Modern Romance?

Reading the romance stuff is something I don't do. Give me a great book about legal procedure, a mystery, or some political thriller, and I am there. Of course, I like a little history and some classics, but I can lose myself in a good thriller. (Of course, I also can end up with nightmares or sleepless nights... but that is part of the fun, right?)

However, most women do read romances. I am currently reading a writer that puts a bit more romance in her book than I usually enjoy. It isn't bad, but I do have to wonder where she gets these men?!

There are definitely romantic men out there... definitely. There are also women who are far more romantic than am I, but are there really men and women out there who resemble the characters in some of these books?

Scenario of a recent read... thirty something male PHD living in back woods tracking thieves with the help of wealthy/successful NYC journalist. They are on the run in the southwest and end up falling into bed after (3 days) tension builds and the chemistry and attraction is just so great that they are unable to focus upon anything else. They live, of course, happily ever after. I found myself skipping pages to figure out the crime, not to read the romance/tension, etc. In my world, 30 something men are absorbed in their work and becoming a success. The idea that a woman, regardless of the chemistry or the physical attraction, could occupy the "modern mans" attention for more than a few hours in a day... strikes me as extraordinary in itself.

The modern, attractive, sexy woman... with a chemical attraction to a modern, 30 something man truly has to be prepared for a life in which he is striving for professional success. She has to be open minded and willing to understand the place that his work holds in his life... his interaction with other people... that sort of thing. Perhaps the romance in a relationship between two 30 something attractive people would be them making time for one another, accepting one another's schedules, and truly working to have fun and communicate despite their individual lives.

The romance is in the little things that make each person special and their determination to make it work...although the chemistry definitely helps!