Cluster 11 is the biggest Romance-dominated cluster, containing only one review of a different genre (Mystery) and almost 30 percent of all Romance reviews in the network (10). Within the clusters discussed here, it is only connected to the second Romance cluster (12).
Regarding the absorption dimensions of this cluster, there is a clear dominance of Emotional Engagement followed by Impact and Attention. This has also been observed in the preliminary analysis, although the discrepancy between Emotional Engagement and Impact is significantly larger in this cluster than in the entirety of the genre. Additionally, there is a relatively high amount of Mental imagery. In the fine-grained annotation, we see that Emotional Engagement is mostly expressed through Parasocial Response, Sympathy, Emotional Connection, Empathy and Compassion for story events. Impact is mostly observed as Addiction, followed by Anticipation Book Series and Lingering Story Feelings. The most frequently used tag for Attention is Anticipation and Realness for Mental Imagery.
As genre descriptors we find “romance” and “ya” (Young Adult), which suggests overlaps of these genres in the cluster. Unlike the other clusters, the genre description “romance” is not as distinctive for this cluster as can be seen in the keyness graph. On the one hand, this seems surprising since just like “Mystery”, “Romance” is not only a genre denominator but also the key concept underlying the storylines of this cluster. On the other hand, because the concept of romance is a common one in literature regardless of the genre and because this cluster doesn’t encompass all of the Romance reviews in the network, the term might be quite common throughout the whole corpus. Furthermore, reviewers often describe the books as “love stories”, which could be an expression that fits better into the informal style most of the reviews deploy. This can be seen in the frequent use of capital letters to emphasize words as well as descriptions of bodily reactions inside of asterisks: “I LOVE DEAN HOLDER. I WANT HIM, I NEED HIM…*exhales the breath I was holding the entire time and sighs*. And most of all, I JUST LOVE THIS BOOK…plain and simple.” (Hopeless781140). Other evidence on the rather informal language are the comments on the reviewers’ own words – “I wasn’t especially fond of […] her damn stubbornness […] (right Becca, says the girl who is the epitome of stubborn)” (PlayWithMe796976) – direct addressment of the author often by their first name – “Oh, Penelope, where do I start?” (BeautyAndTheMu764001) – and the frequently used slang like “OMG”, “LOL” or seemingly specific to the community: “insta-love”.
| Category | Keyword |
|---|---|
| Genre | romance, ya |
| Experience | love, heart, cry, tear, experience |
| General descriptors | incredible, smart, hot, strong, smart, vulnerable, weak |
| Content | man, love, brother, heart (1), loss, experience |
| Additional information | love |
| Other | who, how, each, although |
The highest rated term for this cluster is “man”/”men”. It appears 26 times in the cluster, with only ten of these occurrences describing the characters discussed. The rest can be found in general discussions of men, comparing them to the men in their lives: “Men like my father and my uncles. Men I loved with all my heart. Men like Deuce.” (Undeniable759679); “Once again, why haven’t I met men like him? Oh right, they only exist in books as far as I am concerned.” (PlayWithMe796976). This would suggest that Romance readers are mostly straight women. The female protagonists of the books are equally often discussed as their male counterparts. Nonetheless, they are more often seen as points of identification and adoration while men are rather discussed as objects of desire: “I loved them both equally and individually (I loved Echo and was IN LOVE with Noah).” (PushingTheLimi772578).
