Romancing the Mid-Life Reader and Heroine a Basic Renovation

A First Kiss Is Still A First Kiss: Romancing the Mid-life Reader and Heroine

A Basic Renovation

Sandra Barletta

December 2008

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Creative Writing (romance) Faculty of Creative Industries Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Gove

Statement of Authorship

The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made.

Signature: Date:

Abstract

Through its depiction of heroines, romance fiction has the capacity to reflect the attitudes and concerns women face in society. However, the depiction of heroines in romance novels is bound by the constraints publishers place upon them. A vibrant, passionate mid-life heroine gets pushed into a subgenre where romance no longer exists as an option, while a mid-life reader in search of a romance heroine to identify with is relegated to novels where romance is a marginal issue, rather than the main impetus that leads the story. This study, and the novel A Basic Renovation, addresses a neglected demographic of reader and heroine who are marginalised within the romance genre. As well, it gives reasons why heroines need not be characterised in particular roles or situations as they age, and a rationale for why their underrepresentation as romance heroines should end.

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Keywords Ageing, fiction, publishing, romance, romance novels, romance writing, women & ageing, women & fiction

Acknowledgements

To my love, my husband, and my friend Dr John Barletta who doesn’t mind crinkled clothes. Without his encouragement, patience, wit, and wisdom, I would not have had the opportunity to pursue my writing whilst shirking the ironing. For their candour, keen eyes, and support, I extend thanks to the members of the QUT Romasters cohort; Lisa Barry, Marilyn Carey, Catherine Cockburn, Melynda Genrich, and Lousie Ousby. I am indebted to Elle Gardner and Kate Cuthbert for being such expert readers of romance. They kept me true. And finally, my gratitude also goes to Dr Glen Thomas, Fearless Leader and advisor extraordinaire. His knowledge, guidance, sense of humour, and ability to deal with a kooky writer-cum-scholar is most impressive. 1

A First Kiss is Still a First Kiss: Romancing the Mid-life Reader and Heroine

Missing in action I write romance novels. I read them too, a lot of them, especially contemporary romance, and I enjoy them tremendously. However, over the past few years I have found something has been missing. The escapist fantasy is still there, yet once I hit 37 it started to become difficult to find characters I could relate to. Specifically, it was getting hard to identify with twenty-something heroines. Since, as Kent (2006) contends, contemporary romance readers like to see their lives and experiences reflected in what they read, where are the forty-something heroines, the divorcées back on the dating scene for a second time, the woman who regrets putting her career before love or marriage, or the girl who has made to forty—or fifty—without finding Mr. Right? Mid-life heroines do exist within contemporary fiction, but the majority of them seem to live in novels such as Goldsmith’s The First Wives Club and Landvik’s Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, novels where the heroine is no longer interested or engaged in romance because she is apparently too old. The notion that a heroine, as well as a female romance reader, passing the invisible line into middle age will shift away from romance in favour of these non-romance storylines because she is, as Transita Publishing (2008) suggests, “facing challenges and opportunities of the exciting and difficult time of later life,” is a faulty assumption. As a student in the Creative Writing (romance) Masters cohort at Queensland University of Technology’s Faculty of Creative Industries, I wrote A Basic Renovation, a romantic comedy that features a heroine and hero who are both over forty. The novel caters to a seemingly forgotten demographic of adult readers still interested in being swept away into the fantasy of romance. While a number of romance publishers seem to think a woman of a certain age will only identify with heroines who live in a passionless future of menopause and comfy slippers, this just is not so. By focusing on the central love story A Basic Renovation demonstrates that age need not be an issue in a romance novel. The novel includes subplots of multigenerational romance and incorporates issues that deal with elderly parents, divorce, single-parenthood, and family dynamics. This study is both a discussion of the creative context and evolutionary process of writing a romance novel, as well as a commentary and argument that identifies a neglected demographic of reader and heroine who are marginalised within the romance

2 genre and industry based solely on age. This paper examines how the over-forty heroine is pushed from romance into other subgenres where romance plays a negligible role, and identifies a gap that exists between romance and the novels the publishing industry offers to middle-aged readers of romance who want mid-life romance heroines. The novel and this exegesis are weighted 65/35 respectively.

The changing face of heroines Once upon a time a boy met a girl. They fell in love, struggled to overcome obstacles that kept them apart, and lived happily ever after. This has been the construct of a romance since the times of Heliodorus and his Aethiopica, the Ethiopian story that ends with the marriage of Charicleia and Theagenes. Romance stories in the twenty-first century still follow Heliodorus’ basic fantasy premise. Boy still meets girl, they encounter a few stumbling blocks, and wind up with that all-important Happily Ever After (HEA). What has changed is the heroine. As centuries passed, she has morphed from Andromeda, the damsel in distress Perseus rescued from a sea monster, to the wise- cracking girl-Friday, ass-kicking, vampire-slaying, woman-with-attitude who is still- looking for that HEA. She has become a bride, mother, divorcée, or widow and developed meaningful friendships as she has dealt with the ups and downs of life. Today’s romance heroine is fully fleshed out, reality-based in the fantasy of a romance novel, but there is one thing that has not happened to a heroine on her transformational journey in romance. She has not aged a great deal. The Romance Writers of American (RWA) defines a romance as a novel with a central love story and an optimistic, emotionally satisfying ending (2008a). There are no explicit restrictions on what a writer can include in a romance beyond the central love story and HEA. While this paper does not include an examination of Harlequin-Mills & Boon category (or series) romance of sheiks, billionaires, and tycoons or the historical romance of stolen princesses and mystery dukes in the discussion of contemporary romance novels, current modes of thought (Parv, 2004; Regis, 2003; Snitow, 2001; Thomas, 2007; Thurston, 1987), cast romance fiction of all kinds as essentially escapist fantasy. Gillies-Siedel (1992) states “fantasy is the most important element in popular fiction” (p.159). The word fiction means fantasy. Fiction frequently draws from real-life in order to tell a story. For example, Tan (2003) asserts she has often used memories of her own feelings to create her works of fiction. Mussell (1984) suggests literature,

