Books, Blogs, & Reality by Ryan Ringbloom - @RyanRingbloom

This book by Ryan Ringbloom hit me on so many levels that I am left in utter shock and awe. I initially one clicked this cute looking book because it’s about 4 blogging girlfriends that have never met in person and live all over the world. That’s just like me and my girls Steph, Ang, and Cariad from Sizzling Pages. We talk daily and talk about everything. I think they know more about me than some of the people I see on a daily basis. It’s just easier to open up via email. You can answer when you are ready, and only say what you feel comfortable sharing. There were so many parts of this story that I connected with. Being a married working mom I think that Lizzie’s story just spoke directly to my heart. Everybody that knows me knows that I read only romance. I mean romance and love stories are just something that makes me feel happy or good. But in the past year I’ve started becoming more and unwavering about what kinds of romance I read. Basically I want the fantasy, the perfect hero and the heroine that just finds her HEA in the end. I even go so far as to avoid the ones that have too much angst.  Why?  Because well , those are just to close to real life. I find that I escape the daily grind and they daily angst when I dive into a sweet or sexy perfect romantic story.  It’s hard to be a romance reader and not sometimes put high expectations on the man that you love. How could our men ever live up to these books heroes? The fact is he can’t compete , because really he doesn’t need to.  He’s just what I need in every way because when I’m at my darkest and things are the worst they can be, he’s simply there and I know that I can go to him any time.  Real life is messy and angsty and romance is hard to find in the daily grind. I loved that this story showed that you can let fantasy stay where it belongs and still find the good in the every day life. I am blessed and I know it.  I also am so lucky to have found 3 friends that will read this and know exactly what I’m talking about and I won’t even have to say anything else.  I find the reasons I give books 5 stars differ in each instance. Always though the one thing that has to be present is that I have to FEEL and FEEL strongly. This one left me feeling a lot but most of all I felt lucky.  I’ll continue to escape into sweet and even sometimes angsty romance stories but when I close that book I’ll have the love of a man that is my perfect hero in the real world of imperfectness. I'll also have the friendships of 3 ladies who I know that 24/7 I can send one sentence and they'll be there to laugh with, cry with, vent over books with or rave over new heroes we love, but most of all they are gonna be there to just understand.