Once upon a time, I wasn’t the nicest of people. I wasn’t a part of the Let People Enjoy Things movement. So I wrongly looked down upon romance novels and those who chose to read them. A friend of mine told me about Jewels of the Sun in those dark, unenlightened days, and recommended it highly. So I read it on a whim and discovered that it was a romance novel with a hidden fantasy element. I was so enamored with it that I read the two followup novels, Tears of the Moon and Heart of the Sea immediately afterwards. I would go on to read almost a dozen or Roberts’s other fantasy-romance novels, with great enjoyment. I was still a little bit snarky about the romance genre, and I acknowledge that I was wrong. I know better now, and even if I’m not an avid romance reader, I do enjoy them from time to time.

Cut because I love you

This book had a taste of everything that my fantasy-loving heart could ever want. Fairies! Ghosts! Legends! Plus, it took place in Ireland. I’ve wanted to visit for years, and still do.

The thing about romance novels, the thing that I didn’t quite understand, is that you’re guaranteed some kind of happy ending. Whether it’s happily ever after, or happy for now, it ends on a positive note. This is something that I desperately needed right about now. I knew that Jude and Aidan would work things out, and not just because I’d read the novel once before. I wasn’t feeling well, thanks to the Cold That Won’t Die and other things that I’m not going to talk about, so I decided to run away to Ireland for a few days, just as Jude did.

The thing about Nora Roberts and a lot of her work, is that she loves speculative fiction just as much as I do. She’s written plenty of novels that don’t have any sort of speculative element to them at all, but I don’t enjoy them as much as I do the ones with a taste of witchcraft, fairy tales, or evil curses. I love them all so much, and I’m looking forward to revisiting them.

Next up, however, is Seanan McGuire’s In An Absent Dream. I’ll probably review that for Speculative Chic, so you’ll have to look for my review over there.