If you’re a romance reader, you won’t be surprised to hear that romance is the biggest genre in publishing. Nearly 40 million romance novels were sold in 2024. Books range from flirty (fade to black) to downright steamy (open door), with myriads of subgenres and tropes to choose from. (Rom-com! Paranormal romance! Historical fiction!)

So this week, Big Books and Bold Ideas host Kerri Miller sits down with three Minnesota romance experts to talk about romance writing and reading today. She brings some quizlets and challenges, and each author shares an excerpt of a romance novel that has stuck with them.

Along the way, they discuss the rules of romance (happy endings are nonnegotiable), what differentiates a love story from a romance novel and how the industry is starting to adapt to the diversity readers want.

They also recommend romance novels that have maybe slipped through the cracks but deserve attention.

For Richards, that was the book she chose to feature in her excerpt: the historical queer romance “A Shore Thing” by Joanna Lowell. She also recommended anything by writer Cat Sebastian, particularly “It Takes Two to Tumble.”

Tschida said readers should check out the wit and charm inherent in any Nikki Payne novel, who is best know for her rewrites of Jane Austen. “Start with ‘Pride and Protest,’” Tschida recommended, “and then move on to ‘Sex, Lies and Sensibility.’” She also prescribed Carly Bloom, who writes books broader than the cowboy romance genre she is often stuck in.

Palmer said she’ll “never stop talking” about Naina Kumar. Her most recent book, “Flirting with Disaster,” is similar to the movie “Sweet Home Alabama” — but in this case, a hurricane traps a couple headed toward divorce in the home they built together when their love was young.

Guests:

• Ellie Palmer is the author of “Four Weekends and a Funeral” and the just published “Anywhere With You,” which is set in the north woods of Minnesota.
• Sam Tschida’s newest romance novel follows a vampire determined to get her own Hallmark movie ending. “Undead and Unwed” comes out in in late October. Sam’s past books include “Siri, Who Am I?” and “Errands and Espionage.”
• Lauren Richards is the co-owner of Tropes & Trifles, Minnesota’s first romance-only bookstore.

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