But the one thing that a book must have to count as a romance novel at all is either a Happily Ever After or Happily For Now. The reader goes into the story knowing that everything is going to turn out all right in the end, better than all right, no matter how dire the circumstances may seem.
Romance novels create a utopian relationship, critics often squawk. There aren’t any real men like this. Every reader or writer of the genre has heard the refrain in some way, shape or form and there’s a reason for that. It’s called sexism.
I’m of the mind that feminism without intersectionality doesn’t count as feminism anymore, and romance certainly falls behind when it comes to characters of color, as well as religion, physical ability and, as I’ll outline here, body type.
"I like the idea that home is where you make it…with the people you love and who love you, and this book explores that idea."
My parents have been married for nearly twenty-seven years, and every year on Valentine’s Day, my dad gives my mom an epic Valentine.
