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Rating: 
Summary: It's a start...
Review: I enjoyed reading this collection of essays exploring the themes, types, symbols, and (most of all) the appeal of romance novels. In a time when cultural studies is turning its attention on sit-coms and daytime television, should we ignore what romance writing has to teach us about our selves and our culture? I think not. I didn't find definitave answers here--no gospel of women's fiction--but there are a plethora of perspectives. I was challenged to evaluate how and why I read to see if my experience matched up with the authors'. It is a bit of an apologetic...I guess many of the people who read and write romance novels (like myself) are well-adjusted and well-educated people, and we wonder why we're so attracted to books commonly described as "trashy." It probably won't convince any "outsiders" (as the earlier review said) of the value of romance writing, but if you love romance and you don't know why, give this book a try.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting...
Review: I found this book very interesting reading. From each author, I gained new insight into why I like to read romance, and why it's written the way it is. Many of us readers do like the "alpha" hero, or even as in Anne Stuart's words--the vampire hero. Why the authors like them, write about them, and entertains us with these heroes, fascinates me. To read about the balance the adventurous heroine needs, entertains me. And, I love Laura Kinsale's place-holder heroine, her writing on point of view, as well as Jayne Krentz's defense of the genre, in general. Excellent book, worth reading and keeping.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting...
Review: I found this book very interesting reading. From each author, I gained new insight into why I like to read romance, and why it's written the way it is. Many of us readers do like the "alpha" hero, or even as in Anne Stuart's words--the vampire hero. Why the authors like them, write about them, and entertains us with these heroes, fascinates me. To read about the balance the adventurous heroine needs, entertains me. And, I love Laura Kinsale's place-holder heroine, her writing on point of view, as well as Jayne Krentz's defense of the genre, in general. Excellent book, worth reading and keeping.
Rating: 
Summary: repetive, but occaisional good points
Review: There were a few points discussed in this book that I had never really thought about before and appreciated reading about. For instance, I liked Laura Kinsale's essay "The Androgynous Reader: Point of View in the Romance". She argued that the reader of a romance novel doesn't neccessarily identify only with the heroine, but also with the hero, maybe even moreso with the hero. It made me reconsider why I was so unhappy with the books that never explained the hero's point of view very well. The essays in this book cover a lot of things, like virginal heroines and alpha males, and the "happily ever after" ending that's so important for romances. At least a couple of the writers made comparisons between the mystery genre and the romance genre, something that I thought was interesting. I didn't always agree with what the essays were saying, but, for the most part, I enjoyed reading them. That said, it seemed that there wasn't a great deal of communication between the various authors in this book. If there had been, there would, hopefully, have been less repetition of ideas. There's a great deal of overlap between the essays, and the mystery vs. romance bit is only one example - most essays talk about the alpha male, the ways that romance writers were once asked to change their writing and how those changes would've hurt the genre, the type of feminism in romance, etc. Im just glad that the book was short, and a relatively quick read, or the repetition would've been much more aggravating than it was. Also, I'm not entirely sure that this book would reach the sort of audience that the introduction mentioned: people with biases against the romance genre. I was once a part of that group, and I don't think I would have picked up this book - it took reading a really good romance, recommended to me by a friend, to change my mind about romance.
Rating:
Summary: repetive, but occaisional good points
Review: There were a few points discussed in this book that I had never really thought about before and appreciated reading about. For instance, I liked Laura Kinsale's essay "The Androgynous Reader: Point of View in the Romance". She argued that the reader of a romance novel doesn't neccessarily identify only with the heroine, but also with the hero, maybe even moreso with the hero. It made me reconsider why I was so unhappy with the books that never explained the hero's point of view very well. The essays in this book cover a lot of things, like virginal heroines and alpha males, and the "happily ever after" ending that's so important for romances. At least a couple of the writers made comparisons between the mystery genre and the romance genre, something that I thought was interesting. I didn't always agree with what the essays were saying, but, for the most part, I enjoyed reading them. That said, it seemed that there wasn't a great deal of communication between the various authors in this book. If there had been, there would, hopefully, have been less repetition of ideas. There's a great deal of overlap between the essays, and the mystery vs. romance bit is only one example - most essays talk about the alpha male, the ways that romance writers were once asked to change their writing and how those changes would've hurt the genre, the type of feminism in romance, etc. Im just glad that the book was short, and a relatively quick read, or the repetition would've been much more aggravating than it was. Also, I'm not entirely sure that this book would reach the sort of audience that the introduction mentioned: people with biases against the romance genre. I was once a part of that group, and I don't think I would have picked up this book - it took reading a really good romance, recommended to me by a friend, to change my mind about romance.
Rating:
Summary: Food for thought
Review: This book contains a series of essays on the appeal of romance. For readers who feel that they do not get enough respect, this book is a welcome addition. The authors make clear that romances are fantasy, and romance readers are grown women who know the difference between reality and fantasy. There is some repetitiveness in this book, for example, numerous statements about the alpha male, which keep it from being a 5-star book in my opinion. However, the essays are thoughtful and well done. This book is well worth owning.
Rating:
Summary: Food for thought
Review: This book contains a series of essays on the appeal of romance. For readers who feel that they do not get enough respect, this book is a welcome addition. The authors make clear that romances are fantasy, and romance readers are grown women who know the difference between reality and fantasy. There is some repetitiveness in this book, for example, numerous statements about the alpha male, which keep it from being a 5-star book in my opinion. However, the essays are thoughtful and well done. This book is well worth owning.
Rating:
Summary: A thoughtful look at the romance genre.
Review: This is a great collection of scholarly essays by well-known romance authors about the genre. Any serious romance fan will find this a fascinting read. I was continually impressed by the profound insights in this book. Not only is it a compelling response to the many unenlightened critics of the genre, but it is also a thoughtful consideration of how romance novels reflect the changing face of women's issues in this country. I particularly enjoyed the article by Susan Elizabeth Phillips called "The Romance and the Empowerment of Women." Also, Laura Kinsale's article about how readers respond to the point of view of the narrative was fascinating. This should be mandatory reading for all romance editors.
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