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In Defense of Historical Romance

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I didn’t study much history in school, and you won’t catch me reading a gazillion-page biography of Alexander Hamilton or anything, but I love learning about history through fiction (and by going to see the play, Hamilton). I think that’s one of the reasons I love historical romance: it gives me a glimpse of how people lived in another era.

Not that a romance written today is an accurate window into the lives and thoughts of Victorians, but seeing the past through the eyes of the present is part of the appeal. Some of my favorite romances offer delightfully revisionist versions of history.

I’ve been hearing for the past year or two that historical is dying and Harlequin shutting down its historical romance line seems to confirm that. But I don’t accept that historical romance is dead and I hope people keep writing it. So here’s my pitch for more, not less, historical romance.

A world unlike our own

My best guess as to why the market for historical romance is flagging, besides changing reader tastes, is that romantasy scratches the same itch. For readers who want to be transported to different worlds or times, romantasy is ready to fill that space.

But not all of us are into romantasy. When I want a world with different mores and struggles, I need rakish dukes and feisty proto-feminist ladies.

What the best historical romances do

As a writer, I’m very jealous of historical romance writers. Unlike contemporary writers, they don’t have to worry about whether the idioms they use will make their book feel dated two years from now. A good historical romance is evergreen.

As a reader, historical romances are my comfort food, with familiar obstacles and tropes — and sometimes the delightful subversion of those tropes. My favorite historicals reimagine history, with women who find ways to exercise power and agency in a world that tried to deny it to them.

Some favorite historical romances (a very incomplete list)

My favorite historical romance writer, and one of my favorite writers period, is Courtney Milan. Her Wedgeford Trials series imagines an English town where people of color live and thrive, where a half-Chinese duke does a bad job of keeping his identity secret, and quirky, inventive women rule. I’ve read all Milan’s books and they’re all great, but the ones set in Wedgeford are my favorites.

I read The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley a while ago because it’s on a lot of queer romance lists. I liked it, but I didn’t realize it was part of a series until I picked up the book that preceded it. I read the whole series, including rereading the sapphic second book, and they’re better as a series. I love that Ridley has included characters with different experiences—different races, disabilities, and gender identity—in this delightful series. I recommend reading the series in order so there are no spoilers but I confess my favorite is Hot Earl Summer because Elizabeth Wynchester is hilariously bloodthirsty.

I’m a fan of Sarah Maclean, especially her bombshell series. Joanna Shupe explores the mores of Old New York, if you’re tired of England. I recently read some of Amanda Quick’s older books and they’re still great.

This just scratches the surface. Beverly Jenkins, India Holton, Vanessa Riley and many more authors have written wonderful historical romances.

What did I miss? I’d love your suggestions.

Queer representation in historical romance

In addition to The Perks of Loving a Wallflower, there’s a growing number of terrific books about queer love through history.

One of my favorite Courtney Milan books is The Pursuit of…, a prequel novella in her Worth Saga series. The main characters are a free Black man, traveling home from fighting in the Revolutionary War, which has just ended, and a White British soldier. Neither man is particularly safe traveling by foot through the newly formed country. Milan manages to inject humor without undercutting the gravity of their situation and the challenges they face.

Alexis Hall is one of my all-time favorite contemporary romcom authors. His historical novel, A Lady for a Duke, tells the story of a transgender woman who returns to the man who was once her best friend. The beauty of romance is that this is an uplifting story about the possibility for redemption and living as your true self when those who love you accept you, no matter what society says.

Most of Cat Sebastian’s historical novels are M/M romances set in the mid 1900s. They are wonderful, but my favorites of hers are her London Highwayman duo, The Queer Principles of Kit Webb and The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes. They are laugh-out-loud funny; I highly recommend them.

There are, happily, lots more queer historical romances. I look forward to discovering them. Recommendations welcome.

Bonus book: Naughty Nouns in Historical Romance

One of the members of my local romance writers group, Liz Adams, has recently released three books of historical words for romance writers. I don’t write historical romance, but I’ve been vastly enjoying Naughty Nouns in Historical Romance (it includes some verbs and includes more recent slang, too). Breasts might be referred to as “heavers” in 1674 and “bags” in 1770. For anyone looking for creative and historically accurate ways to write about sex, this is a great resource.

I’ve been in the writing trenches lately and getting behind on newsletters, but I hope to be more regular going forward, including some subscriber-only content I’m working on.

I started 2026 with grand plans to write a trope-heavy romance short story for subscribers every month and then everything changed, but not completely, for a variety of reasons. Which is a long-winded way of saying that I will offer special content to subscribers that will be completely awesome and you will be the first to know—but it’s going to take a bit longer to arrive than I originally expected.

Speaking of subscriptions, subscribing to my newsletter is one of the best ways to help me build my author platform, not only because you’ll get the latest information on what I’m writing, but also because it will make my first book (which is on submission now and it’s great, really, I’m not biased, you’re going to love it) more appealing to editors.

