Romancelandia

English

Alternative forms

• romancelandia

Etymology

From romance +‎ -land +‎ -ia. Popularized within the romance literature community beginning in the late 2000s to early 2010s. First attested in print in 2009.

Proper noun

Romancelandia (uncountable)

1. The sphere or community of romance writers, readers, and novels.
   • 2009, Sarah Wendell, Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels, page 125:

     Paranormals had been on the fringes of Romancelandia almost since its inception but became huge business in the early 2000s.

   • 2016, Catherine M. Roach, Happily Ever After: The Romance Story in Popular Culture‎^[1], page 43:

     I became a native of Romancelandia, writing “from the heart” (as the disgruntled woman at my talk said), from my dual but not dueling hearts, simultaneously crafting academic and fiction writing about falling in love.

   • 2020, Avi Steinberg, The Happily Ever After: A Memoir of an Unlikely Romance Novelist, unnumbered page:

     RT was created and run by RT Book Reviews magazine, formerly known as Romantic Times, which was for many years the paper of record in Romancelandia.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Romancelandia.
2. The idealized fictional setting of romance novels.
   • 2015, Amira Jarmakani, An Imperialist Love Story: Desert Romances and the War on Terror, unnumbered page:

     In other words, fictionalized Arabiastan in desert romancelandia bears some resemblance both to contemporary Saudi Arabia and to a historical notion of the Arabian Peninsula.

   • 2016, Andrea Laurence, The CEO's Unexpected Child‎^[2], page 2:

     In real life, I hope these kind of IVF mistakes don't happen, but in Romancelandia, when it happens, there's always a sexy, single billionaire involved!

   • 2019, Teri Anne Stanley, Big Chance Cowboy, unnumbered page:

     In Romancelandia, it was easy to miraculously find a couple of stray dogs for Adam and crew to train as service dogs, but in real life, it takes a lot of hard work, money, and time to find the right dog to do the amazing things a service animal can do.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Romancelandia.

Synonyms

• (romance novel setting): romantopia