Imelda's Paws

So, What's the Appeal of a Trashy Highland Romance?

I've been having lots of fun on my Kindle lately, finding new trashy romance books to occupy my busy brain on those evenings after work when I just want to switch off for a while. And I have a particular soft spot for historical romantic fiction.

Time and time again, I find myself downloading those books featuring the rugged, bad-turned-good Highland warrior, who just happens to meet a time-travelling maiden capable of helping him conquer his demons. Naturally, after a few obstacles and a little curveball towards the end, they all live happily ever after.

And I love them.

They're easy to read, wonderfully escapist and I can happily lose hours disappearing into their world.

But I've started noticing that some of the historical details are, shall we say, a little questionable.

Does it matter? Probably not. These books are written to entertain, and they do that rather well. They create a world you can picture yourself in, with brooding warriors, dramatic castles and windswept Highland landscapes.

But my brain has questions.

Would a Highland warrior in the early 1400s really have been wearing tartan? Would the castles actually have looked anything like they do in the books? And what was everyday life really like for the people living in these supposedly romantic times?

I started thinking about all of this, and somewhere along the way a new blog idea was born: Life, Lords & Lairds.

A place to explore medieval life, people and places, and perhaps separate a little historical fact from romantic fiction along the way.

You can find out more about it here.

But it brings me back to another question. What's the appeal of these trashy romance books? What is it that keeps us hooked?

Or is it simply that, after a draining day at work, sometimes all we really want is an easy, entertaining escape into another world? So maybe it's all of these.

I'm not complaining.

Time to download another Highland romance!