“He slid his
hand behind her head and brought his mouth down on hers in a hard, demanding
kiss that stirred up a raw hunger. A kaleidoscope of emotions ripped through
him but the prime one was need. It spread through him, not slowly, but like
wildfire burning everything in sight. Gripped by it, Sean powered her back
against the railing and trapped her there.” Suddenly Last Summer by Sarah
Morgan, a Mills n Boon romance novel.
It’s been over 100 years since Gerald Mills and Charles Boon teamed up
to publish books. Since then, they have been responsible for more than 30,000
fictional kisses.
Mills & Boon sells 130 million books each year in 109 countries and
26 languages. Someone buys a book every three seconds!
In India Harlequin, the publisher has published 26 titles in their
Indian collection with authors Milan Vohra and Aastha Atray being the first
authors to write a home grown Mills n Boons romance in English. Since then
there have been titles that have come out in regional languages as well.
The Hindi titles "Raaste Pyaar Ke" and
"Punar Milan" and Tamil titles "Bossin Kadhal" and
"Avargal Meendum Inainthaargal" are available with Marathi and Malayalam
editions as well.
It’s no wonder that almost every woman in the world has read at least
one Mills n Boons if not more. Hence our idea of a perfect man most often stems
from the heroes we’ve grown up reading. The list of qualities that he may need
to possess are tall, rich, good looking, sense of humour, roguish, talented,
sexy, intelligent, challenging who can sweep the woman off her feet and give
her a good time in life. Now that we’ve made the list, let’s find men who can
fit this role!
But alas, there’s no such thing as a perfect man or a real life Mills n
Boon hero.
While a man is dating, he is at his best and puts on the cloak of a
Mills n Boons hero to please his woman. He is dashing and articulate, funny and
intelligent, wild yet surprisingly reliable. As soon as the man has ensnared
the woman in a commitment, the cloak is kept in the back of a `routine’ closet
and the man goes back into the minutiae of his existence. Meanwhile the woman
is all swept up and has nowhere to go. She’s a tornado of expectation and
romantic energy that she had read and tasted with the man.
The man acknowledges that he’s not a Mills n Boon hero. He recognises
fact from fiction. But for a woman the realities are blurred. Her romantic
notions, her relationship ideas, her future plans have been derived from an
idea of a perfect romance she may have read eons ago that have stayed in her
memory.
The company Harlequin has also been
criticised for repeating plots, the inevitability of their happy endings, and a
simple writing style, whereas fans cite predictability as a key reason for
reading. While this may have boosted the sales of the books, it’s always a
repeat reading or watching of something that allows it to take shape in memory.
Kausar, Integrated Therapist at Sanctuary of Life mentions, “What we read or
watch repeatedly will also be accompanied by our repeated interpretation of
that message. Depending on our level of (un)awareness of the interpretation and
its consequences on us, it can have an impact on the choices we make.” When
this repeat reading of the perfect man takes shape, it is very hard for us to
shake it when we do start having relationships.
In 2011, psychologist Susan Quilliam blamed romantic fiction, and Mills
& Boon in particular, for poor sexual health and relationship breakdowns.
Gauhar, had always believed that her
relationship would be like a Mills n Boons romance. In the beginning her
husband had taken her for bike rides and chatted with her under the stars on a
trek. Once they got married, the bike was traded for a cozy family car and the
stars in the sky were exchanged for the stars on TV at night. “How has he
changed so much?” She would ponder.
Bangalore based leading psychologist Dr
Geetha Appachu has seen many cases of women with unreal expectations. She says that when a woman is stimulated by
the idea of romance she equates it to love and she will perceive her
relationships to have that same stimulation. Most of these women clients sit
and wonder why their life is not close to what they have read.
The women
are dissatisfied because they want their spouse or partner to pamper them the
way a Mills n Boon hero has pampered his heroine. Often the relationship for
the woman gets “boring.” Boredom then causes lack of enthusiasm in the home
front and interferes in other areas of her work and society life. If the man
and the relationship isn’t “exciting enough” for the woman she chooses to
either break the bond or find stimulation elsewhere.
While we
love our romances and Mills n Boon it’s important for all women to have
realistic expectations from their relationships. When we start getting bored we
must question whether it is in relation to something we’ve read, seen or heard
and are comparing our life to it. A deep understanding of why you need the
pampering, what more you can do in the relationship and what else can you do
with life may help women in understanding themselves and their relationships
better. But keep reading romance novels because they can uplift you, move you
and make you smile. Just don’t make them your reality.
Research from:
Dr. Geetha Appachu: 094486 17789 (Bangalore)
Energy Healer: Kausar: 09849152872
2 comments:
Makes sense. It's because of expectations that comes with these fairy tale stories. People, sometimes, fail to accept that life is much more than that, a tough reality.
Like every romance reader, I had started with Mills & Boon but now I have grown up and moved on :) I still like reading romance but not Mills & Boon kind.
Nice information thanks for sharing: Indian Writing in English | Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar,Novels by Indian Authors - Kochery C Shibu.
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indian writers in english literature and their works
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