It’s the time of summing up, so let’s take a look at the top posts from the Romance MFA in 2018. By page views, here they are.
10. Romance Tropes in Pride and Prejudice
Everyone loves Pride and Prejudice — or at least, those who don’t like it are pretty well drowned out by those who do, so no surprises that my review of the novel is up here.
9. Alpha, Alphaholes and Assholes in Romance
You can’t read very far in the romance genre, particularly those romances written in centuries (decades) past, without encountering the Alphahole. I wrote a three part series exploring the phenomenon: part 1 attempts to define the terms, part 2 looks at why the alpha-hole appeals, part 3 considers changing tolerance for the alphahole in the era of #metoo.
8. The Princess Bride tells us Life Isn’t Fair
Life is totally unfair, and although I read this line in the dang book — “There’s death coming up, and you better understand this: some of the wrong people die.” — I was still taken aback when I heard William Goldman had died.
7. Clergy in historical romance
This post sparked some discussion on Twitter, and I suspect that someone popular included it in a newsletter. My thoughts on the topic are still developing, perhaps I’ll revisit it in the coming year.
6. Pride and Prejudice and Pamela: Comparing Austen and Richardson
Am I just here to help you with your English assignments?
5. Comparing Jane Eyre with Pamela
Yeah, I’m definitely helping people with their homework here.
4. Light and dark: Emotion and Atmosphere in Jane Eyre
I hope you’re writing that English essay using your own words, my friend.
3. Finding Romance Stock Photos
I like to look through stock photos and pretend that I’ve already written enough books to require dozens of covers. Because romance-appropriate stock photos can be hard to find, I put together a list of sources for romance stock photos, with notes on pricing and coverage of genre and diverse models.
2. Victorian Erotica: The Convent School, or Early Experiences of A Young Flagellant
I’ve always heard that the vast majority of internet traffic is p0rn, and here we see the cross-section between my more academic interests and the general appetite for titillation. Searches for Victorian erotica, or Victorian porn, will lead you to my review of this Victorian BDSM novel.
1. 45 Romance Podcasts for Your Listening Pleasure – a resource so popular that I updated it in November: here’s the new list, up to 65 romance & romance adjacent podcasts!
Apparently this was a resource list that the internet needed, and I’m glad to have provided it. If you have a new podcast, or an old one, that somehow isn’t on the list, I’ve set up a Google form to submit to the list.
What will the new year bring? My first full-length romance novel, Anyone But the Earl, will be out in April, and I’ll have lots more thoughts on the romance genre as I continue reading through my syllabus in 2019!
