I hate romance novels. Not that I ever read them, but still. My grandmother had them stashed all over her house while I was growing up and the shirtless, long-haired men on the cover always made me uncomfortable. I guess I should talk to my shrink about this, but that's when my avoidance of romance novels began.
I'm trying to think about what defines a romance. I mean, there are love stories in some of my favorite books. That doesn't make them a "love story." That's probably why I like them. I like having something more than a mushy romance going for a character.
I'll happily let my nerd flag fly here though: I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. Take this as a spoiler alert, but if you haven't read them already, I don't want to be your friend and I'm glad I ruined something for you.
Some other mega-fans nearly died when, in the last book, Snape admits that he's loved Lily the WHOLE time. While this doesn't change the genre of the 6 previous books, it really does change the events of the story. Still, I firmly maintain that Harry Potter is not a romance.
