We are very proud to announce that Debbie Macomber has been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Romance Writers of America. The award is presented to one author each year to recognize their significant contributions to the romance genre.

The award will be presented Saturday July 31st at the 30th annual conference in Nashville, TN.

From the first novel, Heartsong, to her latest release, 92 Pacific Boulevard, Debbie has touched millions of women with her heartwarming stories and we are very proud to see her achievements recognized.

Congrats!

Editor’s Note: this month is National Women’s Month and starting March 8th, International Women’s Day, we are featuring writers who have shared with us their thoughts on reading romance. Today we’ve asked our editors in New York City (woo, the Big Apple!) to write something. Click here for more blog posts on the subject!

by Mary-Theresa Hussey, Executive Editor, Silhouette

The editor promptly exited the train after snapping this photo.

I read romance on the subway. The subway isn’t the greatest for reading manuscript pages, so it’s with delight I seize on the excuse to read our published books on the subway. I don’t hide the covers and I’m happy when people do an occasional double-take. And if I finish on the subway, I leave the book behind so someone else can enjoy it.

Sometimes you get the people who think I’ve forgotten it (as if!) and try to give it back.

And when I explain I’ve enjoyed it and want someone else to enjoy it, they take a second look at the book. Sometimes I’ve moved to the other end of the car to see if someone will pick it up. I’ll spot guys looking at the cover, moving it around a bit, and then dropping it back. Or women who read the back and then look around, obviously debating about taking it while I quietly, secretly root for them to keep it.

But the people I love—the ones I do this for—are the ones who spot it and grab for the book immediately, smiling. Those moments of instant gratification, that smile, that lightening of spirit, that sheer enjoyment, is why I think romance—and our romance titles—are a strong, empowering, binding force in the lives of women today. They celebrate commitment, reward pain and suffering, and though there might not always be the guarantee of a happy ending, at least there’s hope for it. And these days, that’s something I do wish for everyone.

Editor’s Note: this month is National Women’s Month and starting March 8th, International Women’s Day, we are featuring writers who have shared with us their thoughts on reading romance. Today we’ve asked our editors in New York City (woo, the Big Apple!) to write something. Click here for more blog posts on the subject!

by Stacy Boyd, Editor, Feature & Custom Publishing

Reading romance made me the person I am today.

Just ask my mother.

The other day, she gave my sister, a mother of three, some words of wisdom that were both warning and advice: Monitor your children’s books, because you never know what reading can lead to.

Books, and romance novels, are powerful like that. They can make you see the world in a different way.

Robyn Carr’s medieval romances inspired me to infiltrate the adult section of the library before I was nine. Scarlett and Gone With the Wind made me believe that if I spoke my mind and everyone disagreed with me, it would somehow turn out okay in the end. Reading the Caitlin series gave me a yearning to see New York City, where I now live, and taste cappuccino in a real café, way back before Starbucks. And Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale showed me that loving a man for who he is, instead of accepting who family and neighbors believe him to be, can create the foundation for a 16-years-and-going-strong marriage.

I am thankful every day that my mom taught me to read, took me to the library and let me loose in the stacks. And I’m also thankful she didn’t complain too much when she caught me sneaking around with those clinch covers, letting romance novels have their way with me.

Editor’s Note: this month is National Women’s Month and starting March 8th, International Women’s Day, we are featuring writers who have shared with us their thoughts on reading romance. Today we’ve asked our editors in New York City (woo, the Big Apple!) to write something. Click here for more blog posts on the subject!

by Keyren Gerlach, Associate Editor, Romantic Suspense

Seems like it’s always open season for trashing “trashy” novels. They’ve been called every name in the book: dirty, bawdy, glorified pornography, traditionalistic, irrelevant, silly, predictable and formulaic, etc., etc. ad nauseum. I say the naysayers are completely missing the point—not to mention that they clearly haven’t picked up a romance novel (or perhaps any other book for that matter) in the last 25 years.

Invariably when I meet someone new, the conversation goes like this:

New Person: “So what do you do?”

Me: “I’m a romance novel editor at Harlequin.”

New Person (chuckles smugly): “Have you met Fabio?”

Me: “Um, actually, I think he posed for like two of our covers, so no.”

And that, my friends, is one frustrating stereotype.

What’s being missed here is the work that goes into these books. The pressure on authors and editors to keep them fresh and relevant. Not to mention, THE TALENT. We have incredible authors who write with ferocious wit, humor and pathos. This is not mindless smut, ladies and gentlemen, oh no. It’s entertainment with a head and a heart that feeds the soul.

And therein lies the true value.

