“She needed five minutes alone. She took three chapters.” It always starts innocently. You’ve been answering messages, doing responsible things, talking to people, making decisions and eventually your brain quietly announces: I need five minutes where nobody needs anything from me. So you disappear with your book. Maybe into the bedroom. Maybe the bathtub. Maybe…
Nine impossible choices. One rule: you only get ONE. Dear romance authors, We have a tiny problem. You keep writing books filled with impossible choices, emotional torture, devastating yearning, men who make questionable decisions in the name of love, and couples who apparently cannot communicate until approximately 87% into the book. So we thought it…
“A quiet room, a good book, and nowhere I need to be. That’s luxury.” I used to think luxury had to be something extravagant. Now? Give me a morning with nowhere to rush. A warm cup of tea. A comfortable place to disappear. My phone somewhere I can conveniently pretend it doesn’t exist. And a…
Six historical romances for readers who like their love stories with scandal, rogues, longing, and just a little social ruin. There is something particularly delicious about historical romance. Maybe it’s the rules. The reputations. The stolen kisses that could apparently destroy an entire family. The men society has already decided are trouble. The women who…
“A quiet room, a good book, and nowhere I need to be. That’s luxury.” I used to think luxury had to be something extravagant. Now? Give me a morning with nowhere to rush. A warm cup of tea. A comfortable place to disappear. My phone somewhere I can conveniently pretend it doesn’t exist. And a…
An affectionate investigation into the completely reasonable behavior of people who have cried over fictional hand-holding. ROMANCEAHOLIC · VELVET HEARTBEATS Love, in every language. Romance readers are perfectly normal people. We go to work. Pay bills. Buy groceries. Maintain friendships. Participate in society. And occasionally stay awake until 2:37 a.m. because two fictional idiots still…
“Real life called. I sent it to voicemail.” It’s Friday. And I’m going to need reality to lower its expectations. Because somewhere between I’ll just read for a few minutes and wait… WHAT DID HE JUST SAY? I became completely unavailable for anything that does not involve this book. Texts? Later. Laundry? We’ve discussed this….
Why the morally gray heroine becomes unforgettable when she stops asking permission to be complicated. ROMANCEAHOLIC · VELVET HEARTBEATS Love, in every language. There is a particular kind of heroine who knows the rules. She read them. Understood them. Probably highlighted the important sections. And then looked directly at the line everyone told her not…
“He falls first. I fall harder. Everybody suffers beautifully.” There are romance tropes I enjoy. And then there are romance tropes that apparently have a direct line to my nervous system. He falls first is one of them. Because there is something delicious about watching a man realize usually well before she does that he…
Dear Romance Authors, We need to discuss something. You have entire fictional worlds sitting on your laptops. Men we haven’t met yet. Women we’re going to want as best friends. Couples who are approximately three chapters away from ruining our emotional stability. First kisses. Betrayals. Secret marriages. Terrible decisions. Grovels. Plot twists. And probably at…