It’s all category, all day, here and at RomanceNovel.tv where both Candy and I are yammering in a video about category romance, while Jane from Dear Author is writing at the rn.tv blog about her experiences reading categories. Below is my entry on the subject.
Since I started my steady diet of category romance, I have learned the following three things:
1. I’m something of a judgmental wanker and I owe all category authors an apology. I dismissed this particular facet of romance because I didn’t think it was enough bang for my buck – I read so fast, it takes me about 2 hours to finish a category, at the most, and my prejudice was based on the fact that 2 hours is not a lot of enjoyment for the cover price. I was SO wrong. I’ve got plenty of enjoyment, like merde and mon dieu (TM Nathalie Grey). Yeah, my head? Was up my ass. I was SO wrong. Seems my own attitude needed adjustment, because as Marisa from RN.TV said while we were taping last week, category romances can be a perfect “quick fix” romance read, and so far, I’ve enjoyed many of the ones that I’ve read. So? I was wrong. I stand so very, very corrected.
2. Beyond my prejudice that size matters, I also dismissed the subgenre because I felt vaguely insulted by the concept: here’s a bunch of books this month! Next month, more, with similar titles, but not the same contents! It’s like WCKG FM in Chicago’s promo: “This may not be your favorite song, but it’s got a lot of the same notes.” As a consumer I felt like the category industry looked at the books as interchangeable parts, that one sheikh was as good as two billionaires (especially if they’re IN THE BUSH OMGLOLHAHAHA!) and I was all snorty about what I perceived as dismissal of me as a reader. Remember what I said about my head, relative to my ass? Yeah, that.
A wise category insider took pity on me and told me the following bits of info, which, as they are from one source, are unverified. Seems the titles that drive me so freaking nuts, oh, how they irritate the shit out of me? They’re all based on “hook words” that are tracked for their sales power. And books that experiment with the formula by using non-hook-word titles? Do not, in this individual’s research, sell as well. So all that sheikh virgin mistress baby boardroom tycoon billionaire title mix & match that drives me so bananas? Sells like crazy. And I have to wonder why the hook words work – my first guess is the reassurance that shopping by keyword guarantees a similar storyline every time. But I could be wrong.
3. Harlequin’s decision to issue all their titles as ebooks? Freaking brilliant. Well played, y’all.
It seems to me sales is based on research—what title to give a book, what tv show networks think we want to watch, and what kind of cereal they think we want to eat. The only problem is, I’m out of the loop, no one ever asks what I like, so I don’t believe I’m truly represented.
Titles and covers on some romance books are sooooo bad it makes me pause – but I’ve long gotten past that and look and inside and what I find in category romance suits me just fine.
So, now I’m terribly curious: how does one get into being a writer of category romances? I mean…. ok, this might sound silly, but the way it’s being described, I can’t quite see an author slaving away at “The Billionaire Virgin’s Tycoon” for years and sending it to an agent and/or publishing house to be pitched the same way a non-category romance would be sold.
Is there some kind of “apply here to be a category romance writer” process? How structured are the schedules—“Oops, sorry; we have too many millionaire babies this month; can you switch it and make that one an amnesiac sheikh instead?”
Do category writers get assigned their plot outlines, etc? Do they all get herded into a room once a month, with plenty of cheap booze and a big box that they pick random key words out of to give them titles to work off of? (“Boardroom” “Baby’s” “Italian” “Bodyguard”; “French” “Pirate’s” “Marriage” “Vendetta”)
Inquiring minds want to know!
(actually, inquiring minds are stuck at the library circulation desk the first day the students are back….aaaaahhhhh)
JaneDrew
I recently took some Harlequin survey about Presents (which I read quite a few of) and part of the survey centered around “would you buy this book” titled Sicilian’s Virgin Mistress (I made that up so if it’s actually a title, oops) or Italian Gazillionaire’s Revenge and the answer was: yes I would, because I love me some Sicilian Gazillionaire Virgin’s Mistresses. Or something like that. So I’m pretty much the market who buys those titles that other people hate. But I’m okay with that!
