There are a lot of critics when it comes to the romance novel. They believe that stories of romance are unrealistic thereby altering the perception of young women regarding the reality of relationships. Women, as a rule, are not that stupid.

Romance novels are fantasy and escapism. Women read them for those specific reasons. We know that there is no such thing as the “knight-in-shining-armor” regardless of how much we wish for one from time to time. We also know that there isn’t a man on the planet that will come riding in to rescue us from our overworked or unhappy lives no matter how much they may want to. Most women don’t really want to be rescued anyway. We enjoy our independence and already understand who actually does most of the rescuing.

Over the years female roles in romance novels have evolved from the simpering, half-witted, shrinking violets to smart, strong, and self-reliant women representing a more realistic standpoint. Even in novels where the woman is deferential to the male character she possesses a self assurance and cleverness to gain what she is ultimately seeking – the fantasy. Women today, even at a young age, know the realities of being female. There are no real secrets for us on that front. We realize who in the relationship will carry the responsibility of maintaining the household, dealing with the kids, and keeping everything on an even keel despite our sometimes appearance of disorganization. Not that men can’t handle these tasks, it just why would they exert the effort when it is so much in the female nature to do it.

So, please, dear critics understand the reader you are critiquing as much as the genre before you go passing judgments on both. For those that believe romance novels are all fluff and give delusional representations of relationships – let us have our delusions. Really, we can tell the difference between reality and fantasy.