What kind of Romance appeals to you?
There have always been romance books, and I’m sure there will always be romance books. Real romance is a beautiful picture of Christ and His church, however, many–or I could probably say most–books labeled “Romance” are full of distorted ideas, twisted morals, and fake relationships.
Old and new books can have problems, but generally the old romance books would be considered “clean” while new romance books might be clean and might not be.
Let’s take a look at the old and the new romance.
Old Romance
Kisses
Usually the mentions are sweet and tender, or they just say “he kissed her.”
Attraction
The thing that attracts the couple in old books wasn’t just physical beauty. It was character (or money), and attitude. When the physical was mentioned it was usually more general (people wore more clothes then), and you saw the person in the description not the parts of the body.
Relationship
The relationship was founded on genuine respect and love for one another. It was marriage for life no matter what happened. Divorce was not something to be proud of, if it was mentioned at all.
Details
In the old books “things” were mentioned, but no details given. You just didn’t talk about things like that. You didn’t go with the character to the outhouse or water-closet, if such a thing was even mentioned! You were not invited into the couples chamber at night. You didn’t have to wonder if the next page was going to be full of sensual lusting details.
New Romance
Kisses
These are usually quite descriptive with things like “tasting her luscious lips” or some equally passionate description.
Attraction
Now days we get all the curves, the silky hair, and the muscles and broad chests. We also get lots of smells. The smell of her shampoo, his aftershave, her perfume, his whatever. And no one seems to care about the character much anymore. Just the physical looks. It’s the sensual that attracts readers.
Relationship
Now we have infatuations not relationships. The focus is what’s going to be good for me right now. Later we can split. Divorce is either ignored, or seen as a good thing because the one person escaped the other.
Details
Now we’ve bought into the idea that we must have details about everything! Now the reader takes showers with the characters (yuck!), hangs out in the room when the baby is born (almost delivering it themselves at times), or is invited into the bedroom with the couple. It seems that now days we are supposed to know every single little detail about the characters. Ugh!
And that, my dear readers is just a small glimpse of the differences I’ve personally observed between the Old and the New Romance books. Now I’m not saying that all newly written romance books are that way, but sadly, I’ve seen Christian writers slip in a little more detail, a few more sensual kisses or other things than they first did. It happens little by little. The flesh wants more and more.
So, which kind of romance appeals to you? Do you like the more sensual details, or would you rather have the old-fashioned ideals? Have you noticed other differences between the old and new?
Amen, amen, amen! I wish books would get back to the old-romance, you know, we’re it was barely mentioned at all and we could focus on the story instead of their emotional ups and downs! Yes, relationships are a part of life, but I don’t need all the details of everyone’s love life! Ick! Keep it clean and ask yourself, would I be comfortable reading/writing this if Jesus were sitting beside me?
Exactly.
This is so right. I have found several times (not necessarily about romance) that I put the book down when I thought “Would I be reading this if Jesus was here?” It works because He is!
I appreciate old books a lot that keep the romance in the back ground.
(Also, you can ask would I read this out loud to my parents or pastor?) 😉
Yes, those are great things to think about. If you wouldn’t want to share the book with your parents or pastor, why read it?
Thanks for sharing.