Where do my stories fit?

When I first started writing I believed I was a romance writer. In the past ten years, I’ve focused my attention on writing what I call romantic suspense. Defining my stories and finding the right home for them hasn’t been easy. Although the Leeward Files is a series, each book is a little different. Chrome Pink is more women’s fiction, focusing on Rae Lynne’s healing journey to love herself as well as her battle to allow herself to love and be loved. Thus, I called it romance.

Romance, the genre has definitive rules, Chrome Pink breaks nearly all of them. Rae doesn’t meet her romantic hero in the first few pages of the book, and while the romance is an important part of the book, it is not the driving force. So, is it a romance novel?

I’m not sure what category my stories belong, women’s fiction, romantic suspense, suspense thriller with romance, or something else. Chrome Pink stars a strong but flawed female character. It is set in a small, southern town. There is a meet-cute scene. The hero is the heroine’s counter balance, while he is not the reason for her healing, he adds to her reasons to be sober and strong. There is a dark side to the suspense, but the romance is almost sweet, but I can hardly market this book as a sweet, small-town romance, especially not with the language and adult situations. So, how do I categorize this book, this series?

If you have read or are reading Chrome Pink, let me know what you think. Is it romance, suspense, fiction? What label do we put on it?