The first Tuesday in the month is the meeting day for my local chapter of the Romantic Novelists' Association - known as the Cariad Chapter. (It's a Welsh endearment - love, or darling.) We usually meet in Cardiff in one of the tea or coffee shops that also do lunch. Coffee or tea and cake, gossip, sharing news, sometimes a themed discussion or workshop is followed by lunch for those who can stay.
Yesterday though we did something a bit different. A small group of us did a tour of the local bookshops to see what they had in the way of romantic fiction. |I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. At one time 'romance' only mean a stand of Mills and Boon. Not that anything is wrong with that - they are engrossing stories written by clever women and a few men. I have favourites among them, particularly in the historicals. Other romances are available however, and it was good to see some of them, quite a lot of them, in fact.
WH Smith had a very varied selection across genres from sagas to hot romance. The Works had a big display and the staff commented that romance was very popular. This is interesting, as the display in my local branch always seems to me to be predominantly crime and thrillers. Reflecting the taste of different shoppers?
Waterstones was interesting as they had a couple of tables labelled romance. On one level I found it disappointing as most of the authors seemed to be American, and we do have excellent British romance authors including the winners of the RNA Awards who were announced on Monday night, who would have earned their place on the table. But that is a quibble - romance is there, when for so long it wasn't. A lot seems to be down to Tick Tok favourites - authors from there were in evidence in all three shops, Many romance authors, especially from smaller presses, such as mine, are often e-book first or e-book only. No physical book, no presence in a bookshop. The view inside the e-reader might be quite different. Even with those caveats it was an interesting morning, finished with lunch in Waterstones upstairs cafe.
At the moment the group is looking for a new venue as our tea shop of choice no longer opens early in the week. We have to change our day, or change our location. Wherever we end up next month there will be cake, as I will be celebrating the release of Masquerade on the Riviera on 28th March!
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