What's the difference between a good romance novel and a great romance novel?
A good romance will catch your attention and keep it. The characters won't just be relatable - that may be good enough for other genres, but not romance. A good romance features a hero and a heroine who inspire empathy. The reader cares about the characters. The reader shares the feelings of the characters. It's the written version of a football game - you root for the hero and heroine.
So, what makes a romance great? A great romance is an experience. It's like taking a vacation whenever you open the book. And, like a great vacation, a great romance takes you to a destination you want to visit again and again. Yes, you know the story - like you know the attractions at your favorite vacation spot. But, you adore the characters, the plot and, mostly, the feelings that the tale creates. You'll read a great romance novel again, and again, and again.
I've been enjoying some great new reads on Kindle, but there in the back of my mind, was a destination I wanted to visit again. So, I pulled up "The Prize" by the late Julie Garwood. Julie was an amazing author, and a number of her books fall in my personal "greats" list. I wanted to go back to the era when William of Normandy's conquest of England was new. And his most favored Baron became the fourth warrior to take on the task of trying to take a particular Saxon dwelling - and to bring its Saxon owner to London to become a prize for some worthy knight. Three knights tried before the fourth succeeded. One favored plot point in the story is that the Saxon lady's heroism in London turns the tables and the knights become her prize.
After I finished that one, I was still in a nostalgic frame of mind, and I wanted to visit with my favorite Winston brother, Cletus, of Penny Reid's "Beard Science." I'm in the midst of that one now. All of Penny's "Beard" books are good - but IMHO, "Beard Science" is great. Cletus is blackmailed into helping a lovely young lady throw off her parental shackels and become an independent woman, making her own choices and taking her own chances. The tables turn in that one when the heroine inspires Cletus to reexamine his own life, and reevaluate the plans he'd set in stone long before.
I think Summertime is a great season to take a vacation to one or two of your favorite romance novel destinations. Yes, please, always take a chance by reading a new book from a new writer. If you don't do that, your list of "greats" can't grow and the careers of some deserving writers won't flourish. But while you're exploring the new, do revisit some of the books that taught you to love romance.
Happy reading!