Does the pace a reader reads affect their opinion of the book?

I am a romance writer and reader. I love it. I have a hard time getting into a book if there is zero romance in it. I have always been a romantic at heart and my heart swoons whenever I read a book or watch a romantic movie. I yearn for the happily ever after for the characters.

After an interesting chat on my Facebook page the other day, I found myself wondering something.

Often the timeline in romance novels and romantic movies is very short...sometimes as short as a week or a month. It seems perfectly logical to me for a couple to find love in that short amount of time (I did!) but I know many others are skeptical about it. They believe lust is a possibility, but not love. I once had a reader tell me my book was unrealistic because my characters fell in love after only knowing each other a short time. But in romance novels, there is a level of suspended belief that must come along. It's a fantasy...an escape from reality. While some parts are realistic, some are not. And while my love story happened fast, I know it doesn't really happen for everyone. (Though all the successful marriages I know, it happened the same way as mine. My mom and dad dated for years then got married...divorced a few years later. My dad met my stepmom and 6 months later they got married. It's been 30 years.)

But anyway, the real point to my post today.

I started to wonder..... Say a hero and heroine fall in love and find their happily ever after in a novel that takes place over the course of a week. Say reader #1 reads this book in only 2 day's time. So for them, the entire relationship happened really really fast. But what about a slower reader who takes a month to read the same book. Do you think it's more believable for that reader, since they read slower and the relationship sorta took longer, in their mind, to develop??

I so need a vacation!

It's been almost eight years since the hubby and me have gone away just the two of us. We've taken many trips with the kids and they've been great...real honest to goodness family bonding time and we loved every minute. We even got away 3 times without them for weekends away with friends. But as fun as those weekend were, (and trust me, there were some really fun times!!) it just was not what we need. We are in such desperate need of some time away...just us...to reconnect and enjoy each other without worries and stress and appointments and everything else that makes up the busy life of two parents with two young children.

The idea for this trip just kinda happened. I wasn't looking to plan a trip...it really just fell into our laps.

I'm a huge Disney fan...everyone knows that. Luckily, hubby shares the love as well. We've been fortunate enough to be able to take our kids the last three years in a row and will take them again the end of this year. We love being there together as a family...but hubby and I have said "How cool will it be when we can come all by ourselves!" Not that we don't like being with our kids, but there are things at Disney World that don't particularly interest the kids...like World Showcase at Epcot. It's something we usually kinda skip over cause they don't want to watch the films and inspect each pavilion.

So back in January, I was visiting a Disney planning message board that I frequent, gathering info for the December trip and lo and behold....Disney had announced a promotion for the spring. Book a 5 night trip, get a $300, $500 or $750 gift card, depending on which category of resort you stayed at.

Great deal......but what about airfare???

The $64 air on Southwest sealed it for us.

The price was too good to pass on and we said "What the hell!"

We booked the trip, organized the babysitters, and started planning it out. We leave in 9 days and I cannot wait. Each day, when the kids are screaming and my son is beating my daughter over the head with a toy golf club....I remind myself of how many days are left til we leave. I am so looking forward to waltzing through World Showcase, a fun drink in one hand, my beloveds' in the other. I can't wait to ride Tower of Terror, both my and hubby's favorite ride anywhere, and actually get to ride it together...been many years since we've been able to do that. I can't wait to just relax and not have to deal with anything besides what restaurant we're gonna eat at that day (we chose the quick service dining plan this time so we won't be tied to any dining reservations at all).

9 days and counting.....

Hubby made me laugh!!!

So the yesterday he is quizzing our daughter for her spelling test...she's in 1st grade, so the words are pretty simple. One was "lot". She spells it perfectly. I am in the other room and I hear him ask her to spell "a lot". She does and I come right out and say to hubby, "Um...you know that's two words, right?" He then proceeds to playfully argue with me. He finally accepts it but then says, "You're just playin' with me, right?"

"No honey.....'a lot' is two words."

So he goes to find a dictionary. I run and get mine and show him he is wrong. I smile and shake my head at him...we have a good laugh.

I don't mean to gloat...

Okay, yes I do......

In this world of Venus vs. Mars and all that....I have to take my props when I'm due...but I am being a good wife and not gloating to my husband's face...cyberspace is another thing though...and he doesn't read my blog.

So it's a classic case of "I was right..na na na na na na!"

Hubby got in a fender bender the other day..no biggie, all parties are fine..but it was the other guys fault. He took full responsibility for our dented bumper. Guy from the other insurance company came out today to inspect it and give the estimate...yadda yadda...hubby then wanted to jump in the car and go right to our dealer. First of all...hubby works midnights and is usually fast asleep by now. He stayed awake cause the guy was coming. Second of all....the dealer is a good 25 minutes away...so approx. 2 gallons of gas is used to make this trip. $5 in the grand scheme of things, but still a waste if he can't even be seen today. I told hubby he should call first. After a few minutes of sparing back and forth over why I thought it was better to call first, he went and called. Went in the bedroom to do it. I heard talking and then nothing. It was quiet...so I already knew I was right. A few minutes later my cell phone rang with the "I'll Be Loving You Forever" ring tone...the one for hubby....and he recited some of the most wonderful words in the English language:

"I'm sorry...you were right...."

I went in there and he was in bed, ready to go to sleep. He had called the dealer, talked to the collision guy, he'll send the insurance company an estimate and the insurance company will send us a check.

Will men ever learn that women know best??? :) LOL!!