So many people wonder why romantic fiction is so popular. I don’t.

According to the online Wikipedia Encyclopedia:

‘A romance novel is a novel from the genre currently known  as romance. The genre has two strict criteria:
• the story must focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people;
• the end of the story must be positive, leaving the reader believing that the protagonists' love and relationship will endure for the rest of their lives.
If a novel does not fulfill those conditions, fans of the genre are likely to claim that it belongs to a related genre, such as women's fiction or chick lit, or that it is just a mainstream fiction novel.'

So that’s the official definition, but why is romantic fiction so popular? I believe that it’s popularity in North America, in particular, has to do with our lifestyles. We’re busy people (mostly women but some men do read it too) and perhaps finding romance in our every day lives is becoming more difficult to do. We crave romance, but today’s man is a little bit leary of acting like an alpha male, given the women’s liberation movement of the past four decades. 

Having said that, I believe that in the back of every woman’s mind is buried a desire to be rescued from the evil sorcerer, or the dangerous dragon, by her knight in white shining armor. I also have it on good authority that in the back of every man’s mind is a desire to be that knight in white shining armor. Seeing as there aren’t many evil sorcerers or dangerous dragons these days, this is where our romantic journey begins...