In order to write great romance novels, you need to read great romance novels. Below is a list of successful top ten romance novels spanning subgenres from classic literature to contemporary.
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is the original chicklit novel as Elizabeth Bennet attempts to navigate her way through society life and find true love in early 19th century England.
- Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is another romance classic. A young woman touring 1930s Europe marries a wealthy, mysterious man following a whirlwind romance and moves to his remote country mansion where she encounters secrets surrounding the fate of his beloved dead wife Rebecca.
- Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer is the novel that created the subgenre of the Regency romance.
- The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss is a historical romance notable not just for its popularity but for being the first mass market romance novel with detailed descriptions of sex, and it has influenced many contemporary romance writers.
- Outlander by Diana Gabaldon mixes romance, historical fiction and fantasy for a hybrid novel about a World War II nurse who travels back in time to 18th century Scotland.
- The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks was made into a popular film but the novel about an elderly couple looking back on their life together was a best seller.
- Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris is the first in the Sookie Stackhouse series of paranormal romance novels dealing with a telepathic Louisiana waitress and her relationship with a vampire. The popular “”True Blood”” television series is based on the books.
- The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger blends the genres of literary fiction, romance and science fiction for this tale of a man who can travel in time but has no control over the ability creating a life of confusion and tragedy for himself and the woman who loves him.
- Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie is one of the popular romance novelist’s best and funniest. It tells the story of a woman who goes to small-town Ohio to help her sister make a film and unexpectedly falls in love with the local mayor.
- Bared to You by Sylvia Day is the first in a series of popular erotic romance novels about the relationship between two abuse survivors who find true love together.
What are some of your favourite romance novels and why?” (Image from here)
