Actually the Harlequin stand alone shelf at my local Borders. I was walking past it and did a double take- a man who had to be about 80 was hunched over looking at the books! I know it's kind of strange but the sight made me so happy I couldn't help but watch him for a minute (or a few...) while I pretended to be looking at a book about biking through France. I'm very sneaky. He started at the top and systemically took a book down, furrowed his brows while he read the back, placed it carefully back on the shelf, and repeated the process with the next book. I have NEVER seen someone so engrossed at a Harlequin bookshelf, it was awesome. If I didn't feel like such a stalker, I would have stuck around to see if he ended up buying anything. ;)

Or maybe he's researching to write his own, oh man I hope that's it...

I saw this at my local ubs...this older man was camped out in the harlequin intrigue section..and wouldn't budge either! had to wait 30 min to get to that section! those were the only ones he was looking at though.

maybe he was picking up a few pointers! :-)

Would be wonderful if he was researching to write his own novel/s but he may have just been carefully trying to select a romance as a present for a female loved one (e.g. daughter or wife). 

I was in Borders a couple of weeks ago, and this guy was sprawled out on the bench in the romance cubby, looking through a Nora Roberts book while his wife was browsing the shelves.  When I wiggled in there to look at books, she kicked him and told him to move - lol.

A couple of weeks back I was at the thrift store and they had this older man looking at the romance books.  When ever I got close to look he would wander off and pretend he wasn't looking at them.  I would go around a cornor and look at something else and he would quickly go back and look at the romance books.   He was probably very happy when I left so he could look without running off. 

Just Saturday night I was at my neighbor's Pampered Chef party and her hubby (an older gentleman) was walking around with a Sherrilyn Kenyon book in his back pocket! Shocked me... although I don't read her stuff, doesn't she write paranormal romance?

Awww maybe he was looking for some books for his wife who is bed-ridden or something.I kinda like to think that was it because it sounds so sweet.

I'm envisioning a wife, telling her husband to make sure the book has some really juicy scenes. :-)

How odd is it that my husband has gotten used to having to occasionally buy stuff for me from the "feminine hygiene" section, but would rather eat nails than pick up a romance for me, even at the library?  He says the cashier knows he isn't the one using the tampons, but might think such a book was his (God forbid :)

Katrina

I saw a guy in Walmart looking through the books in the romance section, and I believe that when he left, he had one in his hand.

I may have said this before, but my 48 yr old brother, a brawny landscape design company foreman, adores Nora Roberts.  I always get him some for Christmas.  Tickles the crap out of me.

Lots of men read the Sherrily Kenyon Dark Hunter series- pretty cross-over popular!

Sara

My husband bought me a book once for Christmas and stuck money between the pages as a Christmas gift.  Always thought how funny it must have looked with him picking it out at BN and paying for it.

A week or so ago I was at Borders going through the Ellora's Cave end of the romance section and there was a guy right there going through them, too. I had a hard time keeping the smile off my face. lol

I have a writer friend who is considering writing a romance.  I suggested to him that next time he goes to the Borders near his house, he hang out in the romance section and see what happens.  Judging from the comments here, the women will be all over him =). 

He should like that. I've asked him to report back to me if he does go.  Actually, I'd like to be a fly on the wall to see what reaction he gets.

That's amazing.... men in the romance section? I remember once when I was 18 and I went with my ex-bf and I wanted to look at the newest Harlequins. He quickly ran away to look in the magazine section. Lol.

The thing is, I thought I heard something last year from someone in my local RWA group that said more romances like suspense and paranormals are being made so that men can enjoy them too. But don't quote me on that.

For some reason I just LOVE reading these stories :) I'm sure there are ones looking for their significant others (which also makes them super sweet, most men would probably just stick to getting a gift certificate to avoid having to look through the books) but I *know* that some are there for curiousity and themselves. Honestly, along with a sexy woman on the cover, so many books have a really interesting plot layed out on the back back involving paranormal elements, mysteries, spies and/or adventures- mix that with hot sex and I think a lot of guys would want to swallow their pride and pick up one! I'm not a man but reading about the mystery on the back of Amanda Quick's "Slighty Shady' at the library is what got me into reading romances, especially historicals.

Karen- that's awesome! Your brother actually sounds like the type of character nora writes about a lot too, maybe he sees himself in them? ;)

I was looking at romances in a used bookstore with my boyfriend, and he was asking about the erotica section. I told him that it's pretty much porn in paper form but with a good plot (and believe me, I mean no disrespect to the genre) and said I could probably open it up randomly and it'll be a sex scene. Lo and behold I opened up to one, pointed it out to him, and he slowly walked away while reading it intently. It was strangely adorable! :D