I started reading romance in the early 90s as a 12 year old. I was “immersed,” so to speak, by two boxes of category romances left behind in a vacation home my family bought. Bored to tears one weekend, I started sorting through them, and found a few that didn’t sound, well, stupid to a 12 year old, lol.

Among the books that were there was “Streets of Fire” by Judith Duncan, several books by Anne Stuart, and “Midnight Stranger” by Diana Whitney – I actually kept all three of these, which explains why I remember them so well so many years later, lol. The Diana Whitney book (which was more plausible to a preteen than to an adult, but nonetheless entertaining) aside, I can say that I probably set the bar for myself way too high, because I don’t think that most of the contemporary series romances I’ve come across recently were as good as these books.

I do, however, have a personal theory as to why we’re less satisfied with the newer contemporaries — the field has narrowed severely. So many of the contemporary (and historical, for that matter) lines that were active in the 80s-90s have disappeared, so there is less room for unusual stories like Anne Stuart’s or Judith Duncan’s. Instead, you get a proliferation of SEALs, ranchers, secret babies and suchlike stuff that evidently sells or else we wouldn’t see so many of them. And I’m positive that good, unusual books do occasionally slip through the cracks, lol, it’s just that if, like me, you no longer look for categories, and only pick one up upon recommendation, you’re likely to miss one of the diamonds in the rough altogether.

The good news is, the popularity of e-books may get us back to that era when there was room for contemporary series-style books that break the mold. I’m hoping that now that Harlequin has started reissuing their backlist from the 80s and 90s that they will realize how quirky and great some of these stories were, and cede some of the SEAL/rancher/sheik market to these type of books!

As a teenager, the idea of the powerful hero recognizing the heroine’s true inner beauty despite her unworldliness is really plausible. Though the hero has an immediate attraction to the heroine, may not recognize he loves her, will not admit it for another 200 pages , treat her poorly for most of the novel–is well – just the way to true love. Right?

Now that I am 40, I pick up those categories and think to myself “Seriously?”
Why are the alpha males all sheiks or Italian and Greek Tycoons? Have the Harlequin’s editors picked up a newspaper in the last 2-3 years and perhaps glanced at the financial pages especially that of Greece? Why do they keep putting out variations of the same story over and over again? What’s with the titles? I also find the heroines disappointing because they seem so bland.

I understand that categories are escapism but the true art in categories lies in a certain amount of believability. The hero can be rich but why are most of them tycoons? Why are the alpha males always angry and why do the females put up with it?

The books that stand out are the ones that make you think that the characters could be real and that the story could really happen.
Kariana Bliss and Sara Mayberry are the writers I have read recently (after reading recommendations) that make categories worth reading.
One new find for me is an American, Abigail Strom( a millionaire’s wish). I read the one book recently. It was well paced. The heroine wasn’t a push over. The hero was really introspective and both characters evolved throughout the short length of the book.

The authors of these books do not get enough credit for trying to make the restrictions of a category novel work for them. Having that limited word count can really derail a good story and take away the development of the characters and relationship and pacing. Depending on the skill of the writer, a category can work no matter the age of the reader.

I don’t think the categories of the 80′s and 90′s were better. The books of the past were not as great as we would like to believe- as I’ve noticed from the books I downloaded to my Kindle. It is our memory of things past and that feeling of comfort and happiness when reading books that makes us look back at those books with fondness.

And thanks to everyone for your comments! I’m glad to know I’m not alone in this.

I’ve been reading categories for about 10 years. I have keepers from every decade, 60s-10s, and do not notice that I like one decade better than the others. On the other hand, I do see a strong trend matching keeper content by publishing decade. My 80s-keepers are often business settings with manly bosses and career women, whereas my 90s keepers tend to be Nora Ephron-style romantic comedies, and the 00s keepers are historicals or contemporary city girls. I can see how if I really wanted to read romantic comedies, for instance, I might find the recent publishing decade lacking. But that doesn’t mean the recent books haven’t been good; just that they’re not what I want when I pick up a category.