Hmm...I'm responding because Yvonne is asking.
I like the idea of category romance. But the execution in product varies widely and I don't actually read a lot of it because a lot of it is poor writing. (A couple of years ago, on Zoom's boards, I was an unwitting participant in something foul by beta-reading for a plagiarist. I was doubly embarrassed, however, by the reams and reams of grammatical and punctuation corrections I sent back...only to discover they were part of the original!!!!)
Category romance actually has a few sub-areas, and different lines reflect different qualities and emphases. Net net, a good author makes all the difference. Jennifer Crusie is such an author. She's published in category romance, but if you read her stuff, it's just plain old hysterically funny...and romantic and sexy too. (I recommend Welcome to Temptation and Faking It)
I suppose I like the idea of romance because I very much like to work within formula for entertainment. By that I mean that I read things to be tranported elsewhere to relax and I don't want any surprises--like an unexpected unhappy ending--to get in the way of that.
I also think it makes the author work to do something original with a formula (like the L&C formula for instance)
Sherry
