Romance novel

:For the medieval genre see Romance (genre).

Genre slang

Like many other fan groups, romance novel readers have developed terminology to allow them to talk about the specifics of romance novels quickly and easily. Some common terms include:

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• duke of slut - any promiscuous aristocrat. (This term is one of many put into usage by All About Romance)
• fake rake - a man whom everybody presumes to be promiscuous (a rake), but who is not.
• HEA - an abbreviation of " happily ever after", the phrase which traditionally ends fairy tales; it refers to the happy ending that romance novels must have.
• TSTL - an abbreviation of "too stupid to live"; this usually refers to a heroine whose behaviour is so dumb that the reader finds it difficult to believe that she has survived so long, or that she will manage to avoid getting herself killed soon.