12 Holiday Romcoms to Watch Every Year

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Holiday romcoms that have turned into perennial favorites.

About a dozen years ago, I tried to watch every available holiday romcom in the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was a big task then and impossible now, but I still have a holiday romcom festival this time of year. Watching these movies was what got me back into reading and writing romance, and I love them for that, so this week I’m taking a break from book reviews to recommend movies.

I watch these holiday romcoms every year, if I can, while ingesting many more sugary holiday movie treats of dubious quality. Here are 12 movies and series that never fail to please.

All-time favorite: 12 Dates of Christmas

Amy Smart is delightful in this take on Groundhog Day. She has to relive the same Christmas Eve until she gets over her hangups—and falls for the right guy.

Close second: Love Hard

A newer addition to my pantheon, this Netflix movie starts with catfishing but ends up being about what we gain when we stop chasing what we think we’re supposed to have, in life and relationships, and go for what works. That’s pretty standard, but the characters get there with a wonderful dose of snark and sass that lifts this one above the bland, cloying sweetness of too many holiday movies (that I will watch anyway because I’m a sucker for gooey sweet holiday romance, but still).

Not just Christmas: Holidate

This romance takes place over a longer period of time as the main characters accompany each other to holiday gatherings as a no-strings date. Of course, they fall in love, but they have a lot of fun along the way, and Christen Chenowith does a delightful turn as the randy aunt who also gets the guy.

Series: Dash and Lily

This limited series, based on the book Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, links two NYC teens through a notebook where they send each other on adventures, each showing the other what they love about New York. I love New York, especially at Christmas, and the adaptation is a delightful romp through familiar and new places with two young people who think too much.

Bring on the kitsch: The Princess Switch

I am always down for a silly holiday romcom, and no one does it better than Vanessa Hudgens. She stars as the princess of a fictional European country and her American doppelganger. The two sequels are even better, because Hudgens adds a third identical but evil character and that’s delicious.

There are several other prince/princess holiday movies and I like them all, but The Princess Switch is my favorite.

Foreign entry: Christmas Flow

Another limited series, this three-part French movie pairs a feminist journalist with a rapper in trouble for some misogynistic lyrics. I love this one for its sincere heart, a mouthy grandma telling off the rapper for being sexist, and the wildly feminist characters who are much more radical than the women we generally see get to see happy endings in US movies.

Best reboot of favorite actors: A Castle for Christmas

A typical holiday romcom but with higher production values and a lovely Scottish setting, this one is worth watching for Brook Shields and Cary Elway, getting a second wind at taking a star turn and acing it.

Serious chemistry: The Noel Diary

This is the only movie on this list that isn’t a comedy, but this story of two people who go on a road trip together when they find a diary that links their pasts is heartfelt and real in a way that makes it stick out from the crowd.

Sweet among the sweets: The Holiday Calendar

This movie falls into the very large category of gently sweet stories sprinkled with holiday magic—in this case, a magical Advent calendar. I keep coming back to it because like the characters and the story.

It has an HEA, so…: Elf

Yes, Elf isn’t technically a romance, but there is a romance in it. This is the movie that made me like Will Ferrell, against my better judgment. I can’t go through a revolving door or ride an escalator without thinking about Buddy’s first time discovering them. Plus, it includes the late, great Bob Newhart as Papa Elf.

Meta holiday romcom: A Christmas Movie Christmas

Two sisters find themselves magically transported into a Christmas movie like the ones they like to watch. Many jokes on Christmas movie tropes ensue and I am totally there for it. My only beef is that one of the love interests is a Christmas movie stereotype to the point of being slightly creepy. This is a Christmas romcom fans of the genre will love.

Best classic: Christmas in Connecticut

No, not White Christmas, even though my boyfriend Danny Kaye was in that one because—racism. I like Christmas in Connecticut better anyway. A fast-talking Barbara Stanwyck writes a homemaking column for the paper, even though she doesn’t cook, isn’t married, and doesn’t have a child. When she’s asked to host a returning soldier for Christmas, she has to come up with all three pronto. It’s a delightful romp where the stuffed shirts get their comeuppance and we get to see a woman choosing to live her best life on her terms.

There are lots of other fun holiday movies out there. I intend to discover many more this year.

One note: I’m keenly aware of the lack of queer representation on my list. I haven’t seen all the queer holiday romcoms that have come out in the last few years, but the ones I have seen don’t make the cut, and that makes me sad. I’ll keep looking.

What are your favorite holiday romances, book or movie? Bonus points for queer representation.

Programming note

I’m cooking something special up just for subscribers. It’s holiday-themed and spicy and coming soon! You can subscribe for free to get the bonus content—and I hope you will.

