Librarian
tackles the
stigma of
romance
novels Off the Shelf and Out of the Closet
BOOK COVER DESIGN BY CARA MCKENNA; PHOTO BY HITOKO BURKE
Jennifer Lohmann ’06 (MSLS) says
reading romance novels “is often some-
thing done in the closet.”
“People are really very judgmental
about something that is none of their
business,” she says. “People are not this
judgmental about mysteries or science
fiction.”
Lohmann, who is wrapping up her
term as the Romance Writers of
America’s American Librarian of the
Year, is battling that stigma. In her job
at the Durham Public Library, as the
leader of the Romance Lovers Book
Club, as a blogger at Smart Bitches,
Trashy Books and as a contented reader,
Lohmann is an exuberant resource for
anyone open to the genre.
Lohmann says romance novels for
adults are different from teen
romances such as Sweet Valley High,
the series where Lohmann and many
others got their start at the age of 9
or 10. Those books for younger
readers are more about the twin sis-
ters and their relationship. Love is
incidental. “The romance,”
Lohmann says of the adult version,
“tells the story of a couple from the
beginning of their relationship to the point of their
commitment, to the happily ever after. It is very character-
based. You have to buy the character, and you have to
Anyone who can accept this trope can have a great time
reading books that range wide in their setting and charac-
Besides Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie, Jennifer Lohmann recommends these authors
and books for anyone wanting to try the romance genre:
Jennifer Ashley, The Madness of Lord Ian McKensy. Set in the Victorian era, the
novel has a hero with Asperger’s, but only the modern reader can spot that diagno-
sis; to his contemporaries, he seems mad.
Laura Kinsal, Flowers from the Storm. Set in the Victorian era with a troubled hero
who has had a stroke at the age of 30. The heroine sees through to his soul, and
they fall in love, supported by this understanding.
Loretta Chase, Lord of Scoundrels. The heroine is always one step ahead of the hero.
Any novels by Jo Beverly, Mary Balogh or Suzanne Brockman.
Librarian’s Picks
ters.
Lohmann suggests Bet Me by
Jennifer Crusie. “For a lot of
well-educated women who are
suspicious of romance novels,
Bet Me is a good place to start.
Jennifer Crusie is a professor of
English,” she says. “Bet Me is
smart, funny, very modern in
its feel. The main character,
Min, is very intelligent and
independent. She is a strong person. Who is going to want
to read about a whiney person?”
Lohmann is pleased to have landed in a place that nur-
tures writers, especially romance writers. She works with
Heart of the Carolinas Romance Writers and loves the
Romance Teas on Sundays where readers get to talk to writ-
ers, just getting to know each other as people — and
romance lovers.
Jennifer Lohmann ’06
(MSLS) and her husband, Lars Jarkko ’04
(MA), are featured on a
mock cover design contest winner honoring her
as the Romance Writers
Association Librarian of
the Year.
