I’ve really been enjoying the lists of favourite romance books on various blogs. A lot I’ve read and they could have easily made my list too. But with some I question if they are romance books at least in my thoughts.

Gone With the Wind is one on a list. I’ve read this one – a couple of times and I don’t consider it a romance. Rhett kicks Scarlett to the curb at the end – with good reason I always thought. While I enjoyed the book, Scarlett wasn’t a very likeable heroine.

Wuthering Heights is another one. My first experience with this book was actually the movie with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon. I remember thinking that Merle as Cathy, was unusually beautiful and Olivier as Heathcliffe was riveting. Then I read the book and Healthcliffe was NOT a nice dude.

One book I vividly remember still years later is Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne Du Maurier. It was an incredibly romantic book and it really struck a nerve in my young girls’ heart. But while it was wildly romantic, I don’t consider it historical romance.

What many consider to be Shakespeare’s best known romance, Romeo and Juliet isn’t what I consider a romance at all.

Then there is a well-known, well loved by many, romance that I don’t really consider a romance in the real sense. A Knight in Shining Armour by Jude Devereaux has an unusual end and for me it’s not the required HEA. The hero and heroine do not end up together. One of them must live the rest of his life and die alone.

But historical aren’t the only genre that may be confusing. I was checking out Book CloseOut the other day looking for discount romance books and of the pages and pages and pages of them, there were quite a few that I don’t consider romance books that were marked as such. There were a number by Nicolas Sparks. I confess I’ve never read him before, but I don’t consider him a romance writer. A writer of romantic books I will agree with, while I didn’t read the book, I did consider Message in a Bottle very romantic, until the end that is. But then obstacles overcame the hero and heroine, one of them died and it lost the classification of a romance novel.

Jackie Collins was another author featured there. I tried a Jackie Collins book. Once. That was enough to convince me what she writes is not romance. I’m not even sure it could be considered romantic. It can be called bad writing though.

One of the most famous ‘romances’ of all time, Erich Segal’s Love Story was listed as a romance and how can it be a romance when the heroine dies?

When I started coming out and letting more and more friends and coworkers know that I was a heavy duty romance reader, I surprised some of them with the vehement denial when asked if I read Danielle Steele. *shudder*.

I was trying to think of a way to put what I see as the differences between a romance and a romantic story. On the surface they seem very similar and I pondered on how to put if for a while and I think I came up with what distinguishes the two in my own mind besides the obvious HEA that I need in a romance.

In a historical romance, the hero and heroine meet, fall in love, their love is the main focus of the story and they face obstacles. But in the end they overcome the obstacles.

In romantic historicals, the hero and heroine meet, fall in love, their love is a strong focus of the story and they face obstacles. But in the end the obstacles overcome them. Whether one of them dies as in Romeo and Juliet, Love Story or Message in a Bottle or for some reason they end up taking separate paths as in Frenchman’s Creek or Gone with the Wind or Knight in Shining Armour, the obstacles overcome the love.

Now I’m not saying some of these books aren’t wonderful. Some are my most memorable and loved reads and I can see why they made lists. But for me, at heart, they really aren’t romances.

So what about you? Are some of these books listed romance books for you? Do you have any examples of a great romantic book that you don’t consider a romance book?

This entry was posted by Kristie(J) on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 8:29 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.