The More the Merrier!
The romance genre has one of the most active, vibrant, involved, sociable, and energetic readerships of any part of the publishing industry. Throughout America and beyond, bookstores and libraries host flourishing local book clubs especially for romance enthusiasts. This page will spotlight romance reading groups:
- 1) To help interested readers find a romance book club near them.
- 2) To help book clubs reach out to new members.
- 3) To help dispel stereotypes about the romance genre by showing some of the “real people” who read romance today—smart, hardworking women with full, busy lives.
If you have a romance/women’s fiction book club and are welcoming new members, please email me to be included in my Romance Book Club Directory, to be featured at the bottom of this page. Please include where/when you meet so that interested readers can attend, and anything else they need to know. Thank you for your participation!
Book Club Profile
The Barnes & Noble Romance Readers Book Club: Passion with Style!
Elsie Hogarth is a book group leader in East Brunswick, New Jersey who is something of a legend among romance authors. She is an incredible supporter of our genre, and leads a vibrant book group for romance aficionados at her local Barnes & Noble. Like a lot of booklovers, Elsie is also highly creative, and her creative outlet is her craft projects—once she sent me a little charm bracelet she had made for me where each “charm” was a little locket holding a tiny copy of each of my book covers! (I always wear it to my book signings as a good luck charm.) I know that Elsie’s group has a lot of fun at their meetings, so for my very first Book Club Spotlight, I am eager to hear about her group!
How long has your group been around and how many members do you have at present?
The Club was started by Historical author Donna Fletcher, 18 years ago, at Borders, that has been closed for over a year now. We presently have 11 members that meet at Barnes & Noble: Annette B., Cynthia Andersen, Nicole Doran, Elsie Hogarth. Laurie Kovacs, Val Luna, Diane Reinheimer, Maureen Russo, Harriet Scharneck, Noreen Szymanski and Fran White.
What else do your book club members do when they are not…ah, what’s the stereotype, sitting around eating bon-bons? (!!!) To give us a sense of who your members are, what are some of the careers/hobbies/family obligations they are involved in?
Career wise it is so diversified: Librarian, Teacher, Finance Analyst, Booksellers, HR Assistants, Pharmacy Tech, stay at Home Moms, Church Sextons, Department Store Managers and Sociologist.
Activities: Volunteering in the Children's Reading Program at local school (St. Mary's-South Amboy, NJ) , CCD preparation for Communion & Confirmation at local Church (St. Thomas-Old Bridge, NJ), Columbianette member of the Knights of Columbus, Girls Scouts, PTA, Support Our Troops-by sending care packages overseas, Craft Day with Seniors at local Senior Center/Nursing Home and the Women's Shelter.
Hobbies: Reading (of course), craft shows, Yoga, Camping, surfing the net, video games, movies, going out with friends to dinner or shopping, crazy football fans-Elsie, Laurie & Val (Go Steelers), biking and music.
Family Obligations: Husbands, Children, Pets, Parents, Grand Kids and Elderly Grandparents.
A few things the Book Club does as a group.....Road Trips to Conferences and Conventions. Romantic Times Convention, New Jersey Romance Writers of America Conference and Romance Writers of America Annual Conference for the RITA Awards.
We also judge books for New Jersey Golden Leaf, Aspen Gold, Oklahoma Romance Writers of America and Virgina Holt Medallion.
What happens at your meetings? (Is there chocolate, lol?)
There are always snacks and drinks during the meeting due to the nice B&N Cafe. Every month we pick 1 book to read, write the author and ask if they have discussion questions to help us out. Sometimes we have 2 books (different genres) in one month because the group is divided in what they want to read. Two years ago, when we were 18 members (a few moved to So.Carolina, Australia, Georgia and our oldest member Amy Schouten died at age 76) we use to pick 3 books a month.
What’s a good book that you guys have read recently?
Robyn Carr's Virgin River Series-Second Chance Pass.
What are the favorite romance subgenres among your readers?
Everyone in the group has their genre of expertise...example: Noreen: Romantic Suspense & Contemporary, Laurie: Romantic Suspense & Paranormal, Cynthia: Historical & Mystery, Elsie: Historical & Paranormal, Diane: Paranormal & Romantic Suspense, Harriet: Romantic Suspense etc.
As a group we read all genres. If it is the written word we will read it. A few members enjoy reading Erotica but very specific authors like Cris Anson, Diane Whiteside, Shelly Laurenston, Kate Douglas etc.
How do you decide what to read next?
We always put the book selection, by one of the members, to a vote. The books are not required reading due to the end of every discussion we can go around and give our mini reviews of the books we read during the month.
