Of Wimpy Heroines and Raping Heroes – So You Think You Know Historical Romance

I recently re-watched Phantom of the Opera and I’ve decided Christine is one of the wimpiest heroines in historical romance. Gaston Leroux probably didn’t know he was writing a romance novel back in 1909 and 1910 (He first published it as a serial.), but he was. It’s okay, Gaston. Lots of romance novels are written by accident. Nicholas Sparks does it all the time. Of course these days Sparks makes certain to kill either the hero or the heroine to prove he isn’t writing romance, but lets face...