Summer of Love : NPR

100 Best Books

Happy Ever After: 100 Swoon-Worthy Romances

July 29, 2015 • It's the NPR Books Summer of Love, so to celebrate, we asked our readers to nominate their favorite romances. And the results are in: 100 love stories to help every reader find a happy ever after.

Mary McLain/NPR

Books

Heartbreakers: Why Some Books Didn't Make The Final Romance List

July 29, 2015 • Not every submission to our big romance poll made it onto the list. Some books, while classics, have not aged well, some books were too new to judge, and some were lacking the crucial happy ending.

Mary McLain/NPR

Tell Us About Your Favorite Romances — It's The NPR Books Summer Of Love!

June 11, 2015 • This year our famous summer reader poll is all about romance. Whether you like contemporary, historical, suspense or inspirational, we want to hear about your favorite Happily Ever Afters!

Summer Of Love: Meet Our Expert Panelists!

Mary McLain

Book News & Features

Summer Of Love: Meet Our Expert Panelists!

June 20, 2015 • While our intern plugs away at tallying the 18,000 nominations that came in for the summer reader romance poll, we thought we'd introduce you to the expert panelists who'll help shape the final list.

Books

Alpha, Beta, Heathcliff — An Alphabet Of Romance Heroes

June 27, 2015 • As part of the NPR Books Summer of Love series, Lynn Neary digs into the history of the romance hero, the difference between alpha and beta heroes, and why Heathcliff is really kind of a jerk.

Alpha, Beta, Heathcliff — An Alphabet Of Romance Heroes

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Pop Culture Happy Hour: The Romance Novel Special

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Ariel Zambelich/NPR

Monkey See

Pop Culture Happy Hour: The Romance Novel Special

June 5, 2015 • This week, we dive deeply into the world of romance novels with our special guest, Sarah Wendell of the web site Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: The Romance Novel Special

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Book News & Features

Don't Know Much About History? Read A Romance

June 18, 2015 • Pick up a historical romance and you'll find more than a pleasant read. Often, you'll find a new connection to people, places and history-- for example, the Battle of Waterloo, 200 years ago today.

The Heat Is On With These Summer Romance Novels

June 16, 2015 • NPR Books is focusing on romance novels this summer. And our recommendations are not so-called "bodice rippers" or historical romances — they're contemporary.

The Heat Is On With These Summer Romance Novels

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Review

Presenting: The Holy Romance Trinity Of J

August 30, 2015 • Blogger Sarah Wendell usually reads on a Kindle, but she treasures a row of crumbling paperbacks by authors she calls the Holy Romance Trinity of J: Jude Deveraux, Julie Garwood and Judith McNaught.

Review

Love Lines: A Summer Sampler Of Romantic Manga

August 15, 2015 • Our Summer of Love rolls on with a roundup of romance manga. Japanese comic books can be a daunting field to enter — but we've picked three of the sweetest for your summer reading pleasure.

The Beloved, Bickering Bridgertons Turn 15 This Year

March 21, 2015 • As part of our Time Machine series coverage, NPR romance guru Bobbi Dumas introduces readers to the rosy-hued Regency of Julia Quinn's Bridgerton family books, some of the most popular romances ever.

Review

Return Of A Classic Romance: 'The Windflower' Sails Again

May 1, 2014 • For years, scarce copies of Laura London's 1984 romance The Windflower were treasured by readers. Reviewer Sarah Wendell hails its reissue and explains the concept of "Good Book Noise."

Put Up Your Dukes: Romance's Favorite Rank

Ever wonder why two-thirds of all the romance novels ever published seem to be about dukes? We do. hide caption

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Book News & Features

Put Up Your Dukes: Romance's Favorite Rank

April 27, 2014 • Ever wonder why two-thirds of all the romance novels ever published seem to involve dukes? Romance author Lorraine Heath says we can't resist their historical celebrity superpower.

Romance Writers Offer Sweet Thoughts For Valentine's Day

February 14, 2014 • Even if you hate the holiday, any day is a good day for chocolate and a swoony romantic read. But NPR's romance guru Bobbi Dumas is an unabashed lover of Valentine's Day, and she celebrating by asking five of her favorite authors to recommend their favorite romances — and describe their own Valentine traditions.

Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure

Banned Romance: What's So Bad About Happily Ever After?

September 22, 2013 • As Banned Books Week begins, we take a look at one frequently banned genre: romance. Romance novels have a long history of censorship, and author Maya Rodale argues that it's not just the naughty bits that get the censors upset — it's the idea that women can love freely and still live happily ever after.

Don't Hide Your Harlequins: In Defense Of Romance

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Don't Hide Your Harlequins: In Defense Of Romance

December 18, 2012 • Don't hide your bodice rippers under the bed! Writer Bobbi Dumas says being a romance fan is nothing to be ashamed of. It's "lovely, affirming storytelling," and a billion-dollar industry to boot, making up more than 14 percent of consumer book sales in 2011.

Review

Best Books Of 2012

Romantic Reads From Shakespeare To Steampunk (Heavy On The Steam)

December 18, 2012 • Writer Eloisa James gathers the best of 2012's romance subgenres. Expect lots of heat, in the most unexpected places and with some unlikely people: From the military to the paranormal, and from Shakespeare to steampunk, James' picks for the year skip across oceans and genres.

Romantic Reads From Shakespeare To Steampunk (Heavy On The Steam)

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A Rainbow Of Happy Endings In Ethnic Romances

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Harlequin Books

A Rainbow Of Happy Endings In Ethnic Romances

August 15, 2012 • Romance has always been popular with ethnic readers, even though for decades, the heroines on the covers looked nothing like the women reading them. That's beginning to change as authors like Brenda Jackson hit the big time with black-themed romances.

A Rainbow Of Happy Endings In Ethnic Romances

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Critics' Lists: Summer 2012

Reading Romance Between (And Under) The Covers

June 26, 2012 • Love knows no bounds, and in these five books, passion leaps from the page. You'll be swept off your feet by three novels and two memoirs that take up the mischievous matters of the heart.

Romance Novels, Hairless Chests, And 'Everything I Know About Love'

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Review

Monkey See

Romance Novels, Hairless Chests, And 'Everything I Know About Love'

October 3, 2011 • A new book argues that whatever you already know about relationships, you can discern from romance novels. It may sound frivolous, but its author is an expert on the subject.

Amish Romance: More Faith And No Sex In This Slice Of Christian Fiction

Harper Collins

Monkey See

Amish Romance: More Faith And No Sex In This Slice Of Christian Fiction

October 16, 2010 • Scott Simon spoke to Shelley Shepard Gray, who writes romance novels in a much-discussed and growing genre: the subset of Christian romances set among the Amish.

Amish Romance: More Faith And No Sex In This Slice Of Christian Fiction

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Accessibility links

Alpha, Beta, Heathcliff — An Alphabet Of Romance Heroes

Pop Culture Happy Hour: The Romance Novel Special

The Heat Is On With These Summer Romance Novels

Review

Review

Review

Review

Romantic Reads From Shakespeare To Steampunk (Heavy On The Steam)

A Rainbow Of Happy Endings In Ethnic Romances

Review

Amish Romance: More Faith And No Sex In This Slice Of Christian Fiction