Romance is the most maligned genre of literature, despite being the highest grossing. How do publishers afford multi-million dollar contracts for first time literary fiction authors? On the backs of romance. We, romance readers, are the most loyal fans. We are powering through the recession, earning even more profits for Harlequin despite the buying downturn through the rest of the economy. Unfortunately, most people who criticize the genre as “bodice-rippers” and “crotch novels” have never read one. I’ll leave the eloquent arguments to Smart Bitches who Love Trashy Books and Dear Author. Check out the stats on romance readers from the Romance Writers of America to see that we’re a highly diverse, highly educated bunch. Escapist fantasies? What book, besides a textbook, isn’t an escapist fantasy? That’s what reading is. That’s what TV and movies are. ENTERTAINMENT.

Romance novels are delicious. Nom…nom…nomnomnomnomnom.

What I want to share with you now is the time honored wisdom: Don’t Knock it till You’ve Tried it

Here are 13 recommended books (all of which I’ve read and loved) in each subgenre of your reading persuasion. Go ahead, try one. I double-dog dare ya.

1. Contemporary: This Heart of Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
2. Paranormal: Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione
3. Historical: It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas
4. Regency: The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne
   
5. Science-Fiction: Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair
6. Fantasy: The Moon Witch by Linda Winstead Jones
7. Suspense: Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard
8. Young Adult: Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith (sigh, or Twilight…but who’s left who hasn’t read it?)
9. Women’s Fiction: Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas
10. Erotica: Go Fetch! by Shelly Laurenston
11. Contemporary Category Romance: Marriage at the Millionaire’s Command by Anne Oliver
12. Paranormal Category Romance: Raintree Inferno by Linda Howard
13. Suspense Category Romance: Strangers in the Night by Kerry Connor

Title: Kiss an Angel
Author: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Publication Info: HarperCollins 2002
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: <3 <3 <3 <3

What a delightfully charming love story! For anyone whose ever threatened to run away and join the circus, this is the book for you. A unique setting for a delicious tale of opposites attract. Ms. Phillips guides her characters through heart-wrenching transformations, and the resulting happily-ever-after is inspiring to behold.

Plot:

When Daisy Devreaux’s machiavellian father forces her to marry a stranger for six months or go to jail, she decides a marriage of convenience is the safer bargain. Only after the vows are said and her angry new husband carts her to a circus, of all places, does she begin to regret her decision. Her whip-cracking authoritarian husband refuses to let her leave. Daisy is determined to make the marriage work, even if her new husband refuses to help. Tortured hero Alex Markov agrees to pay off his debt to Daisy’s father by teaching Daisy the error of her irresponsible ways. He has no qualms about treating the flighty heiress with the contempt she deserves; he lost his soul years ago.

Poor Daisy loses the fledging friendships of the other circus performers when Alex refuses to pretend their marriage is a loving one. She is further outcast when she is accused of stealing money from the circus. Alex sentences her to muck out the elephant stalls even though she is terrified of animals. For the first time in her life, Daisy is asked to do hard physical labor and she surprises everyone with her refusal to give up and go home. Her pure heart slowly melts Alex’s icy core, but their relationship cannot survive another betrayal and Daisy runs away.

Eventually Alex tracks down Daisy’s father and determines that Daisy was not at fault. He feels-rightfully-like an ass. Once he tracks her down much groveling ensues. Depressed and alone, Daisy struggles to forgive him for betraying her. Alex puts his pride on the line to win her back.

Discussion:

One of the best things about this book is Ms. Phillips’s trademark witty banter. Cynical Alex and ever-hopefull Daisy disagree on everything. They are about as unalike as two people could possibly be, but they find common ground in their solitude and sense of humor. Love transforms them into much better people than they were at the beginning: Daisy learning responsibility and purpose, Alex learning humility and forgiveness.

Publisher’s Weekly disagrees with me, writing “there is nothing funny in the mean-spirited and abusive hero.” I’m usually overly-sensitive about this type of thing, so I’m surprised I didn’t have the same reaction as PW. I agree Alex is a bully. He has all the power in the relationship and abuses it readily. However, After Alex realizes his mistakes, he perfects groveling to an art form. IMHO he truly regrets his actions and changes for the better. Daisy’s ability to bend like bamboo, makes her infinitely stronger than Alex’s unyielding oak.

