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Alright. Let’s just get this disclaimer out of the way right now. This is MY OPINION. I am in no way, shape, or form the definitive expert on the subject. I’m just a writer and a reader who has some thoughts I want to share. I also want to make it very clear that I have read and enjoyed all of the books I am going to use as examples, so even if you don’t agree with my categorization, know that I loved the book.
If you hang around Romancelandia at all (especially on Twitter), you know that there is a hot debate about what actually is a rom-com. Rom-coms are hot right now, and as such, many books have been labeled rom-coms recently that really aren’t. The other layer to this is the distinction between women’s fiction and romance. Lots of women’s fiction has been passed off as romance lately because, again, rom-coms are selling well and people want to capitalize on that. So I want to do two things here: give some basic definitions and give some examples. Let’s start with (what I think) is the easiest to classify:
Women’s Fiction: (I could go into a whole separate rant about how women’s fiction as a genre name is dumb because wtf where’s men’s fiction, also this is an incredibly gendered and limited classification, but I’ll save that for another day and just go with it.) Okay. So women’s fiction in the simplest of terms is any fiction book that appeals directly to women’s interests. The main character is a woman, typically she is dealing with issues involving her family, job, love life, etc. Usually there is a happy ending, but not always. Women’s fiction is a direct descendent of chick lit, which was popular in the early 2000s (think Bridget Jones, Devil Wears Prada, Something Borrowed). Oftentimes, WF will include a love story, but it is more of a side plot and not the main focus of the book–if you took out the love story, you would still have a complete plot arc. A clear recent example of WF is The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman, which follows a woman on her journey through Italy to discover her family’s secrets. There is a hint of a love story toward the very end, but it is not an integral part to the plot. Another example of WF (that I absolutely loved) is It Had to Be You by Georgia Clark. The book has multiple POVs and there are actually a couple of different love stories, but no one central couple that dominates the plot. These next two might be more controversial. One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London is often classified as a romance, but I believe it is WF. The book is about a woman on a Bachelorette-esque dating show, and yes, she does end up in a relationship and have an HEA, but the focus of the story is not on their relationship, it’s about the heroine’s journey through the show and how it helps her find herself. Theoretically, she could end up with none of the contestants and the book would not be drastically changed. Another recent book classified as romance that I would argue is WF is Meet Me in Paradise by Libby Hubscher. Again, there is a love story and a happy ending, but the focus of the book is on the heroine’s relationship with her sister. The sister even has her own POV chapters. In my opinion, that makes it not a romance (fabulous book, with serious trigger warnings for cancer and grief, but a beautiful story).
Okay. So that’s women’s fiction in a nut shell. But what about romance. Well the main tenants of romance are two fold: 1) there has to be a central love story and 2) there has to be a happily ever after. If the book does not have these things, it is not a romance. Period. And by central love story, I take that to mean it is the central focus of the book. Of course other things can happen along the way, characters can experience outside trials and tribulations, but the heart of the story is the love story. I’m going to break it down a bit further into rom-coms, humorous contemporary, and serious contemporary. (Historical is a whole other ballgame that we’ll save for another day.) Let’s start again with the easiest:
Serious Contemporary Romance: There are a million of these, if not more, but what makes a serious contemporary romance is the addition of a weighty topic. Illness, grief, domestic violence, etc. That is definitely not to say that these books have no humor in them, because most of them do (and that’s true to life, many people deal with serious issues by using humor, and of course most people’s lives are not one note). But the crux of these books hinges on something significant and consequential. One fabulous SCR is How to Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams, which deals with issues of domestic violence and abusive relationships (trigger warning for both, on the page). Snapped by Alexa Martin is another SCR (though it’s also got Alexa’s humor) as it centers around racism in the NFL when the hero begins to take a knee during the national anthem. Beach Read by Emily Henry is one of my favorites, and I have seen it classified as a rom-com, but the heroine is traversing her grief over losing her dad and learning he had a long-standing affair (trigger warnings also for cancer and cults–a subject of research the hero and heroine both participate in). All of these books have humorous moments, but the heart of the plot is a serious subject, and hence they are (in my own made up label world) serious contemporary romances.
Humorous Contemporary Romance: There are also a million of these in the world, but sometimes these are a little harder to separate from rom-coms because on the surface, they look the same. HCR are funny books. That’s part of the (again, I made it up) name! These books will make you laugh out loud, so why aren’t they rom-coms? Because the plot itself is not explicitly humorous. The same plot could be written without the humor by a different author, could even be a SCR if written by a different author. One example of this is The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez. Abby is HILARIOUS. I have rarely laughed as much while reading as I did during TFZ. So why isn’t it a rom-com? Because the story arc itself is not comedic–the heroine is dealing with infertility and about two-thirds of the way through the book, the characters encounter a serious tragedy that affects the entire rest of the book. TFZ could very easily be written as a SCR, but because Abby’s writing style is funny, it’s an HCR. Some of my favorite authors write HCR, books that make me laugh and smile, but still have a realistic, meaty center. Other examples of HCR would be Act Like It by Lucy Parker and Act Your Age Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert. Super funny, but not hinged on a comedic plot.
Rom-Coms: That brings us to the beast, the heart of the matter. The rom-com. WTF even is a rom-com and does anyone even know at this point? Well, I think I have a pretty okay handle on it, so here’s my thoughts. A rom-com needs a few things: a central love story, an HEA, humor, and a plot set up that in itself, is funny. My favorite recent example is You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle. In the book, two fiances are trying to drive the other to end the engagement, playing pranks, and doing off the wall bonkers things to each other to try to make the other cry uncle and end the relationship. The set up of the plot lends itself to humor. So not only do you have the funny moments because the author’s voice is funny, you have the funny moments that are a direct result of the plot. The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon is another example. The hero and heroine are pretending to be exes, a twist on the classic fake dating trope. The set up itself is inherently humorous. Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall is a classic sitcom setup, the odd couple. Take two people who are opposites and throw them together and the result is hilarious. All of these books have not only funny writing, they have funny plots. And that’s what makes a rom-com. (This is also very hard to do, which is why there are not really nearly as many rom-coms as publishers would like you to think there are.)
Another thing I want to make clear: the cover of a book does not determine its category, despite how we judge books by their covers. Having an illustrated cover does not mean the book is a rom-com. It doesn’t even mean the book is a romance. Having the words “a novel” on the cover doesn’t automatically mean the book is women’s fiction. None of these things have any real bearing on what you will find inside the book.
Hopefully some of these descriptions provided you with some insight! It’s also totally possible (likely?) you disagree with everything I just wrote, but that’s okay! I would love to hear your thoughts on what makes a rom-com!
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