Books that Won’t let Me Go

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Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

I did not expect to write about Ali Hazelwood again so soon, but then I read Deep End and, well—I went off the deep end, metaphorically speaking. In the author’s note at the beginning, she says it’s her favorite book she’s written, and by the end, it was my favorite book of hers as well. And not just because of the fun callbacks to Olive and Adam from The Love Hypothesis, who are the main characters’ professors at Stanford.

I was recently hijacked by another book that was totally unexpected: I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming.

Here’s my review of these two books and a list of other romances I can’t stop obsessing over.

Books I wasn’t done with after the last page

When I finish a romance novel—or movie, for that matter—I often go back to my favorite scenes before starting a new book. For me, that tends to be the third-act breakup and the reunion after it, their first kiss/getting together, or other pivotal scenes that move the love story forward.

How much rereading I feel compelled to do is part of my personal rating system for a book. If it was just meh, I might be done when I read the last page. Most of the time, though, I’ll go back to two or three scenes I want to savor again. But if a book has me by the throat and I simply don’t want it to end, I’ll go farther and farther back in the story, reading and rereading favorite scenes, savoring dialogue, spending more time with characters I can’t get enough of, and putting off starting the next book because I want to stay in this book’s world. It’s like having a great taste in my mouth after eating a dish that was perfectly seasoned; I’m sad when the next meal overrides the lovely flavor.

Some other books on my obsessive reread list:

Movies I keep rewatching:

  • What’s Up, Doc?
  • Clueless
  • French Kiss
  • 12 Dates of Christmas
  • Holidate
  • Love Hard
  • Many others, too numerous to name—mostly holiday romcoms because I am a sucker for them.

Deep End grabbed me and wouldn’t let go

In many ways, Deep End is a typical Ali Hazelwood romance: socially awkward heroine meets tall, handsome man of few words who’s totally smitten with her. In Hazelwood’s expert hands, the formula works and I’m here for it, but there was more in this book for me.

Scarlett Vandermeer is an elite-level platform diver who was injured by a bad dive the year before the action starts. She still can’t do the type of dive—inward—that she was doing when she got hurt. Although she’s physically fine, she struggles with a mental block. And, for me, I think this was the particular hook because I’ve been struggling with a mental block about a physical activity I love (riding a bike) and slowly working my way back to feeling comfortable doing something I used to do with ease and joy. So I was right there with Scarlett the whole way.

Another thing that hooked me was the slow, intense burn of Scarlett’s budding relationship with Lukas. They explore BDSM, a long-time desire and first for both of them. But what makes the sex so mesmerizing is the emotional heft of it, the way Scarlett describes being pulled apart and reconstructed by it, and feeling truly seen, the trust and care they give each other.

Add in Hazelwood’s humor and vibrant supporting characters, and this is a book I’ll savor for a long time.

  • Humor level: low-key funny and serious by turns
  • Spice level: super spicy
  • Tropes: sub/dom power play, overcoming mental challenges, elite athletes, STEM

My first alien: I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming

When my romance writer friends start talking about reader preferences and where readers will or will not follow a writer, I’m baffled. I’m not like that, I say. I read and enjoy MM, MF, FF, and trans/nonbinary love stories. I read authors of different races and cultures. I’m broad in my tastes.

But I’m a big liar. Because the truth is, there are more romance subgenres I don’t read than ones I do. I DNF’d my first Colleen Hoover on page two because it was too violent for me. I only pick up books with magic in them by accident and I’ve never read a romantasy. Mafia, why choose, and reverse harem are tropes I know about in theory but haven’t read.

And I need to get over myself. Because when I accidentally read a romance with witches, I like it. And I also liked Kimerly Lemming’s sci-fi romp, I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com.

I only picked up the book because the title made me laugh and the cover art, reminiscent of a B-movie poster from the 50s, also made me laugh. And then I read the book and it really made me laugh—and reconsider my narrow reading preferences.

Lemming’s novel, a delightful take on The Wizard of Oz, has Dorothy whisked away by aliens to a terraformed planet. Only, the aliens didn’t have much time to study Earth (budget cuts), and they’ve gotten a lot wrong.

Dorothy’s love interests are horned, hooved aliens, Lok and Sol, who bicker for her affection and attention as the trio becomes more bonded. So I guess I’ve read my first why choose romance? Look at me being all open-minded!

The book includes a talking lion, talking owls, a pink dinosaur, and much more mayhem. I loved it. It stayed with me and I’d recommend it, no matter what kind of romances you think you like.

  • Humor level: one of the funniest romcoms I’ve read in a long time
  • Spice level: lots of 3-way spicy human/alien sex, including one sexual encounter that ends in one of the funniest scenes in the book
  • Tropes: Wizard of Oz retelling, sci-fi, why choose

Author Interview: Alyssa Jarrett Puts the “Com” in Rom-Com

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Plus her new holiday novella, Love Me Merrily

If you, like me, are a fan of romantic comedy with an emphasis on the comedy, you’ll love Alyssa Jarrett’s Glam Fam series. Centered on a group of friends in the entourage of a wealthy influencer, the books are peppered with spicy observations about Bay Area culture, the tech world, and family relations. Her tagline, “Romcom with extra com,” is spot on.

