Want to know more about ROMANCE?
Looking for a few great authors to read? Romantic Suspense, Women’s Fiction, Inspirational Romance, Historical Romance, Contemporary, Paranormal, &
Erotic Romance
Romantic Suspense:
Romantic Suspense books (like it’s name suggests) combines both Romance & Suspense into one book. These books tend to be written by female authors. The romantic focus in each book will vary by author and/or book. Some authors may be more descriptive & give the romantic relationship a larger focus while other authors may have very little in the way of physical intimacy depicted, but a romantic relationship is part of the story. Either way, we group these books together because they share a common readership. Most male readers might be surprised to find some of their favorite authors will be placed within this section of our store.
Examples of a few authors (in no order):
J.D. Robb, Catherine Coulter, Iris Johansen, Julie Garwood, Lisa Gardner, Lisa Jackson, Kay Hooper, Linda Howard, Carla Neggers, Allison Brennan, Tami Hoag, Heather Graham, Beverly Barton, Suzanne Brockmann, Sharon Sala, Karen Robards & MANY OTHERS… BACK TO ROMANCE»
Women’s Fiction:
Woman’s Fiction typically has older heroines whose main focus is usually more on family or various life events other than romance. Like Romantic Suspense, there is a wide degree of variety upon how much of the story is focused on a romantic relationship. Quite a few authors who started out writing more traditional romance have shifted a little and now write more Women’s Fiction. There can be a very fine line between what is considered Women’s Fiction and Literary Fiction.
Examples of a few authors (in no order):
Kristin Hannah, Luanne Rice, Maeve Binchy, Dorothea Benton Frank, Susan Wiggs, Elin Hilderbrand, Rosamunde Pilcher, Belva Plain
& MANY OTHERS… BACK TO ROMANCE»
Inspirational Romance:
Inspirational Romance is a growing genre and has risen out of the Christian Fiction market. Two main off shoots are Inspirational Romantic Suspense & Amish Romance. Most of these books are published as an oversize paperback and are placed within our Christian Fiction section. Harlequin has also been very successful with their Steeple Hill line of books with at least 14 new titles every month (a large number of these books are available in our store for just 50 cents with this sale)!
Examples of a few authors (in no order):
Inspirational Romantic Suspense–Dee Henderson, Terri Blackstock,
Irene Hannon (local St. Louis author), etc…
Amish Romance–Charlotte Hubbard/Naomi King (former Missouri resident & friend of the store), Kelly Long, etc… BACK TO ROMANCE»Historical Romance:
Historical Romance gained massive popularity in the 1980’s and has grown by leaps and bounds ever since. An Historical Romance takes place anytime in the past all the way up to the 1940s or ’50s. There are a large variety of sub-genre’s as well. Some authors write in all different time periods and other might stick more to one era.
Examples of a few subgenre’s & authors (in no order):
Scottish/Highland–Hannah Howell, Karen Ranney, Monica McCarthy, Suzanne Enoch, Lynsay Sands, etc…
Regency–Stephaine Laurens, Julia Quinn, Elosia James, Lisa Kleypas, Mary Balogh, Elizabeth Hoyt, etc…
Native American–Cassie Edwards, Madeline Baker, Karen Kay, etc…
Multiple Historial Genres–Julie Garwood, Jude Deveraux,
Catherine Coulter, Johanna Lindsey, Jade Lee (local author & friend of the store), etc… BACK TO ROMANCE»
Contemporary Romance:
Contemporary Romance takes place in today’s time, or more accurately, at the time of the book’s publication. There are a very large number of authors for this category and again, there are a few sub-genre groups (like cowboys, humorous romance, little spicy, etc). Here are a few favorites.Examples of a few subgenre’s & authors (in no order):
Cowboy–Carolyn Brown, J.C. Ryan, Linda Lael Miller (we actually put her on the historical romance side), Joanne Kennedy, etc…
Humorous–Jennifer Crusie, Carly Phillips, Rachel Gibson, etc…
Little Spicy–Lori Foster, Susan Mallery, Susan Donovan, etc…
Multipe Contemporary Genres–Nora Roberts, Robyn Carr, Debbie Macomber, Fern Michaels, Sandra Brown, Sherryl Woods, Jodi Thomas, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Janet Daily, etc… BACK TO ROMANCE»
Paranormal Romance:
Paranormal Romance is a romance with any otherworldly element in it. It could be vampires, werewolves, time-travel, angels, demons, faeries, futuristic, or even take place on another planet or in an alternate reality. The genre has grown tremendously in the last 30 years and contains a great deal of diverse elements. In the recent past (1980s & 90s) a lot of “paranormal” books had minor paranormal elements to them and this smaller aspect didn’t always have a large impact on the overall romance (think enchanted objects). There were a few authors that really broke the mold (Diana Gabaldon, Amanda Ashley, Constance O’Day-Flannery, etc), but the genre, as a whole, didn’t really come together until the amazing Christine Feehan hit the scene in the late 1990s. Many great authors worked to bring this genre to frution, but were simply ahead of their time. It’s hard to say if New York just wasn’t ready to publish them or society, in general, wasn’t ready to read them, but either way, the die hard fans are forever grateful to those pioneers who struggled to get their unique view of this world, or any other world, in front of us.
