In the grand theater of life, we often find ourselves cast in supporting roles, tirelessly propping up the brilliance of others while our own light flickers in the background. It's a familiar narrative, one many of us can relate to all too well, including yours truly. But as I journeyed through my own story, I recently came to a dawning, yet inherently terrifying realization: it's time to rewrite the script and step boldly into the role of the Female Main Character that has always been within each of us.

Over the past year, I've traversed a winding road, navigating through multiple job changes and unexpected health challenges. I severely herniated a lumbar disc and suddenly found myself bedridden for six months and counting, a far cry from where I expected to be at 32. (Psst, Taekwondo, you owe me a spine! “That’s what I get for trying new things as an adult,” I’d thought.)

If you really think about it, storytelling is one of the oldest professions known to man. It was around before modern-day medicine. In fact, I’m willing to bet people told stories before even rudimentary medicine. Plus, it isn’t going to go away. Almost all of our entertainment is derived from stories. The act of creating fiction is one of which every human being is capable, but which few do well. One of those select individuals is Victoria Male.

For Rachel Lewis, romance books were a balm to her soul. She found delving into the genre healing as it was between the books’ pages that she first encountered the idea of sex without shame. Fast forward a few years, and Lewis is now sharing this idea with over ten thousand others via her podcast, The Smut Show, in which she and co-host Neely Kins chat about all things spice, be it their favorite reads or upcoming releases. Eventually, being a reader just wasn’t enough. Rachel decided to try her hand at writing too. The result was a debut novel loosely inspired by her and her husband’s relationship called Yours, Unexpectedly.

When it comes to romance novels, inspiration can be found in the most unlikely of places. Yes, they all feature swoon-worthy tales of earned, learned or undying affection, but it is the background noise that can take a story from good to great. Every author is different, pulling settings either from well-loved locations, the depths of their imagination or a mix of the two. However, no matter how the multitudes of worlds created by ink and paper come to be they all start somewhere. If you have read Sarah Adler's Happy Medium, you may think the idea sprung from the simple fact that the author believes in ghosts, but her sophomore novel is less an ode to her thoughts on the supernatural and more the result of a good-quality pun. Before she took pen to paper and wrote her latest book, she first tweeted the basic plot for a hypothetical work of fiction titled 'I ain't afraid of no goats.' Over time, the one-line joke became a full-fledged novel, set as one might expect on a haunted goat farm.

As a single woman in my late twenties, I often find myself torn between the allure of adventure and the comfort of stability. I am frequently dreaming up my next move halfway across the world while simultaneously envisioning a life near my family and friends with a cutie husband. The desires for both are in constant tug-of-war in my mind.

While I daydream about these two different versions of my life, I try to remain present in the life I have chosen. However, the ever-present ticking time bomb looming over me as I approach my thirties acts as a constant reminder that my life is not exactly how I envisioned it to be, and I only have so many more months left to figure out my life according to the world.

If, like me, you are an audiobook aficionado, you probably know who Julia Whelan is. But in case you don't, suffice it to say her name is pretty much synonymous with the term narrator. Throughout her career, she has given a voice to hundreds of stories, including beloved tales by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Emily Henry and Nora Roberts (to name just a very limited few). Julia's voice has sounded through thousands of speakers and played through millions of headphones. Her league of avid listeners is often willing to cross genres and try new authors just because she is the one telling the story. Recently, Whelan decided to use her well-earned and wide influence to benefit others in her industry with the aptly named Audiobrary.

'Save a horse, write a cowboy.' That may not be saying, but when it comes to Lyla Sage and her Rebel Blue Ranch series, it applies. When Lyla first penned and published her debut novel, she never imagined the tornado it would bring to her life. Not even a year has passed since Done & Dusted was originally released on Kindle Unlimited, and now Sage finds herself and her beloved story traditionally published by The Dial Press with a freshly-inked sequel now on bookshelves and two additional installments waiting in the wings. To quote the author herself, if Done & Dusted proved she could write a novel, Swift & Saddled showed her she could do it better. In the second installment of the Rebel Blue Ranch series, Sage doubles down on the heart, sunshine and spice that her readers loved about the first. Through the avenue of Wes and Ada, she opens her fictional town in Wyoming to a wider audience by inviting an outsider into her pages.

