The Look of Love: The Art of the Romance Novel

by Jennifer McKnight-Trontz

Swashbuckling sailors, dashing dukes, naughty nurses, and sexy stewardesses caught in webs of love, passion, betrayal, and are the raw materials of the romance novel--and the lusty covers that advertise them. In The Look of Love, Jennifer McKnight-Trontz provides a rollicking history of the covers and stoires that have captivated millions of readers worldwide. More than 150 of the most sensational covers from this venerable if venal literary form are shown in glorious color, focusing on the period from 1940 to 1970, romance design's most fertile era. The Look of Love features artwork and excerpts from titles such as Passion Flower, Kept Woman, Rendezvous in Lisbon, and Jungle Nurse. Along the way, it brings attention to the pioneers of the romance cover artists such as Barye Phillips and Robert Maguire, who helped define the look of paperbacks in general, and Harlequin, the grand dame of romance publishers, with more than 100 million novels sold each year. McKnight-Trontz reveals the themes that typify both the story lines and the covers--hospital romance, the rich and raunchy, royalty, tropical paradises, Westerns, "taboo" relationships, pirates and warriors, and love triangles--resulting in this definitive compendium of camp. A book for romance lovers everywhere.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Romance, Art

144 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2001

Reviews

[Adelais · Rating 4 out of 5]

Яка прекрасна книжка з мінімумом тексту, саме те, що треба. Порозглядати всі ті божевільні місцями обкладинки любовних романів середини двадцятого століття дуже, дуже відволікає. Читання теж, здається, аж захотілося пару тих трешових романчиків зацінити. Принаймні вони будуть дуже віддалені від реального часу, а це зараз буває потрібно.

[Jess]

hoy me tenía que poner a otras cosas pero me he agobiado así que me he leído esto. está lleno de reproducciones de cubiertas, por eso lo he terminado rapidito. la distribución de los capítulos es temática: mujeres y trabajo, mujer buena vs mujer mala, enfermeras, médicos, romances góticos, localizaciones exóticas. generaliza bastante acerca de los rasgos del género, pero no es un trabajo académico así que era de esperar. no muy útil para la tesis pero entretenido

[Nenia Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE LOOK OF LOVE is a very brief history of the modern romance novel, and features some pictures of early modern category romances, mostly from the 1950s-1970s, going by the art. There is one Fabio romance cover from the 80s (HEARTS AFLAME by Johanna Lindsey) but I don't believe there's anything more current than that (and this book was published in 2001, so the wellspring of 90s bodice-rippers lite from publishers like Dorchester and Avon had not yet run dry).

I loved the pictures and the beautiful vintage art on the covers of the old romance novels but I think the target audience for this book (romance readers interested in romance history) will find this book frustrating: the way the author describes romance novels as being riddled with "purple prose" and formulaic with a built-in audience that doesn't care if the stories are good or predictable plays into all the usual stereotypes of romance readers being less intelligent and less discerning than other readers, and that was disappointing to read.

The chapters were bewilderingly organized as well. Doctor romances and nurse romances each got their own separate chapter, but she smashed historical romances and gothic romances together into one. She also mentions the importance of books like SWEET SAVAGE LOVE and THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER, discussing them as key players in redefining what the modern romance novel looked like, but did not include either of them in the historical romance chapter. There was also a chapter about good girls vs bad girls, where she included Barbara Cartland's virgins (although she didn't call them that, sadly) as an example of the former, but only included pulp noir by male authors as the latter, which weren't really romances. Even if the author was reluctant to touch more modern romance novels with female antiheroes, DRAGONWYCK by Anya Seton and FOREVER AMBER by Kathleen Windsor were sitting right there!

I ultimately walked away from this book feeling like I had just read another one of those op-ed pieces about romance novels as written by someone who only knows about romance novels in terms of Fabio, Fifty Shades of Grey, and, I guess, what their aunt used to keep in the house as a child. (No shame to the aunt, I'm sure she was cool.) There aren't a lot of nonfiction books about romance novels, so this book is notable in that regard, and I do think it's worth it as a curiosity and for the fun pictures, but if you're trying to learn more about romance history there are many, many romance readers and romance authors who share their vast reservoirs of romance knowledge for free. Steve Ammidown, Mary Lynne, and Sweet Savage Flame come to mind.

3 stars

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, light reading. Nothing to get too excited about (i.e. don't feel you have to track down the last remaining copy from Abe.com). There wasn't a ton of additional information re artists etc. Mostly it divided books into themes (e.g. "the Nurse/Doctor romance") and showed some covers. If you browsed the romance section of a used bookstore you would essentially have covered the same ground, and then some.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!

[Phoebe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ik had dit boek één jaar geleden gekocht in de kringloopwinkel omdat het er wel cool uitzag met al die covers van romance novels. De ⭐️ is voor deze covers en niet voor de inhoud van het boek, want deze boeide me helemaal niet LOL

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of vintage romance covers. As a lover of both history and romance novels I thought that it was a really fun book!

[Sara Weather · Rating 3 out of 5]

#164

[Ella Dawson]

Gorgeous collection of vintage covers.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting pictoral featuring Romance novel covers from 1940s through 1970s. Nice one liners for plots of these books and some discussion of various sub-genres (Gothic, nurses, etc.)
A fun book!

[jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

really more of a brief overview of the subject, though it includes some interesting trivia (like barbara cartland being related to princess di???) and fun covers.

[reveurdart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick but solid pictorial walk through some of the wonderful romance art covers throughout the last century.

Not as comprehensive as I would have preferred but still a nice little primer. For example, I would have liked to have seen included covers from the 1910s and 1920s. I would also have liked to have seen more examples from the 1930s and 1940s. This is simply because the 1910s to the 1940s is my favourite period for romance cover art.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book to oogle old romance covers, but it only spans covers from the 30s to the 70s - totally omitting the "bodice rippers" of the 80s onward. Good for looking at vintage covers, not the best for research about the romance novel.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best title in the book - Hootenanny Nurse
Most straightforward - Once in Vienna: He had Three Love Affairs.
Most confusing - The Abortive Hussy

[Katie Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really interesting collection of art and design styles. While not as indepth as I would have liked it is still worth taking more than a flip through.