1949: Harlequin Books is founded…
Harlequin Books is founded in Winnipeg by Richard Bonnycastle, Doug Weld, and Jack Palmer. More
Meg Cabot
I write because of readers like Diana Moreno, who handed me a letter recently telling me that, as the firstborn daughter of immigrants, she felt lonely and shy when she arrived here in 2004 . . . until she found my books. More
Heather Graham
Why I read . . .Books are simply magic. More
Susan Mallery
When I write, I have a specific reader in mind. More
The Perfect Neighbor
First category romance novel to ever hit the New York Times bestseller list. More
1970: Harlequin acquires Mills & Boon…
Harlequin acquires Mills & Boon and brings Harlequin books beyond bookstores and into supermarkets, drugstores, and other places women frequent. More
Anne O’Brien
Writing about medieval women is compulsive. More
Kiera Cass
Reading has always been a safe place for me. More
Publishing Firsts: The VendAvon
Chips, cookies, sodas–and books–from a vending machine. Avon’s entertaining comic books—western, horror, romance, war, science fiction, and gangster titles, mostly—appealed to readers of all ages from 1945 through the mid-1950s. More
Brochure from the 2009 celebration of Debbie Macomber’s fictional town of Cedar Cove
In August 2009, the real town of Port Orchard, Washington (bestselling romance author Debbie Macomber’s hometown), turned itself into Macomber’s fictional town of Cedar Cove for five days... More
Gena Showalter
I read for the same reason I write. More
How Harlequin Became Romance
When Richard H.G. Bonnycastle, a former Arctic explorer with the Hudson Bay Company, launched Harlequin Books in Winnipeg in 1948, he had little interest in building a publishing empire around romance novels. More
Publishing Firsts: The Historical Romance Genre
At the time of its publication in 1972, nothing like Kathleen Woodiwiss’s The Flame and the Flower had ever been published. More
B. J. Daniels
I grew up in Montana on stories around the campfire so it’s no surprise that I love to read—and write my own. More
Nikki Gemmell
Reading is a haven, a harbor, to shelter me from the toss of the world. More
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Why do I read? Seriously? I’m supposed to provide an intelligent answer? More
1941: Avon Books is established…
Avon Books is established by New York businessman Joseph Meyers in association with Edna B. Williams. Now renowned for widely popularizing the historical romance category, the publisher originally begins with a focus on paperback reprints. More
1972: Avon launches the historical romance genre…
Avon launches the historical romance genre when it publishes Kathleen Woodiwiss’s The Flame and the Flower, a historical romance with a strong female lead and sexual situations that go a step beyond the tame romances of earlier eras. More
Love Story
The romantic tale that defined a generation, sold millions, and inspired a popular film. More
Signed copy of the first book ever published by Mills & Boon
A copy of the first book ever published by Mills & Boon, Arrows from the Dark by Sophie Cole (1909), signed by Messrs. Gerald Mills and Charles Boon. More
Brenda Jackson
Of all the books I’ve read, it was a romance story that influenced me the most. More
The Hospital in Buwambo
First Mills & Boon romance novel published by Harlequin; established the iconic relationship between the two companies. More
16 Lighthouse Road
The first in Macomber’s most popular series, about the fictional town of Cedar Cove. More
Sharon Kendrick
I read to remind myself of the power of words and what they’re capable of when the subtle alchemy of a good storyteller kick-starts the imagination and flies you into a different world. More
Prince Charles reading a Harlequin Mills & Boon title
Prince Charles checks out The Pirate by Jayne Ann Krentz, a Harlequin Mills & Boon title, at the library in Perth, Scotland, in 1995. More
Lynne Graham
What I love the most about writing is that it allows me to create my own world, filled with characters that fascinate me. More
Eloisa James
The simple answer is that I love a happy ending. More
