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More than once, I have curled up with a new book, snacks in my blanketed lap, certain I was settling into a romance. I waited for the butterflies, for that first kiss I knew would carry me all the way to a happy ending. But sometimes, the butterflies never came. Instead, the story opened into something else entirely: a daughter trying to untangle her past, a woman rebuilding after loss, a heroine choosing a new life that had little to do with romance at all.
These surprises taught me something important. Readers are not just looking for a story. We are looking for a particular kind of promise.
The promise of romance
Romance makes a promise: the love story will take center stage, and it will end happily. Maybe Happily Ever After, maybe Happily For Now, but happy nonetheless. When I reach for a romance, I know I will get the heat of attraction, the tension of obstacles, and the relief of resolution.
Romance promises butterflies. It promises certainty. It promises that love will win.
The promise of women’s fiction
Women’s fiction makes a different promise: the heroine herself is at the center. Her life, her decisions, her struggles and triumphs. Love may come, but it is only one thread in a larger tapestry. The resolution comes when she transforms, when she claims a clearer, truer version of herself.
Women’s fiction promises depth. It promises recognition. It promises that women’s lives, in all their complexity, are worth the story.
And sometimes, a book promises both.
My own novel, Painting Celia, belongs to this overlap. It is the story of a slow-burn romance between two passionate people. It is also the story of Celia’s healing, her friendships, her art, her choice to build something larger than herself. Readers sometimes call this romantic women’s fiction. I think of it as the sweet spot, where butterflies meet depth, where love and transformation share the stage.
So when you choose your next read, it may help to ask: what promise do I want tonight? The thrill of a guaranteed love story, the resonance of a heroine’s whole life, or the blend of both. There is no wrong answer. Only the joy of knowing what you are reaching for, and the pleasure of finding it waiting in the pages.