Sometimes when I’m out with Marisa she’ll have to tell me to “stop staring.” Yes, I’m a ’starer’, particularly in restaurants when I’m not engaged in a conversation with the person I’m sitting with.  My gaze will just wander and I’ll stare over at the next table, completely engrossed in another person’s conversation.  Sometimes I wonder why they just don’t offer me a seat.

My compulsion to stare is the same compulsion I have for reading romance.  It’s all about the relationships  As a reader, I can be the person at the next table and I’m in on every single detail as the relationship progresses from bad to worse, back to bad and then to total bliss.  Damn, I love those stories.  That’s exactly why I fell in love with Nora Roberts.  With Nora, I get a bonus because she usually gives me more than one relationship per book – you get the heroine, hero, the in-laws, the step children and all the secondary characters.

Reading romance is just great - I get to snoop without being caught or told to stop staring!

So, when it comes to romance novels, is it all about the relationships?