Have you ever wondered what’s the difference between all of those Harlequin lines (Mills & Boon in the UK) lines? Do you know your Intrigue from your Romantic Suspense, your Presents from your Desire, and your Romance from your Heartwarming? What happens to Love when it gets Inspired?
Harlequin as a brand is often synonymous with “romance” to outsiders, but many romance readers don’t read it much or at all. Personally, some of my all-time favorite reads have been Harlequins, especially from their Historicals lines, and I’ve had wonderful afternoons reading some of their contemporaries.
But Harlequin as an entity is huge, and it is bewildering to figure out where to start. I created this guide, with some commentary and recommendations of books scoring a B or above from our database, to help navigate the wide world of Harlequin. Whether you’re trying Harlequin for the first time or you’re a long-time reader always happy to find new books, I hope this will be useful!
Before we start:
- First, these are the Harlequin series romance lines, which is to say, not its subsidiary imprints like Carina or Avon.
- Second, there are lots of lines you may have heard of (Kimani, Blaze, Superromance…) which I didn’t include here because they are not at this time active. Please fish in the comments for hits from those discontinued lines!
- Third, as far as I know, every mainstream Harlequin romance line is cisgender heterosexual m/f only.
- Finally, I’ve generally stuck to books from the last 5-6 years (unless I could only find less recent ones in our DB). Please chime in with oldies but goodies I didn’t list!
Harlequin Presents
Harlequin says: “Welcome to the glamorous lives of royals and billionaires, where passion knows no bounds. Be swept into a world of luxury, wealth and exotic locations.”
Caroline says: This is it – the archetype of what most people think of when they say “Harlequin”. This is where you’ll find powerful (and sometimes overpowering) alpha Italians, Greeks, and sheikhs, where the heroines will be Cinderellas, and where the titles are as dramatic as the stories. Typically, these stories are at a warm heat level, but everything in Presents is intense, and the sexual attraction is no exception. At its worst, it’s histrionic, but at its best, it’s escapist perfection.
AAR Recommends: Caitlin Crews (Imprisoned by the Greek’s Ring, Bride by Royal Decree), Lynn Rae Harris (A Game With One Winner), Kelly Hunter (The Man She Loves To Hate), Ally Blake (The Magnate’s Indecent Proposal)
Harlequin Desire
Harlequin says: “Luxury, scandal, desire—welcome to the lives of the American elite.”
Caroline says: Oil tycoons, financiers, tech billionaires, actors, i-bankers, and the like. The heroines are often rich in their own right, so if the typical Harlequin Presents power imbalance bothers you, these books may be a better fit. In recent years, Desire has made strides increasing the number of interracial couples and couples of color in this line, and quite a few authors of color write for them as well. Sex scenes are generally warm.
AAR Recommends: Jessica Lemon (Best Friends, Secret Lovers, A Christmas Proposition) Yahrah St. John (Red Carpet Redemption), Sophia Singh Sasson (Marriage By Arrangement)
Harlequin Romance
Harlequin says: “Emotion and intimacy simmer in international locales—experience the rush of falling in love!”
Caroline says: In synopsis form, these books often sound like Presents: foreign settings, a hero who is usually a millionaire/billionaire/prince etc. The difference lies in the tone, which is less high-energy/dramatic than a Presents, and the heat level, which is lower. If Presents is Whitney’s version of I Will Always Love You, Romance is Dolly’s original – the same bones, but subtler.
AAR Recommends: Barbara Wallace (One Night in Provence), Marion Lennox (Christmas Where They Belong), Melissa James (The Sheikh’s Destiny),
Harlequin Dare
Harlequin says: Sexy romances featuring powerful alpha males and bold, fearless heroines exploring their deepest fantasies.
Caroline says: This is Harlequin’s hottest line. The heroes are wealthy, lusty, and bossy, and the heroines are in touch with their sexual sides. The sex scenes are generally in the AAR “Hot” range. In total honesty, I had more success with the Blaze line, which Dare replaced.
AAR Recommends: Margot Radcliffe (Friends with Benefits), Jackie Ashenden (King’s Ransom, King’s Price), Caitlin Crews (Unleashed)
Harlequin Special Edition
Harlequin says: “Relate to finding comfort and strength in the support of loved ones. Enjoy the journey no matter what life throws your way.”
Caroline says: Common tropes here are single parents finding a new partner and homecomings, generally to small towns. They advertise that varied heat levels are welcome, but the category is dominated by books in the subtle-to-warm range. This is a cozy, comfort line.
