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Special Title Listings: Summer Update

list As summer heads into its final months we’ve decided to take a bit of a break and are doing a light update for the Special Title Listings by opening just two lists for your suggestions. Even though we’re entering the Dog Days of summer we hope you’ll be able to help us once again and offer some great suggestions for the following lists: (1) Older Couples, and (2) Big City Contemporary Romances.

We look forward to seeing your submissions for these lists starting today Monday August 5 and going for the next two weeks ending Sunday August 18 at midnight. As a reminder, any additions to the list have to be: (1) the best of the best, (2) stand the test of time, and (3) actually fit the list for which they were submitted.

Older Couples: The Older Couples list is separated by age and features 30-, 40-, 50-, and 60-something heroes and heroines. Some of the titles – such as Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Heaven, Texas and This Heart of Mine – are on the list because they feature an older secondary romance. When the list was last updated in September of 2009 the definition was straightforward: “This list features romance heroes and heroines who are somewhat older than the norm.” We’ve thought a lot about that definition and have made one slight adjustment by adding the following text: “While heroes and heroines in their 30s were once unusual in contemporary romances, that is no longer the case. Contemporary romances will only appear on the list if both the hero and heroine are at least 40.” This new specification only applies to contemporary romances; we’d still love to see historical romances featuring 30-something couples. Please include the age of the hero and heroine when you submit titles for this list.

Big City Contemporary Romances: This is a new list that appears for the first time on the Special Titles page today. We began this list through suggestions you made to two posts here on May 9 and May 31. After suggestions from several of you, we’re going to limit this list to contemporary romances set in big cities. We’re not interested in romances in which the hero and heroine stay in a hotel room — or an apartment — for the entire book. We want titles where our hero and heroine get out and about and give readers a feel for the city. We also need real cities that are named in the story. An unnamed city that readers have to guess about won’t fit here. When you submit titles for this list please include the name of the city.

We hope you have read some wonderful books that fit these categories and we look forward to your submissions. You will find the criteria and submission ballot here.

– Rike, LinnieGayl, and Cindy

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