It seems to me sales is based on research—what title to give a book, what tv show networks think we want to watch, and what kind of cereal they think we want to eat.
Maria, you’re not wrong there, but these research/marketing types? They can be as misguided as anyone else. In my case (not category, but YA, which runs into a lot of the same “how are we going to sell this?” mentality) the marketing suits were convinced that my first book would have its best shot at selling if it had a Spanish word in the title. That was an actual directive I was given when coming up with a title—it HAS to have a Spanish word in it. The problem with the marketing suits was they had no clue had Spanish worked colloquially speaking, and they thought I could just substitute any old word within a title that sounded good in English and it would be okay.
Yeah, so wasn’t okay. I told them a) no one would understand because it wasn’t the most common Spanish word on the planet and you couldn’t quite get the meaning from context and b) if they thought that by doing so they’d be appealing to what they thought was my core demographic they were really wrong, mostly because said core demographic would laugh and point and never pick up my book. Luckily, that was a battle I happened to win. So yeah, a lot of times the marketing know-how, there’s something to it and others? NSM.
Hey, cut those category writers a break! Writers have to start somewhere and didn’t Nora Roberts write a lot of short category-type stuff while honing her skills?
I must admit I read them in the past when that was pretty much all that was available on a regular basis in romance fiction. I even subscribed (don’t throw those bricks at me, I was weak and got over it.) Now with some much better stuff out there I pick them up at yard sales and at my library and don’t finish them if they are too sucky. A few of the writers show promise for going against the formula and breaking free while some I avoid cause I know I’m going to start wanting to sock the heroine one minute and bring the hero up on charges the next. Sigh! Aren’t too many Rourkes out there—a sexy billionare with an accent who is also supportive of his wife’s career without being a wimp. Sigh! Write faster Nora, write faster. By the way, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the reader you have for your audio books—really great!
I call category romances my “popcorn reads”, they nice, compact and I can usually fit it in just a few hours with as much satisfation as I would have received from a movie – usually more!
In the hands of a good author, a category romance can be (for me) a better read: a tighter story with more emphasis on the romance. One of my current complaints about the romance genre is that it seems like authors are downplaying the romance in favor of more suspense or more action. I hate that! I read romances because I want the relationship, not because I want to see two people on the run from a killer. (For example.) Because category romances have a shorter format, I often feel that the authors have to be much more careful about the elements they are including in the story, so the emphasis seems to be on the couple—the cute-meet, the development of their relationship (and sexual tension), and the overcoming of any relationship obstacles. Category romances are often more character-centric, rather than plot-centric. For a reader like me, that holds tremendous appeal.
Many of my favorite books—titles that reside on my keeper shelf—are category romances.
You aren’t the only one who has been judgmental about categories, Sarah. I was too, and in the last year and a half I’ve done a complete about-face. I have been buying them as ebooks and I’m hoping that eventually we’ll see Harlequin’s backlist in eform, too. I hear there are some real classics out there.
I think the fact that they’re so short is one of the (many) reasons I avoided them. But I can load a couple dozen on my PDA and if I’m stuck somewhere I have several genres to chose from—paranormal, historical, romantic suspense, sweet character-driven, or Italian bosses & their virgins. There are times a quick read is what I want.
And hey, Nora once wrote a secret baby short story. I thought that was so cool!
One of my favorite category titles ever is the metafictional Loving Jack, by Nora Roberts. Originally published as a Silhouette Special Edition, I believe.
how does one get into being a writer of category romances
From what I’ve read about the process (mainly at the Pink Heart Society blog) you
(a) read lots of category romances, to get a feel for what they’re like and what line has the kind of stories you think you’d like to write e.g. if you want to write about vampires, don’t try submitting to Harlequin’s American Romance line. And if you can’t write explicit sex scenes, don’t submit to the Blaze line.
(b) go to the Harlequin website and take a look at the descriptions of what they’re looking for in each line.
(c) practice writing (it seems to take most authors a while to be accepted, and very few have their first submission accepted for publication, just like with any other kind of novel).
You don’t need to have an agent to submit to Harlequin Mills & Boon.
