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It's Romance Week at Goodreads!
Can you feel the heat? It's Romance Week at Goodreads! In honor of the launch of our very first Romance Newsletter (read it here), we've declared February 9th - February 13th into a special week dedicated to love stories. More than 100 authors have already joined in! We're talking bestsellers such as Sylvia Day, J.R. Ward, and Jennifer Armentrout, and they have two big surprises in store for you:
Ask the Author: Every single person on this list is answering questions from readers all week long! Want to know more about your favorite character? Wondering how they get in the mood to write a love scene? Just ask!
Discover New Authors: Romance writers are also Romance readers. We've asked all of our participating authors to add their favorite books by other writers to their shelves. Check their Author pages to get more books for your Want to Read list!
Are you a Romance writer who wants to get in on the action? It's easy! Just enable Ask the Author, shelve your favorite Romance books, and use #ROMANCEWEEK15 to chime in on social media! We'll be adding more authors to this complete list of romance authors taking questions throughout the week.
During Romance Week the love is everywhere!
Listopia: Check out the list of featured authors' books, and add your favorite Romance book of all time here.
Groups: Looking for fellow readers who can speak the language of love? Check out the featured section on the groups page for some possibilities, like the Romance Readers Reading Challenge group, the Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy fans, and the Wholesome Romance: Harlequin Heartwarming club.
Giveaways: What's better than a love story? A free love story! This week and every week you can find all of our Romance giveaways here.
Yearning for more? Take a look at our list of the Top 100 Romance Books! All of these books are rated 4.0 and above on Goodreads, so you know they'll stoke your literary lust. What's the one Romance book that you think everyone must read? Share your pick in the comments below or vote on the Listopia, and remember, a book lover never goes to bed alone!
"Romance is the glamour which turns the dust of everyday life into a golden haze." —Elinor Glyn
Ask these glamour-makers how they weave their magic! All of these authors and more are taking questions via our Ask the Author feature.
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
EROTICA
HISTORICAL ROMANCE
NEW ADULT
PARANORMAL ROMANCE
SUSPENSE
Comments Showing 1-50 of 74 (74 new)
message 1:
by
Emma Sea
(new)
Feb 09, 2015 12:26AM
nice LGBTQI representation there, Goodreads /s
flag
Emma Sea wrote: "nice LGBTQI representation there, Goodreads /s"I know, I was waiting for at least an M/M category to appear.
It's 2015 and this is seriously unacceptable. Not one lesbian romance author? Not one m/m?
I was also wondering if any LGBTQI romances will appear in some of the categories.It's really disappointing to say the least :(
What a boring list! These all seem heterosexual romances.:(
Looks like Lex Valentine's featured book is M/M and a few of the other authors have LGBT stories or at least stories with LGBT side characters, so there is at least a tiny bit of representation. Would be nice to see more though.
Way to be behind times. I'm disappointed that GR is still marginalizing LGBT authors, some of whom have books with more ratings than some of the authors listed here.
Julia ♥Duncan♥ wrote: "Looks like Lex Valentine's featured book is M/M and a few of the other authors have LGBT stories or at least stories with LGBT side characters, so there is at least a tiny bit of r..."It's a cop-out. They're being featured for their NON-LGBT romances on this page.
A "by the way, they also write non-het romances" is not the same as putting LGBT-themed romances as their main body of work.
Pamela Su wrote: "Julia ♥Duncan♥ wrote: "Looks like Lex Valentine's featured book is M/M and a few of the other authors have LGBT stories or at least stories with LGBT side characters, so there is a..."Yeah, I'd love to see at least one LGBT in each category they have here. And the one they did feature seems like a strange choice to me, since it's not remotely recent. I mean, if they need help finding some, I'm pretty sure the, what is it, #5 most popular group and it's approx 17,000 members on the site could help them out with that.
Julia ♥Duncan♥ wrote: "...I'm pretty sure the, what is it, #5 most popular group and it's approx 17,000 members on the site could help them out with that."+1 :) Super like!
Elena*Princess in training-Warrior in the making* wrote: "I was also wondering if any LGBTQI romances will appear in some of the categories.It's really disappointing to say the least :("
Yup, i totally agree :(
Idk y but this made me jump up & down like a lil kid @fauzia :D
Insha wrote: "Idk y but this made me jump up & down like a lil kid @fauzia :D"OMg i knwwwww. I was grinning like a fool.... I feel like I got a present.. i mean wow.. all i one place.. its made serching soo much easier :D
Fauzia wrote: "Insha wrote: "Idk y but this made me jump up & down like a lil kid @fauzia :D"OMg i knwwwww. I was grinning like a fool.... I feel like I got a present.. i mean wow.. all i one place.. its made ..."
Hahahaha ikr!!!
