Apron rippers?

Romance fiction is on the rise — aided by the success of unusual categories such as the Amish, knitting, and paranormal subgenres, said an e-mail from Bloomberg Businessweek.

I don’t know which subgenre excites me more — Amish romance fiction or knitting romance fiction.

The press release goes on to say, “The Association of American Publishers reports that U.S. book sales dropped by 1.8 percent in 2009, after a decline of nearly 3 percent the previous year.” But romance novel trends continue to defy industry trends, and are up almost 8 percent.

“Earlier this month publishing insiders buzzed with news that suspense romance writer Kelly Irvin was joining the field. Her forthcoming novel, tentatively called ‘To Have and to Hold,’ will tell the story of a woman whose world is turned upside down when her parents die in a buggy accident.”