# Do you like romance novels? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-romance-novels/223691 "2004-01-09T18:44:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-romance-novels/223691/21 "2004-01-10T21:14:31Z")
I used to read them constantly, but after a while I sort of lost my taste for them. That being said, I’ll still re-read my favorite Jude Deveraux and LaVyrle Spencer, as their’s aren’t as um, “formulative” as the rest. My friends and I used to read the sex scenes for a laugh-some of them are so corny and cliche! ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-romance-novels/223691/22 "2004-01-10T23:10:45Z")
I’m surprised no one has mentioned some of my favorite authors, Linda Howard, Jayne Ann Krentz, Kathleen Gilles Seidel and Roberta Gellis. It was Gellis’ historical romances that got one of my history Professors to tell me a I had a superior understanding of the political relationships between the Church and Nobility during the reign of Stephen. BTW if your looking for hot sex scenes as well as a well crafted story Linda Howard is very good. ---
**Author:** ![AntaresJB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AntaresJB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntaresJB)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-romance-novels/223691/23 "2004-01-10T23:21:28Z")
I started reading them because my the one lounge in my residence hall had a bookshelf stocked full of them and I needed something light to take my mind off of classes and such. I’m 20, by the way. I kept reading them because, as others have said, they’re light, they’re fun, they’re fast. And the sex. Romance novels are chick porn. You can curl up with one at night and then have dirty dreams and it’s great. Also, the dirty parts are absolutely hilarious to read out loud to a group of friends, especially in a horrifically fake English accent. 😃 Yeah, they’re not great works of classic literature, but they’re entertaining, they’re something to read, and they’ve got hot sex scenes. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-romance-novels/223691/24 "2004-01-11T01:55:58Z")
> [@](#): > > I read several, but only one was a real standout: Sandra Hill’s The Very Virile Viking. It’s about this viking (duh) named Magnus, who has eleven children – well, actually, he had 13 but two died. Their mothers have died, deserted, or divorced him. Things get kinda cramped on the family farm, so he packs up 9 of the surviving 11 and sets out for Vinland. On the way he and his brood get caught in a time warp and deposited in modern-day California, “The Land of Holly and Wood”. !!! The sequel to that one, _Truly, Madly Viking_ is the one with the TALKING WHALE! Hee hee, that one has his brother ending up with some modern woman (was she a psychiatrist?) and working with a group of mental patients. It’s so awful it’s grand. ---
**Author:** ![HDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bb73d2/32.png) [@HDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HDS)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-romance-novels/223691/25 "2004-01-11T02:17:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Romance novels are chick porn. Yup. And there’s nothing like cerebral wanking 😃 . Me loves a good dirty book - currently I’m reading a Marquis de Sade collection. ---
**Author:** ![Kayeby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-romance-novels/223691/26 "2004-01-11T02:29:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shirley Ujest \* > \*\*You have just named two of my favorite books. > > Have you read any Laura Kinsale (My Sweet Folly-is my fav.) or Rachel Gibson (Lola Carlyle Reveals All. - fun, fun, fun.) \*\* I’ve heard of Laura Kinsale and have been meaning to get ahold of some of her books, in particular For My Lady’s Heart and Shadowheart when it comes out in April this year. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-romance-novels/223691.md?page=1)