Top 10 harlequin romance novels
Ravenous readers could even subscribe for a regular fix of happily-ever-afters. They spilled beyond book sellers and into the supermarkets.
#Top 10 harlequin romance novels tv#
Equipped with a new marketing strategy - one that gave their branding bigger billing than the bylines - the books were everywhere: Harlequins were shilled on daytime TV and packed into boxes of maxi pads.
And as the decade progressed, Harlequin, which was now headquartered in Toronto, redefined itself as the universal catch-all for romance novel. Like some blushing heroine tumbling into the bronzed embrace of her billionaire playboy, they leaned in hard by the '50s. At first, it was reprints of Mills & Boon yarns, a British brand they eventually bought in the early '70s. The company always had some stake in romance, though in their earliest days, they were printing all sorts of genre fiction, re-packaging American and British titles for a Canadian market. Harlequin's history starts in Winnipeg a little more than 60 years ago. Meers's scenes are typical, as synonymous with romance as Harlequin itself. But for decades, that exaggerated look of love was being mass-produced in Toronto.Īs seen at The Beguiling: original Harlequin cover art by Tony Meers. Square-jawed heroes clutch swooning women in gazebos - and maximalist living rooms and unidentified tropical locales.
#Top 10 harlequin romance novels series#
(To this day, the publisher maintains a staggering output of fresh titles, releasing 66 books over their various romance series a month, and that's not including the ebooks.) The show's tongue-in-cheek title? Retromancer: Painted Lessons in Heteronormativity, and some 80 of Meers's oil paintings are available for sale - scenes he would have produced over the '80s and '90s, sometimes two or three at a time. They're the original covers for a slew of Harlequin romance novels, and through Valentine's Day, Toronto comic shop The Beguiling is showing a selection by local illustrator Tony Meers. The images have been seen by thousands, maybe even millions of people, though the titles probably won't be familiar: Night of Shame, Two-Timing Love, Making Magic.