ESCAPING TO…WHERE?
The other day one of my kids asked what I wanted for Christmas this year. My response? “I want the chance to escape.”
A beat of silence followed. “Escape?” she asked cautiously. “You mean you don’t want to celebrate Christmas this year?”
“Of course I want to celebrate Christmas,” I clarified and smiled at her frown. “What I mean is I’d like you to get me a book.”
“Oh!” The frown vanished. “Well, that’s easy. You want a romance, right?”
My daughter knows me well.
I love reading romances. Contemporary, historical, women’s fiction, suspense, long, short—the list is endless. If there’s a romantic side to the story—a strong, savvy heroine and a man she can count on—I’m there.
I love the “escapism” of reading about relationships between men and women. Whether the story takes place in today’s world or in the 15th century, the same innate guidelines of attraction follow. There’s the little frisson of excitement the moment that “chemistry” is present. Then there’s the need to explore a friendship or reunion. And finally, the intimacy.
But that’s not why I read—and write—romance. It’s the relationship that tugs me into the story, the journey the hero and heroine go through together to resolve the difficulties in their present day life in order to eventually find love and happiness.
I want to laugh with them as they travel this journey. I want to cry and sigh and know that, no matter how rough their waters, they will reach dry ground where the promise of a better future awaits.
Relationship stories are all about characterization, emotion and heart. The heart of the characters and that of the reader. These are the stories that tell a truth between men and women—that love can happen, no matter how bad the past or what demons chase the characters. That a man will do anything and everything to protect his woman, and that she will be his “soft place to fall.” Of course, in real life this isn’t always the case. Simply reading the stats on the divorce rate these days is a clue. Yet, I’d like to think there are real relationships out there in which couples have overcome the odds and found that forever kind of love—just as a hero and heroine do on the printed page.
And, perhaps, in that way it isn’t escapism at all. It’s hope. Hope that somewhere someone is finding their true blue happiness—right now.
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As Cindy mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’m giving away the first 2 books of my current miniseries, “Home To Firewood Island.” But before I do, I’d love to hear what endears you to certain books…
To learn more about Mary and her books, please visit her website.