Defining the Trope in Romance Fiction | Journal of Popular Romance Studies Trope n. A named, recognizable plot device or feature that raises expectations about the direction of the plot or character interactions. A tag that references a recognizable plot device and serves as...

Every reader has a favorite romance trope but they are rarely studied by scholars... Or at least it was so. Our new multi-authored Note, "Defining the Trope in Romance Fiction", synthesizes ideas and discussions on this topic. Follow the link to read: doi.org/10.70138/ECM...

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Text on the image: Topics of interest may include but are not limited to: Sports in romance narratives in a variety of media, including but not limited to: genre fiction, memoir, screen media, music, or in the teaching of these media. The significance of self-publishing in contemporary sport romance The relationship between sport fan communities, romance fan communities and sport romance fiction ‘BookTok’ and the impact of sport romance fan behaviour on athletes Precursors to contemporary sport romance such as Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles and Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Chicago Stars Portrayals of gender difference and subversion in sport romance Class, wealth and celebrity in sport romance Queer themes and homophobia within sport culture as explored in sport romance Young Adult sport romance and the pedagogical interventions endeavoured by sport romance in young people’s physical activity

CfP 🚨 Are you interested in #RomanceResearch and Sports? JPRS is calling for papers for its special issue on Sport Romance!

📆 300-word abstracts to be submitted by 31st May 2026 to Atlanta Tsiaoukkas (at839@cam.ac.uk).

🔗 Find all the information on our website: www.jprstudies.org/submissions/...

Against Odds: Beverly Jenkins’ Indigo and Black Historical Romance | Journal of Popular Romance Studies Invited to provide a companion essay to the Black Romance Podcast’s interview with romance author Beverly Jenkins, I was honored, nervous, and excited (fangirling actually). An acclaimed romance autho...

February is Black History Month, so we wanted to highlight an article from our 2022 Special Issue "Black Romance". Follow the link to read "Against Odds: Beverly Jenkins’ Indigo and Black Historical Romance" by Margo Hendricks (@elysabethgrace.bsky.social): doi.org/10.70138/DZP...

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Editor’s Note: Volume 14 | Journal of Popular Romance Studies It was in Brussels, Belgium, in 2010, that I first ‘discovered’ the field of popular romance studies. Attending the second (although my first) conference of the International Society for the Study of ...

The start of 2026 in JPRS is marked by the publication of Amy Burge's (@dramyburge.bsky.social) Editor's Note for Volume 14 ✨. Follow the link to read our Executive Editor's review of last year's publications: doi.org/10.70138/ZFX...

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JPRS 2025 Wrapped! 🎆 Today marks the end of an exciting year for the Journal of Popular Romance Studies: we've published 5 articles, 1 Special Issue, 4 pieces in the Notes and Queries section, and 6 book reviews. Thank you to all authors and readers! We'll see you in 2026 for more #RomanceResearch.

Jeff Fields McCormack (@jfmauthor.bsky.social) reviews the volume "Young Adult Gothic Fiction: Monstrous Selves / Monstrous Others", edited by Michelle J. Smith and Kristine Moruzi: doi.org/10.70138/NSV...

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Carly Bennett reviews Derritt Mason's book "Queer Anxieties of Young Adult Literature and Culture": doi.org/10.70138/NZG...

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Pavlína Studená reviews Cristina Herrera's book "ChicaNerds in Chicana Young Adult Literature: Brown and Nerdy" (2020): doi.org/10.70138/SEX...

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Romance, Eroticism, and Intimacy in a Work of Nancy Drew Fanfiction: Cross-Reading Personal Pedagogies and Literacies | Journal of Popular Romance Studies Introduction This feminist cross-reading of a Nancy Drew “smutty” fanfiction story emerges from our shared interest in literacy education, as well as our respective interests in embodiment, bodies, an...

Amber Moore and Kaye Hare keep the focus on Nancy Drew and close this Special Issue with their article "Romance, Eroticism, and Intimacy in a Work of Nancy Drew Fanfiction: Cross-Reading Personal Pedagogies and Literacies": doi.org/10.70138/ORZ...

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You Go, Girl! Nancy Drew in the Girl Power Era | Journal of Popular Romance Studies In Hit and Run Holiday (1986), iconic teen sleuth Nancy Drew and her gal pals George and Bess meet up with a friend in Fort Lauderdale for some fun in the sun—only to watch in horror as their friend i...

Andrea Braithwaite's (@ahbraithwaite.bsky.social) article, "You Go, Girl! Nancy Drew in the Girl Power Era", explores how this popular character has been adpated to the shifting terrain of postfeminist popular culture: doi.org/10.70138/ZUU...

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“I’d really, really like a boyfriend”: A Narratological Examination of Adolescence, Ideology, and Subjectivity in Indian and Indian American YA Netflix Romances | Journal of Popular Romance Studies Introduction Media viewing practices have changed drastically in the last two decades with audiences no longer having to wait for television episodes to be aired. Instead, viewers can watch their favo...

Tharini Viswanath and Nithya Sivashankar tackle adolescent romantic subjectivity in “'I’d really, really like a boyfriend': A Narratological Examination of Adolescence, Ideology, and Subjectivity in Indian and Indian American YA Netflix Romances": doi.org/10.70138/YRR...

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Main Character Energy: Black Girls Getting the Love They Deserve in Elise Bryant’s Young Adult Novels | Journal of Popular Romance Studies This article focuses on Black Young Adult (YA) romance, but I start by thinking about two snapshots of popular culture. Snapshot One is the rise of the term “main character energy” to refer to a chara...

