by Malle and Redlighting
Our blog reader and commentor Redlighting was selected by the Presents editorial team as having posted a very Presents-like Valentines post. I’m sending her a selection of our favorite books, and asked her about her experience with Harlequin Presents novels. This is her response.
“My fav authors are Sarah Morgan, then Jane Porter, Penny Jordan, Lynne Graham and any UK author. The UK authors are the best! They know their stuff! Â
Â
“I am new to reading these books. My dh who I wrote about in the contest has leukemia. When he was in the hospital I befriended the crafts lady there. She tried to get me to take some romance novels home. I had been raised in a strict background & not allowed to read anything but text books. I shrugged her off with “I don’t read such things”. She said,  ”Well they will just be thrown out if you don’t take them” so I took a Sarah Morgan book just to get the lady off my back. It’s six months later and I read one nearly every night and have even branched out to some “romance” ones like Barbara McMahon’s recent sheikh novel.Â
Â
“These authors go to so much time to research their works that they deserve applause for their dedication and their talent to amuse and entertain us readers.Â
Â
“Thank you to the authors and the editors and all you do to give us the best romances.
Thank you again.”Â
Â
-redlighting
My first taste of Harlequin Presents was at the age of five. My older sisters would read Presents to my little sister and I as bedtime stories. As a teenager I read Janet Dailey’s The Matchmakers and I was hooked. I’ve read thousands of Presents since then and I’m an aspiring Presents writer. As a sophmore in HS I read a book with a herione named Natasha, hence the name of my daughter. These books have given me hours of reading pleasure through the years and I hope to have many more. Kudos to all the authors for spinning these wonderful tales of romance. Thank you HM&B for publishing the talented authors and keeping your devoted fans entertained!!
Patricia
I’m an Anglophile from way, way back–I lived in Cambridge for a year in the 1960s and desperately wanted to marry Paul McCartney–yet in my passion for Presents novels, which dates to the early 1980s, I’ve never thought that any country of origin was superior. (WHEW! What a pathetically long sentence!)
OK, OK. Of my five favorite Presents of all time, two are by a countrywoman of mine: Sandra Marton. Chauvinism? I don’t think so. The other three are from different parts of the globe. I also love Harlequin Presents from the UK and from the Antipodes. It’s all about the story and all about readable prose. Oh, yes, and all about the romance.
Alison Parker
Springfield, Missouri
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, redlighting, I hope your husband’s health improves so you don’t have to spend more time in the hospital.
I read my first Mills and Boon romance at the age of thirteen and was hooked, reading them voraciously for years. Then I had a break away from romamnce reading, my life circumstances changed and I just didn’t have time for any reading for pleasure.
I just rediscovered them this year, and I am loving them all over again! Things have changed so much in the world of Harlequin/ Mills and Boon since I read that first book in 1972- a choice of sensuality levels, a widely varied range of settings, even paranormal romances for the complete fantasy experience. The one thing that remains constant is the promise of the happy ending- romantic satisfaction guaranteed!
The real world gives us enough uncertainty and pain, we don’t need to read that too. When I read for pleasure, I want to be transported to a place where no matter what the trials and tribulations along the way, I can be sure there will be joy and fulfilment at the end. I know I can rely on the Presents writers to keep that promise.
Thak you redlighting for your story. It always humbles me and yet gives me such a great glow when I learn that romance books – not necessarily mine – have helped people through difficult times. I have worked with my local hospice and donated books for the patients and their families to read and I am so glad that I can do something, however small.
I do hope your husband’s health improves so much and that you can continue to read in a more relaxed and happy situation.
Patricia, Alison and Mulberry, thank you too for your contributions. I’m thrilled to find that Presents books bring you such pleasure. It makes me want to go away and write more – so I’m sure my editor would be pleased!
And Mulberry:
>>The one thing that remains constant is the promise of the happy ending- romantic satisfaction guaranteed!
>>The real world gives us enough uncertainty and pain, we don’t need to read that too. When I read for pleasure, I want to be transported to a place where no matter what the trials and tribulations along the way, I can be sure there will be joy and fulfilment at the end. I know I can rely on the Presents writers to keep that promise.
What can I say but hear! hear!
Kate
I began reading Mills and Boon/Harlequin romances when I was about 15. I was quite sick and home from school and my mother brought me home a collection that she had bought from the local book exchange. One of the authors was Anne Mather and the novel was ‘Leopard in the Snow’ and from that moment I have been hooked.
Mulberry is absolutely ‘spot on’ – the addictive beauty of the romance novel is the guarantee of ‘happy endings and romantic satisfaction’. But more than this, as a reader you enter into a covenant with the writer. You are entrusting your mind and heart into their care for that ever so brief time that you exist between the novel’s covers, immersed in the lives of characters, embroiled in their rocky but certain path to the amazing contradiction that is love.
At times over the years, the Mills and Boon/Harlequin romance has been derided for those same qualities; yet what author in the world would not like to bring guaranteed happiness to their readers? Thank you Mills and Boon/Harlequin authors for continuing to offer your readers what we need most in these cynical days: hope, faith and love.
Hi,
I love reading Mills and Boons books. Have been a fan since the age of 16 or so. I have loved reading Julia James, Jule mc bride and all authors who write for the blaze and modern romance series.
I come from India. I would like to write a romance novel based on Indian characters. I would like to write for the Mills and Boons modern romances series. so if anyone can help me out with information in this regards.
all the wonderful writers of M and B keep up the fantastic work.
cheers
mohana
Mohana, have you checked out the new Mills and Boon India website?
It’s here: http://www.millsandboonindia.com/Modules/FrontEnd/Home.aspx
They have a “learn to write” section, so I assume they’re actively looking for Indian authors. Good luck with your story!
Jen