jedibuttercup

These are the cheapie ones you can buy for like $2.50 at K-mart--so yes, in terms of quality they are the very bottom of the barrel. It would not surprise me that there are a great many romance novels of better quality, but these are the ones next to the checkout line at the grocery store. These are the cheap ones where, if you don't read much and just want some brain candy, it's easy enough to justify. In other words, these are the ones most likely to be read by the girls and women who don't read much other stuff to balance it out.

There are only a few standard plots, and they don't even try to dress them up--they are formulaic in the extreme. Still, I was desperate for something to read. And the ones that don't involve abuse are good reads if you're incredibly bored or don't want to put much effort into reading, but still want to read.