I first read romance in my early teens. They were Harlequins, passed on by an elderly relative. Generally, the hero was much older than the unworldly heroine. I didn’t find these heroes particularly appealing. In one book, the heroine erroneously thought she was attracted to a boy nearer her age and, at fourteen, I couldn’t quite see why that was the error while her love for this old guy (probably more than twice my age) was correct. I think my relative enjoyed the age difference though.
Anyway, read through a number of those. Also read Shanna over and over again.
After that, romance reading fell by the wayside.
Fastforward many years. I picked up the odd historical romance now and then, by Jo Beverley and Mary Balogh, but I was utterly unfamiliar with contemporary romances.
Then a friend of mine started raving about Jennifer Cruisie. So I checked out Welcome to Temptation and there was no turning back. This was what I wanted to read and this was what I wanted to write. I discovered Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Suzanne Brockmann and the now-defunct Silhouette Intimate Moments. A whole new world opened up for me.
This was before the paranormal wave hit, and hit hard.
It’s amazing to think that not so many years ago, it was extremely difficult to sell paranormal. When I started writing my werewolf romances I thought no one would buy them. Then paranormal took off. Over the last couple of years there have been pronouncements about its decline. I remember thinking that somehow, even though I was writing paranormal during its rise, I was going to totally miss the wave.
But paranormal romance will be here for a while longer, at the very least. Though I have seen places where both aliens and demons have been deemed the new black, due to the saturation of vampires and werewolves I guess.
Today’s romance is a world of difference from those Harlequins I read in my youth. I find discussions of the history of the romance genre fascinating. Kassia Krozier touches on it here. I’m curious to know what will be next, in terms of heat, in terms of world-building, in terms of storylines.
I’m fascinated by how the genre changes. That said, I hope the genre doesn’t dump subgenres that are currently out of favor. Keep the diversity. We can’t really be writing books that would have been written in the 1980s, but it’s nice to have a choice when it comes to picking up the next book you want to read.
A couple of months ago, I stayed at a holiday cottage and to my joy, there were several old Mills & Boon (UK Harlequins) lurking on the bookshelves. I read them in order of publication, from 1967 to 1992, and the differences, even from one half-decade to another, were absolutely staggering.
The heroine of the 1967 book was 19 while the hero was late thirties. The ones from the 80s were very un-PC with sexually aggressive heroes. And in the early 90s, the heroes had become wet blankets!
I don’t know how old the Harlequin imprint is, but Mills & Boon started out in 1908. A feminist writer, Jay Dixon, published a very interesting book charting the development of the romance genre through M&B’s titles, which includes some surprising twists – just after the world wars, for example, there were a lot of stories that featured older woman/much younger man (seventeen year old heroes!), which were supposed to reflect the shortage of adult men after the widespread loss of the war.
In many ways, romance is far more open to change than any other genre, perhaps because it’s seen as so disposable. It has to move at the same pace as society’s mores, and that’s a real challenge. Adding in fantasy elements, such as paranormal and sci fi, may help round out the genre and make it seem less disposable. I think those subgenres are here to stay.
Oh, that’s fascinating Olivia. What a cool find at a cottage. I missed out on most the 80s and 90s romance reading—which also seems to have been the heydey of historical romance from what I hear.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks paranormal is here to stay
I love the diversity that romance has to offer. I’m sure I’m like many readers who love contemporary and paranormal, sexy and over-the-top erotic, thick complex novels and quick hot reads. Romance has it all and as long as I care about the characters, I’ll read any subgenre out there.
I think the subgenres will continue to grow and change with society, and with the writers that bring us their stories. And with any luck, there will be room for it all.
I still have a lot of those thin little white harequin books from the 80’s loitering on the bottom of my bookshelf. They’re great quick re-reads (is that a word?) for a boring day.
Olivia – That would be so interesting to sit down and read those books from the 60’s to the 90’s back to back like that. I’m soooo jealous.
Jorrie – I’m with you in hoping the publishers let us have our diversity in the romance genre. When I was a teen and worked at the town library, I would deliver boxes of Harlequins to some of the older shut-in ladies. They would read between 10-20 of them a week. I can’t help but think they would have loved the variety we have today…and the anthologies that are now available.
Those thin, white Harlequins Presents were what introduced me to the world of romance at age 13. <GGG> And novels have really come a long way since then.
No, most of them are definitely not considered PC today … but they sure sent my imagination into overdrive.
Great link and lots of stuff to ponder, Jorrie. Thanks!
I remember my introduction into serious reading was old Emily Loring and Grace Livingston Hill books. I know that GLH is (was) still being published but for those that do not remember Emily Loring she wrote romances that had intrigue and love thrown in and dealt mostly with wartime dramas.
From there I moved on to the Harlequins (Romance, Desire, etc.) and Silhouette (Special Editions, etc.) and of course from there I expanded out to historicals (Johanna Lindsay, Catherine Coulter, Brenda Joyce, Sergeanne Colon, Valerie Sherwood). Then dare I say it I even got interested in westerns (JT Edison) and from there I jumped right into contemporary and paranormal (Elizabeth Lowell, Sara Sala, Christine Feehan, Nora Roberts).
And I want you to know that I still have every book I’ve ever read, so you just don’t know the joy I experienced when I discovered ebooks (a lot easier to keep track of what I have when it is stored on the computer). Now I have a whole new collection containing erotica, paranormal, and contemporary.
Heck I even played around with writing at one point and maybe someday I will attempt it again (hopefully) but until then I will continue to enjoy all the fantastic authors that are currently out there.
I also believe that romance in no matter what genre it happens is here to stay (it would be a truly sad world if it wasn’t). So in saying that I sincerely appreciate all authors in whatever venue or genre you write and will continue to indulge myself.