Hello, and welcome back! My hands are becoming permanently stained with green and dirt from the work I've been doing in the gardens--and I'm getting ready to dig another new bed this weekend! Plus my husband has begun work on our living room, so between our projects, and baseball games for two this year, we're keeping quite busy. Not so busy that I can't keep up with my to-be-read stack, however.

I've gotten two July releases already that look quite promising, though they're farther down in the TBR pile. I also got some interesting-looking books from Gotham, a division of Putnam (Berkley, Jove, etc.): choose your own fantasy stories. Remember those mystery books you read as a kid, where you decided which way you wanted the story to go? Well, these are designed along those lines, only in erotica. They're definitely not romances, but they're interesting, nonetheless.

A side note: I've extended the survey deadline to Wed, May 7, 2003 for those of you who wanted to get it completed and just couldn't in time for the original deadline.

This time out, I thought I'd share a new list of reasons to read romance. I know there are some folks out there just discovering the genre, and there are those of us who try to share our love of it with others who aren't quite convinced, so here are just a couple reasons.

6. The happy ending. In the world we live in today, isn't it nice to know that despite whatever obstacles are in their way, each hero and heroine will get their happy ending? They'll live happily ever after, and we get to share in the joy. How cool is that?

5. The fantasy. I'm not necessarily talking about paranormal romances, though they definitely fall into the category. I'm talking about getting to live outside your own world for a few hours, be the heroine swept away by the gorgeous hero. While in your own world, the dirty dishes wait, the kids fight, and the dog just dragged in something nasty from outside. Much nicer to let that all go for a little while, right? The work will still be waiting when you're finished reading.

4. Okay, the sex. Many who disparage romances claim it's all just sex and the readers are sad, lonely women. Ha! I think the folks who believe that are just jealous we all found the good books. And if our good books happen to have steamy, toe-curling love scenes, so what? It's part of the package in many (though not all) romances, and part of real-life love as well. What could possibly be wrong with that?

3. Really great writing. Those of you who're writers know how hard it is to get from the beginning to "The End" of a manuscript, and these women (and a few men as well) do it and do it well, many times over. How many of us have fallen a little in love with a Linda Howard hero? How many of us can't imagine why on earth it's not possible for one of Dara Joy's feline heroes to exist? These writers work hard to make the stories believable, even when it is a paranormal storyline, and they do a darn good job of it.

2. The romance. Duh. In real life, how many of us get carried off by a hunky knight on a white horse? How many of us will ever experience the sort of romantic gestures romance heroes make? Some, perhaps, but not all. I'd never complain about my husband in that regard, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy reading about a heroine swept off her feet by the man she loves.

1. Love. It's said love makes the world go around, and hey, it's the whole point of romance novels. We all want it, and if we can read about it, too, even better. Shouldn't everyone get to experience it at least once?

One more note: if you liked the mystery I suggested a while back from Karl Fieldhouse, you may want to check out his first romance title, due out in June,
Miss Howell's Employment. I've read it already, and it's wonderful, though very different from the mystery. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Until next time, happy reading!