If you want something done right–or a lot of the time just done, period–you have to do it yourself. That’s the mindset Lindsay Grossman and Madison Jones adopted when they set out to create The Love List, an annual collection of the best unproduced romance-centered screenplays and television pilots. Their goal was simple: to revive the quality and quantity of on-screen romance by proving just how many romantic comedies were being written and to highlight the scripts that best captured that toe-curling, foot-popping, behind-the-door dancing giddy-ness we all crave. The inaugural selection, which was announced in and covered by Deadline, contained 14 stories of various lengths and settings, each containing a healthy dose of swoon-worthy moments guaranteed to sweep readers and audiences alike off their feet.

Is he lying about his height? Are we going to have anything in common? Am I showing too much cleavage or not enough cleavage? What if he believes Donald Trump is simply just misunderstood and not a fake tan, face-melted megalomaniac? WHAT IF HE HATES HARRY STYLES? All of these are normal anxieties that I used to calm down with a few glasses of wine... That’s a lie. I would drown them out with a whole bottle. But now? Now, I’m different. Now, I’m sober.

There are a handful of reasons a reader may choose to pick up Emma R. Alban's debut novel, Don't Want You Like A Best Friend. They include but certainly are not limited to the following: It's a historical romance, so for genre lovers, that will be enough. It's queer, so if it's representation you're seeking, look no further. Or, maybe you're like me, and you do very much judge a book by its cover–sorry, not sorry– and are caught in the Leni Kauffman/ Taylor Swift craze that is sweeping the genre and world, respectively. No matter how the book gets into your hands, if you choose to follow through on your purchase, you are guaranteed a quality read. No stranger to stringing words together on a page, Emma is a seasoned and passionate screenwriter and novelist whose love for this genre, her characters, and her community shines through every aspect of her tale (which, yes, is worthy of its title).

If finishing a book is considered an achievement, completing a series should automatically earn an author an award, especially when they are able to tie up their tale with a bow worthy of all the characters they created. For Evie Dunmore, author of the beloved 'A League Of Extraordinary Women' series, the challenge lay in page time. Her now concluded quartet of novels can technically be read as standalone stories as each centers around one woman in a Victorian-era friend group. Sure, you may miss some of the brilliantly woven nuances if you choose to forgo Dunmore's published order, but you would likely still find each book enjoyable on its own. The only problem with setting up a sequence that can function in this fashion is that it allows readers to become significantly attached to each of the characters. And thus, when things draw to a close, it makes them expect more than just a typical tale. The final book will be seen as an homage to each book that has come before whilst also needing to maintain a full and flushed-out story for the crowning protagonist. Something Evie does with grace and wit that would make her four suffragists proud, especially Catriona Campbell, the focus of her latest novel, The Gentleman's Gambit.

As children, our job is to explore the world around us. We are a smooth surface with different facets to our personalities, likes, and dislikes just underneath that we eventually start to chip away. It starts simple enough. What’s your favorite color? Why? Did you like Bratz more than Barbies? Why? Which Ninja Turtle do you like more? Why? These seemingly “trivial things” we gravitate towards are essentially stepping stones to how we develop certain parts of our personalities and, more importantly, how we begin to learn things about ourselves. We are encouraged to talk about these “trivial things” to express ourselves and our joy as we connect with our peers.

And yet, there is an interesting phenomenon that happens in life where your passion and joy for “trivial things” shifts. Soon, if you’re too passionate, it is seen as an “annoyance” at best and a “red flag” at worst. So, eventually, the older we get, the more we tamp the passion down. After all, they are just “trivial things.”

You'll never forget your first… romance book, that is. And I, for one, believe this to be true. It was a sunny day in Los Angeles when my friend climbed into my small silver hatchback for our semi-regular coffee run to the small take-out window that had opened a few minutes from her house as a result of the lessening COVID-19 restrictions. "I have something for you," she squealed, thrusting a shiny pink book into my hands. "If you thought Bridgerton was spicy, just wait. I need you to start this immediately." The novel she had just bestowed upon me was Rosie Danan's The Roommate, and it quite literally changed my life forever. While it is miles and not a pandemic that now separates us, my friends and I still pour over romance novels, either in tandem or sequentially, as we did with Rosie's debut. Yet, no matter how many books we read together, there will always be an extra layer of magic that comes along with a story penned by Danan. And that layer is even more impactful in her most recent release.