How structured are the schedules—“Oops, sorry; we have too many millionaire babies this month; can you switch it and make that one an amnesiac sheikh instead?â€
The authors tend to take quite a lot of time to write each novel, and all of the novels are scheduled for publication months and months ahead of time, so no, it wouldn’t happen the way you’re suggesting.
Do category writers get assigned their plot outlines, etc? Do they all get herded into a room once a month, with plenty of cheap booze and a big box that they pick random key words out of to give them titles to work off of? (“Boardroom” “Baby’s†“Italian†“Bodyguardâ€; “French†“Pirate’s†“Marriage†“Vendetta”)
If they’re writing a collaborative series then someone would have come up with the idea for the series (e.g. the Niroli royal family one that’s going on at the moment) and some other authors would then get asked if they’d like to think up a story which fits the framework that’s been set up for that particular series.
Otherwise, authors think up their plots just the same way that authors of single-titles do.
<
>
Nora’s got probably 100 or so Category titles under her belt. Her MacGregors, her Stanislaskis, her McKades…all categories. Her categories are awesome and well worth the read. Sure, you can read them in 3 or 4 hours, but they’re good reads. I wish she were still writing for Silhouette, because I’ve often thought that those stories were some of her best. (No slight on her other stories. I just think she does a bang-up job with the tighter format of the category romance.)
Linda Howard is another fave writer of mine who cut her teeth on category romances, and many of these are on my keeper shelf—while her more recent stuff has just not caught my interest. MacKenzie’s Mountain is one of my all-time favorites, and it’s a category romance.
Categories are a great place for romance readers to feed their romance glom. You want to read about heroes who are military guys? Category romance is your place. Got an itch to read about “secret babies”? Category romance is your place.
If you want to fall in love with Category romances, find yourself a used-books store that stocks them. You can gorge yourself on the delights of such excellent authors as Linda Turner, Emilie Richards, Rachel Lee, Karen Templeton, etc…. Once you’ve realized how GOOD categories can be, and how talented category authors are, you’ll feel better about spending your money on their new releases.
While I have no doubt that the reasoning used for the gawd-awful category titles is just as SB Sarah noted, I’m also of a mind to think the marketing folks are perhaps a tad misguided. As with anything, sometimes either the correct question isn’t asked and/or the answer is interpreted incorrectly.
Several years ago my company did some research to get extra information about what our clients and potential clients expect of us and some combination of factors had the people conducting the research interpret the results in the exact opposite manner of what the clients actually wanted.
I find it interesting to look back on the titles released by category writers such as Miranda Lee, Emma Darcy, and
Lynne Graham. The older books have more evocative and, dare I say it, memorable titles and I like that. Even further back in the way-back machine brings us Essie Summers: you may not have a clue what The Gold of Noon even means, but you remember it, don’t you?
I think the unfortunate trend in titling only contributes to the reaction SB Sarah had to categories before she read them. It only adds to their fast-food-of-the-worst-type image.
It’s much harder to paint a miniature than a big, sprawling mural. Category romances, with their rigid page limits, are not easy to write. It takes real talent to select just one phrase to convey something. In longer books, authors can noodle around and chew up a lot of pages trying at length to say the same thing. And they don’t necessarily do it as well, because there are so many other plot distractions.
Writing category can be likened to writing an episode of a television series, only with new characters each time. The world remains the same. The basic kind of story and flow of the story remain the same. What the audience expects from the story is the same. The challenge is to make your story the same. And yet different.
Re the size, Jenny Crusie once wrote that:
Category is an elegant, exacting, exciting form of fiction. It requires precise pacing, tight plotting, and exquisitely brief characterizations. It is truly as fine a form for fiction as the sonnet is for poetry.
As for this
I felt vaguely insulted by the concept: here’s a bunch of books this month! Next month, more, with similar titles, but not the same contents!
I think it’s more the case that if you’re someone who reads a lot of categories you’ll have your favourite lines, and either you’re buying the whole line’s output each month or you’ll be checking them them out each month for your favourite authors/themes/interesting blurbs and then you’ll buy and read them. Since you do that every month, you want to be able to find something new each month. I get the impression that the Harlequin model of sales is built on the assumption that they’ve got a solid base of loyal readers. Certainly in the early days the book-club and the idea of the voracious, loyal reader were what Harlequin Mills & Boon depended on for a lot of sales.
