, but one of many) helped them through a difficult personal time.

What do you like best about reading romance? Any new releases you've read recently you can recommend?