I recently spoke with Alyssa about her books, her choice to be fully herself as an author and through her characters, and what’s next for the Glam Fam.

I’ve summarized some of our conversation below, but you should watch the full interview to hear what Alyssa has to say (and ignore me — I clearly have a lot to learn about being on video). You’ll want to hear her articulate, funny, and irreverent take on being an indie author, sharing her Armenian heritage, and writing about an elite rock climber when she’s a “self-described bougie bitch.”

What would it be like to be them?

Alyssa Jarrett has published three full-length novels: Love Apptually, Love on the Rocks, and Love and Paklava. But it turns out the first book she wrote will be the last one in the series: the love story of Alex, a daughter of wealth turned influencer who’s the center of the eclectic group of stylists who call themselves the Glam Fam.

The origin story for the series starts over a decade ago, when Jarrett was going through a breakup with her high school sweetheart and wondered what it would be like to be famous and have the whole world watch you walk through that. In the end, though, “I saved Alex’s story for last because a millionaire heiress wasn’t the most relatable,” she says.

In Love on the Rocks, Jarrett asked herself a similar question after watching Free Solo and wondering what it would be like to be the girlfriend of an elite athlete so focused on his sport. The result is a funny and tender collision of two very different worlds, along with some very detailed advice on rock climbing.

In her other two books, however, she explores more personal themes.

Paying homage to her community

When asked whether the Bay Area-centric humor poking fun at tech culture in Love Apptually will translate to readers who aren’t local, Jarrett says, “As for the inside baseball of it all, I know there are some elements that people may not understand.” But, she adds, “I set out to write a book that I knew the people around me would appreciate, and I think I did that.”

Paying homage to her community is important to Jarrett. “Am I going to be Colleen Hoover famous? Probably not,” she says. Telling stories that are authentic to her is more important.

With Love and Paklava, she gets even more personal, building a love story around an Armenian baker from Fresno, where she grew up. It wasn’t until she went to college in Santa Cruz that she realized most people don’t know much about Armenia or the Armenian genocide, which preceded the Holocaust of World War II and was one of the events that emboldened Hitler. “[The Armenian genocide] continues to have a ripple effect even now,” she says.

But Jarrett wanted to show “modern-day resilience and love and joy” in her community through her rom-com, and she succeeds. Bonus: the book includes the hero’s scene-stealing grandmother, Queenie, based on Jarrett’s real-life grandfather and the source of very funny interjections into the romance between the baker and the punk-rocking aesthetician.

Love Me Merrily: A holiday novella that turns up the heat

Jarrett wrote the holiday romance Love Me Merrily because, she says, “I wanted to see Summer [a side character from Love on the Rocks] have a happy ending.” Also, “I wanted to talk about grief as it relates to the holidays.”

The love interest in this novella, set in a wintry Yosemite National Park, is the brother of one of the Glam Fam. As in her other books, Jarrett deals thoughtfully with trauma, loss, and anxiety, while also delivering a big dose of humor and a lot of spice.

When asked why an out-and-proud atheist would write a holiday romance, Jarrett said that adding a little punk rock to the season was a way to reclaim a time of year that’s not her favorite — on her own terms.

  • Humor: Without the funny asides of the full-length books, but still spiked with wit.
  • Spice level: Steamy.
  • Tropes: love after loss, winter in Yosemite,  getting snowed in, hating the holidays, dry humping, elder emos, atheist Christmas, mental health issues/anxiety/agoraphobia

Watch the full video interview on my Substack.

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A Great Big Beautiful Book

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Ranking Emily Henry’s romance novels

I love Emily Henry’s work, and her new novels are always on my must-read list. But her books can be tinged with deep sadness, and I’m not always up for that. Happily, her latest is a funny slow burn with lots of sizzle and a supremely sunny narrator. It’s my favorite of hers so far, and that got me thinking about how I’d rank her books.

New favorite: Great Big Beautiful Life

The truest proof of Emily Henry’s writing talent is that she can take a trope or story structure I don’t like and make me love it. Her latest book, Great Big Beautiful Life, cuts between the love story of two writers vying for the same gig writing the biography of a reclusive heiress and the story of that heiress’s life, as told to the narrator, Alice Scott. Normally, I’d be annoyed to be taken out of the love story—that’s what I’m here for, duh—and, at first, I was.

But I soon got caught up in Margaret’s story, in the tragedies of being rich and dysfunctional, which Henry manages to humanize. And, while the settings are rich in all of her books, the small island off the Georgia coast was its own character, lending heat and humidity to the budding relationship between Alice and Hayden.