Case in point: As a member of a ladies-only book club who happens to be an editor, I’m often called upon to suggest books for our meetings. I happily oblige by recommending Harlequin romance titles, of course, because it’s my chance to use my own little grassroots campaign to win over new readers.  And let me tell you, these discussions are the most spirited (it’s not just the wine, I swear), the most lively, the most uninhibited. We talk about boys (drool over heroes, more like) and sex, love and relationships. It’s cathartic. It’s freeing. And I’ll be damned if it’s not empowering. There, I said it.

Reading a romance novel isn’t just a distraction for distraction’s sake. It’s an experience that can be at once, heartening, inspiring, belly-laugh inducing, hanky drenching, titillating, and yes, when the characters aren’t doing what you want them to, even irritating.

Bestselling author Nora Roberts perhaps sums it up best:

“The books are about the celebration of falling in love and emotion and commitment, and all of those things we really want.”

And if that doesn’t say Girl Power, heck, I don’t know what does.

Editor’s Note: this month is National Women’s Month and starting March 8th, International Women’s Day, we are featuring writers who have shared with us their thoughts on reading romance. Today we’ve asked SB Sarah from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books to share her thoughts. Click here for more blog posts on the subject!

By SB Sarah, blogger for Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and author of Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches Guide to Romance Novels

5. There is no “Only if.”

In the “real world,” which is not always as pleasant as the world of romance novels, there are a slew of conditions attached to any decision a woman makes. But in the world of romance novels, there’s never a condition to your happiness. You can date that amazing man, you can run your own business, you can have children, you can achieve happiness… whenever and however you want. No conditions.

4. Orgasms are important.

Only in romance is women’s sexual satisfaction and fulfillment a requirement to a happily ever after.

3. No guilt. Ever.

Do romance heroines feel endlessly guilty for going after the man they want, for having desire and ambition, for gleefully buying shoes or for deciding that their own happiness is essential? Nope. Neither should we.

2. Reclaim Your Right To Daydream

Romances are often dismissed as fantasy cotton fluff for ignorant women. I call “Hogwash” on the latter part, and “So?” on the former. There are myriad methods for people to relax and immerse themselves in fantasy and creativity, and romances are merely one more, and no better or worse than any other. In fact, with cold reality being so annoying at times recently, escaping into daydreams is necessary and good for you.

1. We Win!

Only in romances do the heroines achieve autonomy, satisfaction, joy, peace, and happy resolution to real and painful problems, consistently and as a matter of course. In short, we win, without guilt, self-recrimination, or avarice. Romances celebrate women, and I can’t think of a more important reason to celebrate romances in return.

Today is International Women’s Day.  In fact, it’s National Women’s Month in America!  To celebrate, the Harlequin Blog is going to feature a month of blog posts that reflect on how we in the romance world celebrate the achievements made by strong, empowered women.

I’m kicking the day off with my own reflections, but check back throughout the month to read posts from our editors, fellow bloggers and friends!

I love my man as my fellow; but his scepter, real, or usurped, extends not to me.
—Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)

I studied Mary Wollstonecraft’s treatise on the rights of women in university.  Back then, it was just a mouldy old text written by a poet’s wife (although she did also give birth to one of my favourite writers—Mary Shelley!).  I didn’t give it much thought other than, “Wow, was she ever ahead of her time!”

Now, I see it in the context of my own life and my work.  My favourite romance novels have a touch of Mary’s wisdom in them.  Because, if there is anything I cannot abide, it is a heroine who cannot stand up for herself. You know the one—I like to call her the wet noodle because all she does is flop around!

But it didn’t take Mary’s words to get that; I think I’ve always known in my heart what sort of heroine—real or fiction—I’d relate to.  The obvious indicators came from books and television: I rooted for the Jessica Rabbits, the Elizabeth Bennets…the Bridget Jones’s!  The romantic heroines I have always admired have been fearless and tenacious. And no matter what they might look like, what obstacles are thrown in their way, even in the darkest moments, they have always stayed true to themselves. Critics may deride the message of a romance novel as fantasy, but they’re wrong. We read books that reflect our lives, our characteristics. I’m proud to say that I read romance novels.

The only difference is now I get to help sell these stories.  Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you I always have a suggestion to make if they’re looking for a book; and it often involves a really cool heroine who knows who she is and doesn’t take any guff.

I know that there are countless women’s issues in the world that still need addressing today, but I hope you’ll take a moment and reflect just a little bit on the amount of progress we’ve already made.  Harlequin romance exists because of women who read and write great stories. Without them, where would we get our happily-ever-afters?

