Sometimes, a book is more than just a book. It’s a refuge.
Lately, almost everyone I know feels anxious and uncertain. Right now, life feels like a pressure cooker—though, let’s be honest, no one under 50 knows what that is. (For the younger set, imagine an Instant Pot that never releases steam, just rattles ominously on the counter, the tension building with no relief in sight.) When you just want to give up, the right book isn’t just a distraction. It’s a survival strategy.
Romance is that for so many of us. Not because it offers an escape—though let’s not discount the power of vanishing into a fictional world for a while—but because it insists that happiness isn’t naïve. That sex, love, and romance still matter, especially when everything else feels precarious. A great romance novel doesn’t pretend life is easy. It acknowledges the struggle, then dares to say, even so, happiness is possible.
We all have them–books we return to and recommend to others because they have helped us wade through shit times. For me, comfort reads are a steadying force when I feel overwhelmed. Beloved love stories* have made me laugh on days that all I wanted to do was cry. They have, in the best way, distracted me from anxiety, sadness, and fury.
What about you? Have romances helped you through? And, if so, which ones have you turned to when you needed joy most?
* Here’s a partial list:
Bench Player by Juliana Keyes.
Sleep Over by Serena Bell
I Kissed an Earl by Julie Anne Long
The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt
The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran
This Heart of Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
The post the ask@AAR: What romances help you cope? appeared first on All About Romance.
