When I think of Tennessee Williams, I think of A Streetcar Named Desire (the movie) and, in my head, I hear Vivian Leigh saying, “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

In the film, the viewer knows Blanche’s trust’s delusional and that the kindnesses done to her are, in truth, cruel or uncaring. That said, I like the phrase. Random acts of kindness are one of society’s greatest lubricants, antidotes to the endless grind of negativity we live amidst.

I’m on our last week of a three week trip in Europe and, again and again, strangers and near strangers have been simply lovely. For example: We are currently in Bath and are, tomorrow, to go to Oxford. Unfortunately, this weekend brings a strike by railway workers and there are no trains. To take a bus would take almost all day and is quite expensive. I thought we’d be reduced […]

I’ve never been a fan of Twitter but, for years, it was a place I’d go to for news about romance and politics. No more. The new design is chaotic, I see nothing that I care about, and it feels downright unfriendly. It, like Facebook, has become a place where users have almost no ability to control what and whom they see.

This bums me out because I believe that social media can be a force for connection and for good. I used to love seeing friends’ updates on FB and Twitter–checking in on those sites was a way for me to see what people I’m not fortunate enough to live near were up to. Now, when I log on to Facebook I see the same few posts from the same few people again and again, endless dumb ads, and just junk. It is much the same on Twitter.

Do you feel this way? Are there social media sites you use […]

To celebrate retirement–Dr. Feelgood’s–the two of us are on a three week trip through Europe. We are currently in Italy exploring, for two days, Lake Como. After this, we’ll travel to Switzerland, take a boat up the Rhine, check out the Vermeer exhibit in Amsterdam, and then spend a week in England with our eldest son who is meeting us–he lives in India.

Last night, over fish and very good Italian white wine, we were hazarding a guess at what place we’d enjoy the most on this trip. This is our tenth trip to Italy and we remain entranced with the country’s food, charm, aesthetics, and culture. We’re curious about our trip up the Rhine–we’ve both been to Switzerland but only to Zurich and Geneva. We’ve been once before to Amsterdam–always a good time–and are looking forward to exploring Southern England; neither of us have spent much time outside of London before. I am especially excited, after having read about […]

A friend of mine recently sent me an article entitled Why Bestselling Romance Author Colleen Hoover Is Receiving Backlash. In it, the author writes:

I know what some people might be thinking: It’s fiction, it’s not meant to be real or unproblematic; it caters to fantasies.

But the problem with that is that fiction, especially fiction read by younger audiences, can have a large effect on how people perceive topics like consent and healthy relationships. While Hoover is not a YA novelist, she has cultivated a base that is largely made up of young people through BookTok.

Besides all of that, I have a degree in creative writing, and as such have spoken with other romance novelists who have insisted that consent is a very important part of romance. These books are meant to be fantasies to a certain extent, but if they are going to depict abusive behavior, it should not be in a way that doesn’t address how abusive and […]

In a recent discussion about Barbara Cartland, several readers bemoaned her incessantly giving her heroines heart shaped faces and small hands. The latter feature is, I’ve since noticed, quite common in older historical romances–how many scenes have we all encountered where her tiny fingers couldn’t reach around a hero’s heavy shaft. (rolls eyes)

But, while itty bitty hands make me laugh, they’re not as bad, IMHO, as the endless parade of heroines with violet eyes. (Elizabeth Taylor’s eyes were blue.) Purple eyes are almost unheard of and when they do occur, they’re often the result of albinism. I’m also annoyed by silver eyes–pale grey, also super rare–because they almost always are caused by virtually no melanin in the iris and are extraordinarily uncommon.

I’m also not wild about men who call their loved ones baby again and again. And if anyone throws in a […]

A trope, according to Merriam-Webster, is a common or overused theme or device : CLICHÉ. I’m going to ignore the overused part of this today and focus on common themes in, of course, romance. Masterclass, in its earnest article on how to write a romance novel, offers nine common tropes:

1. Love Triangle (Court of Thorns and Roses, Reflected in You, From Twinkle with Love)

2. Secret Billionaire (Butt Dialing the Billionaire)

3. Friends to Lovers (People We Meet on Vacation, Like Lovers Do, Two Tribes) 

4. Stuck Together (The Roommate, Georgie All Along, Twice Shy)

5. Enemies to Lovers (Lord of Scoundrels, It Had to Be You, The Hook Up Plan)

6. Forbidden Love (Sinner, Long Shot, A Gentleman’s Position)

7. Second Chance (Spells for Forgetting, Before I […]

I’ve had a rather heated set of exchanges with my best friend Ann recently about our differing perspectives on why we read. She reads primarily to learn; I, to be entertained. She tells me “Oh, you should really pick up such and such a book about the failure of the medical system in our inner cities,” and I think hard pass. I read newspapers for news but, as I get in bed each night and pick up my Kindle, I read for joy. I wish to be transported, to be reminded of what makes life worth living. For her part, she shakes her head when I tell her how much I enjoyed a romance or a feel good novel–everyone, if you haven’t read Remarkably Bright Creatures you’re missing out on a literary hug–and tells me I am overly avoiding the grim parts of life.

Ann does read mysteries and I do read the occasional bummer book, but, in general, […]