A novel approach

I just finished another "romantic suspense" novel. I don't actually like these novels yet if I happen to find one in my possession I usually will read it. These stories have these elements in common:

A man and a woman. The man is a bit older than the woman, sometimes even in his forties, usually early forties if so. The woman is in her thirties 99% of the time.

Both the man and the woman are driven high-achievers. At least one of the two has had experiences with relationships that has led to caution or downright rejection of suitors. The two are thrown together in some kind of life-threatening situation and ultimately learn to trust each other. In the course of this process they have sex, which usually follows this pattern: rapid, clothes-tearing lust that exceeds anything either has known before, deeply satisfying, followed by the slow, sensual version.

The man and the woman have excellent, fit bodies. They work out, they watch what they eat blah blah blah. And, interestingly, much of each other's thoughts about the other focus on looks.

I have never been one who could wear strappy sandals. I have never been one, even at my thinnest, who could thrill a man with my perfect body, my rounded perky breasts, my taut stomach. In other words, I would never be cast in one of these novels.

Reading these novels is like watching a parade of perfect people who find love against all odds. The descriptions of their bodies, remarkably the same in each novel, build a wall against who I am. What I am. They are, collectively, an assault on all but a tiny fraction of the real world. Maybe even that fraction doesn't really exist. It's unlikely. I don't like these novels because they are so much the same, always the same, but many people do. Do these readers become lost in the fantasy, recognizing it for what it is? Or is there a tiny part of them that compares and compares?

Is the fantasy necessary? As necessary as the enhanced breasts and tummy tucks on an exotic dancer? Do we have to have that body in our minds? Or is it possible that we would be able to lose ourselves just as easily - nay, more so - if the characters really resembled real people? I'd love to find out.