AAR Recommends: Jo McNally (Her Homecoming Wish), Nina Crespo (The Cowboy’s Claim), Cathy Gillen Thacker (A Tale of Two Christmas Letters), Rochelle Alers (Second Chance Sweet Shop)
Harlequin Medical
Harlequin says: “Escape to the world where life and love play out against a high-pressured medical backdrop.”
Caroline says: This line evolved from but goes beyond your classic “Doctor/Nurse” Betty Neels-type books. Nowadays, the hero or the heroine can be the doctor (sometimes both are!) and “medical” can include anything from bush pilots to veterinarians, so this line is wide-ranging. Heat levels vary but are generally not past warm.
AAR Recommends: Amy Andrews (Swept Away by a Seductive Stranger), Fiona Lowe (Newborn Baby for Christmas)
Love Inspired
Harlequin says: “Fall in love with stories where faith helps guide you through life’s challenges, and discover the promise of a new beginning.”
Caroline says: While that tag does not officially limit “faith” to Christianity, this is a Christian line (submission guidelines say “Strong contemporary romances with a Christian worldview and wholesome values.”) You won’t find any premarital sex, or even lustful thinking, in this line; the characters are becoming emotionally intimate. These books are generally kisses, or at most, subtle – but only after the wedding! – and heroes and heroines do not drink, gamble, or swear. This is where you’ll find most of your Amish romances, and a bonanza at Christmas.
AAR recommends: Jo Ann Brown (An Amish Easter Wish)
Love Inspired Suspense
Harlequin says: “Find strength and determination in stories of faith and love in the face of danger.”
Caroline says: The same rules as Love Inspired apply – Christian characters, low/closed door sensuality, no drinking, gambling, or premarital sex – but with the addition of a suspense plot. This line features protector heroes, so look for a lot of bodyguards, witness protection, and law enforcement heroes.
AAR recommends: Maggie K. Black (Witness Protection Unraveled), Margaret Dailey (A Standoff at Christmas)
Harlequin Heartwarming
Harlequin says: “Connect with uplifting stories where the bonds of friendship, family and community unite.”
Caroline says: Actually, we haven’t reviewed many of these, and nothing passed the B-grade threshold! What do you all know?
Harlequin Historical
Harlequin says: “Be seduced by the grandeur, drama and sumptuous detail of romances set in long-ago eras!”
Caroline says: This is the line we read, review, and have DIK’ed the most. Harlequin Historicals is a great place to get shorter but no less intricate stories set in the past. The dominant setting in this line is 19th century Britain, followed by Viking and Medieval Europe. However, there are always surprises in this line that go further afield. Heat is generally warm.
AAR recommends:
For 19th Century Britain:
Marguerite Kaye (A Wife Worth Investing In, A Scandalous Winter Wedding, and more),
Julia Justiss (Forbidden Nights with the Viscount, The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife, and more),
Lara Temple (Lord Hunter’s Cinderella Heiress, The Rake’s Enticing Proposal, and more)
Although many of her recent releases have been through other publishers, no Harlequin Historicals list would be complete without Carla Kelly.
For other settings:
Harper St. George (Longing for her Forbidden Viking)
Elizabeth Hobbes (Uncovering the Merchant’s Secret – medieval France; A Runaway Bride for the Highlander – Renaissance Scotland)
Michelle Styles (A Noble Captive – Roman-era Crete)
Paula Marshall (An Unconventional Heiress – Regency Australia)
Jeannie Lin (Tang Dynasty series)
Lauri Robinson (The Wrong Cowboy – American West)
Harlequin Intrigue
Harlequin Says: “Dive into action-packed stories that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Solve the crime and deliver justice at all costs.”
Caroline says: Think of this as “suspense with strong romantic elements.” The thriller plot comes first. Neither the violence nor the sex will be explicit.
AAR Recommends: Nicole Helm (Wyoming Cowboy Justice)
Harlequin Romantic Suspense
Harlequin says: “These heart-racing page-turners will keep you guessing to the very end. Experience the thrill of unexpected plot twists and irresistible chemistry.”
Caroline says: Intrigue leads with the suspense; Romantic Suspense leads with the love story. The sensuality level can be much warmer than in Intrigue.
AAR Recommends: Susan Cliff (Navy SEAL Rescue, Witness on the Run), Deborah Fletcher Mello (Seduced by the Badge)
And now over to you readers. What Harlequins do you read (or avoid) and why? What titles and authors do you recommend for any newbies?
Update: Roan Parrish has just announced that she will be publishing Harlequin’s first
“on-page queer romance” in a series line! Congrats!
https://twitter.com/roanparrish/status/1313203153731497985?s=21
That’s great news – thanks for posting :)
For recent HP authors, I love Dani Collins and Tara Pammi that were not mentioned yet.
older one Michelle Reid.
