Celebrating 5 Years with 5 Reasons Why I Read Romance

As you may know {mostly because I will not stop talking about it} my blog turns 5 years old at the end of this month. What?! I still remember the day I decided to start Crystal Blogs Books. I did not know just what I was getting myself into. How long would it last? Would I really review enough books to even need a blog? All good questions that I still don't know the answers to.

To celebrate my blog's 5th blogiversary, I'm going to do a series of Top 5 posts so you can get to know me a little bit better. I will post these all throughout August, so if you have a topic you want me to tackle, leave them in a comment below and I'll work on it.

5 Reasons Why I Read Romance

5. Affordability - Let's get the most practical reason out of the way. As annoying as mass market paperbacks can be, I love that I can go to the bookstore and buy a new book for $7.99 or less. There is a reason why I'm not a collector of hardbacks and that's because I refuse to pay $20+ for one book.

4. Diverse Characters - From possessive billionaires to poor college students, there are some of the most diverse characters in romance. Where else can I fall in love with a dominating playboy in one book and a hot as hell cowboy in the next? Same with the heroines... Although I have yet to read a romance with a possessive billionaire heroine and her sexy male employee... Can someone make that happen?

3. Gorgeous Settings (for the most part) - I admit that I've read a handful of romances that are not set in the most beautiful of settings (post earthquake San Diego comes to mind). Most of the time I'm reading romances that are set in Small Town, USA or on an exotic cruise. If you're a fan of historical romance, then we have beautiful England or Scotland, just to name a few. I love that these are places I usually never want to leave. 

2. Amazing Authors - Most, if not all, romance authors started out as romance readers. They get us because they are just like us. They too are anxiously waiting for the book from their favorite author. They can sit and chat with us about books they loved and authors they'd love to meet. All of the authors I've met have been so down to Earth and approachable. If you fall in love with a book, tell the author! Spark a connection and it'll make the next book so much more magical.

1. Happily Ever After - Say it with me... HEA! I love that at the end of a book I know the characters that I fell in love with will have their happy ending. I love imaging them getting married and starting a family (if we don't already see that in an epilogue). I always have a huge smile on my face when I get to the end of a book and the characters profess their love for each other. Sigh...

Those are the 5 reasons why I read romance. What about you? Why do you read it? Comment and let's chat!