These latest are for Harlequin, a company that seems recession-proof and has reported revenue increases over the last year. Harlequin releases 110 titles per month under a dozen imprints that find love everywhere from Regency period boudoirs to NASCAR tracks. The romance genre’s popularity makes sense—people tend to crave happy endings during hard times. And, says Banks, “There’s always going to be a happy ending in a Leanne Banks book.”
No doubt that’s the reason many of Banks’ books have been best sellers. At their center, readers can expect to find a buff, successful hero who has pulled himself up by his bootstraps, paired with a “shero” who’s young, professional and not fully in touch with her own beauty, strength or passion. She disarms him; he helps her find the fires deep within her. Banks’ characters, situations and settings vary widely, and her books are salted liberally with humor.
Virginia Living spoke with the Roanoke native at her home in Chesterfield County, where she lives with husband Tony and her Pomeranian, Bijou (“She thinks she’s Killer,” says Banks).
Your book Trouble in High Heels [March 2009] is the fourth with shoes on the cover—what is it with you and feet?
I know, I know! But it didn’t start out that way. The three for HQN [a Harlequin imprint] were based on a shoe company, so that’s why they had the shoes on all the covers. It’s partly a marketing thing, because covers with shoes tend to sell better. Who knew? But people like shoes, even if they can’t wear them. In fact, there’s a lot of them I can’t wear. I’m always either in tennis shoes or barefoot.
What was it like, selling the first book?
I was so depressed. I’d only been writing two years, and I’d gotten back some contest critiques that felt like bullets. Then the phone rang, and it was Kate Duffy [then an editor with publisher Meteor Kismet]. She said, “I love your book—I want to buy your book.” And I was shocked. Shocked. It had been turned down three other places.
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