One Writer Reads a Romance Novel for The First Time

Posted Oct 06, 2009 by jharmon /

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As a 40-year-old male, I’m not the traditional reader of romance novels, but I found the experience mostly enjoyable and entertaining.

Until recently, I had never read a romance novel. In fact, I had no interest in romance novels. I’m a guy. I like novels with lots of action and gunfights and swinging swords and intrigue, etc.

But I’m also a fiction writer. And what are the most-read novels in the world? Romance novels. What company is the largest publisher in the world? Believe it or not, Harlequin.

So, I got to thinking that perhaps I was missing out on a few paychecks. If romance writing is so popular, maybe I should take a look at the stuff. Maybe I could find a way to make some money there. Maybe, oh heavens forbid, I might even find something to like.

I didn’t want to push my limits too far, so instead of jumping right into one of the more traditional romance novels, I decided to try out one of Harlequin’s Silhouette Nocturne novels because they have a focus on the supernatural and are often referred to as paranormal romances. This direction made sense to me since I’ve a history of writing fantasy and horror.

After looking at a dozen or more books at my local Barnes & Noble, I decided up the novel “Dark Deceiver” by Pamela Palmer because it didn’t focus on vampires or werewolves (not that I have anything against vampires and werewolves, it’s just that I wasn’t in the mood for them at the time).

“Dark Deceiver” begins with the king of a race called the Esri from another universe sending some of his minions to our world in search of stones of power that would allow him to invade our world. The plot follows humans who work to thwart the Esri and one of the Esri as he works to thwart the humans. In all of this mix, a love story happens between a human and an Esri. That’s all I’ll say. Anything more would be giving away too much.

Let it be said, for the most part, I enjoyed the story. It flowed well and there was enough action and intrigue to keep my interest flowing right along. The downsides? Well, there were a few. For one, while the writing was overall pretty good (reminding me quite a bit of Dean Koontz), it seemed too simplistic in some places, especially when dealing with character motivations and responses to one another; frankly, I felt the whole “falling in love with one another” happened too easily.

But I’m not the average romance reader. Maybe the “falling in love” quickly thing is what’s supposed to happen. I’m not sure. But I’m interested enough to want to read more romance novels to figure out how they work. I think I’ll try a few more of the Nocturne novels, then maybe I’ll give my typing fingers a try at a romance myself.