Wait … did I say ‘save the world’? Am I kidding? Yeah, sorta. But hear me out, first.

A long time ago, after refusing to even pick up one of those ‘trashy’ novels, I did just that. I’d selected a Nora Roberts book at the time (and have since read almost all of hers) but that first one led to a second, third, fourth, etc. You get the picture. I just kept reading.

And I wanted more.

Why?

That was the question I asked myself because as a kid, I read all the time. When I say all the time, I really mean 30 minutes every day, by virtue of it being one of my ‘chores’. So I got really used to reading. But I read a lot of literary classics — Tale of Two Cities, Little Women, Canterbury Tales. All the ‘boring’ stuff that most kids today would only read if forced by their English teachers.

None of those were romantic per se.

So as an adult, I kinda stuck with those, but that one fateful day, when I really just needed an escape from life, and at a time when I needed a renewal (in life, marriage, happiness and a job) — it was romance that did it.

One author. One book. One story. I read it from start to finish in a day (I’d lost my job at the time, so I had plenty of time) and man, did that start an overhaul of my reading preferences.

Reading became something I could love as an escape. It gave me an opportunity not to be me … but to live vicariously through another.

Reading about how someone else fell in love (yeah, so it’s fiction, but still!) rekindled the romance with my husband. Wandering through someone else’s journey gave me a chance to let go of mine (the sad one at the time). I read contemporary romance, paranormal, romantic suspense — everything I could get my hands on during that time … and since.

I love finding love, believing in the impossible and the one big requirement with romance novels…

They ALL have happy endings.

Yes, ALL novels classified as ‘Romance’ have the big HEA (Happily Ever After) and in a world of strife, turmoil, oppression, fighting and trouble, we all need an HEA.

You.

Me.

Our neighbors.

Our enemies.

The world is a better place with happily ever afters.

Three cheers for romance novels!!

Do you live for HEAs like me? If so … share!