Kate here, your resident romance connoisseur, spicy book author, and chaos whisperer. Let’s talk tropes.

You know the ones. The delicious setups that make you whisper “oh no” with a grin before flipping the page you’re trying to win a gold medal in emotional masochism. Tropes aren’t just formulas—they’re foreplay. And in my world, we respect the classics and the cracky chaos.

So here it is:

The Top 5 Romance Tropes That Keep Us Ferally Clicking “Next Chapter” at 2am
(Literally me earlier this...

Let me start by saying: I LOVE romance.

I write it. I read it. I roll around in it like a cat in catnip and highlight lines like they’re sacred scripture.

But even in all my full-body swooning and “oh my god, he did not just say that” moments, there’s one undeniable truth about this genre we adore:

Sometimes, romance novels say things that make me choke on my wine.

And not because they’re swoony.

Because they’re weird.

Or dramatic.

Or involve anatomy doing things no real human body has ever...

Confession time: I’m a romance writer who plans her fictional vacations with more detail than most people plan their real ones. Seriously—spreadsheets may or may not have been involved. (Okay, fine. They were. But color-coded tastefully.)

Because when I’m crafting a love story—the kind that makes your heart race and your Kindle overheat—I want the setting to be more than just background. I want it to be a mood. A feeling. A full-body experience that transports you right into the scene......