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A Glossary of Romance Terms

Olivia Smith Goulet
2–4 minutes

It has been brought to my attention that some of the terms I use liberally in my reviews need some explanation. The universe of romance novels involves all kinds of acronyms and jargon that may be confusing to those who don’t spend their entire lives immersed in the genre.

After having to explain to my aunt what an MFMM romance was over the phone, I decided it might be prudent to have a glossary of romance terms to clear things up.

Dark Romance:

A dark romance is as it sounds, a romance with dark themes. This often encompasses mafia romances, romances with BDSM content, or general romances where the hero behaves in ways that would probably be deeply problematic in real life. As such, this is one of the more popular romance categories. We all love a morally grey book boyfriend.

BDSM:

This is an umbrella term that covers all kinds of kink dynamics. The acronym stands for bondage and discipline, sadism and masochism, dominance and submission. If you see this in a book description or a review, expect lots of kink.

Contemporary Romance:

A contemporary romance is a story that takes place during the modern present. It does not necessarily have to be set in a real place that actually exists, but it is some kind of recognizable modern world without fantasy elements.

Historical Romance:

This one is pretty self-explanatory. It’s a romance that takes place in the real world but at some point in the past.

Romantasy:

A romantasy story is one that takes place in a world that is built of complete fantasy. This is your dragon stories, your fairy stories, and some vampire stories, although these can sometimes cross over into contemporary categories.

Why Choose:

Why Choose is any romance in which the heroine does not have to choose between her love interests. The main character can end up with anywhere from three to six partners by the end of the book (or maybe more, but six is the most I’ve encountered thus far).

RH:

Short for reverse harem, see ‘why choose’. This used to be the predominant term for the subgenre, but now most authors and reviewers opt for the more politically correct why choose option.

Slow Burn:

A story in which the sexual and/or romantic relationship builds slowly over time with lots of sexual tension.

Standalone:

If a love story is entirely contained in one book, with the ending leaving no loose ends, it’s a standalone romance.

FMC:

Female main character.

MMC:

Male main character.

HEA:

Happily Ever After. A necessity in the romance genre.

HFN:

Happily For Now. Not as common as the happily ever after. This kind of ending might be found in a series that the author is planning to continue with down the line.

MF:

Romance between a man and a woman.

MM:

Romance between two men.

FF:

Romance between two women, also known as a sapphic romance.

FFM:

Romance between two women and a man.

MMF:

Romance between two men and a woman.

MFMM:

A romance involving a man and a woman, who also has a romance with two other men, who also have a romance with each other.

Sword Crossing:

A more colorful way to describe male-on-male content in a romance novel.

OWD:

Other woman drama. If a book description has other woman drama, it usually means the male main character cheats. This is super rare in the genre because women don’t like rooting for a man who cheats.

Note: this glossary will be updated as necessary.

15 responses to “A Glossary of Romance Terms”

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