romance

  • Romantic Christmas Movies

    Nothing says Christmas season to me more than cuddling up under a warm blanket with a mug of hot chocolate and watching a holiday romantic movie.  Unfortunately, I don’t have cable so I can’t binge-watch the Hallmark Channel.  But luckily for me, the library owns a lot of the movies.  To find the whole list… Continue reading

  • The Romance of Reality TV

    One of my guilty pleasures is watching Romance reality TV. Specifically, lately, it has been 90 Day Fiance, including the spinoff show, The Other Way.  Since I am watching this on a streaming service, I am always a season or two behind. Unlike others, I started my obsession with reality TV by watching The Amazing… Continue reading

  • African American Romance Writers

    February is Black History Month and with Valentine’s Day approaching we want you to get passionate about some romance series that we love, written by African American authors. If you haven’t read anything by the prolific author Beverly Jenkins by now, we highly recommend you begin any of her numerous series. She’s a seasoned author… Continue reading

  • Conversation Hearts: An Inclusive Love Fest for Romance Readers and Writers

    Romance readers and writers are passionate people. They are passionate about the power of love to transform people’s lives and to transform the world. They are passionate about an HEA (Happily-Ever-After) or a HFN (Happy-for-Now). And it’s safe to say they are tired of hearing ill-informed and dismissive opinions about the genre they love. If… Continue reading

  • Fresh Romance Picks

    Romance is a genre with prolific writers and many sub-genres, which means there’s always something new to get excited about. Here are a few titles published in the past year; find a list of 25 recent titles selected by librarians in our catalog. A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole Naledi Smith is an epidemiology… Continue reading

  • The best of genre reading in 2018

    Coordinated by the American Library Association, each year a group of librarians from across the country form The Reading List Council with the goal to identify the year’s best books across eight genres. Here are the 2019 winners (for books published in 2018) in Adrenaline, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, and Women’s… Continue reading

  • Romance by authors of color

    Romance by authors of color

    Over the past week, there’s been a spirited discussion on Romance Twitter (yes, it’s a thing) about the way the industry and publishers treat authors of color as well as readers of color. Authors told stories about being shunted to “ethnic” imprints, seeing books by white authors featuring characters of color with racist tropes in… Continue reading

  • A genre reading list for library insiders

    Chances are some of you haven’t heard of ALA’s Reading List Council, but trust me on this one: Their annual list of top books in several genres is a book lover’s gem. They pick the best in eight genres — including mystery, science fiction, and adrenaline (read: suspense/heart-thumping-page-turner) for adult readers. Librarians love that the Reading List is… Continue reading

  • Second Chance Romance

    Everyone has their romance catnip, a trope or plot device that makes it an automatic read for them. One favorite is the rekindled romance with a spouse, often after an estrangement or a marriage by proxy. In Eloisa James’s The Ugly Duchess, Theo (Theodora) and James have known each other for years, and Theo thought… Continue reading

  • Fantasy Checklist Challenge: Romantic Fantasy

    ~posted by Selby G. Romance novels, by their very nature, are usually not considered great literature. This is not to say that romance novels are not worth reading, but perhaps they should be judged with relaxed criteria. It is no different in the fantasy romance subgenre. Stories abound with sexy witches, shape shifters of all… Continue reading

  • Romance: Until the End of Time by Danielle Steele

    – posted by Tinh Until the End of Time is an interesting, unbelievably sweet story about the destiny and fate of two different couples, four decades apart.  The strong, deep love between Bill and Jenny stirs in a reader the desire for such perfect love in life.  Bill was a dedicated young lawyer who left everything to… Continue reading

  • Romantic Wednesdays: Staff Picks

    For the past two years we have been highlighting the robust and diverse romance genre on Wednesdays. Despite its staggering popularity, the romance genre doesn’t always get respect or recognition from mainstream press and book awards. It’s been our goal with this column to give romance the love it deserves (pun intended) and acknowledge its massive readership, which… Continue reading

  • Romantic Wednesdays: Love for Friends

    Valentine’s Day is just a few days away! In order to shake things up a bit though I thought I would offer some books that focus on the bonds of friendship rather than romantic relationships. After all, friends are the ones who are there for you before, during and, if it doesn’t work out, after… Continue reading

  • Romantic Wednesdays: Beyond Fifty Shades

    Posted by Eric G. There is much more to erotic fiction than Fifty Shades of Grey. If you are waiting for the upcoming film (and even if you’re not), there are numerous notable erotic fiction titles to explore in the meantime. Bound by Lorelei James Lorelei James’ stories should come with an extreme heat warning!… Continue reading

  • Romantic Wednesdays: Catching Up with Romantic Suspense

    Posted by Eric G. Authors and publishers have wasted no time releasing new romance titles for 2015, and dozens of savvy library patrons are already on the request lists! While waiting for the new ones, this is a great time to read the previous titles from top romantic suspense authors. Local author Jayne Ann Krentz… Continue reading

  • Romantic Wednesdays: Just Like Starting Over

    By Jessica W. Every year, January comes around and we make resolutions. Find love, learn a new language, go to the gym, we try to give ourselves a new start, a fresh page with the beginning of a new year. Some of us go farther than others when we want a new start—we don’t just… Continue reading

  • Romantic Wednesdays: The Gamblers

    By Jessica W. Historical romance can be somewhat limited in where the romance happens. Is it this ballroom or that ballroom? Rotten Row or a country house party? In the public eye, rules can’t be broken. But in the gambling clubs and hells of London, the rules of society take a second place to the… Continue reading

  • Romantic Wednesdays: Librarian Favorites of 2014

    By Eric G. Library Reads, a website that compiles the favorite books of librarians each month, recently released their “Favorites of the Favorites 2014” list, which highlights the books that have stood out among the favorites this year. I wanted to highlight three titles that made the cut because they also offer sweet, unconventional love stories. Continue reading