The truth is, this book sat in my TBR pile for quite a while as I both dreaded and looked forward to it. I knew I’d be drawn in once I started because Henry is that good a writer, but I wasn’t sure if I’d like the ride or be annoyed at my inability to get off. I really, really liked this ride. It’s a beautiful book.

  • Humor level: mildly amusing
  • Spice level: open door, 3 out of 5
  • Tropes: enemies to lovers, deception, slow burn, sunshine grumpy

Second place: Book Lovers

The thing that got me about Book Lovers was the banter between the main characters, publishing professionals, and former rivals working together to help an author get a new book out. This one was so funny I laughed out loud, and if the narrator starts out a bit stiff, it’s a delight to watch her learn to love herself just as she is.

Third place tie: Funny Story and Beach Read

Funny Story has a great setup: woman gets dumped by her fiancée shortly before their wedding so he can reunite with his high school sweetheart and ends up living with the man dumped by said high school sweetheart. Very funny, lovely arc as two brokenhearted people find something better and truer together.

Beach Read is an enemies-to-lovers story (my favorite) that has the narrator rethinking assumptions, both about her past and about the boy she thought hated her in college. It’s sweet, funny, and, of course, very bookish. As a writer, I loved the parts describing the narrator’s writing process.

I think both of these books hold a special place in my heart because they’re set near the shores of Lake Michigan. It’s a part of the country I have a fond attachment to, so there’s a personal pull for me here.

Fourth place: People We Meet on Vacation

People We Meet on Vacation was the first Emily Henry book I read, and I loved it at the time. It has moved down my list behind some of her more recent books, largely because of the story structure. While arranging the chapters of the main characters’ past in nonchronological order is a tour de force, it’s also something that’s worn thin for me. I’m not fond of the sense of doom hanging over the book as it works toward the big split between the long-time friends.

Still, it’s a great book, you should read it, and I can’t wait to see the movie.

Last place: Happy Place

Happy Place has all the hallmarks of an Emily Henry book: vibrant and funny supporting characters, meticulously drawn setting. But the narrator in this second-chance romance is so unhappy for so much of the book that it really brought me down. Give me a relentlessly optimistic character like Alice Scott in Great Big Beautiful Life over a pessimist any day.

What’s your favorite Emily Henry book?

Or your least favorite. Let me know in the comments.

Midlife Revivals: Second-Act Romances

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Is She Really Going Out with Him by Sophie Cousens + more

Without any intention on my part, I’ve stumbled into a new romance subgenre: the midlife, post-breakup (or divorce) romance. I loved Mhairi McFarlane’s If I Never Met You but assumed the situation was a one-off.

Then I read Personal Best by Jonesy Elise, a writer I met at the fabulous Bay Area Book Fest. In this delightful book, 30-something Saoirse “Sir” Hooper takes up with her personal trainer, who ends up training her on a lot more than a stationary bike. Unlike McFarlane’s book, this steamy romance includes a lot of kink and self-discovery in the bedroom.

After finding Is She Really Going Out With Him? by Sophie Cousens, I realized the second-act romance is a thing—and I’m totally hooked.

Common arcs in second-act romances and why I love them

While each of the three books is very different, what they all have in common is a single POV female perspective, an age gap with a younger man, and a rediscovery of something of themselves the main character has lost. In each of these books, the ex initiated the breakup and found another partner, so our heroine is smarting, her ego bruised, her idea of what her life should be shattered.

Though I haven’t been through a divorce, I’ve experienced plenty of breakups (almost always being the one broken up with—ouch), and part of the appeal of these books is the delightful revenge of an older woman going out with a young, attractive, and talented man (they are always talented). In addition to the happily ever after, these books offer a portrait of a woman picking herself up after loss, reorienting her self-image, and reclaiming parts of herself she’d lost in her prior relationship. That makes the second-act romance, if done well, a soul-satisfying read.

A sparkling revival

Is She Really Going Out With Him? follows Ann Appleby as she tries to navigate shared parenting of her two children while saving her job as a reporter for a regional magazine. As the magazine threatens cutbacks, her competition is Will Havers, a young and ambitious writer who seems ruthlessly bent on advancing his career.

When Ann ends up writing a dating column where she has to go out with dates chosen by her children, it becomes an exercise in friendship and redemption. And when her last date is a weekend away with Will—well, you can guess what happens.

One of the best things was Sophie Cousens’ luscious prose as she describes Ann’s gradual unfolding as she allows herself to flirt with Will.

“A long-forgotten part of me is waking up, and it feels wonderful, like emerging from hibernation into a spring full of possibilities.”

She doesn’t expect to end up in a relationship, but the act of opening herself to the connection is redemptive for Ann.

