JCPL Has Romance Titles You'll Love!

Love is in the air; and in February, love and romance conjure visions of flowers, candy, and hearts. Love songs abound, and poets run amuck with words to express the sheer elation and devastation of LOVE! Authors do their best to dissect the whole phenomenon of love. A great example is John Gray's "Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus," which was not only a great guide to understanding the opposite sex, but also wonderful fodder for many a comedian and talk show host. The late George Carlin summed up his take on the idea with, "Men are from earth; women are from earth. Deal with it!"

At the Jasper County Public Library, we bring love and romance to the table with a variety of authors, plots, and settings designed to appeal to the romantic in you. Check these out!

For contemporary romance at its best, check out a book by Susan Wiggs. Most of her books highlight women's issues, focusing on her protagonist's struggles to attain balance in a world that can be a roller coaster ride. Intelligent and sometimes funny dialogue, along with a leisurely but irresistibly enticing pace, take the reader on a woman's journey into self discovery, with a dynamic subplot of romance that gives her characters a realistic quality that you come to care about as you read. Two of my favorite titles by Wiggs are "Home Before Dark," featuring Jessie Ryder, a woman who has discovered that she is losing her eyesight and wants to reconnect with her daughter before her world goes dark and "Summer at Willow Lake," the first installment of the Lakeshore Chronicles, featuring Olivia Bellamy, as she and her former friend, Connor, reconnect during a project they are both working on at her family's New York resort.

Other authors of contemporary romance include Debbie Macomber, Sherryl Woods, Danielle Steel, and Jennifer Crusie.

If you prefer to be on the edge of your seat as you enjoy your ride with romance, check out books by Sandra Brown, Suzanne Brockmann, Lisa Scottoline, and Iris Johansen. Mastering the romantic suspense genre with expertise, these authors manage to keep their readers turning pages, combining mystery and romance to a thrilling conclusion. "Long After Midnight" by Iris Johansen introduces us to Kate Denby, a young scientist in search of a cure for diseases, specifically zeroing in on a medicine that will keep the human body from rejecting donated organs. But when an explosion rocks Kate's world and kills two people in her life, she realizes that she was the intended target and must save herself and her 9 year old son from certain death.

What is love? Here are Woody Allen's thoughts on the matter: "To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy then is to suffer. But suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer from too much happiness. I hope you're getting this down."

So, I say, why suffer? Celebrate love in the best way possible; by curling up in your favorite easy chair and losing yourself in a great book from JCPL!