Score

Librarians, I need you help please. Could you remove all books from this list that do not meet the criteria.

ie. books with less than 3.9 stars and rated by at least 75 readers? Too many not meeting this have been added.

Also please remove the duplicates.

Thank you Sunny. That has bothered me for way too long. I didn't know how to fix it.

Please librarians Delete all books not conforming to the star and to the reader requirements for this list and duplicate entries.

Found and deleted: 7 duplicates.

The criteria create a real obstacle for anyone wanting to add a recently published book. I know that the list maker is supposed to be able to set the standard, but a lot of our more recent lists are designed to be finite. I think I am going to decline to help enforce this one. Let the paid staff deal with it. This small rebellion is one of the only perks of being a volunteer librarian.

LOL, Thank you Donna for your help with duplicates. I understand your POV for other requests.

where's silvia day?

and age of innocence ( Pulitzer prize winner ) is far far better than pride and prejudice should be at the top.

Brodyn wrote: "and age of innocence ( Pulitzer prize winner ) is far far better than pride and prejudice should be at the top."

Isn't that just a matter of opinion?

Where is "Great Expectations, The Great Gatsby, and Forever Amber"?? Some on this list I dont even consider romance, like Pillars of the Earth, which I would consider more of historical novel spanning a lifetime

Can someone please explain to me why in the world "Gone with the Wind," "Jane Eyre," "The Notebook," "The Princess Bride," "Rebecca," "The Count of Monte Cristo," any of the "Anne of Green Gables" books, "Pillars of the Earth," or "The Thorn Birds" are considered "romance novels?"

The RWA defines romances as this:

Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.

A Central Love Story: The main plot centers around individuals falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. A writer can include as many subplots as he/she wants as long as the love story is the main focus of the novel.

An Emotionally Satisfying and Optimistic Ending: In a romance, the lovers who risk and struggle for each other and their relationship are rewarded with emotional justice and unconditional love.

Exactly none of the books above qualify for that. If you take the love stories out of the books above, most of them still function just fine with the plot in tact. And the ones that have unhappy endings do not qualify as romance novels because that is one of the staples of romance novels. Just because a book has a "love story" does not mean it is a "romance novel." They are two separate things, and it really bothers me when they are put together. It is one of my pet peeves, and it slowly driving me crazy to see how often books that just happen to have strong love stories but otherwise aren't romance novels are thrown in with romance novels.