Curl up with a good romance this Valentine's Day
There really is such a thing as having too many choices; and when I had to decide what to write about this month, that was precisely my dilemma. Although February is the shortest month of the year, it is certainly one of the busiest. (Actually, I’m waiting for August to reach across the calendar and even things up a bit, but something tells me that’s not going to happen.) When it comes to February festivities, the choices are almost endless–and this year they were more abundant than usual. The traditional patriotic (President’s Day & Lincoln’s Birthday), cultural (Black History Month), and romantic (Valentine’s Day) February celebrations have been joined this month by the Chinese New Year, Mardi Gras, and Purim (all moveable holidays or events that landed in February this time around), and then, of course, there’s the Super Bowl, which originally started out in January and has been gradually becoming part of the February lineup. Not surprisingly, there are romances appropriate to many of them and in the interests of semi-inclusivity, a small sampling of some of the romances in several of these categories is listed below. Note: Be sure to check out these writers’ other books.
A Valentine Sampler
Jacobs, Holly. Once Upon a Valentine’s. Harlequin American Romance, 2009.
After accidentally setting a shed on fire, a nursing student, single mom, and PTA Valentine’s Day Dance planner is forced to teach fire safety classes with the hunky cop who was first on the fire scene. The bargain they strike to mislead the hero’s matchmaking mom and give the heroine a crack at the judge who sentenced her is hilarious and satisfying. Third in Jacob’s American Dad’s series.
MacAlister, Katie, et al. My Valentine Zombie. Leisure, 2009.
Zombies are the latest romance craze and this quartet of paranormal novellas provides a new twist on the typical Valentine’s Day anthology. Although “Bring Out Your Dead” by MacAlister is a reprint, the stories by Angie Fox, Marianne Mancusi, and Lisa Cach, “Gentlemen Prefer Voodoo” (Fox), “Zombiewood Confidential” (Mancusi), and “Every Part of You” (Cach) are new. Creative and often light-hearted.
Quinn, Julia, et al. The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown. Avon, 2003.
While not exclusively focused on Valentine’s Day, this classic quartet of linked, light, often funny, historical novellas set during the unusually cold London winter of 1814 brings lovers together in a series of social events that include a skating party and a Valentine’s Day Ball and will appeal to Historical Regency fans. Included are “One True Love” by Suzanne Enoch, ” Two Hearts” by Karen Hawkins, ” A Dozen Kisses” by Mia Ryan, and “Thirty-Six Valentines” by Julia Quinn.
Black History and the Black Experience
Lessons of a Lowcountry Summer
Although there are a few historical romances focusing on African American characters, the vast majority of these stories depicting the African American experience are set in the present.
Alers, Rochelle. Lessons of a Lowcountry Summer. Pocket, 2004.
A summer retreat to a South Carolina island to refocus their lives brings love and new direction to three women in this mainstream novel with enough heartwarming passion to satisfy most romance fans.
Jenkins, Beverly. Jewel. Avon, 2008.
Linked to her earlier novel, Vivid (1995), this romance set in the 1880s in the upper Midwest focuses on the lives of African Americans in the post-Civil War period and features a couple who fake a marriage but are eventually forced to wed.
Kitt, Sandra. RSVP with Love, Kimani, 2009.
An events planner reconnects with her college crush in this reunion story with a dash of mystery and danger to spice up the plot. This is Kitt’s latest, but she has a number of earlier novels that are stellar examples of family interactions and interracial relationships.
Ray, Francis. Nobody but You. St. Martin’s. 2009.
Jilted five years earlier, a NASCAR driver is forced to rethink his dangerous life when the woman who left him standing at the altar comes back into his life–with the young son he never knew he had. This is a Grayson’s Friend’s novel, a spin-off of Ray’s popular Grayson family series.
Football
It Had to Be You
A number of years ago, editors decreed that romances about athletes wouldn’t sell. Obviously, they were wrong, as Susan Elizabeth Phillips and a number of other sports-minded writers such as Rachel Gibson (ice hockey) and Pamela Britton (NASCAR) have proven.
Phillips, Susan Elizabeth. It Had to Be You. 1994.
If Phoebe Sommerville is to retain ownership of a football team she inherited, she needs to make sure they win the championship in this winner that is the first of Phillips’s popular Chicago Stars series. The entire series is exceptional and will appeal to everyone who enjoys romantic comedy, not just football fans.
– Kristin Ramsdell is a librarian at California State University, Hayward and is a nationally known speaker and consultant on the subject of romance fiction. Besides writing articles about the romance genre, she writes a romance review column for Library Journal and is the author of Romance Fiction: A Guide to the Genre (Libraries Unlimited, 1999) and its predecessor, Happily Ever After: A Guide to Reading Interests in Romance Fiction (Libraries Unlimited, 1987). She was named Librarian of the Year by Romance Writers of America in 1996.
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