Does reading romantic novels affect you?

I heard the other day a talk between two young ladies on this subject. One of them was trying really hard to make her friend believe that reading romantic novels helps you. If you are single, helps you establish some criteria for your future spouse and if you are already married, it helps grow the love for your spouse. I don’t know where she got her information from, but made me wonder…
I, on the other hand have my own opinion on this subject. Let me enlighten you, my dear readers in a few lines.

I like, no, I love to read. And over the years my reading taste moved from type to type. From children’s books to spy books, from knights and princes novels to philosophy books, from classics to Christian novels. Some of this books had more romanticism then others, but in all the “good” novels you can be sure that there will be a love story somewhere.
Allow me, my fellow reader, to debrief for you: in all the romantic novels I read over the years, I came across the same images – a beautiful lady/teenager with long hair (blonde, dark, red) with all the right sizes (60/90/60), with the perfect eyes (blue, green, black or brown) and beautiful lips. No matter if she is rich or poor, she is always day dreaming to a prince to come and find her and love her unconditionally. The other image present in all romantic novels is the male image. He is tall, beautiful, with lots of muscles, and eyes to loose your soul in them; he is sensible, and caring and sweet. He is the ultimate romantic, who knows when to tell a good joke or to share a tear. He is a perfect cook and a hero, all in the same time!

Any of the things I just wrote ring you any bells? If it did let me tell you how I see things. One more thing before I go any further, dear reader let me tell you this: I read romantic novels, I always had, I always will. BUT I choose wisely what kind of romantic novels I read.

So, now after you all know, let’s go on…
First, if you are not married yet, this novels make you create an image of a person that is not real and in most of the cases you won’t find one person to live up to all the criteria you set up under the influence of romantic novels. These novels are creating unrealistic expectations for when you get married. Life is not a walk in the park, he/she is not always thinking about how to make you happy; he/she is not always guessing your thoughts or reading your mind. If you base your future on romantic novels you might look your entire life and never find the person God wants in your life. Be wise, pray and be ready to accept God’s blessings. He/She (the one God has prepared for you) is a REAL person, with real fears and feelings and with his/her own expectations in return to yours.

Second, if you are married, this type of novels can’t be of any good, can they? If you are married and you look at your 1, 5, 10, 20 years spouse, you might not see Prince Charming or Cinderella anymore. He falls asleep the moment he touches the pillow, because he worked all day to provide for you; he snores, he might have lost his beautiful hair over the years, he might have gained a few pounds. He might not be as romantic as he used to be when he courted you. He might forget your birthday or your anniversary, but he is a REAL person, with real feelings and real love, living a real life with the woman he choose to grow old with. She is not slim anymore, she gave birth to all your kids. She is not ready for romantic moments as quickly as she use too, she just cooked and washed and cleaned the entire house. She is not giving you her entire attention anymore, or “drink” every single word you are saying, she just listened to your kids complaining about everything, but she is a REAL person, with real feelings and real love, living a real life with the man she choose to grow old with.
If you can read these novels and see them as they are – JUST NOVELS, and if with every word you read you think about what a blessing God gave you in your spouse, then you are welcome to ask me what I read! If, instead, it just creates dissatisfaction with your spouse, you better forget the novels, ask God for forgiveness and start appreciating and working with what God gave you.