A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." However, precursors include authors of literary fiction, such as Samuel Richardson, Jane Austen, and Charlotte Brontë.
Harlequin Enterprises ULC is a romance and women's fiction publisher founded in Winnipeg, Canada in 1949. From the 1960s, using a combination of high-quality editorial content and dynamic marketing, it grew into the largest publisher of romance fiction in the world. Based in Toronto, Canada since 1969, Harlequin was owned by the Torstar Corporation, the largest newspaper publisher in Canada, from 1981 to 2014. It was then purchased by News Corp and is now a division of HarperCollins. In 1971 Harlequin purchased the London-based publisher Mills & Boon Limited and began a global expansion program opening offices in Australia and major European markets such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Netherlands and Scandinavia.
Julie Kenner is a USA Today bestselling American author of romance and fantasy novels. She also writes with the pen names J.K. Beck and J. Kenner. In 2014, she received the Romance Writers of America RITA Award as J. Kenner for Best Erotic Romance for Claim Me.
Janet Anne Haradon Dailey was an American author of numerous romance novels as Janet Dailey. Her novels have been translated into nineteen languages and have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. Dailey was both an author and entrepreneur.
Vicki Lewis Thompson is a best-selling American writer of over seventy romance novels. She has also been published under the pseudonyms Cory Kenyon and Corey Keaton with Mary Tate Engels.
Julie Elizabeth Leto is a best-selling American author of over forty romance novels.
Gina Ferris Wilkins, née Vaughan is a best-selling American author of over 85 romance novels. She writes novels as Gina Ferris, Gina Wilkins and Gina Ferris Wilkins.
Carla Sue Kelly is an American writer in the Regency romance genre. She is the author of over forty books and short stories. Her books are what romance readers call "keepers," i.e. books they keep in their private collections, and accordingly they can be hard to find. Renowned for what she calls "dukeless" regencies, her stories often revolve around ordinary people solving their own problems. While many Regency romances feature soldiers returned from the Napoleonic Wars, several of Kelly's books include soldiers and sailors actively involved in the Peninsular campaign and in the naval blockade that prevented France from invading England, bringing this war to life in an unforgettable way. However, her regencies only reflect a part of her writing interests. She also has a strong interest in the American West, which is reflected in her earliest published works and in her non-fiction. Since 2011, Kelly, who has a Mormon background, has written four historical romance novels that focus on the lives of young Mormon women: Borrowed Light, Enduring Light, My Loving Vigil Keeping, and Safe Passage.
Renee Roszel is an American writer who has issues over 40 romance novels since 1983.
Peggy Hoffmann is an American writer of over 70 romance novels since 1993 as Kate Hoffmann. She has written for both the Temptation and Blaze lines for Harlequin Books. In 1992 she won the Harlequin Temptation contest. She lives in southeastern Wisconsin.
Jill Shalvis is a best-selling American author of over 50 contemporary romance novels, including her award-winning Lucky Harbor series.
Nancy Warren is a Canadian writer of contemporary romance and cozy mystery. She received her first publication contract after winning Harlequin's 2000 Summer Blaze contest. Since then, she has released more than 100 novels, novellas, and short stories, has been twice nominated for the Romance Writers of America's RITA Award, and won a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award.
Laurie Blalock Vanzura(born Texas, United States) is an American author of contemporary romance novels, first under the pseudonym Laura Anthony, and now as Lori Wilde.
Barbara Daly is an American author of romance novels. She won the Romance Writers of America's RITA Award in 2002 for Best Short Contemporary Romance for her novel A Long Hot Christmas. She has also been twice nominated by Romantic Times for Reviewers' Choice Awards, for A Long Hot Christmas and Too Hot to Handle. Romantic Times described her Harlequin Duets novel Are You For Real as "fast-paced, fresh and funny".
Cherry Adair is a South African–American romantic fiction writer. She lives near Seattle, Washington with her husband.
Adrianne Janette Byrd was a best-selling African-American author of more than 50 romance novels. Her most widely held book, The Beautiful Ones, is in more than 400 WorldCat libraries.
Jane Porter is an American author of contemporary romance and women's fiction. She is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over forty-five titles, with over 12 million books in print, in 20 languages and in 25 countries. Her novel Flirting with Forty was made into the Lifetime movie of the same name starring Heather Locklear. In 2014, she received the Romance Writers of America RITA Award for Best Romance Novella for Take Me, Cowboy.
Linda Goodnight is an American author of inspirational romance, contemporary romance and women's fiction. In 2008, she received the Romance Writers of America RITA Award for Best Inspirational Romance for her novel A Touch of Grace.
Amanda Renee is an American romance novelist.
Donna Hill is an American author of romance, mystery, and women's fiction. She has written over seventy novels, twenty short stories, and edited multiple anthologies. Three of Hill's novels have been adapted for screen.