I've read and liked the Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey series. And now I don't. Once the negative aspects of the main characters' relationships were pointed out to me, I no longer liked the books.
After reading more about abusive relationships in romance literature, I'm realizing that I do not read romances as deeply as I do other literature. When it comes to romance literature, I read them as fluff and do not invest as emotionally or intellectually in them.
Because the knight-in-shining-armour theme is so prevalent, I will say that most women like it when the man protects them. They like to feel safe, knowing that the man will save them. The Twilight series takes this theme too far. Yes, it's a fantasy series and probably wouldn't get away with half of the stuff it does if it were not fantasy. The amount of danger that Bella is always in, therefore needing to be protected and saved, (I hope) is unrealistic even when you take away the fantasy element.
I am not interested in BDSM and so I have no interest in a relationship like the one in Fifty Shades. I also am not a submissive and would not tolerate a relationship where I must do everything I'm told or be punished. That's what my father was like and I'm glad I'm now an adult. But even those in the BDSM lifestyle are not impressed with the series: Sophie Morgan, author of "Diary of a Submissive" wrote an article for the Guardian).
If you Google "Twilight" or "Fifty Shades of Grey" with "abusive relationship" you get a lot of results, many of which are well written. I highly recommend "The Trouble With Prince Charming Or He Who Trespassed Against Us".
And so now I've been rereading other romance books I've loved and reassessing them. Call me naive or cynical but I just don't believe the "in love forever within days" storylines. Although the rest of the story and the writing may be very good, it is this instantly-in-love aspect that I can't agree with.
Read on,
Paula
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