ROMANCE NOVEL THEMES

Romantic Times Bookclub, 2002, available at <http://www.romantictimes.com>.

Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.

• A Central Love Story—In a romance, the main plot concerns two people falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. The conflict in the book centers on the love story. The climax in the book resolves the love story. A writer is welcome to as many subplots as she likes as long as the relationship conflict is the main story.
• An Emotionally Satisfying and Optimistic Ending—Romance novels end in a way that makes the reader feel good. Romance novels are based on the idea of an innate emotional justice—the notion that good people in the world are rewarded and evil people are punished. In a romance, the lovers who risk and struggle for each other and their relationship are rewarded with emotional justice and unconditional love.

Once the central love story and optimistic-ending criteria are met, a romance novel can be set anywhere and involve any number of plot elements. These settings and distinctions of plot create specific sub-genres within romance fiction.

• Chicks Who Kick Butt
• Dangerous Curves
• Bad To The Bone...
• Werewolves
• Witches & Warlocks
• Holiday Anthologies
• Military Heroes
• Magic & Magical Creatures
• Fairy Tale Romance
• Women Warriors
• Asian Romances
• There's No Business Like ... Show Business
• Vampires
• Tropical Settings
• Reincarnation
• Dangerous Heroes
• Plain Jane
• Unusual Occupations
• Highwaymen
• Reconciliation
• Emotionally Tortured Hero
• Holiday Romances
• Native Americans
• Love and War
• The Frontier
• Runaway Brides
• Medieval Knights
• Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers
• The Second Wife
• Psychic Abilities
• Virgin Heroes
• Love & Laughter
• Love on the Job
• Childhood Sweethearts
• Regency
• Pretend Marriages
• Gothics
• Bad Girls
• Romances Set in Scotland
• Feuding Families
• Time-Travel Romances
• Mail-Order Brides
• Undercover Agents
• Pirates
• Romances with Animals
• Viking
• Romances Set in Texas
• Terms of the Will
• May and December Romances
• Beauty and the Beast
• Rags to Riches/Riches to Rags
• Doctors and Nurses
• Revenge
• Presumed Dead
• Bad Boys
• Twins
• Vampires
• Secret Babies
• Ghosts
• Nursing Back to Health
• Disguised as a Male
• Imperfect "Perfect" Heroes
• Kidnapping
• Amnesia
• Marriage of Convenience