Examples of a few subgenre’s & authors (in no order):
Vampire–J.R. Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Kresley Cole, Lara Adrian, etc…
Wereanimals/Shifters–Terry Spear, Lora Leigh, Nalini Singh, Thea Harrison, Jennifer Ashley, etc…
Time-Travel–Diana Gabaldon, Janet Chapman, Lynn Kurland, etc…
Light Paranormals (humorous)–Lyndsay Sands, Katie MacAlister, Angie Fox (local St. Louis author & friend of the store), Molly Harper, MaryJanice Davidson, Sandra Hill, etc…
Multipe Paranormal Genres–Christine Feehan, Keri Arthur, Shannon Butcher (local Missouri author & friend of the store), Alexandra Ivy, Gena Showalter, Karen Marie Moning, Larissa Ione, Donna Grant, Christine Warren, Eileen Wilks, etc… BACK TO ROMANCE»
Erotic Romance:
By now most people have heard of FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, but still wonder–what exactly is Erotic Romance? Simply put, Erotic Romance combines the explicit writing of Erotica with the plot, character development and HEA (Happily Ever After) of traditional romance–although in Erotic Romance the HEA can be of a non-traditional nature. If you have Sweet Romance at one end of a line and pure Erotica at the other, Erotic Romance is about 3/4 of the way down toward the Erotica end. Prior to the late 1990s true Erotic Romance books were few and far between. Most New York publishing houses would publish some very spicy romance, but it rarely went as far true Erotic Romance. Ebooks actually made this genre possible. A few enterprising people recognized a gap in the publishing industry (most of the credit goes to Jaid Black of Ellora’s Cave) and created small e-publishing houses that actively sought out romance stories with frank, explicit language and non-traditional story lines. It wasn’t long before word of mouth took over and women, even those who weren’t computer savvy, were downloading books long before Kindle or ebooks were ever a part of our everyday lexicon. A few years later New York finally came on board and started to publish Erotic Romance as an actual category. Most of these books were published in an oversize paperback which still holds true today–although it has become more acceptable to eventually publish them in a regular pocket size paperback. Some of the authors that started out writing for the first couple of e-publishing houses are now New York Times Bestselling Authors. The Erotic Romance genre is as wide & vast as any other Romance genre. It has been one of the fastest growing genres in recent publishing history. Luckily for Rose’s Bookhouse customers we’ve been reading and recommending Erotic Romance from the very beginning and have always had one of the largest selections of Erotic Romance in the St. Louis area.
Examples of a few authors (in no order):
Maya Banks, Shayla Black, Sylvia Day, Lora Leigh, Jaci Burton, Olivia Cunning, Beth Kery, J Kenner, Lorelei James, Lauren Dane, Eliza Lloyd, Meredith Wild, Tara Sue Me, Roni Loren, Kate Douglas, Lisa Renee Jones, Kylie Scott, Annmarie McKenna (local author & friend of the store), Megan Hart, Robin Schone, Jet Mykles (m/m), etc… BACK TO ROMANCE»