In practice, I’m actually not sure how different the monthly-turnover really is for most single-titles by mid-list authors. Quite a few romance sites list the month’s releases, and I assume people check them out each month and pick out the titles that interest them. Also, from what a lot of authors have said online, it often seems to be the sales in the first month that really count, and after that the book will tend to get pushed out of the way by new releases unless it’s by a big-name author.
As you say, ebooks will improve the availability of the backlist, and that’s true both for Harlequin and for authors of midlist single-titles.
Titles have vogues. We just happen to be in the middle of a stupid vogue. Even so, I titled my graphic romance novella “The Egyptian’s Texas Spitfire” to get as much information as possible into the title and to be reminiscent of these Harlequin titles. Shameless, I know. (But since there is no copyright on titles, entirely moral and permissible.)
What people are forgetting is that we actually had a very long run of extremely bland and unmemorable titles. These “Greek Tycoon” movie-style titles may strike us as silly, even embarrassing, and certainly some are demeaning (mistresses? C’mon!). But they strike us. We go home and tell people all about them, and the darn titles stick in our brains. That’s good marketing.
Whether it actually sells more books is a different story. But chances are, we would not be still seeing this type of title on the shelves if it didn’t deliver. The marketing people would be trying something else.
Too much gush, not enough substance (not the books, this post).
What changed your mind?
Categories? Dismissed them for the same reasons you did, Sarah. Even though I read and love Jessica Bird’s Silhouette SE series, I am highly offended—still and in spite of the information you’ve provided about hook words—by the titles.
Covers with pictures of plastic people bearing no resemblance to the story or characters are not, in themselves, a hanging offense. But the titles, ye gods, perpetuate the misconception that romance novels are written by and for shallow, stupid women.
A marketing friend pointed out, nicely, that I am no one’s idea of a target audience or typical consumer, for which I thanked him. I buy category romance only if I know the author’s work from another genre or at the behest of someone whose opinion is unassailable. Those hook words that apparently sell so well have the same properties as two negative magnets, physically repelling/propelling me around and away from the end cap displays at Borders.
Wasn’t the whole idea, now that I think about it, for subcategories (if that’s the right word) like Special Edition, Harlequin Intrigue, Candlelight Regency, Ecstasy and so on, to identify a book’s general theme? Shouldn’t that have eliminated the need for such ludicrous titles?
If someone tells me that the “sheikh virgin mistress baby boardroom tycoon billionaire” titles are their idea of comfort food or a really good chocolate sundae, I get that. But I still can’t stand them.
“But I still can’t stand them.” By which I meant the titles—not the books—love the books, hate the titles.
Where’d the damn preview button go?
If someone tells me that the “sheikh virgin mistress baby boardroom tycoon billionaire†titles are their idea of comfort food or a really good chocolate sundae, I get that. But I still can’t stand them.
But those titles are mostly in the Harlequin Presents/M&B Modern line. The other lines can have quite different titles. For example, I went and had a look at this month’s Blazes, and they include The Tao of Sex, Bare Necessities and My Guilty Pleasure. The Intrigue line seems to be mostly going for two-word titles this month: Texas Ransom, Silent Guardian, Doctor’s Orders, Soldier Surrender. The Harlequin Romance line has more titles which are long and descriptive like the Modern/Presents, but there’s also one this month which is Moonlight and Roses. Kimani Romance has got Taming Mariella, Lilah’s List, Suite Embrace and Sweeter than Revenge.
I’ll stop there, but I think it makes the point that not all the lines go for titles with various combinations of secret/ baby/ sheik/ revenge/ billionaire/ virgin/ mistress.
I work for a publisher of non-category romances, and our marketing department also claims sales go up with the use of certain keywords in the title. They’re speaking of our midlist, which is a step or two above “category romance” but fairly similar in approach.