3 which includes works of fiction like Tan’s The Joy Luck Club (1989), is not real life. In a similar way, romance fiction frequently uses the fantasy/real-life blend, an aspect that is appealing to many readers of contemporary romance. Juhasz (1988) states, “as it happens to the heroine, so it happens to the reader” (p. 240). Being able to identify with a heroine, the issues she faces in the contemporary story, and knowing there will be a HEA, is an engaging part of reading romance, and part of what Fowler (1991) refers to as “anticipatory delights of this fiction” (p. 99). However, while real-life issues like divorce, widowhood, and being overweight are acceptable issues an author can address in a romance novel, conventions in romance publishing appear to contend that getting older cannot be part of an escapist fantasy. This convention suggests readers will not want romance stories featuring romance heroines older than thirty-five even while there is nothing in the criteria for what makes a romance that supports this unwritten rule. Uncapher (2006), a writer who contributes to the All About Romance website forum, discussed the issue of age and romance novels, claiming not just the publishing industry is uncomfortable with the idea of ageing heroines. She states, “It’s not only younger people who find the idea of an older reader disconcerting. It’s…those of us who have passed that 40th birthday. It’s a subject we avoid.” Since conventional discussions about romance suggest that it is escapist fantasy, and ageing is a fact of life some women would like to escape, it can be acknowledged that there are some who are unwilling to allow any sense of real-life into romance. Ageing, a natural process of life, can only fit on the pages of a novel like Nancy Thayer’s (2003) The Hot Flash Club, since it is geared towards an older female reader who understands the changes that occur in a woman’s life. In support of including realism in romance, novelist and essayist Jenny Crusie (1997) explains that romance fiction can reinforce reality. Women read romance to “recognise the truth and validity of their own lives” (p. 92). Additionally, Crusie asserts that romance may be the fantasy of boy meets girl and lives happily ever after, but the heroines in these novels take control of their lives and deal with the problems such as divorce and single parenthood in realistic ways. Thurston (1987) calls this “psychological realism” (p. 56). These struggles are grounded in the everyday, they are emotionally sound, and frequently reflect the perceptions women have of themselves and the world around them. Perhaps this psychological realism, emotional soundness, and the reflection of what happens in a woman’s life can be seen as a reason for the rise of Chick Lit novels, such as Weisberger’s (2003) The Devil Wears Prada and

Fielding’s (1996) Bridget Jones’s Diary, tales where the central thrust of the story is the emotional growth of a female protagonist, or Jane Green’s Hen Lit offering Second Chance, and Thayer’s Matron Lit The Hot Flash Club, which also chart the emotional and physical evolution of an older female protagonist. It is important to note that Chick, Hen, and Matron Lit (or Gray, Granny, and Boomer Lit as it is also known) are three subgenres, along with romance, that fit beneath the umbrella of Women’s Fiction, that is fiction that is written mostly by and for women. Yet what sets these three subgenres apart from romance is the fact they are not romance. A central love story does not usually drive the plot in Chick, Hen, or Matron Lit as it does in a romance novel. This suggests a tacit expectation within the publishing world that, as a female romance reader ages, her reading tastes will progress along some sort of continuum within Women’s Fiction, a continuum that begins with romance and advances to Chick Lit and finally Matron Lit. With this assumption, a female character becomes a mature protagonist, rather than a romance heroine, but it is unclear what or where this expectation stems from, besides the disconcerting idea that ageing, as Uncapher stated, is something to fear and avoid.

Recognition As Crusie (1997) advocates, women read romance to identify the validity of their own lives. Here is a valid truth about every female reader of romance: she will age. Quite a few of these ageing women will still want to read romance to recognise the validity of their own lives and in doing so they will continue to search for heroines with whom they can identify. The United States Census Bureau (2006) indicates there are thirty-eight million women between the ages of 40 and 69 in the United States. The Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006-2007 data shows that women comprise 50.2% of Australia’s population, with the largest proportion of females between the ages of 37.6 and 54. In a poll conducted by the Associated Press and Ipsos (2007), a marketing research company in the US, the leading readers of 2006 were women and older people. According to Romance Writers of America (RWA) market research (2007a), 26.4 percent of all books sold in 2006 were romance novels, which generated 1.36 billion (US) dollars in revenue. The RWA’s (2007b) Romance Literature Statistics on readership states that 78% of all romance readers are female, with 22% between the ages of 53 and 44, 18% between 45 and 54, 11% between 55 and 64, with 6% spanning 65 to 74. Since 57% of female readers are between the ages of 44 and 74, it is not

5 difficult to see why Hen Lit is being touted as the “next big thing.” Romance fiction publisher Harlequin-Mills & Boon (HM&B) believed the data, developing and targeting their NEXT imprint at this ageing female population. The following were guidelines offered for potential NEXT authors on the eHarlequin website (2007): These stories will be warm, entertaining and sometimes even inspiring and will feature women facing a wide variety of life stages: from that first baby at 45 to the first date after divorce or widowhood; from that first day of college—accompanied by your freshman daughter!—to dealing with three generations living in the same house. The books are complex, diverse and reflect living and loving in today's complex, diverse world. These stories will end in a happy and satisfying manner, though not necessarily in a romantic resolution. These will be novels for which romance is a piece of the pie, rather than the whole one.

In 1982 Ballantine Books, discussed in greater detail later in this paper, attempted to target the over-40 demographic of romance readers with the Love and Life imprint, but it wasn’t was until 2004 that Transita Publishing, a UK based publishing house, began offering books geared towards the older female reader. HM&B followed suit with NEXT in 2005, while Warner Books (now part of the Hachette Book Group) started Springboard Press for Baby Boomers and Hyperion began the Voice imprint in 2006. Although Voice targets their imprint at women 35 and older, Transita aims their books at women between 45–75, women who are, as they state on their website, “facing challenges and opportunities of the exciting but often difficult later time of life.” Transita calls itself Women’s Fiction and is aimed “to provide insight, validation, inspiration and encouragement for women in middle age.” Not including Ballantine’s Love and Life imprint, these other lines imply the ground has shifted away from the frothy Chick Lit twenty or thirty-something heroines who are interested in finding the perfect job, shoe and man. It is clear these imprints are not romance. Popular authors such as Marian Keyes and Sophie Kinsella have adapted their work to write successful, beyond-Chick Lit-style heroines in their 40s. With Hen Lit, publishers are catering to more mature readers with themes of life after dating, marriage, infertility and childbirth, the pain of divorce, while Matron Lit tends to deal with an empty nest, menopause, and even widowhood. These are stories that embrace and value older women in a culture that trumpets youth as beauty. In these novels, for women of a certain age, it is about friendships and embracing cellulite, balancing work, family roles, and relationships. It is also about joining book clubs, surviving hot flashes

