I have been a fan of romance novels since the ripe old age of twelve. My mom let me read my first Danielle Steel novel, and I have been reading romance ever since. I remember falling in love as the two main characters did, feeling the conflict between them as if it was happening to me, and then ultimately pretending that their happily ever after was mine. Those three days, being lost in that book, are what helped create my love of romance novels and also helped shaped that woman that I grew up to be. I started my quest for my own happily ever after reading, "The End." A wanted a perfect romance, like the one I read about. I was too young to date at that point, so the next best thing for me was to continue reading the books that I had fallen in love with.
One thing that I never paid attention to was the color of the characters skin. It wasn't until I was a bit older that I started noticing that the characters in the books I was reading didn't look like me. It never bothered me. As I got older and had my own money and the ability to go buy my own books, I started expanding on the group of authors that I read. I went from reading Danielle Steel and Nicholas Sparks to including more authors like Zane and Cydney Rax. Don't get me wrong, I never gave up my love for the authors who first introduced me to real love and heartache...I just expanded my literary options.
Now that I am in my thirties and apart of the book world, I have noticed that authors who write multicultural love stories take a lot of flack. Readers are not complaining about the actual stories, but the fact that the main characters have different skin colors. When did this become a thing? When did it become a problem that two people who happen to come from different races meet and fall in love? This happens everyday in real life. Now I know that their are still people who have a big problem with this, but to see it in the book world has kinda blown my mind. I have always had the idea that love is love. It doesn't matter who you love as long as they love you back and treat you right. I have been called naïve because I have never seen skin color...only the person.
I have become really close with a few authors who write multicultural love stories and have seen the struggles that they are faced with . They don't know where to share their books in fear that they will offend someone. They receive extremely harsh reviews; not on the merit of the story, but because the main characters are a beautiful mix of browns and creams. It makes me sad that others can't see the beauty in the stories that are being created for our enjoyment. I applaud these authors for not only thinking outside of the box and seeing the bigger picture, but for portraying love as it really is. Love is not restricted to people who happen to be from the same place and share the same skin color. Love happens when you least expect it. It is a beautiful thing and should be celebrated in all forms.
I look forward to reading and experiencing the magical worlds that these amazing authors create. I look forward to discovering love through their eyes...through colorful eyes. I want to experience love as it was intended to be experienced...unconditional.
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