How does your club use book reviews, or don’t they? Are there any book review sources that your club finds particularly useful? How much does an outside book review influence your members’ opinions? Do your members tend to post their opinions/reviews online on places like Amazon?
Romantic Times (See www.romantictimes.com) is the magazine we consider our Bible for information on new release of books and what is going on with authors.
Reviews do not influence us but it helps to know more about the book by checking it out at the bookstore, the library and the author’s website for an excerpt.
Does the debate over a book ever get heated, and if so, what issues in a story usually trigger dissent or especially strong opinions among your members?
Eleven women together....not that it gets heated up but we respect each other, love the diversity of the different genres and have strong opinions. The best thing is that everyone is willing to try a book that they never would have thought that they would like and become fans.
Do you ever run into a situation where a book is too sexually explicit for some of your members? Do you take the sensuality level into consideration when choosing which books you’ll read?
Even though we have a few Erotica readers, in the group, we have never made our monthly choice from the genre due to respect for some members do not enjoy the explicit sexual content and language in books.
Now, I know you’re in New Jersey and the people in your state are famous for not letting anyone push you around. So I’ve got to ask--how do your club members respond if and when somebody makes fun of their reading romance novels?
We just say...."You don't know what you're missing" and "Don't knock it til you've tried it". Have an opened mind....also just remind them that their mother and grandmother read the original romance—in classics like: Shakespeare-Romeo & Juliette, Margaret Mitchell's -Gone With the Wind, the Bronte Sisters-Wuthering Heights & Jane Eyre. (Oprah...give Romance a try...it's not all about Mainstream Fiction).
Do you have any tips for those who are thinking about starting their own romance reading group?
Just do it. Begin it at your local Library, at a Book Store or at home with friends. A different person’s house every week. A Book Club opens your mind to a different world of reading. Set guidelines: dues, limit of size, comfortable place to meet, monthly pick of books, guest authors to visit and do a booksigning.
And lastly, if someone living in your area is interested in attending one of your book club meetings or even joining your group, what should they do? Is everyone welcome or should they contact you in advance?
We meet at Barnes & Noble, East Brunswick, New Jersey, the first Tuesday night of every month at 7:30pm. Stop by and check us and if you hear or see what you like...Join us. We're always looking for new members.
Thanks, Gaelen.
Thank you, Elsie, and all your members for answering my questions! Hope to see you at RWA’s National Convention this July in Washington, DC! I’ll be there along with hundreds of other romance authors signing books to raise money for Literacy. Road Trip!! (For conference information, visit www.rwanational.org.)
The Barnes & Noble Romance Readers Book Club: Passion with Style!
From left to right: Diane Reinheimer, Val Luna, Cynthia Anderson, Annette Allen, Nicole Doran, Elsie Hograth.
Bookclub Directory
Join a Romance Bookclub near you! If you can't find a bookclub near you on this list, email bookclub expert and author publicist, Pat Rouse for a tip sheet on how to start your own romance bookclub!
Romance Bookclub Leaders - if you don't see your location on here and would like to be included so new members can find you, email me with your group's contact info. All groups are welcome, whether you meet in a bookstore, library, or private home.
Discussion Questions for the Knight Miscellany Series Suggested by the Author
(Also suitable for any individual Knight book)
- Which member of the Knight family do you identify with the most and why?
- Were there any historical details in this story that you learned about for the first time? What aspect of the historical setting did you enjoy the most? What do you think would be the most difficult versus the best aspects of living in the Regency time period?
- Family dynamics play a big role in the Knight series. Did any aspect of the family relationships particularly stand out for you? What roles do you see the different members of the Knight family playing out, such as the “chief,” the “star,” the “mascot,” the “scapegoat,” etc? How do you think their mother’s scandalous life as the “Hawkscliffe Harlot” effected each one of them emotionally?
- How does public opinion (i.e. Society or “the ton”) effect the characters’ lives and/or decisions? How must the protagonists conform to external standards of behavior in order to avoid “scandal”? How do ideas about class and “rank” impact their decisions? In what ways do the characters defy their society’s mores? If you were a heroine in a Knight book, how would you handle the situations these women face?
- What are the emotional dynamics between the hero and heroine? What were the big turning points in their developing relationship? What forced them to be together? What major setback nearly derailed their happily-ever-after?
- What inner struggle did the hero and heroine each have to overcome in order to make their relationship work? What lesson did each one have to learn? How did each one have to change?
- What symbols or motifs did you notice recurring in any of the books, or over the course of the series as a whole?
