I have a confession to make. I went to visit some family this weekend and I hid my paperback romance. I know, I’m so ashamed. I would pull out my intellectual book if anyone could see me reading, but late at night I would pull out my paperback romance and all the stresses of the day would just fade away.

This article from USA Today gives me the validation I need. Apparently smart people do read books with heaving bodices on the cover. I am not alone. You can read your romance with pride, knowing that you are joined by scholars from some of the best institutions in the nation. Mary Bly, better known to us as Eliosa James is a tenured professor at Fordham University and presented recently at the Princeton University scholarly conference titled “Love as the Practice of Freedom? Romance Fiction and American Culture.”

So, if you love books with a bared male chest on the cover and snappy dialog inside, read them unabashedly. And if anyone mocks you, just feel sorry for them. They’re missing out.