People who read romance love to shop around for new novels because authors talk about love, relationship problems, and obstacles, and create storylines that are relatable and realistic in most cases. If you read the paranormal romance novels, you may not get the modern romance stories you were hoping for, but there are still elements of traditional love stories in some of them. On the other hand, you have the romance haters who don't think that there's anything natural or realistic about the romance genre. You will find that some people are very critical of this kind of fiction because they feel that the roles men usually have in these novels are unrealistic and the expectations are too high.
You will often find that the people who are critical are also the people who don't read romance themselves very often. In fact, many people may dislike the genre even though they have never read a book in this genre before. They may have a preconceived notion about the genre simply because they may have dated someone who was a romance fanatic and put pressures on them in the relationship. This has nothing to do with the genre itself.
No such thing as unrealistic expectations
While romance may sound like a sappy story to some, others feel like it is a valuable lesson when it comes to teaching you about love, relationship, and struggles in a romantic setting. One could argue that people take inspiration from these novels and apply them to their own lives, making them better and more confident partners in their marriages and relationships.
Some would even argue that romance novels do not create unrealistic expectations for the man or the woman in a relationship. Instead, since every novel ends on a happy note, it would make sense to use romance novels as inspiration and use these novels as a way to strive for a better relationship.
All relationships need work in some capacity
Maybe you're in the perfect relationship and you feel that it doesn't need any work at all. But no relationship is perfect because they all require some work in one capacity or another. Romance literature may give you some new ideas on how to keep things fresh and exciting, and perhaps give you some new ideas that you can strive for.
Just one tip: don't let a romance novel change who you are or give you the inspiration to change someone else. It doesn't work.
What do you think about romantic literature as a genre? Do you think it creates unrealistic expectations for relationships or do you think they give plenty of inspiration for couples?
