Romance novels are the Rodney Dangerfield of books, they get no respect. Some people won’t admit to reading them, others confess their sin with self-conscious guilt. Others equate the Romance novel with the end of civilization. Why? Is it the lurid covers? Is it the formula plot? Do Romance novels lack all literary merit? Or might there be some other more insidious reason at work here? After all, Romance isn’t the only writing genre in existence. What about fantasy? That’s a genre with a formula. What about westerns, mysteries and thrillers?