I’ve been reading romance novels from an early age. In my teens, I would read the French equivalents of Silhouette and Mills & Boon, and I loved being swept away into fantasy worlds where love always won out. Since then, I couldn’t possibly count how many romance novels I have read, but  I do know this: each has been time well spent. So today I’m sharing with you ten good reasons to read romance.

1. Portable happiness! Wherever you are – in the bath, waiting for the pasta to boil, on the bus, tucked up in bed – you have the means to drift away into a place that makes you feel happy and in touch with your dreams.
2. You may learn something that you can apply to your own love life. You may feel more romantic, or have an idea for a romantic date. Or, depending on how passionate and risqué the book is, you may learn something that pleases your partner: midwives are talking about an imminent Fifty Shades of Grey baby boom…
3. It’s an easy read. I love the likes of Dickens and Victor Hugo and Proust, but they’re hardly light, entertaining reading. Romance novels are usually easy to digest, and can be dipped in and out of when you’re in the mood.
4. You know that if you like this book, there are bound to be others in a similar vein you can enjoy, including those by the same author. That helps with the sad and empty feeling when you finish a story you’ve loved.
5. Whatever genre you prefer, you can find a romance novel. Paranormal, science fiction, historical, humorous, literary – writers imbue their works with le grand amour across the board.
6. Television isn’t what it used to be! You’re not always guaranteed the same feel-good ending. I can’t be the only woman who hated the ending of Titanic… Books are where the pure romance remains.
7. You get to experience a touch of magic, magic in which you can believe.
8. Dare I say it? It’s a means to transport yourself to an alternate universe where women love alpha males and can enjoy being protected and cared for. You can’t expect your modern-day partner to be a Casanova; but in a romance novel, your fantasies can come true.
9. Got flu? Waiting for ages at the dentist’s? Stuck indoors while a storm howls outside? When you’ve a good romance novel by your side, such irritants become opportunities to curl up and read.
10. Last but not least, the happy-ever-after. In a world full of stress and heartache, romance novels represent an escape into your imagination where you can relax into the knowledge that the ending will be a happy one.

So without further ado, head over to Amazon or to your local bookshop and treat yourself to a little slice of warm, fuzzy, inner glow. To quote that great romantic crooner Burt Bacharach:

What the world needs now is love, sweet love

It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of…