Click to see concordance of "man"/"men"
| docname | pre | key word | post |
|---|---|---|---|
| Talking about men in general | |||
| Undeniable759679 | There are weak | men | ; men who run and hide when life slaps them |
| Undeniable759679 | There are weak men ; | men | who run and hide when life slaps them |
| Undeniable759679 | Then there are | men | ; men who have a backbone yet occasionally |
| Undeniable759679 | Then there are men ; | men | who have a backbone yet occasionally |
| Undeniable759679 | And then there are real | men | ; men who don’t cry or complain |
| Undeniable759679 | And then there are real men ; | men | who don’t cry or complain |
| Undeniable759679 | they are the backbone . | Men | who make their own decisions and live with the consequences |
| Undeniable759679 | , who accept responsibility for their actions or words . | Men | who , when life slaps them in the ass |
| Undeniable759679 | slap back and move on . | Men | who live hard and die even harder |
| Undeniable759679 | Men who live hard and die even harder . | Men | like my father and my uncles |
| Undeniable759679 | Men like my father and my uncles . | Men | I loved with all my heart |
| BeautyAndTheMu764001 | would be the epitome of what I’d love in a | man | . Quiet and humble on the surface |
| PlayWithMe796976 | I think vulnerable | men | are my weak spot . |
| PlayWithMe796976 | Once again , why haven’t I met | men | like him ? |
| BeautyAndTheMu991286 | Mountain | men | with beards - the new new age sexy man |
| BeautyAndTheMu991286 | Mountain men with beards - the new new age sexy | man | - who’d da thunk it ! |
| Talking about characters | |||
| Undeniable759679 | Men I loved with all my heart . | Men | like Deuce |
| Undeniable759679 | the nature of the clubs , and the | men | and women who exist within this amazingly unique world |
| Undeniable759679 | as a result of being tied to another | man | who “ fucked me up so badly |
| Undeniable759679 | ” The most beautiful | man | I’d ever seen and still the biggest asshole |
| Undeniable759679 | Not many chances a | man | has in his lifetime to do right |
| BeautyAndTheMu764001 | Drew is a | man | after my heart |
| BeautyAndTheMu764001 | until I met this mountain | man | . See how involved I am |
| BeautyAndTheMu764001 | He seems like a | man | of contradictions |
| BeautyAndTheMu991286 | I expected an alpha mountain | man | , but what I got was a soulful artist |
| BeautyAndTheMu764001 | a strong , smart , loving , and trustworthy | man | who would do anything for the people he loves . |
This is also reflected in the usage of the second strongest keyword “love”. It is more often directly used for the male main character rather than the female protagonist, while the focus lies less on the person themselves than their admirable qualities like strength. In total, the word “love” appears 81 times in this cluster, 24 times in relation to characters, twelve in relation to the novel or specific parts of the story, three regarding the author, 21 to describe the content or in citations, four to denote the genre and ten in relation to the reading experience. Moreover, it is exclusively used in the Romance reviews of this cluster.
Click to see concordance of "love"
| docname | pre | key word | post |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main characters male | |||
| Undeniable759679 | Deuce is an asshole , yet I | love | him |
| Undeniable759679 | And I | loved | watching him come to fully realise the hold she had |
| BeautyAndTheMu764001 | would be the epitome of what I’d | love | in a man . |
| PushingTheLimi772578 | ( I loved Echo and was IN | LOVE | with Noah ) |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | how Holder always took forever to think about every word |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | how Holder can be the breath that Sky so desperately |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | how hopelessly romantic and incredibly flirty Holder is |
| Hopeless781140 | I | LOVE | DEAN HOLDER . I WANT HIM , I NEED HIM |
| PushingTheLimi784911 | I frikkin ‘ | LOVED | him to pieces ( and so will you |
| BeautyAndTheMu991286 | I fell in | love | right along with Ash |
| Main characters female | |||
| Undeniable759679 | I | loved | the strength and the resilience that she showed |
| PushingTheLimi772578 | ( I | loved | Echo and was IN LOVE with Noah ) |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | how strong Sky is |
| Characters General | |||
| PushingTheLimi755149 | characters who I feel in | love | with . |
| PushingTheLimi772578 | I | loved | them both equally and individually |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | how real Sky and Holder were |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | how in the depths of their despair |
| Hopeless794091 | I am absolutely in | love | with Sky and Holder |
| Hopeless794091 | I | love | how they never hold anything back |
| PlayWithMe796976 | That’s what I | loved | about the main characters in this book |
| BeautyAndTheMu967822 | I | love | these characters and the way Penny writes |
| BeautyAndTheMu991286 | I | love | the hillbilly brothers |
| Book | |||
| PushingTheLimi755149 | I wasn’t expecting to | love | it quite as much as I did |
| PushingTheLimi755149 | I think the reason I | loved | Pushing the Limits so much is that I could relate |
| Undeniable759679 | I | loved | everything about it ! 5 fucked up , dysfunctional stars |
| PushingTheLimi772578 | I could ramble on and on about how much I | loved | this book |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | everything about this book . |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | how honest and passionate , and raw and pure this book is. |
| Hopeless781140 | I JUST | LOVE | THIS BOOK . . . plain and simple |
| Hopeless781140 | I could tell you a million other reasons why I | love | this book and why you should read it |
| BeautyAndTheMu991286 | every time I think I can’t | love | the next book as much as I did the last |
