Mpr News With Kerri Miller

If you’re a romance reader, you won’t be surprised to hear that romance is the biggest genre in publishing. Nearly 40 million romance novels were sold in 2024. Books range from flirty (fade to black) to downright steamy (open door), with myriads of subgenres and tropes to choose from. (Rom-com! Paranormal romance! Historical fiction!)So this week, Big Books and Bold Ideas host Kerri Miller sits down with three Minnesota romance experts to talk about romance writing and reading today. She brings some quizlets and challenges, and each author shares an excerpt of a romance novel that has stuck with them. Big Books and Bold Ideas Romance Roundtable Along the way, they discuss the rules of romance (happy endings are nonnegotiable), what differentiates a love story from a romance novel and how the industry is starting to adapt to the diversity readers want.They also recommend romance novels that have maybe slipped through the cracks but deserve attention. For Richards, that was the