6 and grumpy husbands too. With these kind of stories one can apply what Nett (1991) posits, that a woman (and heroine) reaching mid-life is faced with particular set of crises instigated by herself, someone or something else, such as motherhood, other family issues, work, as well as the changes of her body. Again, this is not romance. News stories and articles about the growing publishing trend of Hen and Matron Lit have appeared in a number of publications. The Telegraph ran this headline: Love begins at 40 for the new heroines of ‘matron lit,’ (Hastings, 2005) and Newsweek publicised the rise of these subgenres with an article titled Chick Lit Goes Gray. Although Chick Lit is not romance, the article stated, “After decades of romance and relationships, many women no longer want standard tales of starry-eyed first love” (Fishburn, 2005, p. 16). The web resource Writer-On-Line.com offered up Mooove Over Chick Lit—Matron Lit Has Hit the Bookstands! (Bueche, 2005). It is it is noble this demographic of the Boomer and ageing Gen-X audience is being catered to with Hen and Matron Lit. Yet, seemingly embedded within the Hen and Matron labels, and the guidelines HM&B offered for NEXT, and the publication headlines, is the idea settling down to marriage, child-rearing, dealing with onset of menopause, and communing with friends over an empty nest are the only prospects and storylines left for women over forty. These options are only prospects forty-plus women should want. According to the descriptions of NEXT and Transita, middle-aged women are no longer interested in actual romance in these stories. This assumption implies growing up and growing older sucks the desire for romance from a forty, fifty, or sixty year old’s mind whereby life becomes a romance-less Gobi desert. Perhaps this supposition is why Harlequin- Mills & Boon decided to scrap the NEXT line in February 2008. While the NEXT imprint did not generate enough revenue to be continued, it is conceivable the targeted audience of readers familiar with the Harlequin-Mills & Boon name and imprints, readers who expected romance, were disappointed by being given Matron Lit. It is important to again mention the Love and Life imprint put out by Ballantine Books (now part of Random House). Innovative for its time, Love and Life was an attempt to present an older romance heroine with life experience. From July 1982 to December 1983, the Love and Life novels were aimed at the non-traditional romance reader, the forty and over romance reader discussed in this study. Thurston (1987) explains that the publisher’s marketing campaign was doomed to fail because it included unappealing covers and it displayed the line alongside the books on the category romance racks. This led contemporary romance consumers to believe the

7 imprint was a category-style romance. Proper marketing and understanding what appeals to a targeted audience, from covers to display locations, is key to attracting readership. With the rise of Hen and Matron Lit, it is essential to point out the emergence of Romantica and Erotica, two genres that blur sex and romance. Erotica is focused on sexual aspects of a relationship or a woman’s erotic experiences, while Romantica, a phrase coined by online publisher Ellora’s Cave (2008), is defined by them as “any work of literature that is both romantic and sexually explicit in nature.” Although these subgenres fit under the Women’s Fiction heading, yet it is important to reiterate Erotica, Romantica, Women’s Fiction, Hen Lit, and Matron Lit is not romance. In Erotica and Romantica sex plays the pivotal role. With Hen and Matron Lit the male/female relationships are often reduced to loving, supportive marriages in the background of the story, or marriages in trouble—a set of crises Nett (1991) suggests lead a heroine to discover herself (p. 108) or redefine herself. The fact that romance is less inclined to be included in these subgenres shows there is a gap within the romance publishing industry. Women in contemporary romance novels, as Crusie (1997) argues, also deal with a range of issues from births, illness, financial woes, and parenting, just like the heroines in the NEXT, Springboard Press and Transita stories. Transita, Warner Books and Hyperion claim their imprints portray women in roles that challenge, empower, and define females as people not just as a gender. Frequently, the challenges and issues facing a heroine in romance are on par with Chick, Hen, and Matron Lit. While romance fiction entails escapist fantasy, outside the billionaire sheik heroes often found in the category romance subgenre, a good deal of contemporary romance fiction is filled with elements of realism. In Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Dream a Little Dream, the heroine is an out-of-work single mother. Suzanne Enoch’s heroine in Flirting With Danger has a criminal past. In romance, heroines do discover and redefine themselves, just as Nett argues. A heroine’s redefinition and discovery should not be limited by her age nor should she be pushed into another subgenre to become a protagonist simply because she is a year past thirty-nine. As Crusie (1997) argues, romance heroines are cast as capable individuals who “reinforce their instincts about the meaning of the events in their lives” (p. 89). The emotional realism Crusie discusses, such as the struggle between a man and a woman to find love and create a vital life relationship, is as meaningful an issue as child rearing or any other emotional real-life matter. Crusie further states, “romance novels consistently

8 place women in the centre of their narratives, dealing with things that engage their hearts and minds as they struggle to achieve power to protect what they value” (p. 89). Thurston (1987) supports Crusie’s assertions by suggesting that romance, from historical to contemporary, often contains the genuine problems women face. This means, while a heroine falls in love, the fantasy of romance can, and does, address issues with real-life substance while realistically highlighting the emotions involved in both. In effect, the romantic fantasy serves as a means to engage with the issues and leads to that emotionally satisfying, optimistic ending. With this realistic interplay of life issues and emotion that exists within the fantasy of romance fiction, there does not seem to be a valid reason for a heroine to be age-limited in the romance genre or restricted to roles as wives, grandmas, or menopausal women who join clubs. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2005), people are marrying later in life. In 2005, for first marriages, the average ages were 32 for a man and 29.7 for woman. The average age for a man remarrying was 44, and 41 for a woman. With an ageing population, many men and women may find that they are starting over in life after forty. Looking for and finding love is a part of starting over, or just beginning, no matter what age. There is no rationale to maintain that romance is only a small part of life, or support the ageist assumption only young people fall in love. According to Kehl (1988), a woman can, and does, age with grace, independence, fortitude, and passion. Gilles Seidel (1992) maintains that romance novels have changed the notion of what heroines can be, and what they can do, including getting older. Asked when someone was considered to be ‘aged,’ participants in a survey published by the Australian Psychological Society (Matthews, Linder, & Collins, 2007) responded that attitude, levels of fitness, and health determined ‘aged.’ A study by the American Association of Retired People (Montenegro, 2003) showed that the images of divorce and perceptions of older unmarried women from ‘old maids’ to ‘emancipated feminists’ has changed attitudes about ageing, dating, romance, and sex. The American Association of Retired People (AARP) study also found that middle-aged people date, are interested in, and have, sex. If proof is needed that people older than thirty-five think about sex, in an Newsweek (Krankowitz, 2006) interview with Helen Gurley Brown, the eighty-three year old, one-time editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, author of Sex and the Single Girl (the 1962 book that paved the way for today’s Chick Lit and heralded the sexual revolution for women), says “Sex is such an enjoyable activity at any age, why delegate it to only the young?” (p. 50).

An article regarding the current trends in romance publishing appeared in the Romance Writers Report (Jacobs, 2008), stating that ageing readers are being catered to—and not just by Matron Lit—“Publishers also recognize ageing romance readers with large print versions of books” (p. 31). Readers wearing glasses will be pleased they can now read the large print sign that says “no sex after forty.” Whatever the case for the ageist bias that seemingly exists within the romance industry, with studies such as the AARP’s and census data highlighting a burgeoning demographic of prospective readers, it can be suggested that publishers, normally so astute to trends, have misjudged what the older reader of romance wants. This lack of age-appropriate romance may be seen as a gap in the publishing industry, a void that sits between contemporary romance and the subgenres of Hen Lit, and Matron Lit. While Ballantine’s Love and Life imprint and Harlequin-Mills & Boon’s NEXT misfired, the opportunity to increase romance readership, and perhaps increase publishing house profits, may come from catering for and marketing to an ageing reader who is still hungry for romance and sex.

