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Guide to Leisure Reading: Romance/Love Stories

This guide will help you find books that interest you for leisure reading - aka "the fun books."

Romance and Love Stories

Finding Romance and Love Stories at WIU

What makes a book a Romance?

"In order for a book to be considered a Romance novel, it must have two things: the main focus of the story must be on the romantic relationships between the book's two protagonists, and the book must have a happily optimistic, emotionally satisfying ending."

- Genreflecting 7th Ed.

There is often a lot of overlap between romance and other genres.

Finding Romance Books at Western

Most romance books are given 'subject headings' that identify them as belonging to that genre. Subject headings are like tags that can help you find related books in the library's catalog. The following genre subject headings are often used for romance novels - click any term to be taken to a list of related books in the WIU catalog.

Popular Romance Authors

These authors write books that are popular with people who enjoy romance novels. Click on any name to be take to a list of their works in the WIU catalog. If you're interested in a particular author not listed here, you can also search for that author directly from the WIU catalog home page.

Using I-Share

Is a book by your favorite author not available at Western?

You might be able to borrow it through I-Share. By creating an I-Share account using your WIU Library ID, you can borrow books from 80 different Illinois college libraries.

I-Share Catalog

The I-Share catalog lets you search the collections of all I-Share libraries simultaneously. You can also request books from other libraries through the 'Request 1st Available' feature.

Using I-Share

This guide has information to help you create a new I-Share account and place requests for books.