Reading this made me pause—and then reread. I used to read romance novels for the escape, never fully realizing why I loved them. I read quickly, devouring the plot, but missing the poetry. Your words helped me understand the depth I missed—the beauty behind the banter, the ache beneath the happy ending.
You’ve made me want to go back to those books—not to rush through them, but to linger. To notice the language, the longing, the layers. It’s like you wrote a love letter not just to the genre, but to the readers who’ve been quietly loving it all along—even when the world told us it was “fluff.”
Thank you for this. I’ll never read the same way again.
Both this and your previous piece have been two of my favorite things I’ve read on Substack. Ever. Thanks for writing, can’t wait to see what your brain cooks up and spits out next.
Wow! What an incredibly generous thing to say—thank you. It really means a lot, especially since I was a little nervous about this style of post and whether it would land. I’m so glad it resonated with you, and I promise there's more on the way!
Yes! I loved this post! More of this! I've spent most of my adult life reading and writing literary fiction because I thought I 'should' and I've loved both! But now I'm editing my first novel, a romance, and I'm reading for joy rather than 'shoulds' and I'm loving it... and realising, too, there isn't an lot of difference. Not with the good stuff!
I love this so much—thank you. And from another former litfic reader I know exactly how that shift from away from “should” to joy is such a powerful one. It’s amazing how much opens up when we let go of the hierarchy. I’m cheering you on as you finish your romance!
Thank you! Though I wouldn't describe myself as a 'former' litfic reader - I do still love literary fiction, too! But it doesn't have to be either/or does it!
My take on the scars metaphor—scars are useful! They hold your skin together. They might not be pretty, but they’re how our bodies repair themselves. And if you ask me, that’s pretty amazing.
I wonder if this could become a recurring section in your Substack, Rena—maybe we readers could contribute our favorite lines from beloved authors?
Your success here makes me so happy. Seeing good work met with real enthusiasm is pure joy.
Ahh - and there it is. I knew there was something I may have missed! Thanks for the close reading and for finding it!
And yes - my plan is for it to be a monthly series and I’d love to have readers contribute their favorite lines! What a good idea - thank you!! And thank you for the support ❤️.
I’ve never hit “subscribe” on a Substack so fast in my life. As a romance author (in progress) this is THEEEE goal for me: prose that stops you in your tracks. Little phrases that crawl into the liminal space between your thinky brain and feely heart and set up camp for good.
I love that description and liminal is a criminally underused word, ha. I'm so glad you liked the piece and will be sticking around for more! Thanks for reading (and for commenting!). I hope to really build community in the comments, it's one of my most favorite parts of substack!
When I think about favorite lines (in romance or otherwise) I always come back to the opening of Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier. For those that know, you KNOW. For those that don't:
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me. There was a padlock and a chain upon the gate. I called in my dream to the lodge-keeper, and had no answer, and peering closer through the rusted spokes of the gate I saw that the lodge was uninhabited."
The first sentence may be my favorite opening line of all time? Whether you're familiar with Rebecca or not, everyone has a Manderlyey. A place, a home, a location they continue to return to in their dreams. Making it instantly relatable. For me, it's my paternal grandmother's house. Since she passed away in 2023 I've had dreams that take place at her home at least once a week.
As for the rest of the opening lines they create a sense of place and characterization with an effortlessness that you know took some serious work. Our protagonist knows she is dreaming but isn't grounded enough to be sure of what's going on around her. A theme which will continue as the novel unfolds even as her reality reveals itself to be worse than any nightmare.
Ahh, yes. That line gives me chills every time. And you’re so right—everyone has their own version of Manderley. I love that yours is your grandmother’s house. What a beautiful way for it to keep showing up. Thanks so much for sharing this (and for reading!)
I love a good line! One that has stuck out to me for the past few months is in Nikki Payne's Sex, Lies, and Sensibility: "Sometimes the whole work of being a woman was simply fooling men into taking action." Part of what appeals to me about the line is the sentiment behind it, but it's also the rhythm of the words, the alliteration, the verb choice.
I love lines like that—they start as a proclamation, lulling you into expecting something familiar, and then twist to deliver something quietly true. And the diction and rhythm of that line is so excellent!
One from Emily Henry that didn’t make the final cut for this piece was - “Like even when something beautiful breaks, the making of it still matters.”
It’s got that same combination of rhythm, insight, and emotional subversion. The one from Nikki Payne is such a good line—thank you for sharing!!!
