The longlist for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year prize features bestselling writers alongside some new names.

The twenty-one titles were selected by a panel of readers, who scored the books on such criteria as romantic content, readability, dialogue, characters, plot, style and setting.

A panel of RNA members will select six books for the shortlist, to be announced 14th January, and the winner is revealed on 4th February.
The judges panel includes comedienne Helen Lederer, Good Housekeeping books editor Kerry Fowler, and Chris Rushby, buying director of Bertram Books.

Lederer said: "Romantic fiction has an important part to play in our lives, and can also be found everywhere in the written word, from Chaucer to Boris Johnson. Also I'm a sucker for happy endings."

Rowan was longlisted along with:

Too Beautiful to Dance by Diana Appleyard (Black Swan)
That Summer Affair by Sarah Challis (Headline Review)
One Last Summer by Catrin Collier (Orion)
The Best of Sisters by Dilly Court (Century)
Oystercatchers by Susan Fletcher (Fourth Estate)
Crooked Pieces by Sarah Grazebrook (Allison & Busby)
I Did a Bad Thing by Linda Green (Headline)
A Stranger in Burracombe by Lilian Harry (Orion)
Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand (Sphere)
Silk and Steel by Catherine King (Sphere)
Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas (Piatkus)
The Chalet Girl by Kate Lace (Little Black Dress)
The Leaving of Liverpool by Maureen Lee (Orion)
The Seven Year Itch by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees (Heinemann)
Silver Bay by Jojo Moyes (Hodder)
Where Earth Meets Sky by Annie Murray (Macmillan)
Pillow Talk by Freya North (HarperCollins)
Young Wives's Tales by Adele Parks (Michael Joseph)
The Tea Planter's Lass by Janet McLeod Trotter (Headline)
An Absolute Scandal by Penny Vincenzi (Headline)