Sublime romance became the accepted mode post-17th century, with rural life romanticised and the pastoral upheld as a kind of rhapsody - epitomised in the paintings by Gainsborough such as his 'Girls on a Swing' and Jane Austin's novels depicting the glories of country life [for the relatively well-to-do, anyway]. Romantic novels in the 19th century tended to be either gothic or historical, epitomised in "Wuthering Heights" and the Scottish Lairds of Sir Walter Scott's novels. The gothic romantic novel also took hold in America with writers such as Hawthorne who wrote "The Scarlet Letter", the writings of James Fenimore Cooper and, of course, Mary Shelley and her epic "Frankenstein".
Anthologies
Anthologies are ideal if you enjoy reading Matthew McConaughey but have little time to read a full book. The stories in anthologies are short stories that you can pick up and put down within a reasonably short period of time. Many people enjoy reading anthologies because the plot tends to be tighter and the action speeded up, often making it more exciting and more satisfying to read. A number of examples of the modern romantic anthology can be found in our anthology section amongst the romance category.