Reading them taught me to appreciate the skill that went into crafting an entertaining, often deeply moving story within rigidly defined parameters. The so-called formula. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl, and they live happily ever after.
Nothing really subtle or controversial.
Or particularly risky, from a writer's perspective. Ah, but then things changed. The feminist movement changed romances as well as lives. Women were suddenly out of the kitchen, eager to become doctors, lawyers, engineers, corporate players, and astronauts instead of acting as sideline cheerleaders and shudder adoring helpmates. Suddenly, very few of us wanted to be Donna Reed or June Cleaver, nor did we find those women particularly admirable.