There are some things people don’t tell you about turning thirty. Or, more specifically, they tell you, but you don’t listen because, oh my god, thirty is so far away, I don’t have to think about that right now. 

But when you turn 30, which is always less far in the distance than you’d imagine, some things will happen. Your search for back pain remedies on Amazon will autofill, as will mobility stretch videos on YouTube. You’ll start genuinely turning down pints at after-work drinks, opting instead for a lime and soda because you ‘have to be up early tomorrow’. And you’ll go to a lot of weddings. Like, so many weddings. More weddings than you have outfits for, but because you’re a millennial in your 30s, you have an inherent, Lizzie McGuire-induced fear of outfit repeating but no funds to reckon with that personal demon (again, millennial in your 30s).

Jenna Levine has always liked to write. For as long as she can remember penning off-the-wall tales has been a comfort and solace during times of need. When the global pandemic coincided with the perfect writing prompt, she decided it was time to see if her hobby could be something more. Jenna spent her days working her job as a lawyer and her free time at a laptop weaving a story inspired by Beth O'leary's book The Flatshare and FX's vampiric mock-documentary series, What We Do In The Shadows. The result was her debut novel, My Roommate Is A Vampire, a fresh new voice in the ever-expanding genre.

Whatever it is to overthink every life decision, examine and re-examine all potential consequences and outcomes, and then decide it’s maybe better not to attempt the thing at all—that’s me. Bravery, after all, is an exhausting prospect with unknown results.

I read a statistic once that men will often apply for a job if they meet 50% of the criteria but thatwomen will only apply if they meet 80% or more. And it’s always made me wonder: What opportunities are we shutting ourselves out of just because we don’t feel ready?

While her debut novel may have come out on August 1st, Emma Miller has been an author for much longer. A proud fic reader, the Atlanta-based storyteller has penned multiple Harry Styles fanfiction stories on Wattpad, starting in 2019 and culminating in her viral hit Cherry and its subsequent spin-offs. The fandom-centric tales carried her and her avid 14.5 million readers through the pandemic and beyond. This same encouraging community gave her the confidence and assurance to take the subsequent steps toward her career goals. In 2022, Emma truly began to take her talent seriously, challenging herself to write a wholly original work starring characters of her own making. What she uncovered was an entire world.

For Ava Wilder, there has always been prestige and magic in the entertainment industry—a sentiment the author shares with many people. Whether you wish to be part of it in some capacity, are a casual outlier or simply feel drawn to the tragedy and romance often found in the cinematic bend, there is something for everyone. Hollywood itself is layered. Fame comes with a level of fiction. If the real-world narratives do not hold your attention (or your timeline has hit a dry spell), there is an entire sub-section of stories for you to peruse. There are cautionary tales and inspiring transformations, but the most popular category in this genre is romance. From self-insert fan fiction to Oscar-nominated films and everything in between, it seems we cannot get enough. This is a good thing for Ava, as she has found her niche in the in-between.

In August of 2020, my grandpa, an 88-year-old man who was born as steady and sure as he’d prove to be every day of his impressive and honest life, died suddenly of a brain bleed. There was no extended illness – no winding journey toward goodbye dotted with peaks of jutting hope and longer valleys of slow grief. Sometimes death announces its arrival from far away, bouncing the sound of trumpets off the landscape of your life miles and miles before you can spot it on the horizon. But sometimes, it collides into you with such force and suddenness it leaves you dazed, blinking, and unable to recognize yourself at all.

As an avid reader and entertainment journalist, there is one book I constantly get asked if I have read: Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman. My answer is always, "Yes. It was my TBR before it was even written. The minute it was available for preorder, the charge hit my credit card." It doesn't matter that the Booktok sensation has been on shelves for over a year. People constantly make sure I didn't miss it. Recently, Elissa released her follow-up novel, Once More With Feeling. While I don't expect my friends, co-workers and acquaintances to associate this particular story with me, it almost feels full circle that the author and I have sat down to discuss it.