Dreaming of the Perfect Romance Novel - CUB BOOK CLUB

Dreaming of The Perfect Romance Novel

Nicole Winson

For much of my teen years, I daydreamed each day, indulging in wandering fancies, living in a brown study, and building castles in the air. My mind became a romantic, and, for some time, it was nothing more and nothing less. I was young, inexperienced, and understood love and sexuality only through my starry-eyed imagination. Flash forward to now, and my fondness for romance hasn't dwindled. My dreams, whether they are my nighttime, day or aspirational ones, still without fail return back to my romantic heart, yet much of my fantasies now come from literature. Romantic literature takes up a large portion of my life; it is a significant part of my personality and is a major inspiration for most of my dreams. Many a day, I find myself dreaming of certain romance novels, envisioning their different tropes and writing my own fictitious narrative in my head. There is something about romance novels that make them so addictive, so utterly swoon-worthy and beautifully dream-like, and that is the fact that they aren't real.

My dream romance novel has no correlation with my dream romantic relationship. What delights me in the fictional world is not what gives me pleasure in real-life. Don't get me wrong, there are elements of some love stories that I expect in my relationship, the healthy parts, but most of the time, my book taste is a polar opposite to my ideal companionship. Any keen reader of the romance genre will know how many offshoots and sub-genres there are. Some people prefer a fantasy romance, reading Sarah J. Mass, while others find sports romances the most pleasing, such as The Wall of Winnipeg by Mariana Zapata and one of my all-time favourites, the Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy. There are paranormal romances, regency love stories, billionaire erotica; the list is endless. And once you've found your favourite sub-genre, you are welcomed into a world of romantic tropes. Some well-loved tropes include second chance romances, fake dating, forbidden romance and the legendary enemies to lovers. Whatever romance novel you choose to pick is a decision personal to you. My favourite sub-genres and tropes don't define what I look for in a significant other, nor does it work as a projection of what I wish for in my own life; it is solely what I find entertaining to read.

Recently there has been a surge in people openly sharing their love for dark romances. These are romances that unsurprisingly focus on darker themes and need content warnings prior to reading. The mature adult content can explore anything from BDSM and role-playing to kidnapping and captivity. Examples include Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann and the Made series by Danielle Lori, which is part of the increasingly popular realm of mafia romances. Again, these romances are fictitious pieces of literature. Those who choose to read them, or dream about them, do it because they enjoy reading them. It is not an example of real-life taste or standards, and it doesn't mean they agree with the actions in the book or wish for any of it to become their reality.

Your literature-based dream can be your real-life nightmare.