Hi, Everybody! Well, we clearly know guys do read romance -- and I'm not counting dog-eared copies of "Field of Dreams." 
In fact, one of the titles I toyed w/for this post -- before realizing how really dreadful and horrifying it was, was, please forgive me, "If we write it, they will come." And truly, when I'm talking about guys reading romance, I'm not just talking about their reading it for the erotic enjoyment. I want to give them way more credit for being feeling animals; I think guys like romance for the emotional impact and the fantasy, including the placeholding fantasy.
I love what Lori's written: A good percentage of women won't openly
admit to being romance readers, so the chances of getting men to own
up to it are slim. I'm thoroughly convinced that vocal negativity re romance novels has more to do with folks -- women, too -- fearing their own emotions than concern for what others think about their reading choices. Which should tell you something about how much folks fear emotions.
But today, more men than ever want to be good husbands, fathers, lovers, they just don't necessarily have the role models in the previous generation. Terry Real makes a great case for this in his book, "The New Rules of Marriage." Yet, different from their fathers, these guys are creatively problem solving, figuring out new ways to stay true to their 'guyness' while opening up to new ways of gathering info about how to communicate, please the woman they love and become "man enough to feel," as it were.
Why wouldn't guys want to check out today's romance novels, especially ones that are so infused with themes and styles that we used to think of as the bastions of 'guy' reads: thrillers, fantasy, covert and military ops intrigue, brothers-in-arms series, etc?
At the very least, if we were interested in using the books as instructional tools for teaching guys, for example, to respect us or to better understand our fantasies, we could start by reading guy-friendly romance to our guys. But don't be subtle about it. You've gotta tell him clearly: I'm going to read this to you because I'd like to be treated this way. Or, I think it'd be fun to try this. Or, I find this really romantic; it gets me hot...
My hubby loves romance and while he's not afraid to admit it, he does keep the covers hidden on the subway He cut his teeth on my own work when I started writing Regency Romance a few years ago. But it wasn't until we found Twilight this past summer that he branched out. He loves the paranormal stuff, so in addition to reading all the Twilight books together, we also read Colleen Gleason's Gardella Vampire Chronicles together. The feather in my own cap was getting him to read Julia Quinn's Mr. Cavendish, I Presume, which he could NOT put down! Now he's on to Night's Rose, a fantasy/paranormal that again, he can't put down.
On another note, he tried reading a JR Ward and was totally turned off by how violent it was. That's fine with me...I'd much rather have a lover than a fighter
My reading and writing romance definitely brought a whole new level of romance to our relationship, but now that he's reading it, it also brings amazing conversation. Pillow talk is so fun when you're recounting the antics or trials of your favorite heroes and heroines together
Oh, and he's not the only guy in our group of friends who reads romance! We've turned all our married couple friends onto reading romance together, and they alll thank us!
What great comments! dhaupt, two things make me laugh: I just don't tell him and let him reap the benefits. and one in particular that I know personally is a supplier of mine at work and he reads romance for the same reason I do. When you said he loves the writing and the headlines are dreadful, I thought you meant the Harlequin Presents, which we adore for the stories, but also for the titles like "The Brazilian CEO's Pregnant Virgin Mistress!" But then I realized you meant the news headlines. 
I can only report on my husband as having tried a couple at my recommendation, as opposed to men who read more romance than not. But even women who report that they read romance, don't report overwhelmingly to read more than, what is it, one-five a year? The stats are at rwanational.org.
Portia, so many guys must be likeyour husband. Maybe it's easier or more acceptable if they're watching the romance 'for the home front."
Ames, I dunno about guys being less self conscious when it comes to the larger-than-life parts of the Black Dagger Brothers. I'm not sure they have to read about that very often. In terms of the "in death,' first you know I dont read em cause then I'd have to do the series, and second, they're series romance w/the romance occurring book to book, rather than stand alone. so I wouldn't argue they're not romance, just wouldn't classify them as 'traditional' romance. But as I wrote a couple posts ago, I keep getting into trouble when I try to delineate and classify. ah, me.
Great call on the Brockmann, Suz. Mann is a kind or protege of hers, and I think the books have the same guy appeal. And I know a lot of guys who'd dig the 'Simply" reads.
Phew, finally, <i>finally</i> I managed to be able to post here. First - registering - I wouldn't manage to fill in the password and the security question at the same time. Then "LisaK" was already taken. <i>Then</i> that blasted thing wouldn't accept the "ö" in my last name. And, last but not least, I couldn't find that nice little box here with "Post a Comment" on top. Aaargh, do you know how annoying one's own stupidity can be? I certainly do.
Okay, now I'm a litle calmed down, take a deep breath, okay.
God, god, I cannot believe I'm being quoted here, how very cool!
Hm, to the question at hand, I honestly can't think of a romance to recommend to a guy. Not that I wouldn't know enough books (haha), but I just can't imagine one of the guys I know reading a romance novel. I don't know why, I just <i>can't</i>. I appreciate a man who knows about romances, but one who acutally reads them ... weird.
But I don't think historicals would suit. Rather paranormals - Patrice Michelle, Gena Showalter or Christina Dodd's Wilders come to mind - because they've got some action going on there and what man doesn't love that (and hasn't secretly dreamed about being able to change into a sexy wolf and howl at the moon )?
Or romantic suspense. Karen Rose, for example. The focus is as much on the crime/mystery as on the romantic relationship. And many non romance thrillers do have some little love story in them and men don't seem to mind it.
Well, that's all my poor little brain can think about at the moment. Just one last thing:
I wonder where that attitude that men don't read romance novels actually comes from? Almost everyone thinks so but whoever said so first?