My only complaint is that Daisy’s father didn’t get his comeuppance at the end. Alex should have socked him one! Oh, and the woo-woo stuff with the tiger was a bit weird.

This book is also one of the hotter SEP books I’ve read. Funny, sexy and heartwarming. What’s not to love?

Title: Marriage at the Millionaire’s Command
Author: Anne Oliver
Publication Info: Harlequin Presents, June 2008 (US)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

This story overflows with heart and soul. Tender and passionate, moving and inspiring, I can’t understand why Harlequin insisted undercutting the book with that generic, boring title. None of the Presents line titles are unique, made as they are of marketing buzz words that apparently appeal to the reading public. But, really, how can they stick any old mix of millionaire/billionaire, secret baby, virgin mistress, forced bride and claim to do justice to the magic between the pages? This story is a must read for romance fans. It will leave you with that heart-bursting feeling of love, true love, and the conviction that happily ever after really can come true. Isn’t that why we read romance?

To be fair, I suppose I should disclose that I heart secret baby plots and am having a severe bout of babylust at the moment. It most likely is affecting my judgement, and causing this overpowering urge to make Mr. Wonderful read this book, in hopes he will catch my baby fever. Also, I downloaded a bunch of ebooks onto my computer and didn’t remember any of the back cover blurbs, so I was pleasantly surprised by the “secret” baby in this book. The unknown aspect made unwrapping the story that much more delicious.

PLOT: (This book debuted with slightly different character names in the Aussie/UK and US versions, as one can read in the varying synopses and notes on Ms. Oliver’s website.)

Carissa Mary is a struggling pianist who waits tables on the side to make ends meet. When her fiance breaks up with her, her stepsister convinces her to live a little and find a hot man to “tune her piano.” Carissa, still a card carrying Virgin at 26, screws up her courage and agrees. Cue hero, haunted songwriter Ben Jamieson who struggles with the recent death of his best friend. Jamieson is tall, dark and handsome and thoroughly sexy, as all good heroes should be. After one night of heart-stopping passion, Carissa runs home.

To pay the bills on the antique house her grandmother left her, Carissa puts out an ad for a boarder. Ben, seeking a place to crash for a few months for some solitude and soul-searching, where no one knows him, sees the ad and knocks on her front door. Mortified, Carissa only accepts him as a boarder grudgingly under one condition – hands-off. Neither can help the burgeoning attraction.

Seven weeks later something else is burgeoning. Carissa is terrified of caring for Ben because he’s said from the first he isn’t the sticking around type, so she throws him out without telling him her little secret. Ben, angry but willing to comply, intercepts a message from the OBGYN’s office and realizes he’s being duped. True to the title, the millionaire commands marriage. Both are too afraid of rejection and of love to admit to themselves, let alone each other, that there is more to the marriage than duty. Can their rocky relationship survive when tragedy strikes?

Every story has already been told. The difference is in the telling of it. Secret-baby plots are standard fare for the Harlequin Presents line (and we readers gobble them up like chocolate), but this book stands out in the beautifully descriptive storytelling. This is my first sampling of Ms. Oliver’s outstanding gift, but it has earned her a place as one of my favorite Harlequin authors.

This book took 2nd in Romance Writers of New Zealand’s Clendon Award in 2004.

Title: Have Glass Slippers, Will Travel
Author: Lisa Cach
Publication Info:
Genre: Contemporary Romance/chick lit
Rating: <3 <3 <3

Cinderella is every little girl’s fantasy. The fairytale is not about marrying money and being rich, however, it’s about finding true love in a man who sees the real, compassionate, strong, beautiful woman beneath the facade of dirt and servitude. Eloisa James wrote a lovely article on the use of the Cinderella story in romance novels, most of which focus on the transformative nature of the story. Personally I’ve read a few that leave me with a “he likes her for her looks” icky feeling, but since I can’t remember any of the names of these we’ll just fugettaboutit. (Needless to say, I have a high bar for judging Cinderella stories – they need to be about self empowerment.) Have Glass Slippers, Will Travel happily satisfies this ideal and is humorous to boot.

