Research shows that the titles of Harlequin Romance novels closely align with women’s mating strategies such that themes of love, commitment, and reproduction are prevalent (Cox & Fisher, 2009). Here, we extend those findings by analyzing the text on the novels’ front and back covers using word frequency analysis and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). Our analysis spanned 1,103 books of the flagship Harlequin Romance imprint, published between 2004 and 2022, all obtained from the Harlequin website. Replicating previous findings, the most frequently appearing title words are baby, bride, Christmas, and billionaire. When all cover text is considered, the most commonly occurring words are heart, love, man, family, baby, Christmas, wedding, and marriage. We then examined the cover text using LIWC. The text expressed positive emotionality more than negative emotionality. Also, the LIWC category of social issues scored the highest, driven by the family, male, and female subcategories. Furthermore, when LIWC scores for novels are correlated with Goodreads review ratings, we found a significant positive correlation between the categories of “analytic,” “they,” and “religion,” which, using speculation, suggests that couples may be carefully selecting a mate for marriage (which falls under the religion category).
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in the current author guidelines for the Romance imprint (https://harlequin.submittable.com/submit), it is stated that “Harlequin Romance no longer features small town and Western settings or cowboy and military protagonists.” However, previous research (Cox & Fisher, 2009) found that “cowboy” was one of the top 12 words used in titles and, presumably, was one of the top topics for Harlequin Romance novels. There is no explanation for why the company is mandating these exclusions, and despite attempts to communicate, there was no response from representatives. We speculate that this change may be a strategic response to shifting market demands, reader preferences, or broader cultural currents. For example, small towns might not hold the same appeal due to increasing urbanization, and cowboys and military protagonists might inadvertently evoke associations with politically charged concepts such as nationalism. What is intriguing, though, is that other media have gravitated toward (and are profiting from) the Western setting and cowboys. (p8 of the online first version)
[LV comment - I did indeed find this intriguing and since it's been a while since I worked on HM&B I went to check the pubisher's guidelines on their website. (Here's an archived version of the webpage, from September 2025.) For the Harlequin Romance series I did see the quote given here: "Harlequin Romance does not feature small town and Western settings or cowboy and military protagonists." However, it seems relevant to note that at the very start of the description for this line it is stated that it focuses on "Uplifting, glamorous international romantic escapes which let the reader experience the intensity, anticipation and rush of falling in love" and two of the "key elements" are:
We need a hero who exudes extreme wealth and who we can immediately trust, who is worthy of the heroine. He should be strong, gorgeous, and alpha but still be an emotionally accessible man who our heroine would aspire to be with.
Glamorous, international settings are central to our stories bringing the aspirational element to our romances.
Before assuming that small towns, cowboys and military protagonists have lost their appeal, however, it should be noted that the Harlequin Heartwarming series features "Wholesome, fun and feel-good contemporary romances set in close-knit communities where the reader can escape to a world of love and belonging. Fall in love with small towns, friendly neighborhoods and romances that always end with happily ever after!" and "Popular themes include: small towns, coming home, becoming a family (single parents, children and secret babies), holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving), western elements (cowboys and ranchers), traditional romance themes such as marriage of convenience and fake relationship, and pets or animals."
Moreover, the Harlequin Special Edition series novels are, according to the publisher's guidelines, "Currently set in American small towns". I did not carry out a comprehensive search for soldier protagonists, but I did notice that one of the Harlequin Special Editions published in 2025 was The Texas Soldier's Twinsby Cathy Gillen Thacker and forthcoming in 2026 in Special Editions was The Soldier's Homecoming Surprise by Brenda Harlen.
Here's the abstract:
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[LV comment - I did indeed find this intriguing and since it's been a while since I worked on HM&B I went to check the pubisher's guidelines on their website. (Here's an archived version of the webpage, from September 2025.) For the Harlequin Romance series I did see the quote given here: "Harlequin Romance does not feature small town and Western settings or cowboy and military protagonists." However, it seems relevant to note that at the very start of the description for this line it is stated that it focuses on "Uplifting, glamorous international romantic escapes which let the reader experience the intensity, anticipation and rush of falling in love" and two of the "key elements" are:
Before assuming that small towns, cowboys and military protagonists have lost their appeal, however, it should be noted that the Harlequin Heartwarming series features "Wholesome, fun and feel-good contemporary romances set in close-knit communities where the reader can escape to a world of love and belonging. Fall in love with small towns, friendly neighborhoods and romances that always end with happily ever after!" and "Popular themes include: small towns, coming home, becoming a family (single parents, children and secret babies), holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving), western elements (cowboys and ranchers), traditional romance themes such as marriage of convenience and fake relationship, and pets or animals."
Moreover, the Harlequin Special Edition series novels are, according to the publisher's guidelines, "Currently set in American small towns". I did not carry out a comprehensive search for soldier protagonists, but I did notice that one of the Harlequin Special Editions published in 2025 was The Texas Soldier's Twins by Cathy Gillen Thacker and forthcoming in 2026 in Special Editions was The Soldier's Homecoming Surprise by Brenda Harlen.