| Undeniable759679 | And as they get older , I | loved | seeing Eva fall deeper and deeper for Deuce |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | that in the mist of all the many firsts |
| BeautyAndTheMu764001 | I | love | how different each KitC story is |
| Author | |||
| PushingTheLimi755149 | you’re a fan of Simone Elkeles then you’re going to | love | Katie McGarry ! |
| BeautyAndTheMu764001 | I | love | where her stories take me ! |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | how Colleen Hoover can take a word like “ live “ |
| Content | |||
| PushingTheLimi755149 | with a soft side that is brought out by his | love | for his brothers and Echo |
| Undeniable759679 | life-altering connection that develops into intense attraction and overwhelming | love | in the face of pain , betrayal , guilt , |
| Undeniable759679 | And I | loved | him still . That had never changed . “ |
| Undeniable759679 | I don’t know , but Eva | loved | him through it all |
| Undeniable759679 | and he | loved | her back intensely |
| Undeniable759679 | to earn the | love | of a good woman |
| BeautyAndTheMu764001 | hootiedoom ( my new favorite word ) , and | love | ! |
| BeautyAndTheMu764001 | She had a mother who | loved | her and rascal brothers |
| BeautyAndTheMu764001 | brothers who annoyed her as siblings do but still always | loved | her |
| BeautyAndTheMu764001 | trustworthy man who would do anything for the people he | loves | . |
| PushingTheLimi772578 | He | loved | his friends and family so fiercely |
| PushingTheLimi784911 | her innocence and pain and her desire to be | loved | . |
| PushingTheLimi784911 | And the | love | he has for his brothers is the CUTEST damn thing |
| PushingTheLimi784911 | Their | love | for each other slowly built up |
| PushingTheLimi784911 | how Echo taught Noah to | love | again |
| Hopeless794091 | The | love | that they have for each other is incredibly strong |
| Hopeless794091 | trusting in the people that you | love | , and who love you . |
| Hopeless794091 | and who | love | you . “ I swear I will spend every last |
| Hopeless794091 | thanking you for allowing yourself to | love | me . “ |
| PlayWithMe796976 | three months later with I’m sorry’s and I | love | you’d , it was amazing . |
| PlayWithMe796976 | it was full of | love | , romance , anticipation , surprise and passion |
| Genre | |||
| PushingTheLimi755149 | anyone who loves a smouldering , sexy , consuming | love | story to boot ! |
| PushingTheLimi772578 | The plot was a perfect balance of an intense | love | story and a heartbreaking story of tragic loss |
| PushingTheLimi772578 | a beautiful | love | story , mystery , suspense , a story of loss |
| PushingTheLimi772578 | I read tons of angst filled YA | love | stories |
| Experience | |||
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | how the smallest gesture of “ pinkie holding “ feels |
| Hopeless781140 | your heart is being held in the palm of your | lovers | hand . I love , oh how I love |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | , oh how I love , how “ no kissing “ |
| Hopeless781140 | how I | love | , how “ no kissing “ can turn out to |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | how every moment shared in the book between Sky |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | how my heart skipped a beat almost on every page |
| Hopeless781140 | I | love | how I devoured this book up |
| Hopeless794091 | laugh , cry , squee and swoon , and I | loved | every single freaking minute of it ! ! ! |
| BeautyAndTheMu991286 | I contemplate , I lust , I fall in | love | , i google , I envy and most of all |
| PushingTheLimi772578 | brought on so many different emotions for me : young | love | giddiness , frustration , anger and intense sadness . I |
| Other | |||
| PushingTheLimi755149 | the praise it’s received from amazing authors and bloggers I | love | , I wasn’t expecting to love it quite as much |
| PushingTheLimi755149 | the feeling of somebody who you | love | and trust intentionally hurting you |
| PushingTheLimi755149 | to anyone who | loves | a smouldering , sexy , consuming love story to boot |
| Undeniable759679 | Men I | loved | with all my heart |
| BeautyAndTheMu764001 | I didn’t remember how much I | loved | poetry until I met this mountain man . |
| BeautyAndTheMu967822 | in search of a Winston brother or Ranger . I | loved | all the Nietzsche quotes , it took me right back |
| BeautyAndTheMu967822 | to Google as much in this one . I would | LOVE | more from the Winston brothers ! I am ready to |
Regarding the keywords that represent the content of the stories reviewed, a similar observation can be made as the one regarding the discussion of the Mystery cluster. One could yet again argue that novels in this cluster do not touch on themes outside the readers’ reality and that therefore, only a few of the keywords can be tied to specific stories; however, it must be noted that only one of the reviews gives a proper plot description. The rest of the reviews only mention themes that are dealt with in the novel. For example, “brother” and “loss” point to the plots of Beauty and the Mustache and Pushing the Limits, but readers mostly seem to highlight that to share their own experiences: “As someone who just experienced a loss in my family, I can relate to all of this, which only made me cry more.” (BeautyAndTheMu764001); “the most prominent to his story is being separated from his two little brothers who are in foster care. Although nothing like this has happened to me personally I have a family member who has and so I know how messy, emotional, and complicated that whole situation is for everybody involved.” (PushingTheLimi755149) In other instances, they share their reactions and further characterize the protagonists: “I felt so angry and frustrated at the cards he had been dealt over and over again. The unfairness and devastating losses he faced were so cruel I could feel the anger and inability to trust that he had come to accept as normal.” (PushingTheLimi772578).