Still selling sex It seems apparent that many people buy into the illusion that beauty is bound by age. Men, and women especially, have a use-by date, and age is almost treated as a disease. What is worse is that the illusion is perpetuated from within the publishing industry. Megan Records, an Editor with Kensington Books, made comments in an interview with The Romance Writers Report (Castell, 2007). She gave her thoughts on older heroines, saying, “It’s a nice idea in theory, but in practice it just does not sell well. Simply put, blood pressure medications and Viagra aren't sexy.” This may be true, but there is no reason to focus on erectile dysfunction and beta-blockers, which are unappealing at any age, in a romance. To clarify, this is not a discussion about Chick Lit, Hen, or Matron Lit, Romantica or Erotica. Nor is it a dialogue about some sort of mid-life sexual re- awakening, or highlighting the sexual interaction between the middle-aged hero and heroine, which is what Records seems to fear. This argument is, quite specifically, about romance and the basic elements of a romance novel: the love story and emotionally satisfying optimistic ending. Sex, while potentially descriptive in a romance novel, within the context of a romance novel it is more about the emotional connection, the feelings as two people join body and soul, than a running commentary

10 of saggy breasts and impotence. At 15, 35, and 55, a first kiss is still a first kiss. It is still exciting and toe-curling. As disappointing as it is to read of an editor who was unwilling to realise the potential goldmine of mid-aged readers, it is surprising that an editor with a major publisher of romance fiction forgot the primary focus of any romance is the love story, not the sexual details or even the inclusion of realistic social issues. While it is probable Records would not be interested in publishing A Basic Renovation, she has given credence to the close-minded, age-limited convention that appears to exist within the industry. At its very core, what drives a romance is falling in love, the developing relationship between a man and a woman. What drives A Basic Renovation is the emerging relationship of its hero and heroine. While sex may play a part in the tale, it is not the primary impetus of the story and certainly not the core of the romance. It can be argued that a good writer can create a beautiful romance regardless of the heroine’s age because what is most compelling is the emphasis on the relationship, the emotional connection, the little things that draw two people together–and keep them apart–as well as that HEA. It is a fact women can, and do, fall in love after thirty-five. It is my assertion that if romance novels are imbued with the kind of realism a reader can identify with, if an author writes a romance that happens to have a forty-plus heroine who sees herself as a vibrant sexual being, as a capable woman on an emotional journey, struggling to form a relationship with a man who changes and grows as she does, her age is not a problematic issue or roadblock to publication.

The change of life Mussell (1997) has suggested that romance has transformed into a genre full of subgenres that borrow elements from other forms of popular fiction, such as horror and science fiction. As romance novels continue to outsell other genres of fiction, in Women’s Fiction, Chick Lit’s once-prominent position has been supplanted by paranormal romance, like Charlaine Harris’ Dead Until Dark. Paranormal romance is interesting because it blends otherworldly, horror and science fiction aspects with romance, in a fashion similar to the way suspense has combined with romance. One might say romance and the urban angst of Chick Lit have been married to vampires, werewolves, witches, and fairies. Theoretically there is something analogous behind the fantasy of vampires and the anti-ageing movement that seems to favour younger women over middle-aged women in romance novels.

Hollywood has begun to understand something the publishing industry does not; millions of Baby Boomers (and the entering-their-forties Gen-Xers) are not zombies. The romantic comedy film Must Love Dogs, based on Claire Cook’s novel, starred a forty-something heroine, and it was a box office hit. Director Nancy Myers’ Something's Gotta Give, the story of a beautiful fifty-something falling in love, was successful as well. Even the Sex and the City movie addressed the issues of ageing by allowing familiar Chick Lit characters to age and wrestle with perceptions of love and romance. The heroines in each of these films carry around the kind of emotional baggage one expects a more mature woman to have, which gives them a wider appeal as romantic leads. Since these films were successful, this corroborates the assertion audiences are ready and willing to accept more mature heroines. It also shows middle- age does not mean a woman is one of the walking-dead. Bearing this in mind, it could be argued this continuing marriage of subgenre and romance would be also open to a union between romance and mid-life. With the marketing misfire of Ballantine’s Love and Life, as well as Harlequin- Mills & Boon’s defunct NEXT line it is reasonable to suggest that publishing companies change their advertising strategies to better attract the over-forty romance consumer. Perhaps by observing Transita’s willingness to continue with stories about women with life experience and combining what Thurston (1987) called the “psychological realism” of Ballantine’s Love and Life imprint, trends in romance publishing will change again. Women getting older will continue to search for a heroine and subjects they can identify with in a fantasy, that is, they will still turn to romance. Again, as Juhasz (1988) contends, “as it happens to the heroine, so it happens to the reader” (p. 240), or as I reason, “as it happens to the reader so it happens to the heroine,” because the reader identifies with, and lives through, the heroine. Boomers and ageing Gen-X women who read romance will still want to escape into romance novels, but the escapist fantasy will feature an older heroine.

Standing on a soapbox An argument calling for change and recognition of an existing audience is not a new matter. Debate has been going on in cyberspace for some time. The internet is a lively place when it comes to the topic of romance novels, especially when it pertains to reading within the genre. While internet discussions are not always of a scholarly nature, they highlight and confirm opinion for acknowledgment of older romance

12 heroines. According to a recent poll at “The Readers Soapbox” on the website NewAndUsedBooks.com, the majority of romance readers from 35 to 79 wanted stories with heroine forty and over, as they felt an older heroine with more life experience, and a less than perfect body, made a more enjoyable story that was easier to identify with and relate to. In addition to that forty-plus heroine, the respondents mentioned their desire for these older characters to have a romantic love life. On the forum page of All About Romance, author Karyn Witmer (2006) makes a case about the invisible or forgotten demographic of romance readers and the need for more age-appropriate heroines. At The Romance Reader website forum, Lesley Dunlap (2001) protests against age discrimination in romance novels and the unwritten rule that after 39, heroines suddenly become frumpy and sexless. Like Witmer, Dunlap sets out a plea to publishers to end the institutional stereotype that romance is only for the young. There was further discussion about the demand for “hot older women” on the smartbitchestrashybooks.com website that was almost overwhelmingly in favour of “women of age.” At murdershewrites.com, romance author Karin Tabke ran a discussion survey about the potential of older heroines. While few participants noted their age, the majority of the responses were in favour of an older heroine. One respondent commented that older women would have more emotional depths to mine, which would make for a more layered conflict in a romance. Another remarked on how women are waiting longer to marry and have children. One stated the vapidness of younger characters wore her out. Several bemoaned the fact they could not identify with younger heroines, and that publishers were slow to catch on to the potential of older readers. An important discussant comment mentioned the international company Unilever and their Dove Pro-Age range of products. Unilever recognises the specific demographic of maturing women. They understand if they tell a woman over forty how attractive she still is, and market products to her directly, they will win new customers and turn a hefty profit. Discussions at the websites Murdershewrites and Smartbitches made it clear that while romance readers like fantasy and escapism in romance, the same readers are searching for realism, for truth, for something they can relate to, just as Crusie (1997) reasons. If publishers of romance want to tap into a market and increase their profit margins, they need to understand and recognise the largest demographic of readers. It would be a positive and potentially lucrative step to cater to those who are shamelessly having sex at mid-life, to acquire authors who write books with heroines who are age-

