3.5 Stars.

It's a "textbook" book for those interested in the genre, not just reading romance books. Regis quotes a lot of other authors Romance Lit Crit on the subject. I do like Regis' "Eight Essential Elements of a Romance Novel," because it made sense. She used Pride and Prejudice as the example (she belabored the point with almost too many details and examples).

Then she took five more literary classics that follow what she believes supports her eight elements (each a chapter). Again, I felt she belabored the point and wasn't sure who she was writing for because times it was textbook and other times attempting to win over the non-textbook readers. A list of books would have sufficed. Then she jumped to modern day, and I found that interesting.

The middle the recaps got long but skimmable and readable if you haven't read the books.