Harlequin romances still sell twelve million copies a year in France and an estimated 20% of the female population read them regularly. Despite the thematic and formal diversity of the recent upsurge in French women's writing, heterosexual love remains central to the work of some of the most successful novelists, of whom Camille Laurens (notably Dans ces bras-là, 2000; L'Amour, roman, 2003) is the most fêted example. This paper considers the popularity of Laurens' recent novels within the wider context of both 'down-market' and fully 'literary' contemporary romances, and explores the durability, adaptability and surprising diversity of the genre of romance.