The word “bride” appears to be the big winner all around. “Scandal” or “rake” are keywords for sexy regencies. Titles of nobility (lord, lady, earl, duke) are never out of fashion and cover a broad range of historical eras. So something like, “The Earl’s Scandalous Bride” is common.
Give us some recs, please! I love the shorter form, but there are so many to choose from, I keep getting scared off.
The only categories I have are Jennifer Crusie’s older novels and a bunch of Ruth Wind (Barbara Samuels).
I keep thinking of Jacqueline Kirby, Elizabeth Peters’ romance-novelist heroine, who wryly repeats the adage that the word “naked” in the title of a book is worth at least an extra ten thousand copies sold.
Hey, The Gold At Noon! I liked that book! I don’t remember what the title means, but it was explained in the book.
I used to be offended by the titles, and I still don’t get “pregnant mistress.” Isn’t the whole idea of a mistress that she’s NOT the pregnant one? But since returning to categories I’ve read some really good ones that are saddled by these horrible titles, so I try to ignore them.
If you go to the I heart presents blog and scroll down to the entry for January8, there’s a two-fer: you csn take a survey where you tell them how you feel about the covers and you get $1 off a book for participating.
Many category romance writers write both category and single titles.
Some writers to look for Jessica Bird, Roxanne St. Claire, Catherine Mann – in older titles Suzanne Brockmann, Linda Howard, Nora Roberts.
There are some very good continuity series where the storyline is plotted either by a group of writers or editors at Harlequin. The elegance of staying within the plot and still allowing your own style to flow is interesting.
I do hate the titles and wish the format wasn’t so short. Interesting topic. I’ve forwarded to friends. We have this conversation about category romance off and on.
Uh, that’s you CAN take a survey. Stupid broken arm.
As for recommendations: in addition to the ones mentioned, I really like Helen Brooks, Liz Fielding and Karen Templeton.
I started reading categories when I was in the fifth grade. I was tired of “baby” books and categories seemed like a natural progression as I was always more interested in the relationships Trixie & Jim, Mart & Diana and Brian & Honey had anyway.
I quit reading them when I started feeling they were incredibly programmatic in their formula. But my love of romance novels and various story lines have a very strong foundation that was built during those category reading years.
My favorite authors got their start in category, so I personally think it is a great way for good talent to be identified. Unfortunately, I also think it’s a good way for bad talent to squeak through to print. When you’re pubbing 6 titles per line each month, they can’t all be winners.
I’m another one who reads older category romances. When I first discovered Nora Roberts (
Homeport
had just gotten the 1999 Jove reprint, and it popped my Nora Roberts cherry, and my Romance cherry, now that I think about it), I plowed through her books like a madwoman. Then I went through the book cupboard in the garage and found a treasure trove of Nora Roberts Silhouette and other category books.
And I LOVE the Nora Roberts categories. Check out her site’s Full Booklist to see just how many of those suckers she’s written, and I’ve read them all. (It took a lot of digging in used bookstores but I finally found them all.) Since she’s written SO many, I won’t even begin to mention my favorites but yeah, Nora gave me a fabulous introduction to category romance.
THEN I read Jenny Crusie’s category books and
Manhunting
is still one of my all-time favorite Crusie books. (Although her
Getting Rid Of Bradley
is a pretty darn good category romance, as well.)
But I haven’t yet ventured out into category romance by authors that I haven’t already read. If it doesn’t make the comments thread to big (but when has that been a problem?), I would love some recommendations for good category romances. I spend all day at a computer, so I’m thinking it’s time to jump into reading e-books (seems so strange to me) and the categories seem like just the right books for reading at work.
So, recommendations from the category romance readers would be awesome! (I’ve just gotten into Victorian/Elizabethan historicals and yes, I’ve fallen in love with the Dukes/Earls/Marquesses/etc.)
A little off the topic, but does anyone know if eHarlequin sells only to US customers or something? The two times I’ve tried to buy ebooks from them I’ve gone right through the entire checkout only to get a generic error message at the end and a direction to email their support address. (Which I admit I didn’t do, I just went and bought my books from a different ebook seller.)
“So, now I’m terribly curious: how does one get into being a writer of category romances? “
In my case, they found me.
