ROMANCE Romance and mystery are virtually the same thing. It's no surprise that they are the top two genres in the book (and movie) world. A true romance has never happened that did not contain an element of mystery. And vice versa. This is a very simple concept to appreciate. After all, what is romantic about knowing you will score? If you know it, there is no mystery, and hence, no romance. Why else is it that somebody is always writing a book about how to put the romance back in your marriage? I mean, if you're married - hello - you know you're going to (at least most likely) score. No wonder people are always having to work at reviving it (the romance), with the emphasis on the word, "work." Yes, it isn't easy. I have carped for many years (to anyone who will listen) about the way a relationship is like a job. And if you've already got a job (the kind that pays you money), having a relationship at the same time is like having two jobs, and one of them you don't get paid for. Quite the contrary; you pay for it, sometimes heavily. The fact that relationships are difficult and challenging (not to mention economically straining) makes it easy to understand why prostitution has always been around, and very likely always will be. If relationships prove anything, it has to be that we love a mystery, which is the same of course as saying that we love a romance. You cannot separate them. They are two sides of the same coin. To understand why romances turn out the way they do, usually disappointing, consider what happens with mysteries. What is the one thing we're always hearing about them? It's a variation of the word "solution." A mystery literally begs to be solved. Therein lies its intrigue, i.e., interest. Once it is solved, we immediately start shopping around for the next one. If my hypothesis is correct, if mysteries and romances are one and the same thing, only wearing different faces, then the same should hold true for romances as for mysteries. Once they are solved, we immediately start thinking about considering in another one.
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