This was delightful. Such sharp, resonant lines—so much story folded into so few words. I’m really enjoying the way you read, the depth you bring to it. Honestly, you’re doing what your newsletter promises: revealing how smart, deep, and emotionally true romance can be. You’re exactly the kind of reader I’d dream of reaching... and secretly be terrified to know had read my work.
Wow—this means a lot. Thank you for reading so thoughtfully. That balance of emotional truth and craft is exactly what I’m hoping to spotlight, so your words really landed. Anyone inviting this kind of close read from their audience has probably written something lovely. 🥰
“I am not without” signals both present-day independence and a childhood shaped by lack. Rena I stopped and got teary at this. Then added it to my TBR. THANK YOU for taking time to create such a thoughtful round up post. This is how it’s done. You can just feel everything you write here comes from the heart.
You've made me want to reread Happy Place. And move It's a Love Story up my TBR. I love. how you're showcasing just how talented some of our romance writers are.
Fully endorse a Happy Place reread, especially when you know where the story is taking you already and you can just enjoy the language along the way. Also can whole heartedly support moving It's a Love Story up on the list.
I love this post and I'm so happy that Anne Helen Petersen linked to your substack! As someone who toggles between literary fiction and romance constantly and unashamedly, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Good writing is good writing, and can be found in all genres. One of my favorite lines from Curtis Sittenfeld's Romantic Comedy is "It occurred to me that perhaps this was how grown-up conversations worked—not that your communication didn’t falter, but that you both made good-faith attempts to rectify things after it had." I remember thinking, when I read it, that Sittenfeld had thoughtfully and succinctly written a pretty good blueprint for marriage, or any longterm relationship, for that matter.
Catherine, I'm so glad you're here. I was in disbelief that AHP linked to my Emily Henry article but I'm so happy she did!
I LOVE that line from Sittenfeld, thank you for sharing it. And you are so right about it being a good blueprint for marriage. I liked a similar line from the book as well - "Aren’t we all just looking for someone to talk about everything with? Someone worth the effort of telling our stories and opinions to, whose stories and opinions we actually want to hear?"
Sittenfeld's at her dry best in that novel and it was so interesting to see her dip her toe into the romance genre. I'm planning a deep dive on it in a few weeks and am excited to hear your thoughts when I get there!
That Annabel Monaghan line about being male-female relationships landed perfectly when I read it too. What a delight! Love this focus on prose and look forward to more!
Thank you for reading and commenting, Melanie. I so appreciate the support and good to know I wasn't the only one admiring that line (and so many others!) in Annabel's latest!
I'm not good at keeping track of quotes, but I really value prose in my reading as well - not just romance but also the fantasy I reach for. This makes me want to do more underlining and keeping quotes and lines that stand out to me.
Thank you so much for reading (and commenting)! I find it’s actually easiest for me to do line level reading in ebook format because I can highlight and annotate and then pull up a list of my highlights at any point (those highlights were actually the basis for today’s column!) but I know e-reading isn’t always the most tactilely satisfying experience.
Thank you for reading (and commenting!). You clearly have exceptional taste in books 😂.
Red White and Royal Blue is SUCH a triumph, isn’t it? Annabel Monaghan’s most recent work was definitely her strongest on a line level perspective but I have to admit my favorite of her books is still the OG, Nora Goes Off Script. My column next week will cover all four of her books in depth though so may be a good place to decide which one to dive in with! I love seeing her voice grow and develop over time.
Also PS - if you like happy place and RW&RB, I think you’ll like the book recc I have teed up in two weeks. I’m convinced it nearly holds its own and yet no one seems to have read it?
as do you!! 😌 for years, I considered RWRB my favorite book partially due to the writing. I have countless lines memorized!! the only other book that has topped it for me is We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian, which if you haven’t read, you absolutely MUST! looking forward to the recs that you have in store, you’re doing amazing work already and I’m so psyched to read more!!
This is very good timing, as I just received an email from my library that my hold of "It's a Love Story" is ready for pickup! I've read her other books, so I look forward to reading your column about them.
Reading this made me pause—and then reread. I used to read romance novels for the escape, never fully realizing why I loved them. I read quickly, devouring the plot, but missing the poetry. Your words helped me understand the depth I missed—the beauty behind the banter, the ache beneath the happy ending.