13 appropriate, a need for romance rather than the Hen and Matron Lit that is being offered as the next step in a woman’s life. If a multi-national company that sells soap (i.e., Unilever) knows enough to cater to this goldmine of customers, perhaps romance will soon follow suit. Although 26.4% of all books sold in 2006 were romance, with women comprising the bulk of readers, there still exists an immense bias against novels written by and for women, both by feminist scholars (Radway, 1984; Snitow, 2001) and literary critics. As Talbot (1997) reports, the genre is a target for ridicule by the non-romance reading public and often romance readers themselves. Many novels dealing with women and purported women’s issues are harshly criticised and lumped into the broad category of “Women’s Fiction,” which includes romance, Chick Lit, Hen and Matron Lit. Yardley (2006) proposes that the last three subgenres cover the changing face and bodies of chronologically older protagonists who still maintain that Chick “hip attitude.” Attitude is fine for some, but many readers are interested in a 21st Century life beyond Chick Lit, Hen, and Matron Lit, beyond where heroines have morphed into Soccer moms, joined knitting and book clubs, or cope with the trials of single parenthood, beyond where they are bitter ex-wives exacting revenge on bastard spouses (as in Olivia Goldsmith’s First Wives Club), beyond the heroine moaning about menopause with her best friends. Thurston (1987) suggests that the lack of romance heroines over forty may stem from the way editors in romance publishing interpret data from romance readers and marketing departments within the publishing houses. The way a new line, such as NEXT, is marketed and audience-tested might lead to misinterpretation. There may be negative comments about the cover art, or reader feedback on a novel that features an over-forty heroine that states the story contains trite sounding-dialogue. The editor might interpret this criticism as a sweeping reason for not accepting any romance stories with heroines beyond a certain age. This error of judgment does not mean romance is completely absent for the mid-life reader. There are some successful novels with middle-aged heroines. Jenny Crusie’s Fast Women and Anyone But You both feature heroines forty and older. Jeanne Ray serves up a sixty-something romance, in Julie & Romeo. While it is Historical-time-travel romance, rather than contemporary romance, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series where the hero and heroine age from their twenties to their fifties, and still manage to scorch the pages with their passionate love and lovemaking.

The All About Romance (AAR) website lists 86 books (see Appendix A) that feature romance novels with heroines older than the under-thirty-five norm. While not exhaustive, the booklist is divided into 34 thirty/forty-something books, 37 forty- something books, 13 fifty-something books, and 2 sixty-something novels, Jeanne Ray’s Julie & Romeo and Jenny Crusie’s Trust Me On This—as a secondary romance subplot featuring secondary characters. According to RWA (2008b) romance literature statistics, out of the 8,090 romance books published in 2007, 47.5% were contemporary romance novels. This figure includes contemporary category romance, which comprised 25.7% of contemporary sales, while non-category contemporary makes up 21.8% of the total. Appendix A includes both category, non-category contemporary, and other romance subgenres such as paranormal, historical, and romantic suspense. Although not exhaustive, the AAR list highlights the gap between the small number of romances published featuring older heroines and the huge volume of all other romance novels published in 2007. Further investigation as to why the books on the AAR site were chosen for publication is warranted, but this exegesis lacks the scope to examine the reasons for their success. As stated, the list notes instances where older women are included, as secondary characters, in subplots that involve a romance element, but this gives the impression that being relegated to a subplot in a story about younger heroine has devalued a woman of a certain age. The demotion suggests older heroines are no longer attractive enough, sexual enough, or interested enough in romance to be a primary character in a romance novel, and this has pushed the more-mature heroine not just into a subplot, but into another subgenre more concerned with nurturing, knitting, and battling the hot flashes of Matron Lit. Other publications, such as the American magazine More and Australia’s Elevator cater to female Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers, while Hollywood and savvy television executives have also paid attention to their audience-base. For example, the majority of the characters on the television show Desperate Housewives are over forty, and there is a strong element of romance in that popular series. Yet, the average Harlequin-Mills & Boon heroine on a quest for love is well under forty. Given the evidence of Hollywood’s openness to catering to a specific older audience, it is logical to argue no matter what age, a person can effectively deal with growing up and growing older, and still want to be swept away into the fantasy of romance. It seems natural to push the envelope of convention in the romance publishing industry because the Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Grups—what Adam Sternberg of New York Magazine calls

15 the grown-ups entering mid-life—are the ones who are redefining adulthood. It can be theorised that this redefinition, the redefinition Nett (1991) proposes, will eventually spill over into romance publishing and create a demand for mid-life romance novels, or a least a recognition of the audience.

The exegetical romance scholar A Masters degree by Research was a challenge much like the parallel process of writing a novel. I found myself faced with taking on a post-graduate degree that required me to submit a pitch for a novel I was going to write—complete with a synopsis. As a writer who does not plan, plot, or outline anything for a story, this went against the grain of how I write; it was contrary to my creativity. For performance- based research, I had to combine the creative endeavour of writing a novel with something scholarly, in a way that communicated my contribution to knowledge. Yet how was writing a romance novel geared towards the middle-aged reader going to do that? I simply began writing the same way I usually did, in scenes and pieces, like bits of a jigsaw puzzle that slowly fit together to reveal some kind of picture that would turn into a story. This seat-of-the-pants method of writing would reveal a focal point on which I could base my research. It became novel first, research question second. If what I wanted to read was missing from the shelves of romance novels, then, as Crusie (2003) suggests, the things I loved in romance reading should be the things I defined in the romance I wrote. That is to say, because only a few authors are writing the forty-plus heroine I was after, then it was up to me to write the kind of novel I wanted to read. Since there seemed to be a gap between romance and Hen/Matron Lit, it was logical to bridge this space with a subgenre publishers might call Mid Rom as it blended the fantasy of romance with the real-life elements of middle-age so often included in the other two subgenres. Although I wrote a romance that appealed to me, it must be noted that I began without an agenda, without the knowledge I would be championing the middle-aged romance heroine. In fact, I had written seven chapters of A Basic Renovation before realising I had a focal point for my research. My academic background consists of a Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics, a field embedded in the Social Sciences. My qualitative research experience was limited to ethnographies examining gender differences in the conversation styles of men and women, and two years work as a Research Assistant in QUT’s School of Learning and Development, nearly eight years ago. Back then I crunched numbers and transcribed

