Contemporary romance is a subgenre of

romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...

s, generally

set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

contemporaneously with the time of its writing. The largest of the romance novel subgenres, contemporary romance novels usually reflect the mores of their time. Heroines in the contemporary romances written prior to 1970 usually quit working when they married or had children, while those novels written after 1970 usually have, and keep, a career.Ramsdell (1999), p. 43. As contemporary romance novels have grown to contain more complex plotting and more realistic characters, the line between this subgenre and the genre of women's fiction has blurred. Most contemporary romance novels contain elements that date the books, and the majority of them eventually become irrelevant to more modern readers and go out of print.Ramsdell (1999), p. 44. Those that survive the test of time, such as the works of

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

are often reclassified as

historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Walter Scott helped popularize in the early 19th century. Varieties Viking These books feature Vikings during the Da ...

s. In a 2014 survey of romance readers, contemporary romance made up 41% of print and 44% of ebook sales compared to other romance subgenres.

Subgenres

Contemporary romance novels may, in turn, be categorized into several subgenres, sometimes mixing with other main subgenres of romance novels. Subgenres include: * General contemporary romance * Contemporary romantic suspense * Baby love * Medical romance *

Cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

contemporary romance * Glamour and jet set * Humorous contemporary romance * International lovers * Love in the workplace * Vacation love * Lesbian romance * Amnesia, that is

memory loss Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use o ...

, often including some former relationship * " Bonkbusters", a subgenre of commercial romance novels from the 1970s and 1980s.

Baby love

This subgenre includes

pregnancy Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ca ...

, babies or children. One obstacle for making plots in this sense is to adapt to an ongoing increase in women who independently raise their children without any partner. ''

Nobody's Baby But Mine ''Nobody's Baby But Mine'' is a romance novel written by Susan Elizabeth Phillips Susan Elizabeth Phillips (born December 11, 1944 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a romance novelist from the United States. She is the creator of the sports romance an ...

'' by

Susan Elizabeth Phillips Susan Elizabeth Phillips (born December 11, 1944 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a romance novelist from the United States. She is the creator of the sports romance and has been called the “Queen of Romantic Comedy.” Biography Phillips was born o ...

is an example of this subgenre.

Medical romance

Medical romance novels may generally be regarded as a subcategory of contemporary romance, as well as of medical fiction, but has its own type of setting and characters, although it yet can be as multifarious as any other subgenre. The setting usually involves a medical workplace, often the

emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...

, but also airborne medicine,

family medicine Family medicine is a medical specialty within primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body. The specialist, who is usually a primary ...

and obstetrics and gynaecology. Regarding characters, the central male protagonists (heroes) are almost always

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

s, mostly emergency physicians,

primary care physician A primary care physician (PCP) is a physician who provides both the first contact for a person with an undiagnosed health concern as well as continuing care of varied medical conditions, not limited by cause, organ system, or diagnosis. The term ...

s or

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

s, and sometimes obstetricians/ neonatologists or

pediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

s. The female protagonists (heroines) are mostly medical doctors but also often nurses, working in primary care, obstetrics/neonatology, training or residency programs, surgery,

anesthesiology Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...

or emergency medicine. The doctors are almost always ingenious, the men usually tallish, husky and chiseled, while nurses are strong but caring. Patients bring a lot of potential for subplots. They mostly get completely recovered, regardless of the severity of their injury or disease. Almost no plot, however, includes a doctor-patient or nurse-patient relationship, since it is a code for professional health care workers to avoid intimate relationships with patients, as a part of a professional doctor-patient relationship. The plot often includes

The Unexplained Popularity Of Pregnant Protagonists - via internet archive
by Lynne Marshall and children.

Lesbian romance

This subgenre is an important part of literature and has been prevalent since the mid 1700s . The lesbian romance genre is often a subgenre of broader genres such as BDSM romance, paranormal romance, coming-of-age romance, fantasy romance, and inspirational romance.

Critical Reception

Contemporary romance novels have twice been chosen by Kelly Ripa to be featured in her Reading with Ripa book club.

References