  • Humor level: some lovely comedic tropes but generally more delighting than funny
  • Spice level: closed door
  • Tropes: enemies to lovers, age gap, divorce, children from another relationship, second act

Personal Best by Jonesy Elise

  • Humor level: physical comedy, my favorite!
  • Spice level: hot, hot, hot
  • Tropes: age gap, divorce, second act

On a personal note, my first book is on submission and publishers look at things like social media follows and newsletter subscriptions when they’re deciding which books to publish. All my newsletter content is free for my subscribers—and you’d be helping bring another romcom into the world if you hit subscribe.

3 Reasons I Love Ali Hazelwood’s Writing

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A meditation on Love, Theoretically, among other books.

My first Ali Hazelwood book was The Love Hypothesis. I was an instant fan and immediately read everything of hers I could get my hands on.

Then she published Bride, which didn’t look like my cup of tea, and I moved on to other authors, and now I realize I’m behind because I just read Love, Theoretically. It reminded me of why I love her writing so much. I have read enough of her books to see some of the plot twists coming, but I don’t care.

Whether you love or loathe Hazelwood’s brand of humor and storytelling, she’s got (at least) three things other romance writers should emulate.

Details that add vibrancy without clutter

I’m not just talking about the science words she throws around, though I love that, even though 99% of the physics references in Love, Theoretically, went over my head. It’s the specificity that makes her characters come alive: the Kurosawa movies  Elsie hates and her roommate Cece loves, Hedgie the hedgehog defecating on her pillow, Cece eating croutons from the bag with chopsticks and throwing them around the kitchen when she gets excited. I could see (and smell) the cluttered, funky apartment the two shared.

Beautiful language

Ali Hazelwood uses language beautifully. Elsie describes herself as “a puppet who maybe, just maybe, is a real girl after all.” Jack is the only one who sees “all the Elsies I’ve created to fit all the worlds I’ve inhabited.”

Those aren’t the most outstanding examples from Love, Theoretically, but they’re ones that stand up without context. Hazelwood is a master of vivid descriptions, funny banter, and grounding in Elsie’s emotions on every line,

Steamy sex scenes that are all about emotion

Near the end of Elsie’s first sexual experience with Jack, she thinks, “It’s not even about coming or about anything else I might have stupidly expected. This is about him and me. And the possibility of something that goes far beyond the both of us.”

Those sentences should be in the textbook for romance writers on writing sex scenes because that’s exactly it. Through every moment of intimacy, Hazelwood takes us to the molecular level so we can watch as Elsie changes because of the love and care she feels from Jack. It’s everything I want in a romance.

Love Theoretically

  • Humor: satisfyingly amusing
  • Spice: 3 out of 5
  • Tropes: grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, STEM setting, evils of academia

The Pros and Cons of the Author Binge

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Grooving on historical romcoms from Amanda Quick

I love an author binge. When I read a book by a new author I like, I want to find and read their complete backlist. This is partly because I’m greedy for more of the good stuff I got from this author, but also because I’m afraid I’ll forget them under the crush of my TBR pile.

However, reading too many books from one author back-to-back has its downsides, as I first discovered the summer I was 12.

Murder on the summer vacation: A cautionary tale about Agatha Christie

When I was 12, my family embarked on an 8-week vacation across Europe. It wasn’t possible to pack enough paperbacks to satisfy a voracious reader like me (this was before ereaders—yes, my young friends, there was a time when we had no choice but to read physical books—shudder). The only pre-teen appropriate author reliably available in English on the continent that summer was Agatha Christie.

I liked mysteries. I liked Agatha Christie—until I spent a whole summer mainlining her books. By the time we flew home from Amsterdam, I could tell you how every Christie book would end. I was bored to death with the scene where the detective gathers all the suspects in a parlor to reveal the culprit—so predictable. The red herrings, the real culprits—painfully obvious. Christie’s formula isn’t terrible; I just OD’d on it.

To this day, I’m reluctant even to watch a movie based on an Agatha Christie book. My author binge turned me off to one of the preeminent crime writers of the last century, and, honestly, that’s a shame.

My latest author binge: Amanda Quick

I recently grabbed three Amanda Quick novels written in the 90s, based on Reddit recommendations, and gobbled them down. Then I had a tiny bit of indigestion.

Mistress, Mystique, and Mischief are standalone historical romances. Mistress and Mischief are Regency romances; Mystique takes place in a Medieval period.

Despite the different settings and unrelated characters, I couldn’t help notice the throughlines that run through all three books: repressed heroes constrained by a strict set of personal rules and shaped by trauma; independent, feminist, chatty heroines unafraid to take matters into their own hands. I love those archetypes, but reading the books in the space of a few days, I couldn’t help noticing the patterns and the repetition of the grumpy/sunshine trope.

If I had read these Amanda Quick books as they came out, a year apart, I would have been delighted to dip back into her world once a year. The ecosystem of instant access and binge media consumption has changed the demands on authors to mix it up from book to book, while being similar enough that readers know what to expect from your author “brand.” I want to acknowledge that it is a big lift.

