Thea Harrison

Hey Thea! Congratulations on your new website. If it’s half as good as your books it will be a huge success. I can’t wait to follow it and see what kind of crazy shit comes out of that head of yours, it should be very entertaining. So, you want a man’s perspective on romance novels do you. Ok, I will do my best to answer your questions.

Hi, Romance Man, thanks for coming to visit!  Tell me a little about yourself in a few sentences. What do you do for a living, and other than reading, what do you do for fun?

First, I am a small business owner and live in Florida with my wife and three daughters, ages 20, 10 and 8. Actually the 20 year is in college but she comes home every weekend to mooch food. My hobbies are rugby and mixed martial arts and I’m not very good at either but they keep me active and in shape, plus it sounds macho to say you play rugby and do mixed martial arts. And of course, my favorite new hobby is romance novels, which I regret I did not start earlier in life.

How and when did you pick up your first romance? Was it in a sub genre (as in paranormal, thriller, contemporary etc)?

The first romance novel I read was Because of You, a military romance by Jessica Scott, and I read it about 6 weeks ago. I am prior military and spend a lot of time reading about military issues. She is an Army officer and I stumbled across her website and noticed she also wrote romance novels. So I bought the book for my wife thinking maybe it would get her horny and I would get laid. Well, it was an e-book so I downloaded it and since work was slow that day I decided to read it. It was a quick read and I finished in a couple of hours and when I was done I needed sex. So when my wife got home I gave her the book and told her to read it before the kids got home. When she finished a sex marathon ensued and I knew I found my new hobby.

Why does reading romance “click” for you?  Conversely, do you find room for improvement in the genre in general (or any sub genre in specific)?

I can’t believe more men don’t read these books, it’s like a blueprint for what women like, both sexually and emotionally. It’s a fuckin’ “how to” manual and men have been ignoring them for years. I read these books with my wife and I make her read me the sex scenes and it has had a dramatic effect on our love life. As cheesy as these books can be they have really spiced things up. I’ve gotten laid more the past month then the previous year.

Of course there’s room for improvement. There are so many cliches that are done to death. I wish the authors would come up with better names for vagina because they are all using the same ones. I would like to see plots expanded to cover more than just a love story. The women who write these books are very talented and could easily write books of any genre and be successful so I would like to see more complex plots. But overall, these are good books for the most part, not just as romance novels but as books.

Who are your favorite romance authors?  Non-romance authors?  Can you give a percentage (just a rough off-the-top-of-your-head guess) about how much you read of each?

It’s too soon to say who my top romance authors are as I am just getting into this. I am currently reading my first Vampire one, Dark Lover and I like it so far. I loved DB which is very different, which I like. But I’ve liked most of what I have read so I’ll need more time to decide what my favorite is. There are so many different genres and I haven’t even touched the surface yet. As for non-romance, the only thing I read is non-fiction, biographies, history, etc. I’m not big into non-romance fiction.

If you could make a wish-list of a story you would like to read but haven’t yet, what would it be?

I would like to read a story about a hero who is overweight and has little dick, it would make me feel better about myself.

Since I’m approaching this as a conversation, would you like to ask me something in return?

Yes, you’ve written a million books what took you so long to launch a fuckin’ website?

On a more serious note, what do you think can be done to get more men interested in reading romance novels. I think they are missing a huge opportunity to learn more about women and I think if most of them were to read one they would like it. I think one thing that could be done is change the book covers. I understand these books are geared toward women but the covers are a complete turnoff for men. Most have pictures of half naked men. I think by simply adding a woman along with the man would have the effect of not making the book look so feminine and more men might be willing to at least pick it up.

What first got you interested in romance and what is YOUR favorite authors and genre?

ME:  We’ve actually launched my second website now.  While the first was lovely, it was only intended as a temporary site.  We knew we would go bigger, with extras and a blog page, and things have been progressing so quickly I needed to have the ability to make updates on my own.  It’s taken a while to create the content and pull it all together, but I believe it’s been worth it!

 And I agree with you—I think it’s possible to get more men interested in reading romance novels but it would take a change in marketing.  I’d like to see that happen.  Actually, what I would like to see is an entire line of romance books targeted toward men and featuring BOTH male and female authors.

 I started reading romance novels when I was a teenager and we would go to visit my aunt and uncle in the country.  My aunt had romance novels, and my uncle had Zane Grey westerns, and I read both.  Today, my favorite genre is a cross over between romance and another genre—mystery, science fiction and fantasy, thriller, that sort of thing.

Is there anything you would like to add? 

Good luck, I will be reading, your books and your blog.

Thanks, Romance Man, and I intend on stopping by from time to time to read your blog too!