Sarah wrote: "Emma Sea wrote: "nice LGBTQI representation there, Goodreads /s"I know, I was waiting for at least an M/M category to appear."
Especially since they've become quite popular on Goodreads, but I guess cishet is all we're getting, whether we wanted it or not.
so this genre is not one i read, but in popping in to see the site announcement, i could not help but notice the lack of diversity. many have mentioned the LGBTQI absence. what totally caught my attention is how white this list is. this introduction and list of books and authors can't truly be representative of the genres, can it? so i guess my suggestion would be to diversify.
I'd love to see more diversity - as many have mentioned above - but I'm happy just to see GR giving Romance the spot for a change. Baby steps, but we'll get far if we stick to it. :)
Very, very disappointed in the lack of LGBT authors. Would love to see some prolific, talented M/M authors like Heidi Cullinan, Lisa Henry and Amy Lane and F/F authors like Lauren Gallagher.
Shame on you. Shame.
Shame on you. Shame.
Jennifer wrote: "so this genre is not one i read, but in popping in to see the site announcement, i could not help but notice the lack of diversity. many have mentioned the LGBTQI absence. what totally caught my at..."I think Sweet is an African American romance from the cover but not sure, covers and lighting and all. The pool for those books is a lot small - that's not a Goodreads issue though, it's a publisher one - so they're probably not pulling as many of them up. It's a common complaint/issue in Harlequins groups too - they're just not as many offered.
I am surprised there wasn't a gay category myself, these books are incredibly popular, especially m/m
Oh - and LOVE the romance graphic and the newsletter. I'd prefer it to be site based instead of email, but oh well.
I see a few of my faves... no black romance authors though.
I too am very disappointed at the lack of black romance authors - that write contemporary, paranormal, historical, etc.
I do see new adult but no young adult! are any of these authors YA writes that I don't know about?
Emma Sea wrote: "nice LGBTQI representation there, Goodreads /s"As an asexual I feel quite BORED with most of this lovey-dovey stuff but there sure needs to be some LGBTQAI* representation.
So, Dear Goodreads, for your second issue of your Romance Newsletter, your members insist you include the diversity the genre celebrates;Authors of colour
male authors
f/f romance
m/m romance
trans character romance
characters of colour
Don't be jerks.
The whiteness of that author roll call up above is shameful and your staff who organised this should be embarrassed.
ETA: and don't you dare do a "special issue" celebrating diversity, either. You need to include alternatives to white ciswomen writing white cis het characters every single time.
and can I also point out that your opening quote, from Nicholas Sparks, is not a great choice. Sparks is well known for insisting he writes "love stories" not "romance" because he is desperate to avoid the romance-novel tarring and feathering that occurs in both literary circles and popular culture. Did you even speak to a fan of the genre when you put this together?
The male author thing isn't too surprising - there really aren't as many males writing romance. A lot of the ones who do want to use pen names because they are worried their books won't be as popular if women knew they weren't women. I'm not worried about that kind of diversity for this reason.As for the Nicholas Sparks quote...to me love stories and romance are the same thing. He definitely writes what I consider contemporary romance/tear-jerkers. I think him being on the list makes sense, except for the fact he doesn't revel in a happy ending.
Erin (*is in a reviewing slump*) wrote: "The male author thing isn't too surprising - there really aren't as many males writing romance. A lot of the ones who do want to use pen names because they are worried their books won't be as popul..."There's aren't as many, but there are still lots. Alexis Hall writes f/f, and one of his MCs is a trans POC.
Erin (*is in a reviewing slump*) wrote: "As for the Nicholas Sparks quote...to me love stories and romance are the same thing. He definitely writes what I consider contemporary romance/tear-jerkers. I think him being on the list makes sense, except for the fact he doesn't revel in a happy ending. "To you maybe, and I would agree with you he writes romance, but these are Sparks's own words:
“I haven’t written a single book that could even be accepted as a romance novel. I mean, there’s a completely different voice. They’ve got very specific structures; they’ve got very specific character dilemmas; they end completely differently; and they’ve got certain character arcs that are required in their characters — I do none of those things.”
Sparks makes a big deal about being found in the fiction section, not the romance section. He wants to distance himself as far as possible from the romance genre. This should not be someone quoted to celebrate the genre.
Emma Sea wrote: "So, Dear Goodreads, for your second issue of your Romance Newsletter, your members insist you include the diversity the genre celebrates;Authors of colour
male authors
f/f romance
m/m romance
tra..."
Hi – Jade from Goodreads here. Thank you for starting the conversation! First, you’re right. This list of authors participating in Romance Week would benefit from having a greater diversity of voices. Our Author Team put out a call to publishers and to the Romance Writers of America, and we were happy that so many popular authors have already joined in, but we want to include ALL interested romance writers who are willing to take questions via Ask the Author and add new favorites to their bookshelves. This initial list is by no means a closed circle!