An author binge always works better for me with a series following the same or related characters. When I can follow characters I like through multiple adventures, I’m hooked no matter what. A binge helps me tease out connections in worlds constructed by the author or follow my favorite couple deeper into their happily ever after.

Book recommendation: Mischief

I liked all Amanda Quick books I read very much (and I will read more, after a break), but the one that stood out to me was Mischief. The heroine, Imogen, decides early on that the brooding hero, Colchester, has a delicate constitution. This is completely untrue, but he goes along with it in an indulgent and fond rather than mocking way. Imogen boldly sails through life, believing in a version of reality that makes her happy, and stepping up to protect the man she loves from becoming “overwrought.” I’m a sucker for an unreliable narrator, and I love that for her.

  • Humor level: Laugh out loud funny.
  • Spice level: 3 out of 5
  • Tropes: virgin, tortured hero, grumpy/sunshine, mystery

Amanda Quick is a pen name of Jayne Ann Krentz, who also writes under her own name and as Jayne Castle.

Writing updates

While my first finished book voyages through submissionland, I find myself starting and stopping too many other projects. My writer friends encouraged me to work on the second book in the series, which is sound advice, and I’m doing that, but there are so many other ideas crowding my head right now, I’m finding it hard to focus on one story.

That said, I am determined to finish a fun short story for you, dear subscribers, in the very near future. And, as always, let me know your romance recs.

Classics Reimagined: Sonali Dev’s Jane Austen Series

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 A couple of years ago, I saw Sonali Dev present at a writer’s conference. She was both lovely and impressive, and I picked up the first of her Jane Austen-inspired novels, Pride and Prejudice and Other Flavors.

But when I first started reading, the book was an immediate DNF for me—too much backstory at the beginning. I gave it to my wife, who is infinitely more patient than I am, to read and tell me if I should go on. She liked it, but it took me another year and a bout of COVID to start again with the determination to read on.

I wasn’t sorry. In fact, I was obsessed and immediately picked up the other three books in the series. Dev takes the familiar outlines of Austen’s plots and weaves them around the stories of the children of the wealthy and influential Raje family. The books and the characters belong to Dev, not Austen, but finding lines or scenes from Austen’s books made for a delightful Easter egg hunt. If you haven’t discovered this series, you’re in for a treat.

Pride and Prejudice and Other Flavors

Now that I’ve read the whole series, I understand the need for extra explication at the start of the first book. The books revolve around the Raje clan, plus friends, cousins, and extended family. History weaves in with the present, and Dev tells generational stories, mixing humor with healing from the traumas of the past.

In Pride and Prejudice and Other Flavors, Dev flips the gender from Austen. Tightly wound brain surgeon Trisha Raje is prejudiced the first time she meets chef DJ Caine, assessing that what he does in the kitchen is less important than her work. She makes it clear who has the upper hand—literally—pricking DJ’s pride. The two are thrown together, reluctantly, because Trisha is treating DJ’s sister for a brain tumor. Dev hits the highlights of Austen’s story—the overheard insult, the rejected offer—and weaves them with a rich story of family, pride, and history that will continue to unfold through the rest of the books in the series.

Spice level: closed door

Humor: some slapstick—the best kind of humor

Tropes: enemies to lovers, family rift

Recipe for Persuasion

Recipe for Persuasion is a second-chance love story based on the mother of all second-chance stories. It might be my favorite of Austen’s books; I love watching Anne come out from under her mentor’s thumb and realize she hasn’t lost her only chance at love. Dev’s retelling involves a reality show, a soccer star, and a chef who needs a miracle to save the crumbling restaurant her father left behind when he died. It’s delicious.

Spice level: closed door

Humor: funny!

Tropes: second chance, family secrets, reality show

Incense and Sensibility

In Incense and Sensibility, a political up-and-comer and the center of his family’s ambitions, Yash Raje, was misused by an intern who drugged him and made a sex tape early in his career. As a result, he’s been in a fake relationship of convenience with his friend Naina for years. But when fate throws him in the path of Raje family friend India Dashwood—with whom he has a past—everything changes. This book deals with difficult themes of trauma and violence, and it’s also sweet and funny and includes a stinky but beloved dog. Dev handles heavy issues with deft grace; I felt the healing by the end of the book.

Spice level: closed door

Humor: sweetly funny

Tropes: second chance, fake relationship, hurt/comfort, politician

The Emma Project

Emma is my least favorite Jane Austen story, and the only book of hers I have never read. I started it and disliked Emma so much that I put it down. But The Emma Project is definitely my favorite in Dev’s series. She flips the genders: Naina Kohli is a decade older than Vansh Raje, whom she’s known since he was in diapers. Recovering from her humiliation at Vansh’s brother Yash ending their faux dating, she finds her life, and soon her bedsheets, entangled with Vansh. This is the sexiest of the series, which I love, but what makes it an absolute delight is the dialogue between Vansh and Naina: playful, spicy, brutally honest, and unexpected. The best thing an author can do is upend my expectations and Dev does that in The Emma Project. This is one I’ll read again and again.

