Hi dear friends,

Today in this month of Romance and Love Celebration I wanted to share something with you to kickstart this series of daily posts from authors and bloggers.

You all know that my main reading genre is romance and its infinite variations (YA, NA, Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary, Mystery, SciFi etc etc.) right?

No? Well you are on a romance books blog dude so if you did not realize it by now I must do something wrong!

Anyway, I digress.

I am a big romantic.

Like “Thor size” romantic. Give me roses and I smile. Give me HEA with the prince and the princess and I swoon. I spot a little boy holding hands with a little girl, being all cute together then I melt in a puddle of goo. An old couple sharing meaningful looks and tender smiles? I am a goner.

Yes I am that kind of romantic.

But what led me to that path?

My father was a big rational economist and he believed in hard work, numbers, sport and books. Preferably thrillers or crime.

Was it my mother then? Was she reading Harlequins under cover? Nope. And not under the covers either. I’ve never seen my mom read a book. Magazines about knitting and sewing yes, love books no.

So what went wrong *or right depending on how you choose to see it* along the way?

Well I blame Disney for my utter love of romance!

Ha!

You would never have guessed right?

This is the very serious conclusion I came to when trying to analyze my love for romance one night when sleep would not come. Don’t judge me you count sheeps I think about my romantic mind….

Let me explain here.

I was maybe five years old when my mom went to the theater with little Sophie *you imagine a small girl with blond hair and pigtails* to see her first Disney movie. It was Bambi!

And no Bambi is not romantic it’s just super cute and sweet. I loved it! I laughed, I cried I smiled, everything as I am easily sucked into a story.

Then it was Pinocchio and Dumbo. No harm done yet as these were not romances. I was even frightened by Pinocchio when you have that scene with the boys/donkeys being whipped!

My mom when I was around nine years old decided that I was old enough for the next level: the princesses!

You know these damzels in distress being saved by the prince? In the 70ies and 80ies we went to see these old fashion princesses.

And what happens in these movies?

-Cinderella leaves her poor house once the prince finds that the shoe fit;

-Snow White is saved and awaken by the prince’s kiss;

-Sleeping Beauty is awakened after prince Philip kisses her once he’s killed the big bad dragon;

-Ariel also gives her voice to be able to join prince Eric *what wouldn’t we do for love right?*.

Event the Lady and the Tramp is romantic! Remember that scene with the spaghetti? Hm? Romantic right?

And in the Aristocats you have the bad boy stealing the heart of the beautiful and posh Duchesse. See the trope “bad boy from the wrong side of the track vs golden girl” is a creation of Uncle Walt! Yes I tell you he inspired countless writers later as he used all the tropes in romance!

You want fantasy and magic? Try Aladdin.

You want wild nature? You have Tarzan! The protective man saving the lost maiden!

You love single parent? See Duchesse and all her kitties that she was raising alone!

You love the golden rich boy falling for the poor girl trope? Try Cinderella.

You love two heirs of kingdoms falling in Love? Sleeping beauty!

You love bridges and love is stronger than differences in races and culture? Go watch Pocahontas.

I could go on and on!

And I am asking you what does a young impressionable mind do? He imprints! He drinks it all and it shapes its psyche!

As an innocent little girl I fell in love with Disney’s princesses and love stories. And I never looked back. Ever.

I know that our modern princesses are no longer real damzels in distress! When you watch Rapunzel she escapes alone from her tower and has a deathly handling of the frying pan! Tia in the Princess and the Frog is the one looking to save the prince! Now we have strong female characters and sex equality. But the love story remains.

That’s why I fell in love with Prince Charming when he saved me from the mud (see last year’s story between Tinkerbell and Cocky Guy HERE ).

And that’s why I am still married to my savior more than twenty two years later.

That’s also why I can’t seem to let go of romances and happy endings.

That’s why you are today on this blog reading a “Nth” post about romance, love and everything romantic!

You know now where to send your claim:

Disney Studios

500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA. 91506

😀

Sophie@bewareofthereader’ bio

Sophie is a forty something Belgian working mom of two teenagers.
Managing two teams at work and a crazy bunch at home furry ball included was not enough for her ADHD tendencies. She began blogging on a dare and does it like everything else with utter enthusiasm. She has lived her former life as a cat and is always landing on her feet even when her blog is crashing down. Wait , no! That’s her IT hubs mojo operating after she’s bribed him with her infamous …chocolate cake.
When she is not busy reading, writing reviews interviewing/stalking authors or clumsily following her feed you can find her on the treadmill, in the woods or in the kitchen baking for her posse.

Thanks for reading this small fun piece about my love for romance and stay with us for more posts about love and romance this month!

Sophie