Correspondence with Rachel Parker: Romance novels, industry trends and the stories she won’t read

Hannah sits down (virtually) with Rachel Parker, a romance novel enthusiast and reader of an obscene number of books. Truly. You will not believe how many books she read last year. We talk about the many subgenres of romance (bully romance is a thing?), why Nicholas Sparks doesn’t count as a romance novelist, trends in the genre and industry, how to get ARCs, and the types of novels Rachel will NOT read.

 

Find Rachel on Instagram:

@read.with.rach

 

As always a thank you to Jake Bassen for our theme song. Check him out on SoundCloud:

 

https://soundcloud.com/jakebassen

 

As well as Cam Clawson, for our Correspondence Remix:

https://soundcloud.com/camclawson7

 

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Hannah is @thehannahray

 

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Welcome back to Between Lewis and Lovecraft Correspondence. I got to talk with bookstagrammer and romance novel enthusiast Rachel Parker in January. I’m telling you right now, you will not believe how many books she read last year. We talk about that and the many facets of romance novels, as well as the types of stories Rachel straight up refuses to read. 

Rachel Parker

Read.with.rach 

 

You’re kind of a recent convert to the romance genre, right? Did you read a lot before? Why not romance then?

 

I saw your New Year’s Eve instagram post and I just need to ask you to make sure it’s not a typo, but how many books did you read in 2020? 

 

Do you mostly read new releases, or do you read stuff that’s been published a decade or even longer ago too? Have you noticed any changes in the genre over time?

 

History of the genre (harlequin)

 

Embracing the “smut” stereotype

 

Independently published romances vs. traditional

 

Easiest genre to get into?

 

Where Roses Grow Wild

Meg's writing career began in 1998 when her first historical romance for adults, Where Roses Grow Wild, was published under the pen name Patricia Cabot so her grandmother wouldn't know she was writing books with sex in them.