Romance and its Subgenre, Historical Romance - Special Topics

Since at least the 1990s, the modern romance novel has dominated the publishing market. It has brought in over a billion dollars year after year (DeFrancis, 2013; Blueberry Hill Productions, n.d.; Nielsen, 2016). At these numbers, romance has dominated nearly a third of the entire publishing market for fiction sales for years (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019; Nielsen, 2016). But romance novels have been popular for well over 200 years.  
 
What we know as the modern romance genre today dates to 1740 with Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, where the story depicts everything from first encounter to happily ever after (Regis, 2007). Closely following the success of Pamela is the ubiquitous Jane Austen, specifically Pride & Prejudice (1818) - which has lasted through the centuries as one of the best romance novels of all time (the sheer number of adaptations, works inspired by, retellings, etc. of just this one novel of Austen’s six is countless), if not touted as the best. Historical romances specifically find their inspiration in the life and times of Jane Austen’s world as the first published historical romance novel was a regency historical romance, Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer in 1935 (Wyatt et al., 2007).  

Week Seven Prompt Response: Celebrity Book Clubs

Image Credit: Grunenwald, 2019. 

Honestly, I think celebrity book clubs might have helped get me back into reading after a decade long slump. During 2020, I spent nearly every weekday morning watching the Today Show, specifically the 10 o'clock hour: Today with Hoda and Jenna. One of the hosts, Jenna Bush-Hager, started her own book club and once a month she would discuss the book, and usually speak to the author. While I never actually go around to reading any of the books she featured, she still placed reading and talking about books back into my mind. 

I never read the books for a couple of reasons. Sometimes they just did not sound interesting to me. But, if I was at least a little bit interested, the wait time at my local library made me disinterested by the time I got the book. For example, The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah intrigued me, despite not being a big fan of historical fiction. When I went to place it on hold at my library, there were over 5oo holds on the title (this was before I really started reading e-books and I can only guess how many hold there were on Libby because there's almost always more) and I knew I wouldn't get the book for months. So, in addition to Kristin Hannah already being a popular author, the book was featured on a celebrity book club. As Nichols (2019) notes, these book clubs can sometimes be directly responsible in growth of book sales (Obama's recommendation caused a book to have a 2,300% increase in sales over three months!!), but clearly they can also be responsible for long library wait times. 

Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly: A Mystery

Author: Michael Connelly 
Title: Resurrection Walk 
Length: 405 pages, 11 hours and 29 minutes
Geographical Setting: Los Angeles, California
Time Period: Present Day 
Series: The Lincoln Lawyer - Book 7 
Genre: Intellect - Mystery - Legal Mystery
Publication Date: 2023

Plot Summary: Mickey Haller, the renowned defense attorney known as the Lincoln Lawyer, has begun his own version of the Innocence Project since he got a wrongfully convicted man out of prison. Flooded with applications from inmates asking for Haller's help, he enlists his half-brother and former police detective Harry Bosch to sus out which applications are genuine, and which are last-ditch efforts by rightfully convicted prisoners. Out of the never ending pile, Bosch finds a letter that rings true from one Lucinda Sands claiming she is innocent of the murder of her ex-husband, an LA County Sheriff Deputy. Haller and Bosch's investigation leads to the uncovering of a sheriff gang tied to a Mexican cartel, an FBI investigation, and a plot to frame Lucinda. With Haller fighting the battle in court and Bosch using his decades-long experience to uncover the truth, the two find themselves up against the federal government on a quest to seek justice for Lucinda and give her her own Resurrection Walk. 

Content Warnings:  mentions of gun violence, smoking

Week Six Prompt Response: Promoting Romance

As we know, romance readers are some of our number one patrons (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019).  Avid romance readers love a good trope. Personally, I'm a big fan of rivals/enemies-to-lovers, fake dating/relationship, grumpy/sunshine pairings, and a slow burn romances. These are only a few of so, so many tropes out there. I often like to seek out romances that have some of these particular tropes in them, and I know I'm not alone. To promote romance novels based on these tropes, I believe the way the Tropes and Trifles Romance Bookshop in Minneapolis, Minnesota is the way to go. A combination of catchy displays and passive programming is effective at both bringing in seasoned readers of certain tropes while potentially grabbing the eye for readers who might not be familiar with it. Plus, after reviewing some Reddit threads of the subject of trope displays, including cards that have a summary and why a staff member recommended it for display is helpful for those readers that want more than just knowing there's a "grumpy sunshine" trope. 

Additionally, these displays being marketed on social media is an excellent way at promoting even more what materials are available. Armistead (2022) argues that the romance publishing market these days is being driven by the readers themselves, not the publisher's marketing. Having displays that shows what staff are reading and sharing that with other readers is a great way to make those connections, making the displays and programming both by and for the readers. 