We’re already adding authors who have enabled Ask the Author and/or tweeted us with the #ROMANCEWEEK15 to indicate their participation. (More info in the blog post above.) Message your favorite authors and encourage them to join! Check out the growing list here:
http://www.goodreads.com/featured_lis...
We’ll be promoting this list and new authors throughout the week.
Please note that this list of authors participating in Romance Week is NOT the same thing as our Goodreads Romance newsletter! As mentioned in the post above, that newsletter will be hitting inboxes later today (it takes a long time to send a newsletter to so many romance fans!), and we’ll also link it from this post as well. @Emma Sea, I look forward to your feedback on that first issue of the Goodreads Romance newsletter.
And finally, don’t forget to add your favorite romance books to this list: http://www.goodreads.com/list/84796.R...
thanks for responding, Jade, I look forward to it
Emma Sea wrote: "Sparks makes a big deal about being found in the fiction section, not the romance section. He wants to distance himself as far as possible from the romance genre. This should not be someone quoted to celebrate the genre. Oh, okay. In that case, I can understand it being ill advised for Goodreads to use his quote for romance novel celebrations.
This is great...but where are authors such as Judith McNaught and Julie Garwood?
nicholas sparks can argue that his books aren't romance all he wants - one of his books won best ROMANCE at the audiobook awards last year
Perhaps GR will have a LGBTQRSTUVWXYZ (I can't keep track any more) newsletter with a romance genre included. There are enough books featuring LGBTQ characters or written by the LGBTQ community that a newsletter shouldn't be too hard to put together. Romances, memoirs, fiction, poetry, etc.No, the LGBTQ literature shouldn't be separated from newsletters like this one, but it was and it's done. Instead of bitching, you should offer suggestions on how they can focus on and highlight the LGBTQ community.
Lyndi wrote: "Perhaps GR will have a LGBTQRSTUVWXYZ (I can't keep track any more) newsletter with a romance genre included. There are enough books featuring LGBTQ characters or written by the LGBTQ community tha..."Please don't mock the LGBTQI community like that, especially with the naming. It's a large subsection of romance, so there's really no reason why it shouldn't have been included in the mentions, and other diverse representations of romance as well. It's a broad category, yes, but the thing about it is - people should have the right to speak up about it. And I commend Emma Sea for taking that step and letting people know it was a crude omission. I would second my concerns over it as well. It's not simply "bitching."
Sabri Na wrote: "This is great...but where are authors such as Judith McNaught and Julie Garwood?"I doubt Judith will be featured since she's not an active author on Goodreads. Her last new published work was over 10 years ago (?) and we're still waiting for the 4th Westmoreland Saga book to come out. LOL.
---
Hmm. Are there any "clean" romance authors featured here? I don't read their books so I can't recognise if they are on the list.
If not, it would be nice to acknowledge popular authors of this genre as well.
The misstep with this first newsletter is the lack of foresight in acknowledging that romance has grown from it's white-bread, vanilla roots.
Implying that the onus lies on the publishers and authors to sell themselves is an unacceptable justification for this oversight.
That being said, I look forward to future newsletters. Romance is my favorite genre and I love seeing it celebrated in all shapes and forms.
Thanks alot haha just added tons more to my tbr thanks to seeing some of my wonderful authors I love to read and their upcoming books.
Rose wrote: "Please don't mock the LGBTQI community like that, especially with the naming."^^this.
It is dismissive, unhelpful, and plain ol' rude.
um, how about something for men? ya doesn't really count.
Rose wrote: "Lyndi wrote: "Perhaps GR will have a LGBTQRSTUVWXYZ (I can't keep track any more) newsletter with a romance genre included. There are enough books featuring LGBTQ characters or written by the LGBTQ..."Rose, well said!
Btw, has the newesletter been sent already? I haven't received anything yet.
Erin (*is in a reviewing slump*) wrote: "Oh - and LOVE the romance graphic and the newsletter. I'd prefer it to be site based instead of email, but oh well."We archive all of the newsletters at this link, which is ridiculously difficult to find. Once the romance newsletter sends, it will be available here as well:
https://www.goodreads.com/newsletter
I think the only place that link appears is on the emails tab of your profile settings. I'm going to create a ticket for us to surface this in a better place.
Elena*Princess in training-Warrior in the making* wrote: "Btw, has the newesletter been sent already? I haven't received anything yet. "
We will start sending it shortly! If "romance" is on your favorite genres list, you will receive it in the next few days.
Okay, Goodreads, there is nothing romantic about "Fifty Shades of Gray". If sadism, domestic violence, and sexual abuse are considered romantic, then there's a great cause for concern here.
Nadia wrote: "I do see new adult but no young adult! are any of these authors YA writes that I don't know about?"Kresley Cole: Poison Princess and its sequel.
