Reference and website resources
Bouricius, A. (2000). The romance readers' advisory: The librarian's guide to love in the stacks. Chicago: American Library Association.
This short book is a good start for anyone who is beginning to get into the genre, especially a librarian wanting to improve their library's service to romance readers. The author, an experienced librarian who came to appreciate romance novels well into her career, and eventually became a published romance writer, defines and explains the appeal of romances to novices. She includes suggestions for making the library more romance friendly, and breaks down common misconceptions about romance readers. Appendices include a list of romances featuring librarians; award information; articles; and booklists by topic. This book, which is just over 100 pages, is a very fast and informative read.
Charles, J. & Linz, C. (2005) Romancing your readers: How public libraries can become more romance-reader friendly. Public Libraries, 44(1), 43-8. Retrieved April 21, 2005 from First Search database.
This is a really good article covering many topics in the romance genre, as well as issues relating to public libraries. One of the authors, a librarian in Scottsdale, was the Romance Writers of America's 2002 Librarian of the Year, and the other is a prolific author of romances and serves as the RWA Library Liaison. The article goes over definition and appeal characteristics; common misperceptions still held by many librarians; current trends in the genre, including not only writing styles and popular subgenres, but also cover art; and the popularity of linked novels and the necessity for libraries to include a full set in their collection, because patrons expect to find all the titles in a series. Additional sections include resources, recommended titles, and advice for libraries on how to become more romance friendly. This article is important because it was written from a librarian's perspective, and has a lot of information of use to anyone in public libraries.
Danford, N.. (2004, November 15). Isn't it romantic? Publisher's Weekly, 28-31.
An article in Publisher's Weekly called "Isn't it romantic?" discusses different booksellers' views on what is currently popular in the romance novel market. It was interesting because it discussed current trends not only in sales but in covers, plots and authors. The purpose of the article is to explore what kinds of books are selling at bookstores across the country. The short, 3-page article is easy to read and is divided into clear sections. Several different booksellers were interviewed and are quoted throughout the article, and are always listed by their last name and their bookstore, so the reader doesn't forget where the person is located. The article seems to be most helpful for booksellers and publishers, but it could really benefit librarians, especially those doing reader's advisory and collection development because it's very current with what is popular right now in a way that RA books can't be. For example, many booksellers are saying that the paranormal or alternative reality romances are just flying off the shelves, especially those about vampires. They also discuss the fact that it's harder for new authors to make a name for themselves with all the well known authors that are out there. And finally, readers are much happier with the new styles of covers that are less bodice-ripperesque. The most popular seem to be the ones with cartoonish drawings that are reminiscent of chick-lit. The article is by Natalie Danford, who is a New York-based writer and editor.
Fallon, E. (1984). Words of love: A complete guide to romance fiction. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
This book attempts to cover the entire genre, but what I would consider the most useful aspect of it is the information about "current" writers. Although the book is two decades old, some still popular writers such as Sandra Brown have been included. There is also a section that covers historically important writers such as Louisa May Alcott and Jane Austen, including short biographies and bibliographies of all these writers. This book is not as valuable as a reader's advisory resource as it is one for aspiring writers - a romance writer's resource list is included - or avid readers who want to know more about their favorite authors. An extensive pseudonym list is given at the end, and while there is no index, there is a list of subgenres with many authors for each one.
Herald, D. T. (2000). Genreflecting: A guide to reading interests in genre fiction. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
This book covers a wide range of genres, of course, but it includes an extensive chapter on romance. A great resource to have on hand for reader's advisory thanks to the long lists of authors and books, which are arranged by subgenre, it also includes other resources for the genre, including information about review journals such as The Romantic Times. However, the subgenres are arranged slightly differently in this book than in most others specializing in the romance genre, so this might be a bit confusing to some readers who look for a specific topic when searching for new titles. Overall, Genreflecting is a very useful resource and should be kept in every library's ready reference section.
Kean, D. (2005, April 14) Let's hear it for romance. The guardian [U.K.]. Retrieved April 14, 2005 from http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,6000,1459268,00.html
This is a short article by the chair of the award committee for the Romantic Novelists Association, and she wrote the article to coincide with the Association's announcement of the Romantic Novel of the Year. She criticizes the disparaging treatment given to romance writers by those unfamiliar with the genre, despite the huge popularity of it. She feels that writers and readers should be proud of the genre, and includes quotes by writers like Marian Keyes.
