Backlist, DNF, MMC, YA — What?

You don’t need to read many reviews of romantic books before realizing they speak a different language. Therefore, I have created this guide with abbreviations and terminology commonly used in the world of romantic literature.

• Alpha Male — When the hero behaves as dominant, overprotective, leader, jealous, commanding, and knows what he wants.

• Autobuy — An author you like so much that you automatically buy their books. 

• Backlist — An author’s previous books.

• Dark — books with darker themes, mature and taboo content.

• DNF — Did Not Finish (the book)

• FMC — Female Main Character

• FWB — Friends With Benefits

• HEA — Happily Ever After. Mandatory in a romance book.

• Insta-love — When the characters fall in love right away.

• Meet-cute — When the two romantic protagonists meet for the first time, often under unusual (cute) circumstances.

• MMC — Male Main Character

• NA — New Adult. When the protagonists are between 18 and about 25 years old.

• POV — Point Of View

• Slow Burn — When the relationship takes a while to get started.

• Spicy — Romance with sex.

• TBR — To Be Read. A list of books you want to read.

• Trope — Story elements that give an underlying theme, like enemies-to-lovers, billionaire romance, alpha hero, and fake relationship.

• TW — Trigger Warning

• YA — Young Adult. When the protagonists are between 13 and 18 years old.