<p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">What makes something a romance novel? Most readers probably have an intuition of where their definitional lines are, and what are the make or break points, pushing something out of “romance” and into a neighboring genre. Critics and professional organizations of authors and publishers might provide a definition, for analysis or award purposes, to create parameters around what is the in and out group. Today’s episode is less about answering the question “what is a romance novel” and more a historiography of that question. When do we start asking it? How have the answers changed in the long arc of romance history? Who gets to decide what the final, be-all, end-all definition is? Are we ever open to change?</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Support us on our <a href="https://www.patreon.com/ReformedRakes">Patreon!</a></p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Visit our website for transcripts and show notes: <a href="https://reformedrakes.com">reformedrakes.com</a></p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Follow us on social media:</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="https://twitter.com/ReformedRakes">Twitter: @reformedrakes</a></p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/reformedrakes/">Instagram: @reformedrakes</a></p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/reformedrakes.bsky.social">Bluesky: @reformedrakes</a></p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a target="_blank" href="https://ministrations.substack.com/">Beth’s Substack</a></p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="https://theloosecravat.substack.com">Chels’ Substack</a></p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="https://restorativeromance.substack.com">Emma’s Substack</a></p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Thank you for listening!</p>