16 hours of audio and video-taped interviews for a research study where a small qualitative aspect joined a larger quantitative component. For the most part, my framework regarding research came from a mostly scientific, quantitative perspective where statistics were the important outcome. Ryan (2005) states that a method might need to follow a similar path to the Social Sciences, where it tries to draw back from the personal to the general. The ideas and the style of creative-led research can be strengthened in a base that is recognisable in the academic community. Since I had some experience with ethnographies, I knew I this method could apply to practice-based research since my writing contains a piece of sociocultural observation. However, a case study was more applicable, and this was bolstered by Haseman’s (2006) “A Manifesto for Performative Research,” which led me to understand I needed to write my novel and focus on what I saw as an “enthusiasm of practice” (Haseman, 2006. p. 3). That is, writing the older heroines for an older audience. While there is a paucity of scholarly work on the middle-aged romance reader, from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Your Romance Published (Beard, 2000) to Writing A Romance Novel For Dummies (Wainger, 2004), there are a number of how- to, DIY books, tip-sheets, and websites that promote and encourage the craft of writing fiction. Resources for the novelist of romance and Chick Lit are especially plentiful. There are “cheat sheets” outlining how to plot, create conflict, and edit. There are titles like The Romance Writers Phrasebook (Kent, 1984) which gives models on constructing the perfect romantic sentence, and See Jane Write: A Girl’s Guide to Writing Chick Lit (Mylnowski & Jacobs 2006), which guides the writer though creating Chick Lit. All of these resources are designed to inspire the words to flow from the writer’s mind to paper, to assist the writer in the creative process, and lead to commonly accepted success, that is, mainstream publication. The conventions of romance maintained by the how-to guides and the RWA (and Romance Writers of Australia) were applicable to my performance-led study. As I wrote A Basic Renovation, I integrated my own writing methods with the statutes of romance, more or less applying the basics in the how-to-do-it directives and “rules” of romance. This contributed to knowledge by highlighting a need to change an unreasonable convention that exists within the romance publishing industry: the underrepresentation of older heroines and romance novels aimed at the older reader. Once I had settled on a thesis question, I developed the literature review and continued

17 writing A Basic Renovation, but I hit an unexpected hurdle with what Brien (2006, p. 54) refers to as the “interlinked components of creative practice.” While I had examined a number of how-to books, listened to peer discussions about voice and deep point of view, attended workshops at the Romance Writers of Australia conferences in 2007 and 2008, and participated in master classes by Anne Stuart and Jenny Crusie, combined, these activities caused a sudden lack of confidence in my abilities as a novelist. Specifically, because I did not do what these how-to books and successful authors espoused, since I had no idea what deep point of view was, and I did not put what I wrote under the microscope to establish theme, I faltered in a way I had never experienced. The anxiety only lasted a short time and once it dissipated it actually clarified something important about creative research. While case studies can be complex due to the various sources of data, or the lack thereof, I applied the case study method because it deals better with real-life and can explain a situation without being bogged down in statistics and scientific language. Yin (1984) defines case study as an empirical inquiry that investigates a phenomenon in real-life context. It is a parallel process that is easily applied to a performance-based study such as writing a novel. Using well-established methodologies familiar to academics and professionals was directly applicable, as Gray (1996) suggests, since, as ephemeral as the creative process is, creative writing occurs in a real-life context. A bout of anxiety was a real-life moment applicable to the process involved in writing A Basic Renovation and it fits with the unruly nature of Haseman’s “enthusiasm of practice” (2006, p. 3). In addition, using methods such as observations, peer workshops, discussions with other writers, and personal experience, is part of undertaking the “artistic audit” suggested by Haseman (2006, p. 8). As Ryan (2005) further describes, drawing on my own knowledge, that is my experience with self-doubt, an inimitable challenge inherent in creativity, connects my work to the wider pool of human experience. Moreover, Ryan advocates that, while this case study follows the real-life evolution of a forty-plus Mid Rom novel, the fact it focuses on a particular audience means it also offers the possibility for further discussion in the wider community of the publishing world, not just in the realm of Masters research. Considering these various elements, this study is, in its very nature, Performative Research.

Enthusiastic practice For me, writing has been a sole endeavour, one where I exist in my own imaginative universe. I write in scenes and pieces, without plotting, without using a synopsis or outline. Analysis has little to do with my storytelling. Besides being an intuitive writer, I also read voraciously. Brien (2006) supports the idea reading plays a role in a writer’s creative process. The act of reading has had an impact on how I think a story is told and how I craft the stories I write. The reason I wrote a romantic comedy is because I enjoy reading them. The more I read, the better equipped I am to write. So how did I approach writing A Basic Renovation as a Mid Rom romance? First of all, genres bend and evolve as society does, tastes change, as do characters, but readers, particularly female readers always seem to enjoy identifying with the hero or heroine of whatever novel they are reading, be it in a vicarious psychological manner or a narrative way that possibly reflects what they have experienced, or would like to experience in their lives. This identification fits with the Reader-response school of literary criticism, as the romance reader would be seen to be reacting to the emotional struggle in the novel they are reading. Romance writers, romance writing guide books such as Wainger’s (2004) Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies, as well as romance writing workshops all discuss the importance of fostering the reader’s identification with the heroine. Wainger (2004) suggests the heroine is the reader’s alter-ego, the driving force of what keeps the reader engaged in the story because what happens to the heroine also happens to the reader. Kinsale (1992) proposes the reader is androgynous, identifying with both the heroine and hero. I am no different. I place myself squarely in the heroine’s shoes as I read—that is, unless there heroine is a twenty or thirty- something Bridget Jones clone. Tan (2003) suggests she puts herself into her character’s shoes as she writes. Part of the joy of reading and writing for me is being to identify with characters, to put myself in their shoes, as Kinsale and Tan both affirm. Next, in the introduction to This Is Not Chick Lit, Merrick (2006) states, “Chick lit reduces the complexity of the human experience” (p. ), which one might take to mean Chick Lit leaves out certain aspects, such as growing up, having families, and growing older, and leaves that to Hen and Matron Lit. At the same time, Ferris and Young (2006) discuss Chick Lit as a part of new Women’s Fiction, a part that offers a more realistic view of contemporary issues of 21st Century dating and single life. Using Thurston’s (1987) argument, that romance readers want stories with a wider complexity