You’ve made me want to go back to those books—not to rush through them, but to linger. To notice the language, the longing, the layers. It’s like you wrote a love letter not just to the genre, but to the readers who’ve been quietly loving it all along—even when the world told us it was “fluff.”
Thank you for this. I’ll never read the same way again.
This is such a thoughtful response—thank you. I’m really touched, and so glad the piece landed with you like that.
Both this and your previous piece have been two of my favorite things I’ve read on Substack. Ever. Thanks for writing, can’t wait to see what your brain cooks up and spits out next.
Wow! What an incredibly generous thing to say—thank you. It really means a lot, especially since I was a little nervous about this style of post and whether it would land. I’m so glad it resonated with you, and I promise there's more on the way!
Agreed - this is rapidly becoming my fave substack!
Rachel, thank you—what a generous compliment. It means so much coming from someone like you, whose voice carries real weight in the romance world.
Yes! I loved this post! More of this! I've spent most of my adult life reading and writing literary fiction because I thought I 'should' and I've loved both! But now I'm editing my first novel, a romance, and I'm reading for joy rather than 'shoulds' and I'm loving it... and realising, too, there isn't an lot of difference. Not with the good stuff!
I love this so much—thank you. And from another former litfic reader I know exactly how that shift from away from “should” to joy is such a powerful one. It’s amazing how much opens up when we let go of the hierarchy. I’m cheering you on as you finish your romance!
Thank you! Though I wouldn't describe myself as a 'former' litfic reader - I do still love literary fiction, too! But it doesn't have to be either/or does it!
My take on the scars metaphor—scars are useful! They hold your skin together. They might not be pretty, but they’re how our bodies repair themselves. And if you ask me, that’s pretty amazing.
I wonder if this could become a recurring section in your Substack, Rena—maybe we readers could contribute our favorite lines from beloved authors?
Your success here makes me so happy. Seeing good work met with real enthusiasm is pure joy.
Ahh - and there it is. I knew there was something I may have missed! Thanks for the close reading and for finding it!
And yes - my plan is for it to be a monthly series and I’d love to have readers contribute their favorite lines! What a good idea - thank you!! And thank you for the support ❤️.
I’ve never hit “subscribe” on a Substack so fast in my life. As a romance author (in progress) this is THEEEE goal for me: prose that stops you in your tracks. Little phrases that crawl into the liminal space between your thinky brain and feely heart and set up camp for good.
I love that description and liminal is a criminally underused word, ha. I'm so glad you liked the piece and will be sticking around for more! Thanks for reading (and for commenting!). I hope to really build community in the comments, it's one of my most favorite parts of substack!
When I think about favorite lines (in romance or otherwise) I always come back to the opening of Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier. For those that know, you KNOW. For those that don't:
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me. There was a padlock and a chain upon the gate. I called in my dream to the lodge-keeper, and had no answer, and peering closer through the rusted spokes of the gate I saw that the lodge was uninhabited."
The first sentence may be my favorite opening line of all time? Whether you're familiar with Rebecca or not, everyone has a Manderlyey. A place, a home, a location they continue to return to in their dreams. Making it instantly relatable. For me, it's my paternal grandmother's house. Since she passed away in 2023 I've had dreams that take place at her home at least once a week.
As for the rest of the opening lines they create a sense of place and characterization with an effortlessness that you know took some serious work. Our protagonist knows she is dreaming but isn't grounded enough to be sure of what's going on around her. A theme which will continue as the novel unfolds even as her reality reveals itself to be worse than any nightmare.
Ahh, yes. That line gives me chills every time. And you’re so right—everyone has their own version of Manderley. I love that yours is your grandmother’s house. What a beautiful way for it to keep showing up. Thanks so much for sharing this (and for reading!)
Came across you by accident in my Notes feed and was so thrilled to see you featured in Culture Study just a few days later - congrats!
Honestly, same. It’s been a wild week—thanks for being here for the ride!
I love a good line! One that has stuck out to me for the past few months is in Nikki Payne's Sex, Lies, and Sensibility: "Sometimes the whole work of being a woman was simply fooling men into taking action." Part of what appeals to me about the line is the sentiment behind it, but it's also the rhythm of the words, the alliteration, the verb choice.
I love lines like that—they start as a proclamation, lulling you into expecting something familiar, and then twist to deliver something quietly true. And the diction and rhythm of that line is so excellent!
One from Emily Henry that didn’t make the final cut for this piece was - “Like even when something beautiful breaks, the making of it still matters.”
