I would love to know why you love romance novels!
It boils down to the fact that they're rooted in the idea of women being appreciated and respected and listened to in addition to being like, loved and sexually desired.
You know how there's a real trend of men all across the political spectrum abandoning their wives when they get sick? Like Newt Gingrich and John Edwards are both guilty of it not to mention millions of other men who aren't politicians! Conversely, Mitt Romney and Mark Kelly, one Republican and one Democrat, are both devotedly in love with their wives, even after their wives got debilitatingly ill, Ann Romney with MS, and Gabby Giffords after she was shot in the head and had to gain back her mobility. That in short is why their approval ratings with women, both conservative and liberal, are like double digits above their approval ratings with men across the political spectrum.
It's also basically the appeal about romance novels, like all the heroes in the books care about their female partners in that way, and moreover, through caring about their lovers/partners/wives, they become better people. It's not that the women in the books actively change the heroes into better men, it's that the heroes in the romance novels want to become better men for the heroines because the heroines believe they're capable of it. Does that make sense?
Also, MacLean once said, "There is perhaps no more rewarding romance heroine than she who is not expected to find love. The archetype comes in many disguises — the wallflower, the spinster, the governess, the single mom — but always with one sad claim: Love is not in her cards. She is too smart, too old, too serious, too sensible — and love is not for the sensible, after all."
And that's the crux of it like romance heroines that stick with you are always a bit "off" like even if they're beautiful and intelligent, they have like inner trauma, and even if they're the most popular and likable person in the world, they have hang-ups and insecurities and anxieties that aren't visible to the external observer. It's genuinely bolstering to see that women in romance novels are loved for who they are, and not just their outer selves, and it makes me believe that I deserve that kind of love as well.