Shelf Love: Romance Novel Discourse

Impale yourself on your fate: marrying the Devil can be heaven. Semilore Sobande shares her all-time favorite romance, "Devil's Bride" by Stephanie Laurens. This book has it all: Honoria Prudence Ans…

Morgan and Isabeau from the Whoa!mance podcast join to discuss the 2024 film “Your Monster.” We discuss how the movie explores female rage and personal discovery, drawing parallels with romance novel…

Alice Murphy, a historical romance author, joins to recommend and discuss under-appreciated non-Regency historical romance. The discussion touches on Alice's upcoming book, "A Showgirl's Rules for Fa…

Why do we read Jane Austen but not the authors Jane Austen read and loved? The answer is a BIT more complicated than just "sexism." Guest: Rebecca Romney, rare book dealer and author of the new book,…

Can horror and romance coexist? Friend and author Laura J. Mayo joins me to discuss “Land of the Beautiful Dead” by R. Lee Smith. We explore the complexities of combining horror elements (zombies, st…

I join The Historical Romance Sampler podcast with Katherine Grant to sample a scene from Lisa Kleypas's Secrets of a Summer Night. We discuss how historical romance has changed since the 1970s and t…

Year of the Unicorn by Andre Norton is a 1965 fantasy novel with subtle romantic elements. How does this vintage novel featuring outsider characters compare with today’s romantasy? Romance reader Kas…

Ever wondered why Regencies became all the rage? Or how historical romances shape and sanitize our perceptions of history? This episode delves into how Regency romances displace inconvenient historic…

Some call it Romantasy, some call it Dragon Corn (except replace the C with a P). Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is hotter than dragon’s breath, and so of course we have to see if we can figure out wh…

Ever wondered how "The Hating Game" fares in a classroom setting? Dr. Diana Filar is back to discuss her experiences teaching The Hating Game book and film in a class about popular genre fiction. We …

Do you love scent marking, some healthy jealousy, and a beautiful and believable mix of internal and external romance in your paranormal werewolf romance? Get your parka and bundle up for "Cold Heart…

“What is a greater expression of love than eating someone else or wanting to consume and have that person in a way that no one else can have?” Dr. Nicola Welsh-Burke joins to delve into the intriguin…

If you’ve always wanted to hear about a romance that takes place within a traveling circus and features a telepathic tiger, hang onto your trapeze bar: Emma from the Substack Restorative Romance and …

Guest: Sarah Rutherford, a romance reader and Associate Professor of Design at Cleveland State University

@sarahatschool on Instagram

Highlights:

1. The evolution of romance novel covers from the 1980s to …

I was a guest on The Categorically Romance Podcast to discuss my category romance collecting addiction, reading some books from Kiss a short-lived Harlequin line from the early 20 teens, and how not …

In this episode, host Andrea Martucci embarks on a journey with Dame Jodie Slaughter to the Covering Romance exhibition. The event showcases romance novel cover art by award-winning artist, John Enni…

An exploration of prison planet romances with Megan Erickson. We discuss Guardian by Emmy Chandler and how it explores issues of consent, agency, and morality through an extreme version of the forced…

Romancelandia Holiday Fairies 2023!

Romancelandia Holiday Fairies is a mutual aid effort for the romance novel reader community to support anyone in the community who could use a little material help …

Is shame productive? This question guides part 2 of a Whoa!mance/Shelf Love convo about A Lady of the West by Linda Howard as we discuss the paradox of enjoying highly problematic books.

We interrogat…

I humbly asked Morgan and Isabeau to help me understand why A Lady of the West by Linda Howard had a chokehold on my young romance-reading imagination, and they delivered. We discuss how this book ha…