Yes, But Did They Eat Bon Bons?

The San Francisco Chronicle discovers romance novels, hitting all the usual points about the genre selling phenomenally well despite the general lack of respect and so forth. A crack about "the only place those books get reviewed other than the occasional mention in Publishers' Weekly" merits some correction; PW devotes some space each week to mass market paperback originals, nearly all of which are romances. Hardly what I'd call "occasional." There's also a pretty lame joke concerning a monthly writer's group consisting of Romance Writers of America members with "[not] a pink boa or a toy poodle in sight." I'd refrain from saying that's because in San Francisco, it's not the women who are into those fashion accessories, but then I'd miss out on a chance to go snap, snap at our laptops, and I can't go passing those up.