Many beloved names like Kelly Hunter, Sophie Weston, have been already mentioned.
thank you, great post & discussion!
Since some Harlequin writers have joined us (yay!), and we got on the subject of foreign languages, would anybody be willing to share if their work has been translated? If so, which languages? Also, where can translated Harlequin titles be purchased? There’s no official website that I’ve found.
Another question for Harlequin writers: any news about the limited edition Inspirational lines “Cold Case” and “Mountain Rescue?” Harlequin made a big announcement on their blog a few months ago, soliciting stories for these two limited edition lines and then… nothing. Does anybody have any insight on this?
when I scroll on Amazon under the name of a popular HP author, I get other languages further down the pages, German Italian Spanish Dutch are very common. Whether you can get more (to me, when Amazon is concerned) exotic languages such as Polish or Russian or Japanese, simply from Amazon – no idea. But I know the books get translated into many many languages!
Great tip! Thanks! I’ll check it out.
That’s a good (and tricky) question, because translation decisions are made by each local Harlequin office, so it varies very much by author. To my knowledge there isn’t one public place where you can go to get a full list of each author’s translations. Amazon certainly doesn’t show them all. For example, some of mine are translated into 11 languages (even audiobooks) but I have to go to specific country Amazon or Harlequin or other book sites to find most of them. Still, I’ve always been a big fan of the Harlequin translations – years ago I used Harlequin to help learn French and Arabic – it was the most enjoyable language learning method I’ve ever tried!
Thanks for writing back! I’ve been wondering about translation policies for some time, particularly at a big wig romance publisher like Harlequin. A long time ago, I remember reading a former Harlequin author’s reflections on how no other publisher made so many translations, even for their less famous writers. She said it really is a great, lesser-known perk of writing for Harlequin.
It must be really awesome to hold a translated book in your hand for something you’ve written. Then you could have a weird Twilight Zone experience where you learn the language through your own work. I envy you. :)
Thanks, Nan. I think that’s true about the high ratio of translations at Harlequin, though I couldn’t quantify it. I love seeing translations of my books and I’ve done exactly as you said with my Italian translations – sitting with the English and the Italian versions. Being made love to by my own heroes in Italian is quite a kick!
Oh what fun!!
Yes, ideally, you know the language you want and start looking with favorite authors of yours – and hope to find something.
Just for fun, I just tried with Urdu, found nothing, but then I realized that I would not even know the alphabet – so Urdu is out for now…
Re: foreign translations – my Special Editions have been translated into French and German so far – I’ve only ever looked for them on the France and Germany Amazon sites, so I’m not sure where else to get them. I’ve been meaning to try to read the French translations to see how my high school French has held up.
Also, thanks to the person who mentioned my bisexual hero from In Service of Love!
Wonderful article – thanks for clarifying the differences between the lines (and for recommending my book in Special Edition!). For Heartwarming, definitely check out Claire McEwen or Anna J. Stewart. Both write emotional love stories that have some grit along with the sweet. Claire’s new release, Rescuing the Rancher, is really intense as a female firefighter tries to help save the hero’s ranch from a wildfire.
How did you talk about Harlequin Presents and leave out Lynne Graham? She is the grande dame of the series, and I still buy all her novels that are released in the US. Wealthy alphas, feisty women, passion galore. She is the epitome of the genre.
True.
i love(d) her.
unfortunately, her recent titles are very hit and miss- some are just too much same old same old, like she rewrites her older ones with slight changes. But some, like Mistress Bride, I love and still reread sometimes.
As I mentioned in my post above, Graham’s 1996 HP, SECOND-TIME BRIDE, is a Kindle Daily Deal for 99-cents today.
We don’t have any Lynne Graham books with a score over B in the database!
The only review that comes up for Graham when I run a search is one for Dark Angel, which got panned. I did not like it either. I used the power search and just entered her name. Is there a better way to find the reviews?
Thank you very much for this guide. I’m one of those who sometimes enjoy something shorter. But it is overwhelming the number of category romances out there. So I will take into account your recommendations.
There are quite oldies but goodies novels. We have to remember that great names started in category romances –Nora Roberts, Jayne Ann Krentz, Linda Howard or Sandra Brown, to name a few– that began their careers writing this kind of book.
My favourite ones, among those oldies, are those written by Jennifer Crusie. Anyone But You (1996) is one of my all-time favourites. It was published in the short-lived line Harlequin Love and Laughter.
