Love at first sight: Romance fact or fairy tale?

I recently had a reader review of one of my books and one comment they made stuck with me. They said that they didn’t like the ‘instant love’ as they called it between the main characters. Now, bear in mind that this particular book was in the science fiction/ romance genre, which is filled with all sorts of fantastical ideas. Vampires, shape-shifters, aliens….zombie apocalypse. So out of all of these ideas, the fact that ‘love at first sight’ was the most unbelievable made me rather, well to be honest…sad.

Have we really become so jaded in this modern age that the simple romance of falling in love at first sight has become an archaic notion or urban myth?

In a society where the norm is now filling out 40 pages of an online questionnaire of micro-matching, then hoping beyond hope that the person popping up on the other side has been truthful in said questionnaires, just for the possibility that it will lead you to your perfect mate; it’s little wonder that some have an issue with embracing the simple idea of following ones heart.

Why do I write science fiction romance? It’s a lot of fun first of all. Secondly, perhaps its because my own love life has always been a little…well, complicated. My bad luck in love has been rather constant, leading me to the only logical conclusion; obviously I must have been a very, very naughty person in a previous life to end up with such bad romantic karma.

What’s one of my personal fantasies?

A simple, real love. Free of the constraints, mating rituals and dating games of today’s society.

Am I still holding out hope somewhere in the deepest reaches of my heart and imagination that my knight in shining alien armor or some version of him will come to my rescue and take me away from all this drudgery?

Maybe….I guess I’m just an old fashioned girl at heart.

Here’s to hoping that your imagination always takes you to the dreams you’ve yet to reach.

Sarah.