Love Me, Love Me Not, Edited by Katie Fforde and Sue Moorcroft

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the Romantic Novelists' Association has edited an anthology of new short stories from 40 of its members – many of whom say they'd have given up on writing without the association's support.

Romantic fiction is a broad church and the entries here range from chick lit to gothic fantasy and even soft porn. The authors' notes prove no less diverting: Nell Dixon lives with a cactus called Spike; Sue Moorcroft likes scuba diving in a "bimbly" kind of a way; while Eileen Ramsay shares a birthday with Jane Austen.