I read a lot. For quite a while, I mostly read non-fiction. Books like Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences by John Allen Paulos, The Groucho Letters: Letters From and To Groucho Marx, Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin and Creative is a Verb by Patti Digh. And lots of craft and sewing books like Freestyle Machine Embroidery: Techniques and Inspiration for Fiber Art by Carol Shinn.

Then hubby gave me a Kindle. I found a Facebook page, eBook Impresario, that highlights Kindle books. Sometimes the eBooks are free for a limited time, which is nice. One thing I appreciate about those postings is that the book’s category is identified. That helps me a lot in choosing which eBooks to consider.

I conducted a personal, non-scientific survey over the last two weeks about the types of books eBook Impresario highlighted. I counted 39 categories, 11 of which were some kind of romance. Now romance stories are what I try to stay away from. Nothing wrong with people taking an interest in one another in any story, but there’s only so much of “looking into her/his eyes and getting lost forever” that I can take. In fact, I reached that limit in the first book that included that situation. If “romance” is in any book’s category, I let it slide right on by.

That works most of the time. But every once in a while, I get ambushed. One of the eBooks I downloaded was a mystery showcasing a sleuth who was a 72-year-old gun-toting, dope-smoking, hard-drinking, hair-pulling, Mustang-driving woman. It was a mystery . . . and a romance. Turns out the sleuth’s former employer showed up and the sparks from oh-so-long ago rekindled.

The next book I downloaded was a thriller. It included biological warfare, espionage, ex-military men galore (macho off the charts), the latest warfare technology (shh, it’s a secret) and deadly below-freezing temperatures in the wilds of Alaska . . . and romance. Seriously? Seriously.

Looks like I’m going to have to go back to reading non-fiction. In my to-read book pile: Wicked Bugs: The Louse that Conquered Napoleon’s Army & Other Diabolical Insects by Amy Stewart and Dog Detectives: Train Your Dog to Find Lost Pets by Kat Albrecht. If romance sneaks its way into these books, someone’s in big trouble!

Or, maybe I should reconsider and take the age-old advice of “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!” Maybe I should write a romance. Nah!

Here’s the category list from eBook Impresario where the category name included “romance” with the number of times the category showed up in my review time. If you like to read romance stories, you’re in luck!

Christian Historical Romance (1)
Christian Romance (2)
Historical Romance (11)
Historical Romantic Suspense (1)
Paranormal Romance (24)
Paranormal Romantic Comedy (1)
Romance (27)
Romantic Suspense (19)
Romantic Comedy (3)
Romantic Thriller (1)
Time Travel Romance (5)