What exactly is romantic suspense?

I recently had a reader tell me that I would be better suited to contemporary romance than romantic suspense, as she didn’t think my romantic suspense was dark and gritty enough. I admit that I have had a few self-discovery issues with myself and on what genre to call my books when I first embarked on my writing journey. I’ve been off and on what to label my writing for many years.

You see, I love romantic suspense, and I grew up reading the genre and the many aspects of the genre. Many of it is dark and gritty, but it doesn’t have to be to be called romantic suspense. Romantic suspense can be thriller based or a lighter type of suspense, but danger at some level is usually involved.

So I’ve decided to keep calling my stories romantic suspense. I try to write a 50/50 spectrum and my stories are always focused on the hero and heroine falling in love. There’s always a danger element, but I sprinkle a lot of relationship building into the story. Maybe too  much for some people, but it is romance after all!

So why shouldn’t I call myself romantic suspense? There are so many genres and sub-genres and different types and elements nowadays, but contemporary usually has no type of suspense, or death, or someone being kidnapped or scared for their life. I will not write cardboard romances where such and such better happen on such and such page. I write organically, intrinsically, and some of my stories are more suspenseful than others, but there is always a level of danger there. Maybe not as much as someone hopes, or maybe more. I did love listening to what this reader had to say and learning and helping to grow in her comments. But reading is very subjective, and I personally prefer my romantic suspense without all the blood and guts. Sometimes it’s more action/adventure or solving some type of crime or mystery. Final Mend is about a child kidnapping and trying to find this child and being concerned for their life in the process. And yes, someone does die. Dark Ride is about a heroine witnesses a crime and then going on the run with the hero in order to survive.

I’ve been a romantic suspense fan my entire life but recently decided to do a bit more digging on the sub-genre. After all, things do change. Here are some of the best articles I found on the subject:

https://www.autocrit.com/editing/library/unraveling-the-complexities-of-romantic-suspense/

And this article, which was amazing and pretty much defined exactly how I feel about the situation:

https://tracycooperposey.com/what-is-romantic-suspense-part-ii/

So there you have it. I am still calling my genre romantic suspense! 

Any thoughts on this subject? I’d love to hear them!