A few years ago, I introduced Richard to the wonderful writings of Jennifer Crusie, beginning with Agnes and the Hitman, co-written with Bob Mayer. It's one of my all-time favorite reads. If you haven't read it yet, you don't know what you're missing out on.

Richard was rather disdainful of romances at the time. He scoffed and hem-hawed and put me off, but finally, in desperation for something new to read, he gave in and tackled Agnes...and loved it. He didn't go on to become a huge Crusie or Mayer fan, but he was willing to try romance again. I recommended a couple. Kresley Cole's RITA award winning A Hunger Like No Other was too melodramatic. Susan Anderson's Just for Kicks was too flighty.

His words, not mine. These two are on my favorites shelf, literally.

So, I gave him some more Jennifer Crusie, a contemporary romance called Manhunting. Light, well-written, with a down-to-earth hero, I figured Richard would enjoy it. 

I got a big fat meh from him.

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up the fourth novel in Nora Roberts' Bride Quartet, Happy Ever After, starring the attention-obsessed [i.e. detail oriented] Parker Brown and mechanic Malcolm Kavanaugh. It was a re-read for me, selected as a review of Roberts' almost breezy writing style. Richard was bored (he runs through reading material fairly quickly), so I lent him the copy I'd checked out from the library. 

And he loved it, so much so that he went back and read the first three in the series, and is now running through Roberts' stand-alone suspense novels. 

Even though an RWA 2012 survey of romance readers found that an astounding 91% are female, this isn't really a man vs. woman issue. A lot of people are naturally resistant to the romance genre. My mother would read "women's fiction" (Fern Michaels and V.C. Andrews were favorites), but not romances. Until I published my first novel, I don't think my father had ever picked a romance up. Then again, I've had a couple of men who've read the Daughters of the People series and loved the individual stories.

There's a certain stigma attached to romance novels, though most of the stereotypes floating around simply aren't true. Romances can be incredibly well-written, deep, thought-provoking, engaging, and entertaining. The difference between a romance and a novel with romantic elements is the focus: In a romance novel, the relationship takes center stage, though that's usually not all that's involved in the story. I describe The Prophecy as a suspense first. Maya and James' relationship isn't the central focus of the book, though that certainly wasn't intentional on my part, and the relationship isn't even close to being the only story being told.

My point here is the point I always try to make to people: Don't close yourself off to a good reading experience simply because the novel in question is described as a romance (or SciFi or horror or whatever it is that's outside the normal preference). Try it first and maybe, as with Richard, try it a couple of times. If you don't like it, all you've lost is a little of your time. And if you do, you've opened up a vast territory of new and interesting reading material. An open mind is a happy mind, and having one could lead to a favorite new-to-you author.