Unwrapping: Quiz Results and Rant Against a Romance Hater

Well, the results of the Quiz to find out which Romance Hero is your best match are in and the Swashbuckler has taken the lead with 50% of those who took the quiz being matched with him!

He's a man of honour yet wildly adventurous who enjoys a bawdy time with an easy woman as much as a sword fight. But once his heart is stolen, he will defend your honour with sword in hand as quickly as his own. Loyalty is his best quality. 

The next Hero to steal 25% of the hearts of my friends is the Gentleman Lord who is a man of good breeding, manners and speech. He's easily bored and so is always in search of something to take up his time and is not above seeking out any woman with whom he can while away his time. If you're patient and willing to keep him stimulated in thoughts and in activities, you will find this man most willing to stay happily at home and while away his time with you.

The Spy/Agent was the next man to steal away 17% of your hearts and I'm sure he's pleased about that - he doesn't really have time for more of you. He's a man of secrets, living for the thrill of the next mission that may or may not bring him safely back to your arms. He's a man who keeps his truest feelings close to the vest so as not to lose his edge. If you're willing to be patient and not ask too many questions, he might even share a few of his secrets. Once you capture his heart, his loyalty will encircle you with the greatest feeling of safety.

For the rest of you, it was the man who fights the darkness to keep us safe, the Paranormal Hero. He's so deeply immersed in the world of darkness and danger that he probably doesn't have more time to share with a woman. He only matched up to a mere 8% of you. Perhaps he's lonely as he has hones his skills to battle evil and keep the innocent safe. Still, if any of you are willing to venture into his world and are not too afraid of the things that go bump in the night, he might teach you some of his skills so that together you can battle the forces of evil. His love is true and your safety will always be his first priority.

Sadly, no quiz takers matched to the Western Cowboy Hero! Does this mean that we aren't that interested in that tall, lanky man who would rather spend his day with a horse than with his woman or that we are all seeking more danger in our Heroes than what a man of the open range can provide?

Thanks to everyone who took the quiz. I hope you had fun and found out a little bit more about yourself and what kind of Romance reading you might enjoy if you aren't already reading it.

Now, on to my rant against a Romance Hater, Cale McCaskey. I will try to keep this short and not too angry. Wednesday, I read a blog written by this man.  I don't want to give him any more recognition than I have to so if you wish to read his blog - Google him. But I do wish to express my opinion of the trash he spouted in this post since he was hard at work deleting comments that he didn't like so I was unable to express my opinion directly to him. 

He began by insinuating that it doesn't take much more than a child's reading level to read romance novels and that:
"What the modern reader needs to understand is that romance novels by their very nature are meant to be inferior."  Really?

He went on to remark that:
"I think it's safe to say that no Ivy League school will ever teach out of romance novels as part of the curriculum."  Then perhaps you should check with Cornell because I found it in their Doctoral Program.

His next brilliant observation was in regards to JANE EYRE:
"No one would call Jane Eyre a "romance novel." It would instead be referred to as a "classic love story." The very thing that separates classic love stories from romance novels is that romance novels must by default be bad, tacky even, or they'll no longer be classified as romance novels and will get placed in a higher category." 
A Romance Novel is defined by its ending - a Happily Every After - and since Jane and Rochester do live happily ever after considering the hardships they faced after the destruction of Thornfield and Rochester's injuries, I've always considered it a Gothic romance.

His final remark in his original post was the real kicker:
"I find it difficult to respect something that is purposely meant to be a lessor work. One should always strive to do great work. If an author classifies their own story as romance, that tells me that even they don't think much of it. That being the case, neither should we."

I can only ask Mr. McCaskey if he's ever read a Romance Novel and if so, which one? There are many varieties within the genre, and even more sub-genres within the genre, therefore many different kinds of writing styles. To judge all writers by one standard is not only ludicrous but a generalization by someone who has not sampled a large variety of writing styles.

Finally, I read through some of the comments that he did leave available on his post and after an intelligent, most likely, well-read woman asked him if his 'thesis' also applied to all other trashy forms of entertainment not found in an Ivy League curriculum such as listening to pop music instead of classical music, he responded with a statement that would have Bach, Beethoven and Brahms spinning in their graves.
"Classical music, by the way, is nothing but jazz being played incorrectly."

I'm not even going to touch that one except to say as someone who greatly appreciates Classical music and believes that Jazz is played by wannabe musicians who don't read music ... each to their own.

Mr. McCaskey, if you do read mainstream fiction by authors of a so-called 'higher standing' then you would know that many incorporate scenes of romance and sex into their stories. And many times, more often than not I might say, those same characters are still together at the end of said story, even if it's in death. Perhaps it's something you've yet to experience, and very possibly never will carrying around such a hatred for romance, but most of us already know that sometimes love does survive when all else is gone.

To my dear followers and friends, thank you for listening and keep on reading. We know the truth that the Romance genre is one of talent, entertainment, escape and pride. I've always believed that those in the world who feel the need to denegrate others usually do it out of envy and a feeling of self-importance.

Happy Romance Reading Everyone and hope you have dreams of which ever Romance Hero you were matched to and if you haven't taken the Quiz yet, click here to give it a try!!