I'm trying once again with Heart of the Sea. The characters have charisma, there's some Irish magic in the air.  Should be charming and enchanting, but sometimes the romance feels like nothing but physical attraction--all those charms that you warn your daughters against. 

Some of my favorite people collect everything Roberts ever writes.  I just can't buy into it--I am too much for monogamy only, including intimacy peferably within and not before marriage.  That extends to my reading.  I can somehow silence my conscience if the male and female leads commit to each other before the ending, but I'm quite uncomfortable with all the meaningless bedroom action. (Thus, I never liked Friends, Sleepless in Seattle, or You've Got Mail.) In all those, partners end up left by the wayside--"oops!  I didn't love you after all."

Roberts' stories have similar protagonists, gutsy girls who have seen it all before.  People do write what they feel.  These popular novels suggest that you not only have to kiss a lot of toads to find a prince, you must also be intimate. And the trail of broken hearts is just an exercise in learning.  I'm afraid that just kills my idea of romance.