Oooh, this is a fun discussion. I enjoy the hell out of romantic subplots/plots in SFF, but I'm terribly critical. For example, the upcoming Hurricane Moon's handle on romance pissed me off, cause I didn't find any of it believable. But I don't read the romance genre as a rule, so I don't know *why* I'm so critical. I guess it relates to what you said, about how emotion and romance in SFF gets trivialized, so when it's done, I want it to kick ass. :)

Then there's the fact that my own book that I'm working on is SFR...that couldn't be a reason for my critical behavior, oh no...

;)