Phillips, Susan Elizabeth. Natural Born Charmer. New York: William Morrow, 2007 (ISBN: 978-0-06-073457-2).
Finishing up the Chicago Stars football series, in this novel quarterback Dean Robillard finally meets a woman he cannot charm. When he picks up Blue Bailey on the side of the road (in a beaver costume), he thinks she will be a fun distraction. He did not count on her rapid-fire wit and irritating talent of always being right. Nevertheless, he takes her to Tennessee, where he faces his estranged family and a new sister, and comes to understand that charm carries no weight when faced with love. Phillips has written several knockout titles in this series (especially This Heart of Mine), but here she delivers the ultimate romance novel; emotionally charged, redemptive, and so sweetly satisfying that it makes the perfect introduction to the genre for new readers.
Roberts, Nora. Born in Fire. New York: Jove, 1996 (ISBN: 978-0-515-11675-5).
No romance collection can be considered complete without the works of Nora Roberts and her alter ego, J. D. Robb. Born in Fire starts a trilogy, a format Roberts frequently employs, set in Ireland. Maggie Concannon is a struggling glass artist, devoted to her work and haunted by family discord. She has no time for the rich and arrogant Rogan Sweeney, even if he does own some of the most important art galleries in the world. Their clashes and eventual partnership trace a classic contemporary romantic trope–how do two strong-headed individuals blend their lives together and acknowledge their need for one another?
Romantic Suspense
Today’s romantic suspense grew out of the Gothic novels of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many readers fondly remember the heyday of popular authors Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney, whose romantic tales with historical (Holt) and contemporary (Whitney) settings spanned the 1950s to 1990s. Along with Mary Stewart, Elizabeth Peters, Ellis Peters, and others, they set the standard for the popular heroine-in-jeopardy novels, complete with young women placed in dangerous situations and unsure of which of two men they should trust–and love.
A seismic change occurred in the genre in the late 1980s, as popular romance authors such as Nora Roberts began adding large doses of suspense to their novels. Over the last decades, many romance writers (Linda Howard, Karen Robards, Heather Graham) have begun to write romantic suspense exclusively, while others (Sandra Brown, Nora Roberts) have continued to write both romance and romantic suspense. Still others (Kay Hooper, Nora Roberts, and Iris Johansen) have added extensive paranormal elements to their romantic suspense. These popular romance authors have brought their readers with them, creating an enormous fan base for the subgenre.
Unlike the earlier, safer version of romantic suspense, with violence offstage and a chaste love story, this new incarnation includes graphic violence and strong language in addition to steamy romance. No longer the passive heroine on the castle parapets waiting for rescue, today’s heroines save themselves–and sometimes the hero as well. In both the classic and contemporary versions, the story moves quickly. Mounting suspense creates an uneasiness that colors the tone of the novels and keeps readers on the edge of their seats waiting to read what will happen next.