Spice level: slightly ajar door

Humor: delightfully witty dialogue

Tropes: age gap, secret relationship, family disapproval

I didn’t have a column last week, and I might be spotty for the next few weeks as I’ll be traveling. Lots of great things percolating and lots of reading time in my future. Share your romcom recommendations, and I’ll add them to my reading list.

All that makes this an odd time to turn on paid subscriptions, but I’ve learned Substack will make Romcom Ratatouille more visible to new subscribers if you. Free subscribers will still get all the content; please don’t feel any pressure to upgrade to paid, unless you have a few extra dollars and want to support a writer on her way up. Thanks for being a part of my reader community!

Love Is Love: Three Queer Rom-Coms Everyone Should Read

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Happy Pride! When you come down off the high of the parades and the parties, I hope you’ll pick up one of these fabulous rom-coms and support queer writers.

And if you’re not into Pride, I get it, but you should still check out these books. Romance has a broad spectrum of subgenres that allow readers to specialize. If you like werewolf love stories or shifter bonding, there are books for you. But I urge you not to reject books based on the genders of the main characters because love is love, and these love stories will move you, no matter your sexual preference.

Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

I’m going to be predictable and say that, while the movie of Casey McQuiston’s Red, White, & Royal Blue was luscious, the book is better. If you loved the movie and haven’t read the book, just imagine Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine as Alex and Prince Henry.

Alex Claremont-Diaz is the irreverent and opinionated son of a female U.S. president. One of Alex’s opinions: that Prince Henry, younger son of the British monarch, is a stuck-up twat. But when an unfortunate incident with a giant cake at a royal wedding forces Alex and Henry to spend time making nice for PR purposes, a deeper connection blooms.

Don’t get me wrong—I loved the movie adaptation and you should totally see it if you haven’t. But the joy of the novel is the complex and fascinating web of politics and intrigue that Alex and Henry swim in. I love books that take me behind the scenes into settings I’m not familiar with, and this was a funny and fascinating look at life in the swirl of politics.

  • Tropes: enemies to lovers, politics, royalty, coming out
  • Spice level: 2
  • Humor level: Consistently witty with lots of sharp dialogue.

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian

In The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, the titular Webb, mostly retired highwayman and current coffeehouse proprietor, isn’t looking for a relationship when Edward Percy Talbot, the very gay son of a very evil duke, comes looking for a criminal. Cat Sebastian manages to wrap a sweet romance inside a hilarious adventure as the story unfolds.

Bonus: Book two in Sebastian’s London Highwayman series, The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes, is also delightful and opens with an exchange of snidely polite letters between the two main characters that had me in stitches.

  • Tropes: historical romance, reformed criminals, royalty, murder, escaping a bad marriage
  • Spice level: 3
  • Humor level: So, so very funny.

Husband Material by Alexis Hall

Boyfriend Material is one of my all-time favorite books. Luc O’Donnell, son of rock star parents, has a history of bad press. When a compromising photo threatens his job at a charity focused on saving dung beetles, Luc needs a fake boyfriend to make him look respectable. Enter Oliver Blackwood, uptight barrister with a strict code of ethics. Hilarity and romance ensue.

The romance is lovely, and I adore Luc and Oliver, but what makes this book is the secondary characters. Luc’s friends are an artistic and idiosyncratic bunch, and his bumbling coworkers make for irresistibly hysterical scenes.

Honestly, I don’t think I’m doing this book justice. Just read it. It’s sweet and funny and well written.

  • Tropes: fake dating, famous parent, opposites attract
  • Spice level: 1
  • Humor level: I laughed so loud I kept waking my wife up. Made her super mad, but I couldn’t help it. ROTFL.

Bonus: I loved Boyfriend Material so much I gobbled up everything else Alexis Hall has written, and it’s all great (but Boyfriend Material is the best if you love romantic comedy). Hall’s A Lady for a Duke is another great Pride read. It’s a historical romance with a transwoman as the heroine and the exploration of what it could mean to be trans at that time is beautiful and hopeful.

A note about F/F romances

I am aware that this list includes only M/M books (with the exception of The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes, which is M/F). I have read lots of lesbian romances, and there are some good ones out there, but none that set me on fire like the books listed here.

I certainly haven’t read everything on the market, and I hope I’ve missed the good ones. Please recommend your F/F favorites in the comments—as a queer woman, I want to find these books. I do think we need more lesbian romances that knock the socks off readers of all persuasions, and I plan to write them. Stay tuned.

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