Romantic books written by men?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I was having a conversation with a friend at lunch about the enterprise of romance novels, all of which seem written by women for women. Surely, though, there must be romantic works that are written by men. The only one that we could come up with is Love Story. What are we missing?</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if the women who read those prefer women authors, so if there are male authors they’d be using a female pen name.</p>

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<p>Madame Bovary?</p>

4

<p>The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.</p>

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<p>The Bridges of Madison County. I haven’t read the book, but I thought the movie was very romantic.</p>

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<p>When I was young and starry-eyed, I loved the romantic mysteries by Madeleine Brent (Tregaron’s Daughter, Moonraker’s Bride, etc.) Imagine my surprise–and in an odd way, disillusionment (why?)–when I discovered they were written by a man, Peter O’Donnell.</p>

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<p>I would include Memoirs of a Geisha.</p>

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<p>The Bridges of Madison County is a very romantic book. Also, almost any Nicholas Sparks book is part romance.</p>

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<p>Romantic? Love and passion? *War and Peace *is a great romantic book. Just skip the numerous pages describing the battlefields and the horrors of the war, and the rest is pretty much a love story. That’s how I managed to read it in HS :)</p>

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<p>^^There is a big difference between romantic novels such as War and Peace and romance novels. The OP was apparently referring to the latter - you know, books with Fabio (or his current equivalent) on the cover.</p>

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<p>LOL. I misread the OP. Not a fan of those Fabio things :)</p>

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<p>I don’t think Love Story is a “Fabio thing,” although it has been 20 or so years since I read Love Story and I have not ever read a book with Fabio on the cover. I certainly didn’t mean to limit discussion to those kinds of books (that’s just where my conversation with my friend started).</p>

13

<p>The soundtrack to the Bridges of Madison County…</p>

14

<p>Anna Karenina, Great Gatsby, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Women in Love all feature deep deep deep passion of a man for a woman.</p>

<p>“Not a fan of those Fabio things”</p>

<p>I think the proper name for such works is “bodice rippers.”</p>

15

<p>Sidney Sheldon writes great romantic books with interesting twists.</p>

16

<p>Leigh Greenwood and his romance-writing bio:</p>

<p>[Read</a> about Romance book author Leigh Greenwood](<a href=“Leigh Greenwood Web Site 404 Error”>Read about Romance book author Leigh Greenwood)</p>

<p>Jennifer Wilde = Tom E. Huff</p>

<p>Kylie Adams = … ? …</p>

<p>Some husband and wife romance-writing teams:</p>

<p>Tom and Sharon Curtis = Laura London</p>

<p>Nikoo and Jim McGoldrick = Jan Coffey and also May McGoldrick</p>

<p>and </p>

<p>Dean Koontz:</p>

<p>

</p>

17

<p>I don’t generally like " romance" novels, but our bookgroup enjoyed The Go-Between, by L.P. Hartley.</p>

<p>[Review-a-Day</a> - The Go-Between by L P Hartley, reviewed by The Atlantic Monthly - Powell’s Books](<a href=“Powell’s Books | The World’s Largest Independent Bookstore”>http://www.powells.com/review/2002_06_04.html)</p>

18

<p>I don’t read a lot of romance novels by any gender, but recall Robin Pilcher, son of Rosamund Pilcher (The Shell Seekers, I think, is one of hers) wrote one a few years back - it was a transatlantic romance and I think it’s based on the true life story of Pierce Brosnan. (I might have imagined this whole thing. Am not going to google any of it to confirm.)</p>