References

Armistead, C. (2022, June 8). 'After lockdown, things exploded': How TikTok triggered a books revolution. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/08/lockdown-exploded-tiktok-books-revolution-booktok '

Tropes & Trifles Romance Bookshop [tropesandtrifles]. (2023, December 1). PSA: Sunday is the last day to stop in and cast your vote for the character archetype of your choice. [Photographs]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/C0UZp8sLq40/?img_index=1

Wyatt, N. & Saricks, J. G. (2019). The readers' advisory guide to genre fiction (3rd ed.). ALA Editions.

Knockout by Sarah MacLean: A Romance

Sometimes the best man for the job is a lady. 

New York Time bestselling author Sarah MacLean returns with the next Hell's Belles novel about a chaotic bluestocking and the buttoned-up detective enlisted to keep her out of trouble. 

(spoiler: She is the trouble). 

Author: Sarah MacLean 

Title: Knockout 

Genre: Emotional - Romance - Historical Romance

Publication Date: 2023
Length: 404 pages, 12 hours and 2 minutes
Geographical Setting: London, England  
Time Period: 1840, Victorian Era
Series: Hell's Belles, Book 3

Plot Summary: Lady Imogen Loveless, the explosions expert for the Hell's Belles group of vigilante women taking down aristocratic criminals, is instructed by her brother, the Earl of Dorring, to find a husband - after all she's been on the market for years and it's time. Despite not wanting to be married, she concocts a plan to pretend to find a husband so she can try to identify which aristocrats are ordering the string of explosions that have occurred around town to certain businesses supporting women's and worker's rights. While investigating, Imogen finds herself running into surly Detective Inspector Thomas Peck, the rising star of Scotland Yard, over and over again. Thomas knows Imogen is dangerous - both with explosives and with the potential to steal his heart. In order to keep an eye on her (and to protect her from danger), Thomas finds himself enlisted as her temporary bodyguard. Sparks fly as the two team up to investigate the explosions and to find out if what is between them can last. 

Content Warnings: classism, misogyny, police brutality, sexual content, violence

Week Five Prompt Response: All About Reviews

Negative Reviews & Collection Development 

Negative book reviews are going to exist, it's a fact of life; not everyone is going to like a specific type of book. Fans of certain authors are not going to like everything the author writes. I'd argue that those negative reviews can be just as informative as positive reviews, if not more so, especially for the reader. Often, negative reviews may provide vital information about a book that a reader may not want to read. For example, I was recently very excited to read a queer historical regency romance novel. When I was perusing reviews on Goodreads, I saw a few mention that the two characters become step-sisters while maintaining their romantic relationship. For me, that is something that I just do not want to read. Those negative reviews including that information allowed me to make the decision to not read a book that had the potential to make me uncomfortable. Similarly, the reviews provided for Angela's Ashes did the same. While these were positive, they still provided me with enough information that told me I probably would not like reading it. 

The reviews provided for The Billionaire’s First Christmas fall into the middling category between positive and negative, in my opinion. These are my favorite reviews to read when I’m decided what to read because sometimes they’ll share something as a negative that I would find positive. The blog review provided mentioned the book having too much Christmas content – if I made a point to read holiday romance, this would probably be more of a plus for me.

A Kirkus Review: House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J Maas

In the highly anticipated third installment of the  Booktok favorite Crescent City series, Bryce Quinlan and company continues their mission to save Midgard from the evil Asteri.

After travelling to a new, unknown world at the end of Book Two, Bryce finds herself being interrogated by another group of Fae with similar ancestors. Desperately wanting to get back to her home world of Midgard, her mate Hunt, her brother Ruhn, and the rest of her motley crew, Bryce attempts an escape when she ends up in an underground maze of tunnels with the magic starlight she carries leading the way. She is soon accompanied by two of the Fae from the new world, trusting them as little as they trust her. As they follow the star through the endless tunnels, they battle monsters that haven’t seen the light of day in thousands of years, discover the source of their magic, and delve into their shared history with the evil Asteri. Bryce finds a way to open a portal back to her home world and once she does, she continues to uncover the puzzle pieces that will help her, and her friends, finally defeat the Asteri that have been ruling Midgard for over fifteen thousand years. Throwing in an unnecessary crossover with characters from her beloved A Court of Thorn and Roses series that feels like a cash grab, Maas creates an overly complicated backstory that misses the mark. Her attempt to weave together two separate worlds is inviting for her devoted fans, but quickly falls flat as the story becomes confusing and beloved characters seemingly have new personalities. Despite being known for her fast-paced, action-packed final 100 pages, fans may quickly lose interest, finishing the book only because they made it this far. 

Full of beloved characters, casual fans will enjoy Book Three, but for devoted, self-described die-hard Sarah J Maas fans, the book falls short of the high standards she has become known for.