Seasons of Romance

There’s nothing quite as romantic about reading a good Christmas story at Christmas time. Or is there? Many authors choose to write novels centered around a particular holiday or time of year. Doing so can breathe new life into a story, and it may offer the reader something of a guideline suggesting when the story is to be read, namely, during the season in which it is set. It can be a lot of fun to read a story set around the time of an upcoming holiday–it gets you into the spirit. But, in my humble opinion, doing the opposite can be equally fun. Sometimes it’s even better!

Though it has been freakishly warm here in New Jersey over the last few days, it has been very cold this winter overall, with some temperatures rising only into the teens and single digits. As the winter weather has been rather uncomfortable, it came as no surprise to me that I greatly enjoyed Stuck In the Saddle with You by Roni Denholtz, a contemporary romance novel set in the warmth of Texas.  It may seem out of place that as Valentine’s Day rapidly approaches I’ve been reading a novel in which the characters make mention of the intense heat around them, and cool off after work in the pool (a setting which created a vibe that was both romantic and sexy for a whole variety of reasons!) But for me, this story provided the very thing that I was reading it for in the first place–escapism.

Over the years, I’ve collected a variety of great novels (all romance, yes, I’m very partial to those!) I own a number of stories set around a holiday, and I find it fun, particularly when reading a novel for the first time, to get a truly authentic feel for its season, something an inclusion of calendar holidays can definitely provide. It’s exciting to read these stories around the time of year in which they’re set, or just before, in anticipation of what’s to come. But the occasional shake-up is definitely okay in my book. When there’s a good romance on the table, Christmas in July can be every bit as merry!