ARC Review: Everything I Know About Love I Learned From Romance Novels

Everything I Learned About Love
I Learned From Romance Novels
Sarah Wendell
Non-Fiction
Sourcebooks/October 1, 2011

From the Publisher's Website ~

Take a dashing hero with a heart of gold and a mullet of awesome. Add a heroine with a bustle and the will to kick major butt. Then include enough contrivances to keep them fighting while getting them alone and possibly without key pieces of clothing, and what do you have? A romance novel. What else? Enough lessons about life, love, and everything in between to help you with your own happily-ever-after.

Lessons like...

Romance means believing you are worthy of a happy ending

Learning to tell the prince from the frog

Real-life romance is still alive and kicking

No matter how bad it is, at least you haven’t been kidnapped by a Scottish duke (probably)

Straight from the heart of influential romance blogger Sarah Wendell, this inventive gift book provides the best wisdom about love that the romance genre has to offer. Laced with signature witty commentary and peppered with thoughts from bestselling romance authors (Nora Roberts, Jennifer Crusie, Debbie Macomber, Eloisa James, Robyn Carr, and lots more) and avid readers, these pages will reveal what every romance reader already knows: while romances are certainly steamy, they have more to offer than just a sexy hero. In fact, they might have more to say about love than we give them credit for. Sarah Wendell is cofounder of one of the top romance blogs, SmartBitchesTrashyBooks.com.

Well, if you're familiar with Sarah Wendell, then you're probably familiar with her website, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Sarah has been an outspoken advocate for the romance genre. She takes it one step further and breaks down the subtle and not so subtle nuances of the romance genre. This isn't a dry, dull text but a fun and insightful look at why romance novels are so popular and have been for decades and how readers can benefit from reading them.

Through interviews of both readers and authors, Wendell talks about what is important in a good romance novel and how readers are able to relate to the characters whether they be human or something else altogether. Much of this information we as reader are familiar with but by giving examples and discussing excerpts, she gives readers even more to talk about. The excerpts will no doubt have readers nodding their heads either in agreement or remembrance of reading that particular scene and how it made them feel. Wendell also gives those of us still made to feel embarrassed about reading romance novels good reasons why we shouldn't be.

All of this is done with Wendell's trademark humor and sarcasm. Nothing is taboo here. EIKAL is an interesting looking into the world of romance novels for both lovers of the genre and skeptics alike.

Rating: B