Alternatively, they point to things they particularly enjoyed: “And the love he has for his brothers is the CUTEST damn thing I’ve read about in a while!” (PushingTheLimi784911) This is also showcased by the frequent use of quotes and the keyword “how”, which often combined with the phrase “I love”: “I love, oh how I love, how ‘no kissing’ can turn out to be the most sensual, most intoxicating and the most sexiest scene you will ever read about.” (Hopeless781140) Instead of modeling their texts on professional reviews, which give a plot descriptions and evaluations to recommend the book/novel, the reviewers, which are studied here, seem to assume that they address an audience who have also already read it, sharing their experience and favorite parts without any context: “I laughed, I cried (a lot) and I laughed until I cried many places but the raccoon was the best!” (BeautyAndTheMu967822) Rather than the plot, readers seem to put more emphasis on the characters: “strong”, “smart” and “vulnerable” are frequently used to describe the characters and their bond, except for Beauty and the Mustache, where “smart” is often used because it apparently addresses quite complex themes: “I like that I always learn something educational in these books but I did not have to Google as much in this one.” (BeautyAndTheMu967822) This is also expressed by the frequent usage of “love” with regard to characters, but also by the relative pronoun “who”, whose prominence in the cluster points to the dominance of personal descriptions. The same goes for the determiner “each”, whichmostly appears with “other”, showing the emphasis on the relationships depicted. Therefore, while it does stand out in tone, it is no surprise that the only review not describing a book from the Romance genre completely confines itself to praising the female protagonist and the real-life connection between reviewer and book.
Apart from that, as can be derived from the rather strong keyword “incredible”, for reviewers from this cluster reading is perceived as a very intense experience. This is further backed by the term “experience” itself, which functions as one of the keywords. “HOPELESS is a story you all need to live and experience yourself. You need to BREATHE it in and let it run through your veins until it’s embedded in your soul.” (Hopeless781140) This deeply embodied notion of reading is also reflected in the keywords “heart”, “cry” and “tear” as well as in the usage of “love” to express the kind of reading experience they undergo: “Their story made me laugh, cry, squee and swoon, and I loved every single freaking minute of it!!!” (Hopeless794091). Notably, these experiences seem to lean more towards negative emotions, which, paradoxically, do promote a certain amount of pleasure: “This book will tear out your heart, shatter it into the tiniest little pieces and then slowly repair itself, one piece at a time. It is breathtakingly stunning and beautifully torturous.” (Hopeless781140)
As already mentioned, some readers share some of the negative experiences described in the books, which seems to further their enjoyment into an impactful positive experience: “Although my experiences are vastly different to the characters in this book the feelings behind them weren’t all that different at all and so I connected with Noah and Echo in a rare and special way. […] My emotions were totally invested in this book and so I really connected with it and can see it holding a special place in my heart for years to come.” (PushingTheLimi755149) This pathos-laden component is accompanied by positive feelings towards the relationships, as indicated by the instances where readers talk about the love they share or the keyword “perfect”: “The plot was a perfect balance of an intense love story and a heartbreaking story of tragic loss & forgiveness.” (PushingTheLimi772578). This also applies to the sexual tension most readers positively report on as implied by the keyword “hot”, which is not at all perceived as incongruous to the more serious aspects of the story: “And WOW, Katie McGarry sure knows how to create some seriously HOT intimate moments. *Fans self* Their romance just felt right - two emotionally and physically scarred people who come together with a mutual understanding and the ability to heal each other’s wounds.” (PushingTheLimi784911)