Vintage Romance

My mom and grandma were romance readers. I was cleaning the basement so my dad would stop stressing about it, and I unearthed a bunch of my mom's old books. She had a good laugh as I dragged them upstairs, to add them to my TBR pile.

Yes, I know I'm crazy but I can't donate a book to Goodwill or pass it along to a friend unless I've read it. It is a guilt thing.

I've read 3 books from that pile so far and I find it challenging not to be annoyed by the contemporary novels. Most of the books were published in the late 70s or early 80s and the female characters show no real strength and though they have jobs most of them are the typical "female" professions, nurse, secretary (I'm one to talk its 2010 and that's my job) or librarian! Plus most of heroines, and maybe its just the books I've read, are so insipid that it is hard to believe they could exist in the real world without a nursemaid!

Its so wonderful to know how far this genre has come over the years. I don't think its a genre to be scoffed at anymore. Sure there are still books with wishy washy women, but those are few and far between. Plus its nice to know that kissing is no longer considered making love.

Oye!

Don't get me started on that. I'm still trying to figure out how kissing and making love became one and the same.

Vintage romance novels are certainly a challenge to review. My way of thinking is different and trying to judge a story by the mind set of 2010 is difficult when you know that in the 1980s and 1970s the way of thinking was a bit different.