Romance fiction genre challenge: 1

Romance fiction titles

I've been invited to join a romance fiction genre challenge, except it doesn't start until next year (I misread that part of the email..). So I'm just highlighting a few titles I've already read this year and starting to think about the challenge.

I have always enjoyed character driven stories, but it wasn't until I was challenged last year to read some Mills and Boon titles that I discovered romance fiction. I hadn't avoided them on purpose, just they hadn't come up in my unstructured book discovery methods before. 

So I read a few M & Bs, then I learned we had a local author of same (the lovely Barbara Hannay) so I read a few of hers and then went to her book launch of her first Penguin - Zoe's Muster. I started to be more attune to romance fiction conversations so that was how I was led to another Australian writer, Rachael Treasure. I discovered Nicholas Sparks' books from first seeing The Notebook on DVD.  His stories make me cry every time! 

So many people in our community loved The Lavender Keeper and were keen for its sequel The French Promise. When we booked Fiona McIntosh for a guest author visit I thought I'd read these popular titles. Loved TLK!  I did mention the unstructured book discovery... 

Important things to know about the romance genre - 'the focus of the story must be on the romantic relationship between the two main protagonists, and there must be a happily optimistic ending.' (Mosley & Charles, 2012)*

'Romantic elements' is the other style - when 'romance plays a significant part in the story, though it is not necessarily the central plot.' (RWA, 2012). **

So, next year the challenge begins...
Before then, check out the Australian Romance Readers Association http://www.australianromancereaders.com.au/index.html and a guide to the subgenres from the Romance Writers of Australia http://www.romanceaustralia.com/romgenres.html. 

* Mosley, S. & Charles, J. (15 February, 2012). Readers Advisory Rx Romance. Booklist Online. http://www.booklistonline.com/ProductInfo.aspx?pid=5336832

** Romance Writers of Australia. (2012). Romance genres. http://www.romanceaustralia.com/romgenres.html.