Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. The day romantics everywhere look forward to (and the cynics cringe at). I put myself firmly in the first camp, although if a red rose was to arrive at the library for me I would probably fall over in surprise, as well as having a mystery to solve.
Romance is popular in the library. I am talking about the books on the shelves rather than anything else. Type romance into our catalogue search and you have a choice of 41,448 items. Which should be enough to keep even the most over the top romantic happy. But for the rest of us we may need to whittle it down a bit so that we can find exactly the type of romance we are looking for.
Mills & Boon are just as popular as they ever were and if you haven't picked one up for a few years, probably a litte racier than you remember. Easy to read, escapist and with a happy ending, they have an undeserved reputation in some circles as being unworthy. However if you ask any romantic fiction author who has tried to get their manuscript accepted, the amount of work that goes into them probably isn't that much different to some of the other novels on our general fiction shelves.
Fondly known as the "Bodice Rippers", historical romances are just about all I read at one point. I still pick them up on occasion (and not just in appreciation of the artwork on the covers). Titles such as A Pirate of her Own, Never dare the Duke and Devil of the Highlands bring back memories of the fiction I used to devour. Authors such as Julia Quinn and Stephanie Laurens are prolific and popular.
For those looking for something a little gentler (or as some people put it when they come in to ask for recommendations - something 'nice') Georgette Heyer and Catherine Cookson are as popular as ever, while Barbara Cartland still hangs in there as well. There is also a growing range of Christian romance (both contemporary and historical). Tracey Peterson, Laurain Snelling and Jannette Oke are names to look out for. On the opposite side of the genres, paranormal romance is big at the moment with people like Nalini Singh and Kelley Armstrong.
You can have your romance many different ways at the library. Book, DVD or audio are all available. Or pick up one of our music CD's for some romantic tunes.
I am not so much of an expert on Romance these days as some of my colleagues in Auckland Libraries so the best way to keep up to date is with the Romance e-newsletter which is issued monthly. Sign up for any of our newsletters from our Next Reads page on our website.
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