19 of plot and characterisation within the fantasy of romance, it can be hypothesised, that Hen, Matron Lit and contemporary romance could be included in Ferris and Young’s discussion, since they frequently offer complex characters and realistic views of modern day. Romance novels with plus-sized heroines offer the romance reader realistic characteristics they can identify with, especially since weight seems to be a part of 21st Century life issues for so many women. Fowler (1991) suggests romance defines and redefines what acceptable in the present. Theoretically, to satisfy a genre of romance fiction that feminists (Dubino, 1989; Modleski, 1982; Radway, 1984) and literary critics who often condemn romance novels, including “real” issues, such as weight and ageing, in contemporary romance may serve to counter the frequently chided “bodice-ripper” label that is often applied to romance of all kind. Young, in a recent interview in the Buffalo News (Vogel, 2008), stated that older women are frustrated by Chick Lit because they feel it betrayed some basic tenets of feminism, which has been a complaint about romance novels for decades. Besides taking umbrage with the word “chick,” Young suggests the older generation does not identify with Chick Lit protagonists and feels betrayed by a character more worried about her appearance than her education. While I am a feminist, my sense of feminist betrayal stems from mid-life aged romance heroines being shunted into Hen and Matron Lit, from the fact that the realistic aspect of ageing is being left out of romance novel, and from a fear of middle-aged sex. A Basic Renovation is not a novel that addresses topics like sagging breasts and penile enhancement drugs, things often joked about as people age. It does not avoid the matter of ageing the way Uncapher (2006) suggests, nor is ageing an issue. Lesley and Dominic, the heroine and hero in A Basic Renovation, might be concerned about getting older, they may mention it, or notice things changing, but they do not obsess over it. The aim was to create a romance I could relate to, a romance with middle-aged characters just as vibrant and exciting as their younger counterparts. These scenes were written early, before the focus of this study was fully developed, before I discovered sex for romance heroines beyond the age of 35 was an issue for some publishers. Though Records would probably not approve of Lesley, the heroine in A Basic Renovation, having sex with Dominic, the hero, her concerns are addressed in the manuscript. Without going into detail, the sex scenes between the couple come from the standpoint of sensations and emotions. Their conversation during lovemaking as well as their own internal dialogue heightens the emotional connection they share. Actions may

20 be depicted, but there was no need to describe body parts in any graphic way, nor were there descriptions of drooping backsides or wrinkly bits that might register high on someone’s, for the lack of a better expression, ick factor. By coincidence, I dealt with another aspect of the ick factor in my novel. Dominic’s sixteen year old son is well aware his father has a sex life, while Lesley’s sixty-eight year old mother, Gina, finds it difficult to accept the fact her nonagenarian father may be having sex with a local elderly widow. As with ageing, cancer, or alcoholism, many people like to pretend it does not happen, but in real life, parents, no matter what age they may be, have had and still have sex. To restate the point, the love story is what is central to a romance, not the sexual details or the age of the characters engaging in the sex. Finally, writing A Basic Renovation was not my first Mid Rom novel. My previous Mid Rom novel, Driving in Neutral, garnered three rejection letters from two agents and a major publisher who had requested the full manuscript. While full of praise, each rejection stated something similar. No one knew how to market Driving in Neutral, even though I made it clear it was a romance aimed directly at the middle-aged romance reader. Since I had written the kind of story I wanted to read, with a heroine I could relate to with the idiosyncrasies and emotional baggage one would expect to find in someone in their forties, as a result of Driving in Neutral being rejected while I was writing A Basic Renovation, I had to step back and scrutinise my work in a totally new way to establish if there was something I had overlooked in writing both novels. Close inspection of A Basic Renovation allowed me to see I had combined the core fundamentals of romance with some of the irreverent elements of Chick Lit, while I left out the menopausal, empty-nest angst of Hen Lit and Matron Lit. In A Basic Renovation, Lesley and Dominic fall in love despite the fact they have crossed an imaginary line that, for some, says it is all over for them. Both characters have life experience and emotional baggage few twenty or thirty-year olds ever do. As Crusie (1997) suggests, the characters’ sense of self worth is reinforced by giving them what she refers to as a psychologically accurate portrayal of their lives. Regis (2003) states romance is a species or subgenre of comedy. Romantic comedy is a fine stage to stand upon for a psychologically sound depiction because life, love, and relationships, although serious, should not always be taken seriously. Being able to laugh at yourself, others, and the ridiculous situations we all face in life, makes the romance more accessible to women—and men. Lesley and Dominic make fun of each

21 other and make fun of themselves. They are able to find humour in the absurdity they face. Yet, while the story is comedic, it does not shy away from being edgy or injecting real-life difficulties into the narrative fantasy. The characters argue, deal with family members and prejudice, they make love and make mistakes while attempting to forge a meaningful relationship that will last a lifetime. A Basic Renovation was written with the assistance of a critique cohort consisting of fellow romance writers engaged in the Master of Arts (romance Writing) within the School of Creative Industries, Queensland University of Technology. My colleagues were gracious enough to offer suggestions, criticism, and support through a chapter-by-chapter critique. None of them found it difficult to accept a middle-aged heroine, nor did the judges in The Romance Writers of Australia’s Emerald and Single Title (and Loving It) contests, which I entered with the first three chapters of A Basic Renovation. Critique feedback sheets from several judges said they were pleased to finally see an older heroine.

Keeping the faith Finn (1988) maintains women’s magazines, movies, and fiction (especially romance fiction) reinforce current ideas of females, from motherhood to sexuality. Thurston (1987) argues that to single out an average reader to fit the romance mould is misleading and frequently incorrect. Romance authors have it in their power to change the ideas of how people see older women, or fit romance heroines into a single mould. In fact, as Stacey and Pearce (1995) suggest the ongoing success of romance depends on its ability to adapt. There is a tendency to place romance beneath the umbrella term Women’s Fiction, since it is written mostly by women for women. Yet romance novels stand apart from the Women’s Fiction of Chick, Hen, and Matron Lit since romance is focused on a central love story which forms the foundation of the novel, rather than the emotional evolution of a female protagonist. In addition to the central love story, romance novels frequently contain similar matters found in these other subgenres, while these three other subgenres often contain a variety of relationships, the aspect that distances them from romance. Earlier, I suggested the term Mid Rom. However, it is enough to call the romance novels that feature older heroines simply romance without making age an issue or by classifying romance with older heroines as a separate subgenre. Romance novels featuring plus-sized heroines, as in Susan Donovan’s He Loves Lucy, are not typically

