Harlequin Romance Series (M&B Love Always) – 50,000 words
Glamorous, international and emotional romances that celebrate the magic of falling in love!
Harlequin Romance dazzles you with jet-set adventures full of glamour and charming emotion. From exotic escapes to unforgettable royal meet-cutes, discover romantic journeys where irresistible heroes and heartfelt chemistry equal happy ever after.
These stories are sure to make you swoon. So, pack your bags – love is boarding!
The key features of a Harlequin Romance:
- A Harlequin Romance novel takes the reader into a world of aspirational glamour, brimming with sparkling emotion and romance. These are trope-driven romantic escapes with a contemporary fairy-tale feel.
- The key to a Harlequin Romance heroine is that she's real and down to earth. She's one the reader can believe in, relate to and root for! She should be warm, intelligent and readers should wish they were in her shoes!
- We need a hero who exudes extreme wealth and who we can immediately trust, who is worthy of the heroine. He should be successful, strong and deeply desirable, while still being emotionally accessible. Oh – and did we mention he should be completely gorgeous?
- Glamorous, global settings are central to Harlequin Romance and bring that all-important sense of armchair-travel to our romances.
- High sensual tension, matched with high emotional connection. While these stories do not have gratuitous sexual detail, we welcome scenes that go beyond the bedroom door to explore the emotional fulfilment that comes with sexual intimacy.
- Captivating internal emotional conflicts that will sustain the story over the course of 50,000 words. External plots shouldn’t drive the story forward.
- Highly couple-focused with minimal secondary characters to generate emotional depth and intensity.
- While these are emotional stories, they are also intense and can be edge-of-the-seat exciting! Throw your reader straight into the story!
- We welcome LGBTQ+ romances featuring all gender pairings.
- We love to see characters from a diverse range of backgrounds, cultures and experiences, reflective of the communities we’re all a part of.
- And lastly… don’t be afraid to delight us with fresh, contemporary twists on classic tropes and themes!
Featured in Harlequin Romance
Harlequin Romance stories are aspirational, glamorous, escapist and full of the joy of falling in love. In Harlequin Romance you’ll find stories featuring millionaires/billionaires, modern-day Cinderellas, fake relationships, marriage of convenience, weddings, royalty, boss/office romance, fairy-tale retellings, second chances, enemies becoming lovers, pregnancies/secret babies (as part of conflict only – babies/children not generally on the page) and seasonal romance (e.g. winter, fall, summer, including celebrations and holidays). Harlequin Romance does not feature small town and Western settings or cowboy and military protagonists. How will you dazzle us with your own unique combination of themes and tropes?
What to Submit:
- Your first three chapters.
- A 3-5 page synopsis describing your story, including plot outline, character development and conflict resolution/ending.
We are actively seeking to acquire romance authors from underrepresented backgrounds – if you feel that’s you, and you’re ready to charm us with playfully charming, glamorous, global love stories, we’d love to hear from you!
Harlequin Romance is…
· Glamour, charm, swoon-worthy emotion, ending with a beautifully earned happily-ever-after.
· Set against glamorous, global destinations. Armchair-travel escapism is a must.
· High sensual tension matched with high emotional connection!
Think Crazy Rich Asians for its alpha but emotionally accessible billionaire hero, Anyone But You and Ticket to Paradise for their glamorous international settings, La Dolce Villa for its romantic escapism and A Business Proposal for its trope-driven story set in a world of sumptuous glamour… and so much more!
Did You Know?
- There are 4 brand new Harlequin Medical Romance books available each month.
The Editorial Team
Senior Editor: Charlotte Taylor
Associate Editor: Helena Bacon
Assistant Editor: Rachael Nazarko
Editorial Assistant: Elena Lodge
Editorial Office: London, UK
N.B. Please note that as per current editorial policy we ask that you do not submit more than one manuscript at a time for our consideration. Please be patient and wait for feedback before submitting your next project.