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!
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.
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.
!!! 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.
Yup. And there’s nothing like cerebral wanking . Me loves a good dirty book - currently I’m reading a Marquis de Sade collection.
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.