Guilty Pleasures ~ A Valentine's Day Post

So it would appear that the most "romantic" day of the year is upon us.

Valentine's Day.

The holiday, also known as the Feast of St. Valentine, has been around for over five hundred years now and is varyingly viewed as a celebration of love (women), or an elaborate conspiracy of the greeting card and candy companies (men).

Some look forward to showing that special person or the people in their lives just how much they care. Some dread the day, feeling an overwhelming sense of inadequacy at living up to their partner's expectations. Others loathe it as the lemon juice to the paper cut of their "unattached" state of being.

No matter how you look at it though, Valentine's Day is a holiday. And what is a holiday without a few traditions? Cards, chocolates, flowers, dinner reservations, wine, champagne, or for those of you who hate the day ~ dressing in all black. I've spent V-Day with sweet boyfriends (and some not-so-sweet ones), and on my single years, I've gone out with groups of girlfriends in similar situations to celebrate ourselves with good food, romantic movies, and fun company.  No matter what my romantic status is, I've never hated Valentine's Day. Even if I don't have a significant other, I still see it as a day to celebrate all of the ones that I love in my life ~ especially family and friends.

This year I'm single and looking forward to a quiet night in with one of my Valentine traditions ~ a good meal, a glass of wine, and a great piece of literature (i.e. a romance novel).

Now, I'm really not one to read very many romance novels. I only crack one open two, maybe three times a year (February 14th being one of them), and I usually keep them a secret. They are my guilty pleasure and something about this day makes me want to get lost in one of those extremely sappy bodice-ripping regency sagas with awful dialogue, laughably heightened emotions, and highly improbable yet exceedingly satisfying scenarios usually involving a rakish duke, a villainous lord, an innocent yet sensual lady, and a horse.

There is always a horse (not in a nasty way ~ I'm not into those kinds of novels).

They always employ predictable formulas and there's always a happy ending (usually several of them, if you catch my drift), but they always put a smile on my face and I suppose that's all that matters.

So, my wish is that you may enjoy this day, whether you're single, attached, hopeful, jaded, or cynical. Love is a wonderful thing, and I think it's perfectly acceptable to have one day a year to celebrate it indeed.

And now I'm off to choose my guilty pleasure.

Some of these Scottish Highland novels look pretty interesting...

Happy Valentine's Day