One of the best internet sources is the Romance Writers of America website. If you click on "The Romance Genre" it explains the 2 basic elements (a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending) and provides links to the sub-genres (contemporary, historical, inspirational, paranormal, regency, romantic suspense, and time-travel romance). Each sub-genre has a link to a list of award-winning novels in the category. To further explore the works of a particular author, click on the "Authors" area for links to their websites.

There is a magazine, Romantic Times BOOKclub, that has its own website. This site also provides some background and links to author websites, but mostly tries to get you to subscribe to the magazine.

This romance roundtable grew out of Suellyn mentioning a Diane Rehm show she had heard with Mary Jo Putney, a romance novelist, and Pam Regis, a literary scholar and author of A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Click here for more information.

Finally, all the big bookstores (Border's, Barnes & Noble, Books & Company, Joseph-Beth) and many of the smaller ones have Romance sections. Browsing is a great way to select books, especially if they let you have a cafe mocha while you do it!