Quote:
Originally Posted by DNSB
The main difference between these books and the standard romances—again, to me—is that the romance is not the only thread and at times not even the major thread, in the story tapestry.
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You seem to be using "standard romance" to only mean the subgenre of Category Romance, which even then does not always have the romance as the sole story thread. Category Romances are the short, pared-down (usually novella-short novel length) romances in a clearly delineated series format with similar cover livery, often numbered, like Harlequin Blaze and Harlequin SuperRomance.
Single-title romances (those which are not category romance) are a huge part of the genre and come in a wide variety of subgenres, like fantasy/paranormal romance (with lots of subsubgenres, like shifter romance), SF romance, romantic suspense/thriller, rom-com, historical romance (of which Regency is a major subsubgenre, but by no means the only one - there's Highlander, time-travel, pirate, Viking, etc etc), contemporary romance, small-town romance, YA romance, inspirational/religious romance, medical romance, sports romance, erotic fiction, Australian rural romance, western/cowboy romance etc etc etc. (And various of these can combine, of course.)
Virtually all of these will have subplots and side plots and even major plot threads that may include the romance but aren't limited to it, minor characters (some of which turn into major characters in future books in a series), etc etc.