Kati Orville is an out-of-work tech writer from Seattle (whoot!). She adopts Oprah as her personal mentor and has a series of very funny dreams in which Oprah, actor Ian Richardson, and an iguana show her the path to true happiness. (A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you’re fast asleep…) Kati decides what she wants is the fairytale: to marry royalty and live in a palace. She flies to London to find her dream, crashing a society wedding, meeting the queen at the Ascot, and gracing the tabloids in full glory in the process. Unfortunately she finds herself not attracted to the polished but unctuous Viscount Stanley, but to his sloppy organic farmer cousin Will Eland. Can money buy happiness? Is love enough to survive a life of poverty? She must discover for herself if what she really wants is the castle or the true love of finding the prince of her heart. (Guess which one she picks?)

The book is not subtle in addressing the questions of true happiness and the value of money and the secondary characters of Trevor and Helena are one-dimensional, but it’s delightfully charming non-the-less. Kati and Will are both quirky and endearing. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a light hearted read and certainly anyone who likes Cinderella.

Title: Born in Fire
Author: Nora Roberts
Series: Born in series, book #1
Publication Info: Jove, October 1994
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: <3 <3 <3 <3

Though I usually go for stories that are more fairy-tale in nature, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The main and secondary characters were complex and the relationships were well developed. I enjoyed learning about the secondary relationships – the hero and his grandma, the heroine and her sister, the heroine and her father, and especially the heroine and her art – just as much, if not more so, than the relationship between the hero and heroine. Ms. Roberts’ descriptions of the heroine’s artistic process touched me; she put into words the frustration and elevation I feel when creating.

The heroine, Maggie Concannon, is a glass artist in Clare, Ireland. She is fiercely independent, proud, stubborn, defensive and sometimes rude, but also extremely generous and protective of her family and friends. She has a tempestuous relationship with her bitter mother. The hero, Rogan Sweeney, is a rich gallery owner from Dublin who desires Maggie’s work from the first time he lays eyes on it. He is a driven businessman, by turns pompous and overbearing, but also a compassionate man who takes as much pride in his work as Maggie does in hers. Maggie has difficulty letting Rogan manage her artwork because she feels she is betraying her independence and selling her soul, but Rogan won’t take “no” for an answer. Yadda, yadda, they fall in love and live happily ever after.

Not only did I read this book, but I annotated it. (Dr. Lightfoot would be so proud!) I read this book a year ago, but didn’t remember much because I consumed it in my typical fashion: gobbling it like candy, seeking that sugary sweet high. This time I paid attention to word choice, sentence structure, character and plot development, and, of course, misprints. Whoops! (I only found 3.) It was fabulous! Who knew annotating could be so much fun? La Nora is a talented author

Ms. Roberts’ use of the brogue to express moments of greater emotion in her dialogue is genius. When Maggie gets angry or upset her speech develops a heavy irish cadence, inverting her sentences and replacing “me” for “my”. For example, when Maggie and Rogan are discussing their business arrangement and Rogan demands 35% profit, Maggie gets angry. Rogan says that he does all the work and all Maggie has to do is “merely to create”. She responds (p69):

“‘Oh, as if all it takes is sitting on me ass and waiting for the inspiration to come fluttering down like raindrops…. Oh, it’s clever you are, Rogan, taking a quick turn from money into fame.’”

Ms. Roberts has a lovely way with words. In a number of places she used adjectives that start with the same letter to emphasize a certain description or mood: “The kiss sizzled, sparked, smoldered,” (p87). Her descriptions are fabulous, at times sensuous and at others playful: “The light and the music sparkled down the staircase like fairy dust along the curve of a rainbow,” (p166).

Tonight my local Romance Writer’s of America chapter is holding a lecture by author Blake Snyder who will discuss plot structure using this book (hence the annotating.) Tomorrow I will regale you with my notes and more in depth analysis of Born in Fire.