LEARNING ALL ABOUT ROMANCE

I have been reading romance genre novels since I was in middle school. In high school, I founded my first book club and enrolled in lots of literature courses. Later, as an undergraduate, I minored in English and took several literature courses for my major too. My undergratuate thesis was on Jane Austen and narrative adaptations of Pride and Prejudice using The Lizzie Bennet Diaries as a case study. Fast forward and I’m still a literature lover. When I began my PhD program, as a first year student, I realized that the romance genre was understudied. Romance genre studies is still relatively new. 

I began analyzing the genre and the fandom in 2016 and continued to do so for the next five years. Yep, FIVE years of solely focusing on the romace genre. From interviewing over 150 readers one-on-one (with an average interview time of 88 minutes, interviews randing from 30 minutes to 4 hours), a survey of 1,400+ romance readers, and attending two dozen conferences and conventions, I’ve learned a lot. I want to share that knowledge with you. Hence, this website and podcast.