TSR had jumped on board the
Choose-Your-Own-Adventure craze in 1982 with its Endless Quest series of books, followed by several related series, including gamebooks that combined CYOA with RPG elements. The
second of all these series, started in 1983, was
HeartQuest, an attempt by TSR to appeal to girls by combining fantasy CYOA with romance. Granted, this series lasted only for six books in 1983 and 1984, while Gygax was away in California, and thus perhaps might have slipped his recollection.
TSR even wasted Larry Elmore's talents on
the covers for the first four of these books.