HEARTICLES: Articles with Heart

I was recently asked what age I thought was too young for reading romance novels. My first inclination was to say at least 16. But then I got to thinking, what was the first romance novel I read and how old was I? I started reading romance when I was 13 but really, it was probably earlier. I distinctly remember buying my first romance novel and knowing it was romance. That was in 1981 when I was 16; the book was Highland Velvet by Jude Deveraux. I was an early reader though and thought romances were adventure stories. I can't remember titles or authors prior to Deveraux, but I do remember being captivated by tales set on the high seas, wagons crossing the prairie, or epics taking place in far off places. I was a young woman on the brink of adulthood and where I'd previously ignored the intimate scenes of the characters, I was now intrigued by them. The question of how old a girl should be before being allowed to read romances has long been asked. Friends who started readi...

When we think of romance, what automatically comes to mind are romance novels or possibly romantic movies or music, or even wooing a sweetheart. Romance has a modern tradition of pulling at the heartstrings and inspiring loving feelings toward another. But where does the term romance actually come from? To know what romance is, we must first consider how romance and chivalry walk hand-in-hand. The term chivalry originates from the 10th century French word cheval , which means horse. A chevalier was one who rides a horse, such as knights. By the 12th century, early medieval times, the term chivalry was in common use in chronicles, vernacular literature and other written records, but with varied meanings. It can refer to a company of mounted knights. Or it can mean the status of being a knight, either as an occupation or as a social class. The 12th century seems to be the demarcation line when chivalry became synonymous with moral, religious and social codes of conduct. While those code...

A gentleman romance reader recently emailed to say how much he enjoyed the ‘blowing the curtains’ scenes in my story, ‘ A Piece of My Heart .’ That’s to say, the love scenes. The term comes from film—the viewer follows the couple into their bedroom, then the camera pans to an open window, curtains billowing. Sex between the couple is implied but not shown. I’ll start by defining the traditional differences between romance, erotica, and porn: Romance – Romance is and has always been about the monogamous relationship between two people. The story follows the growth of the relationship and their love for each other; it’s in their hearts, in their words, in their actions. Their love is not necessarily exhibited sexually, but it has to be exhibited emotionally. And by the end, there must be an HEA...Happily Ever After. Erotica – Erotica is about suggestion, titillation, and letting your imagination fill in where the author left off. It’s about arousal, sexual desire, the use of the ...