How accurate do romance novels depict real-life romance?

[Heidi M Simone]

Do you feel novels that fall under the romance genre depict romance realistically?

Are there novels that show romance better than others?

Is there a particular romance novel that is similar to your real-life romance?

[Jezebelle84]

I tend to read only Paranormal Romance, so that limits my experience a bit. in the case of PR, I don't think they every portray anything realistic. Most often they have things like "mates" where the two characters instantly fall in love and form an unbreakable bond. That sort of thing doesn't happen in real life. In reality, two people can be instantly attracted to one another, but to say that they instantly fall in love is ridiculous. You can't truly love another person if you know nothing about them.

[Ariel_Martin]

So far the various romance novels I have read have not felt very realistic to me. They are always a bit over the top in my mind. I feel like often a lot of choices made in romance are not the ones made, at least by myself and people I know, in real life. But that could be attributed to be the omniscient reader, we often get a look into both heads.

I don't know if I have read a romance book yet that felt real-life to me. Maybe some of the more Rom-Com genre.

[Heidi M Simone]

I tend to read only Paranormal Romance, so that limits my experience a bit. in the case of PR, I don't think they every portray anything realistic. Most often they have things like "mates" where the two characters instantly fall in love and form an unbreakable bond. That sort of thing doesn't happen in real life. In reality, two people can be instantly attracted to one another, but to say that they instantly fall in love is ridiculous. You can't truly love another person if you know nothing about them.

I also don't believe in love at first sight. I think you can make a connection with someone the first time you meet them by having conversation, but those Disney "love at first sight" stories bothered me even as a child because I knew it wasn't realistic.

Romance is a genre that I actually don't tend to lean toward very much, and I think it's because some of it just isn't realistic and/or believable.

[li_ght21]

Romance can be realistic to some degree, as it usually portrays hardships that two lovers go through, and as a result, their bond becomes much stronger than before since they realize that they are much stronger together and can withstand challenges that may come their way. Although, the endings are the opposite since they depict a perfect relationship without any predicaments whilst in reality, any unit of people is bound to quarrel even if it is joined together by love.

[Netvigator72]

I believe that it completely depends on the book. Certain stories such as the Twilight Saga are romantic but with little content that the reader can relate to. I however believe that there are certain aspects such as the strong and unconditional love shared by Edward and Bella that can be related to by certain readers- I certainly do. There are also the more contemporary love stories that are set in a more realistic setting with relatable ups and downs.
Therefore, I certainly think that it depends on what the reader takes from the story and the story by itself on whether the reader can relate or not.