One of the challenges I have as both an author and a reader
of American Historical Romances is finding my next book to read. None of the
major booksellers seem to recognize the sub-genre. Amazon is probably the worst
offender. If you search under Books>Romance, you get a measly selection of
eight subgenres, none of which have much to do with the continents of North and
South America.
OK, so I suppose you could find stories set in the U.S.
under 20th century, and the land masses were here during ancient times so there
might be a book or two under Ancient World. Still, you’re going to have to comb
through quite a bit to find what you’re looking for.
It’s not just North and South America that get ignored
either. The continents of Australia, Asia, Africa are equally dismissed - unless
you count those stories that might show up under Ancient World. Again, a lot to
sort through.
Barnes and Noble gets a bit better. Under Historical Romances,
they at least list categories like Southern U.S., Western and Frontier, and
Native Americans. That’s an improvement, but my time period preference is
Colonial and Revolutionary. I’d even be OK broadening that into the 17th
and 18th century. I mean if there are enough books that can be
classified as Restoration and Enlightenment romances, there ought to be enough if they combined American Historical Romances spanning two whole centuries.
While not a bookstore, Goodreads is somewhat more helpful. Someone
created a list for Colonial,
Revolutionary, Early American Romance, but it suffers the same fate as most
lists – it requires effort to keep it updated. (As an author, I’m always
somewhat conflicted about whether I should add my books to a list, but I did
anyway.)
Would love to hear from you! Have you found a bookseller
that recognizes the subgenre? If not, how do you find American Historical
Romances to read, and who are your favorite authors?
Happy reading!
MJ
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