I can read nearly any label, but Inspirational. I particularly love Blaze (now Dare) and Historicals, mainly because it’s the only place where I can find unusual settings. I have recently read Palace Brides trilogy, set in Constantinople, 11th century, written by Carol Townend and I’ve really enjoyed the first one (Bound to the Barbarian) and the third one (Betrothed to the Barbarian).
And of course, Carla KELLY has written quite a good novels in this line. The surgeon’s lady (2009) and Her hesitant heart (2013) come to my mind.
I realise that I have read not a book from the Harlequin Heartwarming line. But I have seen good reviews of Montana Welcome (2020).
Sarah Mayberry is one of my favourite authors among more recent writers.
Just want to say…they aren’t all cisgender! I have a bisexual heroine coming out in June 2021 with Romantic Suspense. It was written two years ago and was originally contracted as a Superromance. Romantic Suspense picked up the contract when the line folded.
Great to know! As Caz wrote earlier – HQN doesn’t use Netgalley very actively, so do feel free to reach out to our editors if you would like someone to review it!
I would love that!! I will definitely do so! Thank you!
This is a great comprehensive list!!! I’ve been pleasantly surprised by several love inspired suspense where the woman saves the day. They’re getting a lot better featuring strong women. Their heartwarming line is basically their love inspired Minus religion.
I miss the Blaze line and the Dare line’s days are numbered (I heard they are ending the line from a twitter post by Angela James (https://twitter.com/angelajames/status/1259978196168183809?s=20 ) so I wonder what will replace them. I think the Desire line has definitely gotten hotter though, especially the books by Naima Simone.
Oh, and the Dare line is closing in June 2021
I don’t think the Dare line ever really found its footing—and I remain baffled as to why the Blaze line had to be discontinued to make room for it. Since its debut, Dare has been hit or miss for me. Caitlin Crews wrote some really good books for the line (the Filthy Billionaires series, TEACH ME, TAKE ME, TEMPT ME, is especially good), but I think other writers (including Katee Robert and Clare Connelly) struggled with the Dare template where the limited page count, along with the requirement that sex scenes be hot & frequent, often resulted in conflicts between the MCs that seemed simultaneously overblown and too easily resolved. The other issue with Dare is that, despite its claim that it features heroines exploring their deepest fantasies, it never really “went there,” so to speak. Several books I read included references to anal sex, menages, and sex toys, but there would rarely be on-page activity involving same. It takes ten generations for the characteristics of a new dog breed to stabilize—and perhaps it’s the same with the Dare line: it just wasn’t given enough time for its true character to emerge. I do feel bad for the writers who may have manuscripts in the Dare pipeline though—hopefully they can tweak the material and publish elsewhere.
Also, in today’s Kindle Daily Deals, there’s an old Harlequin Presents on sale for 99-cents. It surprised me when I saw it because HPs rarely go on sale. The book is SECOND-TIME BRIDE by the doyenne of HPs, Lynne Graham. It was first published in 1996, so it probably has “old skool” elements (and it includes the “secret child” trope), but if you’re new to HPs and wanted to get a sample, less than a buck is not a bad price point.
Caroline, this is an EXCELLENT post! I have bookmarked it for future reference.
Thank you for posting this! I have been looking back at category romance this week. I loved the older Silhouette Special Edition, Intimate Moments, and Desire lines. I also became addicted to Old Skool Harlequin Presents.
I wasn’t crazy about the changes in the Desire line — the way the line became more … “tycoonish.” Or the way Intimate Moments became the romantic suspense line instead of a line that could include those elements. Le Sigh. Or the recent name changes from Silhouette to Harlequin in the old Silhouette lines (although I understood those changes were needed to make the lines show up in searches).
I’m glad to read that while the new Desire books still have tycoons, actors, billionaires, etc., the power balances are better. That makes them a lot more promising. Especially as the authors and characters are more diverse.
If I want them in paperback, I might be out of luck. I think the local Wal-Mart only carries the Spanish-language Desire books. But because the newer Harlequin mass markets usually have smaller print, I’m happier buying them in ebook format from an AAR link. :)
“If I want them in paperback, I might be out of luck. I think the local Wal-Mart only carries the Spanish-language Desire books.”
On the other hand, you could use them to learn a new language. :) I remember the Hungarian polyglot Kato Lomb, who worked professionally in 16 languages- most of which she learned after the age of 40!- was big on learning language through romance, thrillers, and other pulpy genre books.
My fantasy e-reader would offer the option of a dictionary that is English-to-foreign-language and vice versa, so I could read in a foreign language and just touch the screen to bring up a word. Or it would offer the option of using the OED, although my guess is that that would be pricy. There are way too many words my Nook dictionary does not have, or has inadequate definitions for.
You and I have the same dream reader, Still reading!