Remember that song in Camelot, “The Lusty Month of May”? If not, I’ll wait while you divert to YouTube for a moment. Search “lusty month of May Sierra Boggess.” If you’re in a hurry, skip the first 2:40 of the introduction. But seriously, don’t be in a hurry.
Now that you’re back, a proposition: May, not February, is the month of romance.
We’ll chat here with two Utah romance authors. I’ll note some believable and unbelievable statistics I found. And we’ll visit a romance bookstore in Lehi to ask, of all things, do men read romance? Should they? Why? We’ll finish with a line from Shakespeare.
Gigi Lynn (pen name) is an indie-published romance author in Utah County.
DR: Your first several novels are Regency romance. Why that period?
(Politically, England’s Regency period was 1811–1820. Culturally, perhaps 1795–1830.)
GL: I needed to start writing in a place and time where I felt comfortable. And it’s an exciting age: the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, political and social unrest in England, and the Industrial Revolution.
DR: What distinguishes a novel which has romance in it from an actual romance novel?
GL: It’s just a matter of focus. Romance is primarily about how two people fall in love, work through conflict, and have a happily-ever-after or happy-for-now ending.
DR: You write romance—granted, it’s sweet, not spicy—and you recently served as Relief Society President in your Latter-day Saint congregation. Was that an awkward combination? Is that why you use a pen name?
GL: No, not awkward. Even if it came up, I’m not going to write anything I’m not comfortable sharing with my daughters, granddaughters, sisters, nieces, and neighbors. My legal name is difficult to spell, and it didn’t seem wise to make it hard for readers to find me.
Thanks, Gigi!
At my December book-signing a man told me he enjoys reading the same novel his wife is reading, and sometimes it’s a romance. That planted a question in my mind.
I found a Romance Writers of America survey saying about 18 percent of romance readers are men. I’d have guessed fewer. I read elsewhere that over half of men read romance novels, but I’m not buying it. I doubt half of men read novels at all.
“Howsoever that may be”—says Mr. Collins in a Regency classic—I caught up with September Roberts (pen name) the other day. She’s a traditionally published romance author living in the Ogden area.
DR: What kinds of romance do you write?
SR: Lately I’ve been writing short stories for a broad audience. They’re sweet romance, not steamy. When I write novels, they’re steamy.
DR: Year after year, romance book sales are massive. Why do readers enjoy romance so much?
SR: It’s such a fun escape. My comfort books are always romance, because there’s a guaranteed happy ending. Characters may be deeply flawed and face difficult hurdles, but they’ll get together in the end.
DR: What authors do you recommend to readers looking for especially well-written romance?
SR: Katherine Center and Abby Jimenez in sweet romance. Talia Hibbert and Jessie Mihalik on the spicy side, plus Sarina Bowen if you like hockey romance. Courtney Milan is somewhere between sweet and spicy.
DR: Do you know men who read romance?
SR: I know one. He’s a romance author. But I wish men would read romance. It’s a template of what women want: to be an equal partner, to be valued, to be seen, to be happy.
Thank you, September!
Lagg Bookstore is a romance-only bookshop at 51 E. Main Street in Lehi. The Lehi Free Press called it “a Mecca for women.”
I asked one of the owners, Kara Allen, what’s selling there. She said romantasy, a hybrid of fantasy and romance, sells better than contemporary, and spicy outsells sweet.
DR: What percentage of your customers are men? How many tell you they’re buying books for themselves, not as gifts?
KA: Five to ten percent are men. Some come in with their wives. A lot of couples like to read together. Some of the men try to persuade their male friends to read romance.
DR: Why should men read romance?
KA: We all want to be in a relationship; we should read about people doing that. We’d understand each other better.
Kara, thanks for the chat!
Seriously, everyone, read what you want, but remember two things this month.
First, it’s May. Second, what Shakespeare’s Benedick says of marriage in Much Ado About Nothing could be said of romance generally. “The world,” quoth he, “must be peopled.”
This column originally appeared in the American Fork Citizen, in print and electronic versions. Used by permission.
Image credit: Chat GPT
From the Author
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