By Gwyneth Bolton, award-winning Kimani Romance Author

“More than simple instruments of pleasure and amusement, toys and games play crucial roles in helping children determine what is valuable in and around them. Dolls in particular invite children to replicate them, to imagine themselves in their dolls’ images. What does it mean, then, when little girls are given dolls to play with that in no way resemble them? What did it mean for me that I was nowhere in the toys I played with?”
— Ann DuCille, Professor and Cultural Critic

“African American romance readers enjoy stories about women who look like them—not just physically, but politically, socially, economically, and emotionally as well. We deserve no less.”
— Gwen Osborne, Journalist and Word Diva of Black Romance

When I think about African American romance novels, I can’t help but think of the Black Barbie. Now, I realize this connection doesn’t automatically come to mind for all. So, bear with me as I explain.

Playing with dolls and reading romance fiction are both recreational activities that provide pleasure and enjoyment. And, while women and girls aren’t the only gender to participate in these recreational activities, they make up the majority in both. Also, I don’t think I am making too much of a leap in connection when I say that the joy a little girl experiences when she opens up the box of a brand new doll is pretty close to the joy many women feel when they open up a new shipment of books from Harlequin when it comes in the mail. (Maybe I should just speak for myself in this regard, since I have been known to stalk my mailman as I wait for my latest order from eHarlequin.com…)

As a child growing up in the 70s and 80s, I was lucky enough to grow up in a time when Mattel’s Christie doll—the second black Barbie doll after the ill-fated “Colored Francie”—was widely available. Besides Christie, there were lots of other baby dolls with brown skin just like mine. I never had to experience a time like Black feminist scholar Ann DuCille writes about when I couldn’t play with a doll that “looked” like me. I can’t say the same for having romance novels to read. I used to sneak my mother’s Harlequin Presents and her Silhouette novels in the 80s. That’s where I became addicted to romance and really honed my love of reading. I would spend entire weekends reading book after book after book. I fell in love with romance when I was twelve; right around the same time I publicly stopped playing with dolls. (Truthfully, I played with Barbie dolls until I was around fourteen. But I would’ve never admitted it.) As I became an adult, I lost touch with romance novels much like I stopped playing with dolls. (Okay, I actually still collect black porcelain dolls and even some collectible designer Barbie dolls. But I don’t “play” with them. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it…)

Before Kensington published the first Arabesque novels fifteen years ago, there had been a few romance novels published that featured black heroes and heroines. There was Rosiland Welles’s Entwined Destinies (1980), Jackie Weger’s A Strong and Tender Thread (1983), Sandra Kitt’s Adam and Eva (1985) and Joyce McGill’s Unforgivable (1992). There were also attempts made to publish African American romance lines by Holloway House and Odyssey Books. However, romance novels that showcased black love had been sparse to say the least.

That all changed when editor Monica Harris got Kensington to publish those first Arabesque novels. Kensington’s Arabesque line went from two to four books a month before it was sold to BET Books and then Harlequin’s Kimani Press. Those early Arabesque authors—Francis Ray, Rochelle Alers, Shirley Hailstock, Sandra Kitt, Donna Hill, among many others—helped pave the way for the wealth of African American romance novels we see today. So did the black women authors who integrated Harlequin and Silhouette lines early on by writing romances with black leads. Women like Maggie Ferguson writing for Harlequin Intrigue; Angela Benson writing for Silhouette Special Edition; Robyn Amos writing for Silhouette Yours Truly and Intimate Moments; Rochelle Alers writing for Silhouette Desire; Brenda Jackson writing for Silhouette Desire and Blaze; and Natalie Dunbar writing for Silhouette Bombshell and later Silhouette Romantic Suspense. All of these trailblazing women made it possible for me to have a very sizable African American romance collection right next to the shelves that house my black doll collection.

The Arabesque line is still going strong with Kimani Press and we even have the first African American category-length line in Kimani Romance. Companies such as Genesis Press and Dorchester publish African American romances and we can also find many African American romance novels being published through lines like Dafina Romance and Urban Soul. In the space of less than thirty years, we have moved from being able to count the amount of African American romance novels on one hand to a healthy representation of black love growing stronger and stronger every day.

Hopefully one day—much like the Black Barbie doll isn’t just sold to little black girls and we can see little girls of all races, colors and creeds playing with the rainbow of Barbie dolls that are available—we will see more and more people reading romance across race. Yes, we needed Black Barbie dolls because little girls needed to see themselves represented in the toys they played with. But we also needed them so that little girls of other races could be exposed to diversity and difference. African American romance novels allow us to see wonderful representations of black love and hopefully as these novels become more widely available more people will see that a great love story—much like a beautiful doll—can be enjoyed by all no matter what color it comes in. What do you think? Do you think one day we will reach a place where the race of the characters really don’t matter? Can you think of other interesting things besides dolls that can be connected to romance novels?

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Gwyneth for this inspiring piece on African American romance novels. Join us as we celebrate Black History Month at eHarlequin with a very special discount of 40% on all Kimani Press titles!