“Choose a romance novel, though, and eyes will roll, the implication being romance is a lesser form of fiction, not deserving of a place at the big table of ‘real’ writing.

When I disagree—when I point out I write romantic fiction, and that I have friends who write for Harlequin, and that the genre is a broad and varied one, like any other genre, filled with writers who are brilliant at their craft—I only get the rolling eyes again. And if I name specific books as evidence, I’m often told, ‘That book transcends the genre.’

(If you want to set my teeth on edge, just tell me that a book “transcends the genre”. What that tells me, plain and simple, is you haven’t read enough books in that genre).”