Romance reviews have a vocabulary of their own and I have my own shorthand. Here are a few terms and their meanings:
MMC- Male main character
FMC- Female main character
H/h- Hero and heroine. Old term; discarded by many in favor of MMC/FMC because wokeness.
MC- Motorcycle Club (one of my absolute favorite genres of romance)
PNR- Paranormal Romance. Sub Genres can include but aren’t limited to Shifters, Witches, Vampires, Angels, Faeries. 🧚
Small Town Romance- takes place in a small town. Guess I really didn’t need to define this one.
Mafia Romance- Any romance with the main characters being involved in organized crime. Not limited to members of the Mafia specifically. Mafia itself technically only refers to Sicilian or Italian crime syndicates. When authors call the another group a mafia (like calling the Irish Mob the “Irish Mafia”), it tap dances on my very last nerve. I signify this in my Tropes list as “Do-Si-Do with the Mafioso”
-Sub Genres to Mafia Romance:
Irish Mob- pretty self explanatory. “Simply Mad About the Mob”.
Bratva- Russian Mob.”He Ain’t Heavy- He’s My Bratva”.
Cartel - Organized crime organization, usually Mexican or South American. “Baby You Can Drive My Car-tel”
Cowboy Romance- aka “Western Romance”, involves Cowboy Hero. “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys”.
Alien Romance- I don't review this unless concussed.
Tentacle Porn- a sub genre of Alien Romance. I don’t review this unless held at gun point.
Contemporary Romance- takes place around the time era in which it was written or published,
Historical Romance- for me, any romance set pre-2000. It pains me to admit that my High School adventures would fall under this category if I were to write them down today.
Bodice Ripper- a type of Historical Romance where the MMC is rather rough and emphatic in his wooing. I think we stopped writing those in 1986.
Highlander Romance- usually Historical. The Hero is Scottish and a Highlander.
Why Choose Romance- this and Reverse Harem are romances in which the heroine is involved with more than one Male Main Character simultaneously. Not something I like to read, much less review unless it’s part of a series I’m already reading.
BBW- the heroine is a Big, Beautiful Woman. Also stands for Curvy Girl.
Category Romance- Generally published by a mainstream publishing house like Harlequin (or Silhouette or Loveswept back in the day). Published in a series or category it’s an imprint that groups together like kinds of romances. For example, Harlequin Historicals are all historical romance novels. Harlequin has their well-known series, like Harlequin Presents, Harlequin Desire, and Harlequin Romance, but they also have imprints for Chick Lit and Romantic Suspense. Scores of website pages are dedicated to category romances alone, and there are reviewers who make these a main focus. If you want some fantastic and funny reviews of HP, check out Boogenhagen on Goodreads. Once in awhile I’ll review a Category Romance, but it’s not my focus.
Chick Lit- term referring to romance written by women, for women. The heroine is young (under 40) and the novel’s tone appears to be relatively lighthearted. Some people use this as a derogatory term. Me, I figure any Genre that can include Jane Austin as one of its luminaries rocks. Sophie Kinsella, Jennifer Cruisie, Jane Austin, MaryJanice Davidson and many, many others. MJD invented the sub genre Vampire Chick Lit with her Undead series, which starts with UNDEAD AND UNWED. If you haven’t read them, go. Go now. Read them immediately. I’ll wait. Well, no, I won’t because what I know of patience could be written on the head of a pin with room left over for the Lord’s Prayer, but this blog will be here when you’re done.
I will update this post as and when I come across more terms to define, but for now I’ll leave it here because I’m hungry and I have a container of chocolate frosting that I’m trying not to eat with a spoon. But if I do, you’ll have to peel me off the ceiling, I’ll be so hyper. So I guess I’ll behave and reheat the fish and veggies. I hate being a grown up. I hate it so much that I’ll probably drink some chocolate milk in rebellion.
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