When interviewing Kauai romance novelist Jill Marie Landis on the phone, it’s easy to imagine her standing on the beach at Hanalei Bay in a gauzy dress fluttering in the moist tradewinds, watching the sun set as her toes sink sensually into the silky, white sand while her tan, bare-chested husband languidly strums a guitar under a nearby palm tree.
In reality, Landis, 65, is more likely to be brushing the dirt from her shorts after digging in her garden, a favorite pastime. (Her husband, Steve, is, in fact, a musician with a regular gig at Tahiti Nui bar and restaurant in Hanalei.)
"I am a romantic in that I believe in happy endings, but in real life we have to make our own and that takes hard work and a positive attitude," she said.
Landis ought to know. She’s Hawaii’s most successful romance novelist, having penned more than 28 books and e-books. Happy endings attract readers, especially in Hawaii, which ranks second in the nation for romantic novel downloads according to e-book subscription service Scribd. ("Romancing Mister Bridgerton," by Julia Quinn, is the current favorite.)
The islands’ leading lady of love and lust between the covers of a book speculates this may be due to the fact that people in Hawaii enjoy "easy beach reads that are fun and uplifting."
"Reading a romance goes really well with sitting in a beach chair," she said.
The Hawaii State Public Library System reports more than 45,000 downloads of romance e-books over the last eight months. That’s nearly 188 per day. The library system has roughly 7,500 romance e-books and digital audiobooks, with more than two-thirds of the titles currently on loan. (Data are not available for its much larger print collection of romance novels.)
Yet it’s not easy finding local fans who will cop to their affection for romance fiction.
A library employee who said she was "too shy" to give her name explained she enjoys romance novels because "it’s not like a mystery where you have to figure out what’s happening. There’s a boy and there’s a girl. It’s about the happy ending."
Landis said that like science fiction and other popular literary genres, romance novels are often ridiculed — except in the publishing industry. The genre generated $1.4 billion in sales in 2012 while grabbing the largest share (17 percent) of U.S. consumer book publishing market, according to Romance Writers of America.
"I think in the publishing world, romances definitely get the respect they deserve because they sell so well," she said. "That’s also proving true in the Internet e-book publishing world. As far as readers go, some people don’t think much of any popular or genre fiction. They don’t know what they’re missing."
The author said people pick up romance novels for the same reason they consume science fiction, murder mysteries and other genres: "They know what they are going to get." And in the case of romance novels, it’s a happy ending — no matter the hardship endured by the female protagonist.
WHILE THERE are many subgenres in romance fiction — contemporary, historical, inspirational (with spiritual or religious themes), supernatural, suspense and young adult — the Romance Writers of America website says they all share two basic elements: a central love story and "an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending."
Aina Haina resident Sally Sorenson, a member of the group’s Aloha Chapter, said that’s what makes writing romance stories so fun. "It’s escapism. You can make things work out, where real life is a lot messier," she said.
Sorenson, 66, is author of the contemporary romance e-book "All’s Faire." She said the local chapter has 12 to 15 members who meet monthly at the Aina Haina Public Library.
Past members include Lynn Raye Harris, a former military wife who writes steamy Harlequin romance novels featuring military men and international billionaires, and Tess Gerritsen, a onetime Hawaii doctor who began reading romance novels to counter the stress of her job and eventually left her medical practice to focus on writing. Gerritsen, who now lives in Maine, has written numerous best-selling medical thrillers with a touch of romance, and her novels starring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the TNT television series "Rizzoli & Isles."
Landis said romance fiction has evolved with the times, telling fewer tales of the "damsel in distress" who is saved by the hunky hero with Fabio-fantastic hair, in favor of stories of female empowerment and family relationships.
"Bodice rippers are no longer politically correct, and the ‘alpha male’ isn’t kicking down doors to tear off the heroine’s clothing — unless he’s a pirate or a vampire," she said with a laugh.
Common themes, she said, include "beauty and beast," where the main character tames the ornery hero; the "secret baby" that forces the heroine "to find a new life in the unknown"; and the mail-order bride scenario in which a woman must start life over with someone she doesn’t know.
Either way, "it will end up OK," Landis said.
THE AUTHOR became a fan of the genre while teaching kindergarten in Long Beach, Calif., during the 1980s after a co-worker dropped off a sack of period romance novels.
"I started reading those and I loved them," said Landis, a history major in college.
She got hooked by reading works by Kathleen Woodiwiss, Jude Devereaux, LaVyrle Spencer, Nora Roberts and Georgette Heyer, among others, and decided to give it a go. Her first attempts were historical fiction, and Landis said she got enough "great rejections" to keep at it.
She joined Romance Writers of America, took a writing class and entered a contest for unpublished authors. Landis won, and her book, "Sunflower," was picked up by a publisher in 2001 and was named best historical romance of the year by the writers group.
Despite her romance-ready surroundings — the Landises bought property in Hanalei in the 1970s and have been living full time on Kauai since 2005 — most of the author’s novels take place in 19th-century America in such settings as the Old West and New Orleans. Landis said she finds inspiration from news accounts, reading other sources and talking to folks in the community.
"I might see a photo of a sod house and picture characters in a certain situation — a Dutch immigrant woman meets the wrong guy," she said. "I start researching the period and immigration, and what conflicts they might face."
Her books have landed on USA Today and best-seller lists. Some of her most popular titles include "Until Tomorrow," a post-Civil War historical romance; "Come Spring," the story of a mail-order bride set in Victorian-era America; and "Mai Tai One On," the first in her Tiki Goddess Mysteries, launched in 2011 and set in a North Shore bar on Kauai.
Book four in the series, "Too Hot Four Hula," will be published in May by Bell Bridge Books.
Romance Writers of America Aloha Chapter meets from 10 a.m. to noon on the second Saturday monthly at the Aina Haina Public Library. (However, the next meeting will be held from 3:30 to 6 p.m. April 26 at Hukilau Sports Bar & Grill at the Executive Centre, 1088 Bishop St.) For more information, visit rwaaloha.org.