Granted, I’m writing for the historical line, so I’m out on the fringes. There is a lot of variety in the HH line, with different time periods and levels of sensuality. Other than length, it’s not much different then writing a single title historical.
But a Mills & Boon editor was judging the Golden Heart, and she bought me, so now, I write for H M&B.
The titles are totally marketing. You get a minimum of input, and it’s one of the last things you deal with, after the story is long finished. On the first book, my own title was lousy, and I didn’t like their first pick either. So I shuffled their words around a little. We compromised.
My second title they let me keep.
My third title had the word ‘thief’ in it. Apparently that word doesn’t sell. So now, it’s ‘A Wicked Liaison.’
If you like the books but hate the covers or titles, duct tape over them. No skin off my nose, if you’re not looking at the front. I only care about the inside. And I will put up with some extreme exterior weirdness, if it means the book sells more copies.
As far as what’s inside? So far, my editorial input has been “Can you do a Gothic for Halloween?” and “How about a Christmas story?” No one’s tying me down and forcing me to write secret babies, or stoping me in the middle to ask if the heroine can have amnesia, or anything like that.
But if they should they offer me a contemporary slot, and want “The Virgin Secretary’s Big Surprise”?
I would give it a shot, just for the hell of it. They might not get the book they were expecting, but I swear to God, I’d laugh myself sick everyday while writing it, trying to come up with a story that made me happy, while fitting into the Presents line-up. But I couldn’t give you a cowboy or a secret baby to save my life.
Generally, people should try writing what they like to read. If you enjoy Blze or Presents, or any of the other lines, it’s not such a crazy idea to try writing one. But if Greek Billionaires make you gag? Then you’re going to end up unhappy, and the book is going to reflect that.
I remember, years ago, talking to someone about children’s books, specifically those for girls. At the time, the top selling books had “horse,” “mystery,” or “secret” in the title. (This sounded exactly what I read as a child!) Whomever I was talking to commented that a book titled The Secret Mystery Horse would fly off the shelves…
I think I’d buy it now!
I’ll stop there, but I think it makes the point that not all the lines go for titles with various combinations of secret/ baby/ sheik/ revenge/ billionaire/ virgin/ mistress.
Laura, certainly not all, but too many titles include some variation of those words and that’s what people notice. To the customers who don’t buy romance in any shape or form, it doesn’t matter whether the title comes from Harlequin or another line; they see—hell, I see—“His Pregnant Nurse,” “The Rich Man’s Virgin” or “The Tycoon’s Trophy Wife” and I want to strangle someone at the same time the uninformed probably dismiss these books out of hand.
For all that hook words sell books, at least according to Sarah’s source, I’m left feeling that the publishers are marketing a lovely silk purse, which took a lot of talent to create, as a pig’s ear. Doesn’t—shouldn’t—that offend us?
I feel no pull toward category romances mostly because the selling points other readers have mentioned (quick read, “comfort food”, focus on romance vs. other plot) are available in fanfiction for free. And the titles tend to leave out the sheiks. 😉
(I suppose I should specify that I’m talking about m/m slash fanfiction that’s based on media other than books, so as not to open that particular can of worms.)
Laura, certainly not all, but too many titles include some variation of those words and that’s what people notice. To the customers who don’t buy romance in any shape or form, it doesn’t matter whether the title comes from Harlequin or another line; they see—hell, I see—“His Pregnant Nurse,” “The Rich Man’s Virgin” or “The Tycoon’s Trophy Wife” and I want to strangle someone at the same time the uninformed probably dismiss these books out of hand.
We do! Speaking as an uninformed and a hater, I totally do. These hook words that are supposed to sell, to the rest of us, they’re signifiers of all that’s vacuous, shallow, manufactured, and exploitative. And I was actually surprised when I read a review on Dear Author of… what was it, they all sound the same to me. The Prince’s Forbidden Virgin. I wasn’t sure I was reading about the same book, because suddenly the story was about plants and didn’t sound like a focus group had written it. Is this the textual equivalent of a good writer getting a bad cover? Do marketers really think about the people they’re alienating at the same time as they’re trying to sell?
