The Dead Romantics

Contemporary romance is a subgenre of romance fiction. They are set in the present day, though often with fictionalized settings. They feature a fanciful love story—a pattern which includes a meet-cute, various obstacles to developing love, wounds or flaws that keep the leads wary of love, and a resolution that brings the characters together in a happy-ever-after, or at least happy-for-now, ending.

These books frequently reflect a specific cultural moment or take up current issues. For instance, following a push for better representation and diversity, contemporary romances aimed at mainstream audiences feature characters with a broader array of genders, sexualities, cultural backgrounds, and abilities than could be found on shelves just a few years ago. Characters in contemporary romance use wheelchairs, are neurodiverse, struggle with brain health, and enjoy more gender equality, in addition to acting out the more conventional tropes or situations of contemporary romance. The Dead Romantics features a character, Dana, who is nonbinary and uses the pronouns their/theirs/them. Dana helps run the bed and breakfast (B&B) where Florence stays and is married to John, a man Florence once dated in high school.

The majority of romance pairings still tend to be heterosexual or M/F, particularly for imprints with a sweet, inspirational, or Amish label.