Why?
High Romance came about because I wanted a way of representing romance novels that were more encompassing than just the traditional Love Interest #1 meets Love Interest #2.
The current market didn’t serve my vision, so I set out to find and define what I saw.
What is High Romance?
The picture gallery above should give you a few clues! High Romance is a creative framework for a genre that has existed for almost a thousand years. To be High Romance a novel should have:
- Moral architecture and moral framework
- Characters who have and use agency
- A flat-out rejection of the Naturalist viewpoint in literature and of human beings–human beings should act from something other than mere animal instinct and be portrayed as more than merely animal beings.
- An HEA that is earned through moral choices, through the love interests’ achieving goals that have wider implications than just their personal lives.
From there, it’s all up to your own creativity and imagination!
Are there an examples of High Romance out now?
Yes! And I have The High Romance Reading List to help you find more!
The reading list contains 21 novels I’ve selected personally for their displays of agency, characters who choose their actions, and who do not allow themselves to act out of mere “instinct.” The list is subdivided for ease of use and has my own notes on each work.
You can find it by signing up for my weekly newsletter, The Eftsoons Letter, using the form below.
Want more in-depth looks into romance and a place where it’s taken seriously?
Then you will want to subscribe to my paid monthly newsletter, The Eftsoons Romantic. If you’re tired of the recycled arguments against Romance, then this is where you want to be.
Every issue comes with a main essay, a puzzle to test your comprehension, a piece on writing craft, and a book review. There are also excerpts from my own writing, personal updates that go further than my weekly newsletter, and more!
Update August 31, 2026: With the surrounding furor over some authors changing their works post facto and thereby altering previously purchased digital editions of their work, I want to make one thing clear: when I publish, that is it. The work is done as far as I am concerned.
If I do change any of my work, those changes will be noted as “editions” which is a time-honored way of dealing with edits to already published work.
So, you can buy with confidence. If I change my stance on anything, then I will simply write a new essay in a new issue–not change the old one.
Want to test out The Eftsoons Romantic?
You can buy the inaugural issue using the link below instead of committing to a subscription. I created this option because I know that it’s exactly what I would want if I were a potential subscriber.
