Summer lovin’… brides and grooms… the moon in June makes you swoon… if there’s a better month than June to fall in love with a romantic read, we don’t know what it is! That’s why the June Reading Resolutions challenge is to read a romance novel or love story.
If you’re new to romance fiction, you might not be aware that there is a difference between Romance novels and love stories, but the proof is in the book’s ending.
Romance novels end with the couple together, enjoying their Happily Ever After (or in the case of teens, Happy For Now). Well-known Romance authors include Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, Nora Roberts, Lisa Kleypas, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Diana Palmer, and Debbie Macomber, as well as newcomers such as Farrah Rochon, Helen Hoang, Alyssa Cole and Casey McQuiston.
Love stories… well, just like Erich Segal’s famous 1970 novel “Love Story,” the endings may be bittersweet or even tragic. Authors known for tearjerker love stories include JoJo Moyes, Jill Santopolo, Nicholas Sparks and John Green. (Danielle Steel and Rainbow Rowell write both HEAs and bittersweet endings). Classics such as Wuthering Heights, and Romeo and Juliet are both considered love stories.
Even if the ending isn’t in doubt, romance fiction offers readers a whirlwind emotional ride, unforgettable characters, and books that cover a variety of settings and subgenres, including contemporary, historical, suspense, fantasy, paranormal, young adult, and inspirational. Some are G-rated, others have more explicit content, so if you’re unsure, an Adult Services staff member can help steer you in the right direction.
We’ve set up a Reading Resolutions online catalog to help your browse from home, and a special display in the Adult Services department, to help you find a book you’ll fall in love with.
Already a Romance fan? Consider joining AAPLD’s Happily Ever After book club, for fans of Romance novels, women’s fiction and chick lit. The group meets the third Monday of each month, at 7:00 p.m. June’s read is the futuristic romantic suspense novel Naked In Death, by J.D. Robb, the first book in the long-running bestselling “In Death” series. Click here to register.