The romance novel dominated the popular fiction market in the nineteen-seventies and eighties. Due to its aggressive and creative marketing strategies, Harlequin Enterprises was and continues to be at the forefront of romance publishing. The relatively uniform plotline of the Harlequin romance follows a female heroine on a not-too-tumultuous journey through some exotic setting, the ending of which finds the protagonist safe, comfortable, and in love.

Harlequin's advertising regime took advantage of any and all promotions and gimmicks, invariably aiming their ads at "domestic" women (a notable campaign found Harlequin planting complimentary novels in boxes of detergent). More than anything, the growth of television advertising spurred the success of Harlequin romances. Widespread TV ads promoted not individual Harlequin novels, but the series as a whole; the novels' uniformity was and is one of Harlequin's strongest selling points.

Source:

Modleski, Tania. "The Disappearing Act: A Study of Harlequin Romances." Signs, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Spring, 1980), pp. 435-448.

Treva Margaret Taylor, nee Hampton, (1929-2006) was an avid reader throughout her life, not only of Harlequin romances, but of other novels and of history. She instilled the love of reading not only in her own children, but also in scores of neighborhood children. She was always ready for a trip to the local public library. Taylor subscribed to the monthly Harlequin service and received a number of titles in each package during the 1970s and early 1980s. Once read, the novels were kept in numerical order by the publisher's number on bookshelves. Her collection is reminiscent of dime novel collections from the Nineteenth Century, presenting a cross-section of popular romance during the growth of the feminist movement.