Book Chat: The Romance Genre for Beginners: What it is and why it matters?

A topic close to my heart! I love Romance - with a capital R - from the very beginning of the story to the hard won Happy Ever After (HEA). I live for that! I live for the variety of stories, for the ability to live different lives through the medium of storytelling (that's true for all stories really). In an world that's full of so much uncertainty, the certainness and the structure of a Romance novel can be really comforting! I find it sad, that Romance gets so much cynicism and on occasion, derision, towards it as a writing discipline/ genre, and that both Authors and readers are not always shown the respect and kindness they deserve. I really noticed this when following much of the discourse around the Heated Rivalry TV adaptation discussion, where communities unfamiliar with Romance were beginning to find out all about it. I always subscribe to the theory, that most problems can always be solved with more information. So here is my humble attempt at an introduction to what the Romance Genre is, why it matters and ending with a hearty defence. Not that it needs me to defend it. Romance has been around for centuries and it will probably continue to be around for even more. For who can resist the power of a Happy Ever After? As always, these are my own opinions and everything is shared in good humour. I hope you enjoy this!