It’s got that same combination of rhythm, insight, and emotional subversion. The one from Nikki Payne is such a good line—thank you for sharing!!!
This was delightful. Such sharp, resonant lines—so much story folded into so few words. I’m really enjoying the way you read, the depth you bring to it. Honestly, you’re doing what your newsletter promises: revealing how smart, deep, and emotionally true romance can be. You’re exactly the kind of reader I’d dream of reaching... and secretly be terrified to know had read my work.
Wow—this means a lot. Thank you for reading so thoughtfully. That balance of emotional truth and craft is exactly what I’m hoping to spotlight, so your words really landed. Anyone inviting this kind of close read from their audience has probably written something lovely. 🥰
I love this breakdown SO MUCH, thanks for writing!!!
I love your enthusiasm SO much—thank you for being the best reader of my work!
“I am not without” signals both present-day independence and a childhood shaped by lack. Rena I stopped and got teary at this. Then added it to my TBR. THANK YOU for taking time to create such a thoughtful round up post. This is how it’s done. You can just feel everything you write here comes from the heart.
You've made me want to reread Happy Place. And move It's a Love Story up my TBR. I love. how you're showcasing just how talented some of our romance writers are.
Fully endorse a Happy Place reread, especially when you know where the story is taking you already and you can just enjoy the language along the way. Also can whole heartedly support moving It's a Love Story up on the list.
I love this post and I'm so happy that Anne Helen Petersen linked to your substack! As someone who toggles between literary fiction and romance constantly and unashamedly, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Good writing is good writing, and can be found in all genres. One of my favorite lines from Curtis Sittenfeld's Romantic Comedy is "It occurred to me that perhaps this was how grown-up conversations worked—not that your communication didn’t falter, but that you both made good-faith attempts to rectify things after it had." I remember thinking, when I read it, that Sittenfeld had thoughtfully and succinctly written a pretty good blueprint for marriage, or any longterm relationship, for that matter.
Catherine, I'm so glad you're here. I was in disbelief that AHP linked to my Emily Henry article but I'm so happy she did!
I LOVE that line from Sittenfeld, thank you for sharing it. And you are so right about it being a good blueprint for marriage. I liked a similar line from the book as well - "Aren’t we all just looking for someone to talk about everything with? Someone worth the effort of telling our stories and opinions to, whose stories and opinions we actually want to hear?"
Sittenfeld's at her dry best in that novel and it was so interesting to see her dip her toe into the romance genre. I'm planning a deep dive on it in a few weeks and am excited to hear your thoughts when I get there!
Thanks for reading (and commenting!)
That Annabel Monaghan line about being male-female relationships landed perfectly when I read it too. What a delight! Love this focus on prose and look forward to more!
Thank you for reading and commenting, Melanie. I so appreciate the support and good to know I wasn't the only one admiring that line (and so many others!) in Annabel's latest!
I'm not good at keeping track of quotes, but I really value prose in my reading as well - not just romance but also the fantasy I reach for. This makes me want to do more underlining and keeping quotes and lines that stand out to me.
Thank you so much for reading (and commenting)! I find it’s actually easiest for me to do line level reading in ebook format because I can highlight and annotate and then pull up a list of my highlights at any point (those highlights were actually the basis for today’s column!) but I know e-reading isn’t always the most tactilely satisfying experience.
two of my favorite books mentioned (Happy Place and RWRB) so I think I need to read It’s A Love Story
Thank you for reading (and commenting!). You clearly have exceptional taste in books 😂.
Red White and Royal Blue is SUCH a triumph, isn’t it? Annabel Monaghan’s most recent work was definitely her strongest on a line level perspective but I have to admit my favorite of her books is still the OG, Nora Goes Off Script. My column next week will cover all four of her books in depth though so may be a good place to decide which one to dive in with! I love seeing her voice grow and develop over time.
Also PS - if you like happy place and RW&RB, I think you’ll like the book recc I have teed up in two weeks. I’m convinced it nearly holds its own and yet no one seems to have read it?
as do you!! 😌 for years, I considered RWRB my favorite book partially due to the writing. I have countless lines memorized!! the only other book that has topped it for me is We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian, which if you haven’t read, you absolutely MUST! looking forward to the recs that you have in store, you’re doing amazing work already and I’m so psyched to read more!!
This is very good timing, as I just received an email from my library that my hold of "It's a Love Story" is ready for pickup! I've read her other books, so I look forward to reading your column about them.