Christian M. Hines' article, "Main Character Energy: Black Girls Getting the Love They Deserve in Elise Bryant’s Young Adult Novels", focuses on Black Young Adult (YA) romance: doi.org/10.70138/ZOK...

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Together Forever: Heterodestiny and the Soulmate Trope in Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses Series | Journal of Popular Romance Studies Introduction When feminist scholars employ the terms “compulsory heterosexuality” or “compulsory sexuality” they are usually doing so in reference to queer persons or communities who feel pressured by...

Jessica Caravaggio analyzes the soulmate trope in the ACOTAR series in her article "Together Forever: Heterodestiny and the Soulmate Trope in Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses Series": doi.org/10.70138/KRY...

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“Leading dual lives, even literarily”: Voice, Visibility, and Ghostwriting in the Sweet Valley Franchise | Journal of Popular Romance Studies Introduction Authorship is a profession in flux. Ranging from the anonymous and attributed, individual and collective, or even mythical writers of ancient and medieval periods, to the idealised author...

Melanie Ramdarshan Bold (@drmrb.bsky.social) and Nora Slonimsky (@noraslonimsky.bsky.social) write about the Sweet Valley Franchise in their article "'Leading dual lives, even literarily': Voice, Visibility, and Ghostwriting in the Sweet Valley Franchise": doi.org/10.70138/HCI...

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Special Issue: (Un)defined YA / Series / Romance | Journal of Popular Romance Studies

🚨 A new Special Issue has been published today! The volume "(Un)defined YA / Series / Romance" features an introduction by Amanda K. Allen (@amandaallenphd.bsky.social) and six research articles. Follow the link and keep reading to discover them: www.jprstudies.org/special-issu...

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🚨 A new book review has been published in JPRS!

Qurratulaen Liaqat reviews Javaria Farooqui's (@javariafarooqui.bsky.social) book "Romance Fandom in 21st-Century Pakistan: Reading the Regency". Follow the link to read it: doi.org/10.70138/FRC...

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The Debasement of Love and its Cure in Romance: Psychoanalysis and Healing Through Feminization in Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels | Journal of Popular Romance Studies Introduction Love is central to romance novels. This is hardly a controversial statement. However, many scholars, readers, and authors continuously grapple with the term. For example, Francesca M. Can...

🚨 New article alert!

Follow the link to read "The Debasement of Love and its Cure in Romance: Psychoanalysis and Healing Through Feminization in Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels", an article by Noam Raveh: doi.org/10.70138/XLC...

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Feminist Researcher Wishes to Meet Romantic Subject: The “Case” of Mrs. F. | Journal of Popular Romance Studies [End Page 1] The field of Critical Love Studies is a vigorous and burgeoning one, drawing from multiple disciplines, with or without a feminist point of view. While its diversity of perspectives and m...

Is heterosexual romantic love positive or regressive for women? Follow the link to read "Feminist Researcher Wishes to Meet Romantic Subject: The “Case” of Mrs. F.", an article by Susan Ostrov Weisser addressing this debate within Love Studies: www.jprstudies.org/2017/04/femi...

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Breaking Boundaries through the Body: Love, Monogamy, and Heteropessimism in Fredrik Backman’s Fiction | Journal of Popular Romance Studies Introduction: The Body in Love Fredrik Backman’s fiction has been lauded for its depictions of the human experience, particularly in relation to love and romance, and how it intersects with gender, se...

New article alert 🚨 A new article by Emily Fuller has just been published on JPRS. Follow the link to read "Breaking Boundaries through the Body: Love, Monogamy, and Heteropessimism in Fredrik Backman’s Fiction": doi.org/10.70138/LXC...

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📣 Important update regarding this CfP: the submission deadline for our Special Issue "Romancing the Posthuman" has been extended until 30 November 2025!

🔗 Find all the relevant information through the JPRS website: www.jprstudies.org/submissions/...

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A pink background with a list of titles of recent Young Adult Fiction Scholarship: Asexuality in Young Adult Fiction by Noah O'Connor. Cambridge Elements (Cambridge UP, 2025). Female Heroes in Young Adult Fantasy Fiction by Leah Phillips (Bloomsbury Academic, 2023). Transforming Girls: The Work of Nineteenth-Century Adolescence by Julie Pfeiffer (UP of Mississippi, 2021). Untaming Girlhoods: Storytelling Female Adolescence by Cristina Santos (Routledge, 2023). Young Adult Literature: Transmedia Transformations by Sarah Mygind (Cambridge Elements, 2023).

There's still time! JPRS is still accepting reviews of recent YA scholarship for our special issue on YA series romance. See our Padlet for more details: padlet.com/bookreviews/...
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New psychology study: Inner reasons for seeking romance are a top predictor of finding it People who pursue romantic relationships because they genuinely want connection and intimacy—not because of pressure or insecurity—are more likely to end up in a relationship, according to new research...

New psychology study: Inner reasons for seeking romance are a top predictor of finding it #Science #HealthandMedicine #MentalHealth #RomanceResearch #PsychologyStudy

Sex 20 times a week? New study identifies four types of romantic lover Australian research is ‘first to empirically show that we don’t all love the same’, lead author saysGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast New research has identified four types...

Sex 20 times a week? New study identifies four types of romantic lover #Science #Biology #Zoology #RomanceResearch #IntimacyTypes #RelationshipScience