Krentz, J. A. (1992). Dangerous men and adventurous women: Romance writers on the appeal of the romance. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
This book offers critical essays rather than being a reader's advisory guide, but the essays by nineteen favorite romance writers discuss the appeal of the romance genre as well as feminist issues surrounding the genre and its readers. It shares insightful views into the reasons so many people read romances, and explains what some of them get out of it. Considering the bad name that the romance genre often has, this book goes a long way to dispel those stereotypical notions. This book is better as a circulating item rather than a reference book, but it can help librarians better understand the genre, and it should be recommended to avid romance readers.
Palfrey, E. (2005) Romance at any age. Black Issues Book Review, (7)1, 16-17.
Evelyn Palfrey, an attorney and romantic suspense writer, talks about the difficulty of finding romance novels featuring African-American characters, especially when she was growing up. She discusses the fact that more are being published now, and talks about ways readers and writers can grow the market. She also points out that when she realized her daughter was starting to read romances too, she wasn't sure if it was a good idea, until another writer pointed out to her the positive images of African-American males her daughter would be able to read about and learn about healthy relationships. I was happy to find this article because it offers a perspective not often seen in articles and books, but it is a growing part of the genre.
Ramsdell, K. (1987). Happily ever after: A guide to reading interests in romance fiction. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
This reference book of almost 300 pages covers definition, history, and appeal factors, as well as going in-depth with the subgenres of romance novels, such as contemporary, historical, saga, gay, inspirational and young adult. The final section includes other resources, awards, author and publisher information, and name, title, and subject indexes. Although the book is too old to include recent titles and authors, the author provides detailed descriptions and definitions which are invaluable to any librarian wishing to get more familiar with the genre.
Ramsdell, K. (1999). Romance fiction: A guide to the genre. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
This reference book, which is part of the Genreflecting advisory series and reads like an expanded version of the romance chapter in Genreflecting, is the most useful reader's advisory resource I have come across. It's very inclusive and is well-organized. Directed at librarians, this book is easy enough to use that any reader could find their way around the book without difficulty. After discussing definition, history, appeal characteristics, and ideas for collection development, the book moves on to the subgenres, which are each discussed extensively in individual chapters. Subgenres here include alternative reality, sagas, gay and lesbian, contemporary, historical, romantic mysteries, regency period, inspirational, and ethnic/multicultural romance. Many of the books given in the booklists have short annotations. The final section includes guides to books, essays, articles, websites, author information, awards, publishers, and indexes.
http://www.theromancereader.com/
This website mainly offers reviews of new books, which are done by volunteers. It's not affiliated with any company, and it strives to be unbiased. Reviews are sorted by subgenre, and there is a section for new reviews and a few feature sections, including one where men write about romance novels. It's updated quite often, and it seems like a good place for readers to go to look for new books, and librarians could use it for collection development.
http://www.likesbooks.com/lists.html
This section is a special part of the All About Romance website, which is one of the best romance sites out there, but I've included this section because it is especially useful for reader's advisory. It is the page for special title listings, so a reader who has enjoyed a particular plot device such as "Shotgun Weddings (& Compromising Positions)" can find other books and many reviews with similar plots, usually also divided by time period or location. A huge number of books are included, as well as every topic imaginable. Even though the main focus here is on plotline rather than other appeal factors, readers often discover a particular plotline that they love and want to find similar titles. This is an excellent resource for these situations, and all the lists have been either created or updated within the past year.
http://www.genreflecting.com/Romance.html
This site is small but authoritative. It's part of Libraries Unlimited's Genreflecting website, and includes basic information about the genre, popular authors, and subgenres. Readers can post their favorite books to share with other visitors to the site, but this appears to be a new feature because almost no books are posted. It's not really a site a librarian could use to perform reader's advisory, because there is no database and not very many books are listed, but librarians could use it to look for other resources in the genre.
http://www.theromancereadersconnection.com/
This website, which calls itself "an online magazine for readers" has up-to-date information on the latest releases. Reviews are done by a diverse group of people, and features include romantic suspense, inspirational, and young adult sections, as well as monthly book awards and a calendar of author appearances across the country. The site is good for romance fans who want to find out about new releases, rather than reader's advisors.
This site, which also produces the Romantic Times Book Club Magazine, is intended for both readers and writers. There are many features, several of which must be found just by browsing the site, such as the pseudonym search, where you can "discover the pen names of your favorite authors from over 3000 author pseudonyms". A book search allows you to enter choices such as rating, time period, and series to bring up a custom list of results. This is one of the only sites I have seen that has a searchable database. The monthly review section sorts books by subgenre, and provides very good definitions for each. The news page has information about books and authors outside the genre, such as Stephen King and Dan Brown, as well as convention information. This is another website that is probably better for readers than librarians, but it is definitely one of the best ones.