22 classified as plus-sized romance. As with Uncapher and Records, there are those who suggest romance is for the young, or reserved for women on the front side of thirty-five, but the fact remains a romance heroine, despite her body-mass-index, or age, faces troubling issues in life as she searches for love and a Happily Ever After. Despite her age, an older romance heroine will also face troubling issues in life as she searches for love, but she will do so with a lot more baggage, and even more experience. Times and bodies may change, but boy still meets girl and romance still has a Happily Ever After. Reading is intensely personal and subjective. While creative writing is quite an individualistic activity, as part of performance based research, this paper examined the evolutionary process of writing a romance novel targeted at a specific demographic: the over forty reader. The study shows this particular demographic is underrepresented within the romance publishing industry and provides evidence that mid-life romance readers want mid-life romance novels featuring mid-life heroines. In carrying out this investigation, I extracted information from my own knowledge base and combined it with what Ryan (2005) suggests is a wider pool of human experience, as well as created an enjoyable, saleable novel despite the age of the heroine. While this examination identified a gap that exists in the romance publishing industry, there are other issues that warrant further investigation, such as the role of the non-traditional female protagonist; a closer, more thoughtful examination of the books listed in Appendix A; as well as a deeper analysis to better ascertain if the underrepresentation of older heroines is due to the publisher, the public, or both. However, these subjects are limited by, and outside the scope of, this exegesis. While the impact of this enquiry cannot be known until my novel and a number of others featuring older heroines are published, it is likely this study will generate some discussion about the need for a broader representation of age in romance novels. After all, as depicted in A Basic Renovation, from 15 to 95, the search for love is a powerful psychological imperative and integral part of life, regardless of the number of candles on the birthday cake.

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Appendix A

All About Romance Book List 2007

Thirty-Something (mix of 30/40-Something) When a Man Loves a Woman (2000) by Alina Adams A Counterfeit Betrothal (1992) by Mary Balogh—Regency A Paladin of Souls (2003) by Lois McMaster Bujold—Alternate Reality Shards of Honor (1985) by Lois McMaster Bujold—Alternate Reality Armour against Love (1945) by Barbara Cartland Tatya's Story (1984) by Dinah Dean—European Historical Coast Road (1998) by Barbara Delinsky More than Friends (1993) by Barbara Delinsky The Summer I Dared (2004) by Barbara Delinsky A Woman Betrayed (1991) by Barbara Delinsky Whoever I Am (1982) by Eileen Dewhurst—Mystery Better than Before (1992) by Judith Duncan The Monk Downstairs (2002) by Tim Farrington Living Dangerously (1995) by Katie Fforde Wild Designs (1997) by Katie Fforde Siren Song (1984) by Roberta Gellis—Medieval Just Like Old Times (1992) by Jennifer Greene Christmas Eve Marriage (2004) by Jessica Hart Her Ready Made Family (2007) by Jessica Hart Kiss Me While I Sleep (2004) by Linda Howard Son of the Morning (1997) by Linda Howard—Alternate Reality Breaking Away (1991) by Penny Jordan A Shared Dream (2001) by Jayne Ann Krentz Alicia (1992) by Laura Matthews—Regency Something Shady (1995) by Pamela Morsi—American Historical Dedication (2005) by Janet Mullany—Regency First Kiss (2000) by Marilyn Pappano The Rake (1994) by Mary Jo Putney—European Historical After All These Years (1984) by Kathleen Gilles Seidel The Silver Nutmeg (1947) by Margery Sharp—European Historical

Lady Delafont's Dilemma (2000) by Donna Simpson—Regency Scandalous Miranda (2005) by Susan Sizemore—European Historical Fathers and Other Strangers (2003) by Karen Templeton Never Been Kissed (2001) by Linda Turner

Forty-Something Anyone But You (1996) by Jennifer Crusie Fast Women (2001) by Jennifer Crusie For Auld Lang Syne (1991) by Pamela Browning Eve's Wedding Knight (1999) by Kathleen Creighton The Basque Swallow (1991) by Leigh Daniels Late and Soon (1943) by E.M. Delderfield—European Historical Full Bloom (1994) by Stacey Dennis There Is a Season (1999) by Margot Early Comfort and Joy in Santa's Little Helpers (1995) by Patricia Gardner Evans Luring Lucy in Hot and Bothered (2001) by Lori Foster A Breath of Snow and Ashes (2005) by Diana Gabaldon—Alternate Reality The Drums of Autumn (1997) by Diana Gabaldon—Alternate Reality The Fiery Cross (2002) by Diana Gabaldon—Alternate Reality Voyager (1994) by Diana Gabaldon—Alternate Reality The Star King (2000) by Susan Grant—Alternate Reality Contracted: Corporate Wife (2005) by Jessica Hart Marriage Reunited (2006) by Jessica Hart The Affair (2003) by Sandy Hingston—European Historical Love for the Matron (1962) by Elizabeth Houghton Just in Time (2003) by Judith Lansdowne—European Historical Only Yesterday (1989) by Syrell Rogovin Leahy Cold Tea on a Hot Day (2001) by Curtiss Ann Matlock Love in a Small Town (1997) by Curtiss Ann Matlock Stitch in Snow (1984) by Anne McCafferty Suburban Renewal (2004) by Pamela Morsi The Fourth Wall (1979) by Barbara Paul—Mystery Down in New Orleans (1996) by Heather Graham Pozzessere Black Rose (2005) by Nora Roberts

A Piece of Heaven (2003) by Barbara Samuel Scandalous Lovers (2007) by Robin Schone—European Historical Count on Me (2001) by Kathryn Shay A Matchmaker's Christmas (2002) by Donna Simpson—Regency Sweet Hush (2003) by Deborah Smith Bygones (1992) by LaVyrle Spencer Home Song (1995) by LaVyrle Spencer Nerd in Shining Armor (2003) by Vicki Lewis Thompson (secondary romance) One Fine Day (1994) by Theresa Weir

Fifty-Something A New Lu (2005) by Laura Castoro Bachelor's Puzzle (1992) by Ginger Chambers French Twist (1998) by Margot Dalton Remember Love (1992) by Stacey Dennis Return to Love (1993) by Martha Gross Hot Blood (1996) by Charlotte Lamb Heaven, Texas (1995) by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (secondary romance) This Heart of Mine (2001) by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (secondary romance) Natural Born Charmer (2007) By Susan Elizabeth Phillips (secondary romance) Step-Ball-Change (2002) by Jeanne Ray Familiar Stranger (2001) by Sharon Sala The Best Medicine (1993) by Janet Lane Walters Tomorrow's Promise (1992) by Clara Wimberly

Sixty-Something Julie and Romeo (2000) by Jeanne Ray Trust Me on This (1997) by Jennifer Crusie (secondary romance)