Also, sometimes it completely backfires. My company recently produced eBooks of The Rancher’s Doorstep Baby, and I read it as The Rancher’s Doorstop Baby for weeks.
does anyone know if eHarlequin sells only to US customers or something?
I’ve bought some without any problems, and I’m in the UK.
Harlequin’s Presents line’s current titles are very off-putting, I agree. Food for instant snark.
But put them up against the screaming headlines of magazines being sold within a few feet of them at the grocery or discount store, and you can see just one reason why Harlequin might have decided to pump up the volume: “Jen’s Secret Baby! Brad and Angelina split! They lost 1,000 Pounds! Simon Tells All! Diana Speaks to Sons from Grave!”
Books don’t just compete with other books. They compete with everything else that’s in print. And Harlequin titles in particular have a long history of achieving their highest sales at grocery and discount stores, not classy, upscale book shops and combo Starbucks outlets.
And you know what, if “Bride” will sell 10,000 more copies of my book, then I want “Bride” in the title. (First I have to write a book about a bride, though.)
Some older category recommendations: Laurey Bright, for New Zealand with honorable people, Lucy Gordon, for an enlightened take on classic Mills & Boon, Diana Palmer, for cowboys and lots of melodrama, Elizabeth Lowell, for even more melodrama and a writing style that is a cut above, Anne Stuart, for a Gothic edge and seriously good writing, Linda Howard, for intense romance, Justine Davis, for intelligent characters and powerful emotion, Alexandra Sellers, for sheer power of passionate conviction, Dixie Browning, for put-upon girls who don’t feel sorry for themselves and deserve to get the guy.
I seem to be in the minority because I don’t care about what the cover looks like or what the stupid title is on a category romance. (It’s mass marketing.) My peeve is when the back blurb is different then what’s actually written. I think I’m buying suspense and it’s a comedy. Grr….
I used to really love categories; I subscribed to SE for several years, and every month when they arrived in my mailbox I was indescribably happy. I also loved Superromance and Harlequin American. And what can I say about the late, lamented Loveswept line? I never read one of those that I didn’t cherish, re-read, and keep until it fell apart (their paper was kind of cheap).
However, as time went on, either my tastes changed or the lines did. My favorite authors seemed to move on to single titles, and I didn’t follow them.
I can hardly get through most current categories I’ve bought; of course, my selection is limited because I refuse to buy anything with a Millionaire Rancher’s Secret Mistress’s Baby title.
It’s true that some of the steamier lines have better titles, but I’ve always liked my categories more sweet than spicy. Hey, I cut my romance teeth on Faith Baldwin, Elizabeth Caddell, Betty Cavanna, and Rosamund du Jardin. Not that some of those titles weren’t pretty awful in their own way: “Week-end Marriage” comes to mind. 🙂
Essie Summers! If you run across her books in used bookstore pick them up. Some of the older Harlequins have some good novels—a little short but a nice read in a couple of hours (airplane ride kind of book). I suggest you read the first page in the bookstore before you buy anything. Usually the quality of the writing will let you know if its for you.
On the secret baby, etc. plots, I’m always amazed at what rings someones bell! People have the wierdest secret pleasures. Who am I to judge? I have a few keepers on my shelf that rang bells for me but might not have hit others secret fantasy/pleasure/titillation. Most of us like what is clearly superior writing, plotting and dialogue but sometimes, sometimes we like stuff IN SPITE of the writing cause it just does it for us. Live and let read I say.
Give us some recs, please! I love the shorter form, but there are so many to choose from, I keep getting scared off.
Victoria, I love Susan Fox, Liz Fielding, and Lucy Gordon (all Harlequin Romance; Gordon’s novels are often somewhat melancholy, though); Kate Walker, Lynn Grahame (or is it Lynne Graham?) as well as some books by Sarah Craven, Miranda Lee (especially her older ones), and Emma Darcy (all Harlequin Presents)
Back in October I did a Thursday Thirteen of my favourite M&B novels (with blurbs). Here’s the link: Sandy’s 13 Favourite M&B Novels. Perhaps there’s something to your liking on this list. 🙂