A Completely Comprehensive and Totally Unbiased Introduction to Romance (the genre) (Part 2)
In yesterday's newsletter, I convinced you that romance is a great book genre and that it's totally worth your time. Today I want to share some of my favorite romance authors/novels and recommend where you ought to start, depending on your reading interests.
If you like historical fiction and care about historical accuracy, I suggest you check out Rose Lerner and Courtney Milan. A fun introduction to both of them (and my favorite romance author, Alyssa Cole) is Hamilton's Battalion, which is a trio of romance novellas set around the time of the US Revolutionary War. This is a fun collection for a lot of reasons: I read parts of Courtney Milan's story out loud to E because they made me laugh so much and Rose Lerner's story features a long-standing favorite trope of mine - women dressing up as men in order to access different opportunities. But I also want to highlight that this collection features one novella about a straight couple, one about two men, and one about two women. Yay diversity!
I mentioned another novella of Rose Lerner's (All or Nothing) in my newsletter about the books I read in 2021, but if you'd prefer a full length novel, I can recommend In For a Penny, which features another of my favorite tropes (marriage of convenience) and which I wrote a review of for the website Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Lerner's most recent release might also be of interest: The Wife in the Attic is a spooky, Sapphic, Jane Eyre retelling. Unfortunately, I had to set it aside after just a couple of chapters because the main character's fear of a house fire was too visceral for me, but I doubt that content will be a problem for others.
Courtney Milan's most famous series is The Brothers Sinister, and I've read and can recommend all of them (except for the prequel novella - not because it's bad, I just haven't read it!). Courtney Milan's plots often include scientific advances from the eras she writes about and I always find her author's notes about her research interesting. The most recent book I read by her was The Devil Comes Courting, which is a romance between a Black man trying to build the first transpacific telegraph cable and the Chinese woman he hires to develop a Chinese telegraph code for him. It takes place primarily in late 1800s China and also deals with transracial adoption and grief so, it's not a light read, but I loved it. And remember, it's a romance, so that HEA is guaranteed! I also want to give a shout-out Milan's novella Mrs. Martin's Incomparable Adventure. I didn't love this one, but I know a lot of people do, and it is about two old ladies falling in love and fighting the patriarchy, so I feel like I have to mention it.
If you like historical fiction and don't care about historical accuracy, Tessa Dare is your girl. Her books are deliciously fluffy and very funny. I believe all of her couples are straight so, if you're into that, here are a couple of my favorites: When A Scot Ties the Knot (the plot is so silly!) and The Duchess Deal (another marriage of convenience).
If you prefer contemporary fiction and like your characters horny, may I present to you: Talia Hibbert. Her most recent series (The Brown Sisters) is very popular and for good reason. My favorite was the second book, Take a Hint, Dani Brown, in part because it features another favorite trope of mine: fake dating. I also loved the hero because he's a big marshmallow who reads romance novels and just wants to find his HEA. Hibbert is another writer who I find very funny and, while most of her books feature man/woman couples, a lot of her characters are bisexual.
I also think Hibbert writes great sex scenes, and I think that's worth mentioning even though the kind of sex scenes that work for me are probably different from the kind that work for you. Finding romance authors who write sexy in a way that resonates with you is a meaningful part of getting into this genre! There are also plenty of romances that don't feature explicit sex scenes and are either fade-to-black or even sex-free. I don't tend to read those romances, but it's another way in which the romance genre is diverse that I want to acknowledge.
If you prefer contemporary fiction and like your characters angsty, Alisha Rai's Forbidden Hearts series. That's it, that's the whole recommendation.
If none of these books sound appealing, wow, really? That's fine, I'll just have to write a part three to this newsletter series! Specifically, I want to highlight some more queer romances that I've read and talk a bit about YA romance. I also got a question about polyam romances in response to yesterday's newsletter so, while I intend to answer that email, I may also say more about the topic in this newsletter.
For now, I'll leave you with this: I know romance isn't for everyone, but getting into this genre has brought me a lot of joy over the last few years. When I first started looking for romances to read, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books was an incredible resource. I don't check it as often these days, but if none of my recommendations above piqued your interest and you still want to explore this genre, I would try their book finder tool or just start poking around in their many genre, archetype, and theme tags. Throughout this newsletter, I've mentioned a few of my favorite romance tropes, but you might have others that you enjoy - maybe you're into age differences or you want to read about 'fated mates' - Smart Bitches, Trashy Books will let you search by trope and it is a beautiful thing.
This is issue #70 of On / Off and E and I are going on vacation next week so the newsletter is going to cycle 'off' until Monday, April 11th. Feel free to email me for more romance recommendations before then if you just can't wait until Part 3! :)