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Ode to Mills & Boons

Posted by SMM on 13:14
I have been an avid Mills & Boon (hereinafter referred to as 'MB') for the past 12-13 years. I got introduced to them by my aunt who was herself an avid reader in her college days. She had some old ones still lying around and I stumbled onto them. I got hooked onto them. Initially I hid them and read since I wasn't too sure whether or not they were approved reading for a 11 year old, and didn't want to take a chance. I convinced my aunt to get me some more. Very soon my mother discovered that my reading had a drastic curve from Enid Blytons to MBs. And after that I would proudly display what I was then reading. Made alot of trips over the years to the book stalls at Golpark (Kolkata) to buy old MBs for 20 bucks (well my pocket money was limited). I remember smuggling MBs into school and hiding them under our text books and reading. We almost got caught also onetime when my friend got excited at a "scene' while the teach was teaching. I remember passing the relevant pages around. I also remember how some girls (from conservative families who were not allowed to talk to guys) would xerox the relevant pages for future reading since they didn't want to read the whole book.


When I got to hostel I bought an MB in my first week itself since I was homesick and bored (was still getting used to the place - and besides I need to read for sometime before I conk off), and that's how I met one of my closest friends - RB (actually now RM). We bonded over MBs bigtime. She showed me the shops where I could continue getting my 20 buck MBs (which would deduct Rs. 5 as reading charges if returned within a week). Needless to say I was one of their most loyal customers. Once I shifted to Gurgaon, however I couldn't find any such book stall. Took me sometime but I soon found a lending library with one entire shelf (from ceiling to floor) devoted wholly and solely to MBS.


My poor Hubby had a big shock when he saw his 'intellectual lawyer' wife happily curling up with an MB and getting lost in the world of charming tycoons and dashing bosses and suave doctors and TDH Mediterranean men. I devore them all - right from the doctor-nurse romances to the boss-secretary ones to the tycoon series. The Hubby continued to needle me for sometime on my true love for MBs until he discovered that most of the women read them.


Yes I know that there are also many women who are not fond of MBs and dismiss them as boring trash, mindless romance with the same boy-meet-girl-they-have-fight-they live-happily-ever-after plot etc etc. I have had major arguements where I have defended my love for MBS passionately. If people think I am a dumb blonde if I read an MB so be it (after all as a Gemini I have multiple personalities hidden inside me - including that of a dumb blonde).


I thrive on reading love stories, about tycoons brought down to earth by the woman they love, about doctors who in the midst of saving other lives suddenly realize they are human just like their patients, about rakes who finally fall for the woman who can't stand them, about couples getting back together, about damsels finding their knights in shining armour, about TDH Mediterranean men falling for the English Rose......The MBS keep the romantic in me alive. I used to think that romance is only in MBs until I discovered my own charming rake (now reformed monogamist) in my Hubby who made the world of MBs come alive for me.









20 Comments


i have grown with MBs, metaphorically, i could equate MB to be my older sibling. my mom is an avid MB loyalist. nothing seems to distract her when she is MBing. she will love to read this post of yours. will make sure that she does.

smiles :-)
aham


real life can besuch a dampener..... esp after the number of MBs you have read


Gosh!, I thought i was reading a slice of my life. I used to be the one who read M&B's out loud to a select group during our library break. My mom who used to read in her time, used to think that the height of passion in an M&B was holding hands, till she went through one of mine and was shocked!.But my love for them has not dimished, I still love the world of italian and greek tycoons, with righteous secretaries.Makes life a little more interesting :D


MB sure seems to be your dope.

I do remember reading one and that was the first and the last.


This comment has been removed by the author.

my mum handed me my first one. i wasn't even 12 at that time. i was an avid fan for years and years cos i was a die hard romantic and still am hahaha! i make u tell me ur story everytime and u always make fun of me for doing so hehe!
i don't seem to be able to get past the first couple of pages now. real life seems to be far cry from the make believe. sigh!


**Very soon my mother discovered that my reading had a drastic curve from Enid Blytons to MBs.

omg ur soooo like me! That was exactly the same pattern in my reading interests few years ago. LOL!


btw I used to read MBs under the desk in Year 9, while the lesson is going on in class. I still managed to top the class. hahaha!



**The MBS keep the romantic in me alive. I used to think that romance is only in MBs until I discovered my own charming rake (now reformed monogamist) in my Hubby

thats great to know!!


:)
Keshi.


lol Jono!

Keshi.


Aham: please do tell me what your Mm says...get her to leave a comment. And please tell her that my 80 year-old grandmother still avidly reads MBs :P


Anonymous: Real life is not a dampner...the MBs are the fantasy


Anu: My mom still thinks that hand-holding and a chaste peck on the cheek are all that MBs used to have, until I gave her one of mine to read. Boy did he have a wake-up call :P


J: I had a bet with a guy friend once - he had to read an MB while I had to read a Clive Cussler and we would then quiz each other. No sweat for me since I in any case read Clive Cussler, while that guy read it and took a few tips to impress his girl friends. Till date he calls me up to ask for a few tips saying you read so many you will definitely give me some good ideas.


Utopia: Where you and me are concerned we will I guess read anything, we'r not fussy in this regard...and all the better if its an MB


Keshi: I still read MBs and I am sure I will be reading them even when I have a brood of grandchildren.

Imagine e in a rocking chair and reading out MBs to my grandkids and preaching to them what they should do to keep the romance alive. Makes sense :P


I tried mb...doesnt work too well for guys I guess.great writeup I would say tho...

scribblers inc.


Hmm so sweet!gr8 to knw tht u love MB so much...i hav read a couple of them. Loved the last paragraph....glad tht u hav got ur Man! :D


gurlllllllllllllll..i'm a die-hard romantique!!!n mills n boons, yehhh they give ya a total kick when ya read them.. an as ya grow older, n things get sour n bitter, ya need that placating romance, even if it is soft porn that can lull you into complete happiness.. n i'm that perfect gemini like ya, with a penchant for that blondie in me who cannot help playing dumb bum every now n thn.
mwuahhh :*

p.s.: n the husbands- heeeeeeee, it kinda cracks their innerz to see us with our mnb's;)


lol true SMM, that wud be nice :)

Keshi.


Keshi: New age fairy tales - at the rate marriages are breaking up these days, I think by the time I have grandkids, the concept of "happily ever after" would actually be a fairy tale


Rantravereflect/ Jane: Girl...you stole the words from my mouth

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