I really enjoy reading romance novels!

I work in a library and I have access to thousands of books of all different genres.  But, when I'm stressed or in the mood for a pick me up, I go to the tried and true romance novel. I enjoy biographies, love a well written mystery, even a nicely photographed cook book. But nothing settles my frazzled nerves like a session with Julia Quinn, or Susan Elizabeth Phillips, or Nalini Singh, or even Jane Austen. Even though it is sometimes considered a low form of literature, millions of  romance readers can't be all wrong!

Today I took a class taught by a very enthusiastic young librarian named Caitlin.  I'd taken previous classes from her on different topics and I looked forward to this one. She did not disappoint and she opened my eyes to a  whole group of new authors that I had never heard of and would have to look up. 

I came away from the class with a new enthusiasm to promote romance in our library. Romance is a billion dollar industry and the genre outsells all other genres of fiction by a large margin.

So, tonight I'm going to settle in a re-read a Georgette Heyer book in celebration of the first romance novel I ever read.

Love those Chicago Stars! First Star I See Tonight by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Reading a SEP book is like meeting up with an old friend. You know that when you are done, you are going to feel warm and fuzzy and glad you spent the time with them. In this new book, Piper Dove has bought out her deceased father's detective agency and has her first big client. The job requires investigating former Stars QB Cooper Graham. Unfortunately for Piper, Cooper makes her and she gets fired. The upside is that Cooper hires her to work at his new club after she exposes some shady dealings going on at the site. Since the job includes a free apartment, she agrees and they begin spending a lot of time together. Piper makes some pretty crazy decisions while at the same time giving Cooper some great advice. However, when things get more serious, she can't get over her concern about their different lives.
This is a fun romance with SEP's trademark humor and snarkiness between the couple. The supporting characters are fun too and move the story along. Piper is the feisty chick we wish we could be sometimes and Cooper is that dream guy- gorgeous body but with a nice heart to go with it.
Besides the wonderful main love story, one of my favorite things about a Stars book is seeing older characters pop up in the storyline. This always makes me remember their story and how much I enjoyed it. I especially liked seeing Heath "the Python" Campion in this book. He and Annabelle were one of my favorite couples. The mix of old and new characters was perfect in this book. I hated to get to the end.

Sports themed romance novels- more and more popular!

I just finished reading Covering Kendall, a football themed romance novel about a woman GM of a football team.  She begins a relationship with a player from another team and all kinds of trouble occurs. The author, Julie Brannagh, has written 3 other popular books in her Love and Football series. I have really loved all of the books and actually learned quite a bit about football which was not one of my favorite sports. In this latest book, the issue of domestic violence is a part of the book which was written well before the latest NFL issues began to surface.  One thing about the romance writers, they have covered women's issues well before mainstream fiction ever did.

Sports themed romance novels are gaining in popularity. Romance novels of all types generated over 1.4 billion dollars in sales last year (the top rated fiction genre followed by Mystery/crime). As genres change in popularity, sports heroes seem to be hot right now in sales and on covers. There are series about hockey -Deirdre Martin's New York Blades, Rachel Gibson's Seattle Chinooks, Toni Aleo's Assassins etc. There are football series, Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Chicago Stars series was one of the first to hit really big. Since then, Jaci Burton, Julie Brannagh, Bella Andre and Jami Davenport all have well read series. There are writers like Lori Foster who is currently writing about MMA or Kat Latham who writes about rugby.

All of the books have a lot in common.  The heroes are usually pretty stand up guys who are loyal and committed to their teams.  Some are mansluts and some are homebodies. Some are self centered jerks and some are gentlemen. They are usually in great physical shape (see the picture above) and also financially well off. What is interesting is that in a lot of the books, the women work for the teams in some capacity or are strong fans of the featured team.  There are a lot of books with female athlete heroines but that's another blog post.  Avid female sports fans are gaining in numbers. NASCAR worked with Harlequin on a series of books a few years ago that contained a lot of information about how NASCAR worked and what the rules are.  I'm sure they gained some fans because of those books.

I guess all of these hunky athletes are today's versions of the medieval warriors, foreign billionaires, and English lords who were the norm years ago when I first started reading this genre.  Goodreads, Amazon and Barnes & Noble all have pages devoted to sports romance fiction so readers can find authors to enjoy. I know that I am certainly enjoying reading all of these books!  Maybe I'll start watching football.....or hockey.

Audiobooks- the reader will make or break them.

I have had two experiences recently that made me think about how the narrator of an audio book can improve your enjoyment of a book or ruin the book for you. I recently read that Ralph Cosham, the reader of all of the Louise Penny audio books, has passed away. I almost cried when I read that. I love the Three Pines mystery series and I own the print, eBook and audio version of all of them. I remember listening to the end of one of the books in the parking lot of the library where I work  and sobbing at the ending.

Ralph Cosham is the voice I hear in my head when I read the books. He will be very hard to replace. It has happened before. I am a long time fan of Susan Elizabeth Phillips (SEP) and she had a reader, Anna Fields, who read the majority of her books. Ms. Fields was killed in her home by a mudslide and all of the Seppies( fans of SEP) were devastated because she made the already wonderful books that much more enjoyable.  It was hard to listen to the next few books but we persevered.

Another long time reader is Susan Erickson who does the J.D. Robb series of futuristic mysteries. Again, when I read the books, I hear her voicing of the characters in my head. They have come to life for me through her.  There are lots of great readers out there who take a favored book and really make it special.

On the other hand, there are times when the reader absolutely ruins a book by their narration. I started to listen to a favorite book  in my car the other day and I had to turn it off after 10 minutes. The story takes place in France and the hero is an alpha male in a food profession. The reader had a very annoying habit of ending each sentence on an upnote so it felt like I was listening to a comedy. The worst part was her voicing of the hero was in a high pitched horrible French accent that kept making me picture a cartoon character. I had to stop listening before the book was forever ruined for me. Other books in the series were narrated by other readers and I loved those versions. I learned a lesson- LISTEN to the sample before you buy.

It will be very hard to listen to the next Louise Penny book and not hear Ralph because he is the voice of Armand Gamache to me. He will be greatly missed by all of his fans.

Heroes are my Weakness too, especially SEP's heroes!

I read my first SEP book in 2001 with This Heart of Mine. I loved it and it was like finding buried treasure when I realized there were several earlier books. Since then I am awash in anticipation when her newest book is due to come out. I can say that Heroes are My Weakness does not disappoint. It has all of the elements of an SEP book that I love. A feisty heroine who is temporarily down on her luck or in some predicament, a hero who on the surface is a jerk or a cad, and an interesting setting with other quirky characters. 

Anna is a puppeteer who has to stay on Peregrine Island for two months in order to fulfill the terms of a trusts that allows her to keep her cottage. since she needs to find a place to stay while she rebuilds her financial resources, the cottage is a godsend. Theo is the privileged and mean spirited son of the owner of Harp House, a large house on the island. Anna's cottage will revert to the Harps if she breaks the conditions of the trust. Anna and Theo were budding almost lovers until he turned on her and made her life miserable when they were teenagers. She has never forgotten his treatment of her and is dismayed to find him on the island. As they are forced to spend time together, old feelings reawaken and old secrets are revealed.

Anna discovers that there are sides to Theo that she never knew about and that he is not the man she thought he was. Yes, he is hot and broodingly handsome and he makes her  want to jump in the nearest bed with him but that is not all he is. She also finds that she has a new direction for her own life that will encompass the things she loves but  in a way that can be productive and meaningful.

I loved, loved,loved this book and hated to see it end.