Opulent. Sumptuous. Savory. Luxuriant.  Sounds like a rainforest.  

It sounds like historical romance.

Like most readers, I read for different reasons.  Sometimes unrelenting tension and high adventure, sometimes adventures of the home and heart. Fast-paced, edge-of-my-seat read, or a more leisurely story, where the significance of a single look is drawn out, building the tension: “Will he do it, now, here?”   

But no matter how fast the pace or high the adventure, no matter how hot the passion or laugh-out-loud funny the humor, one of the great joys of fiction is being transported..  It’s not just description or scene setting or staging that transport us to a lush story-world.  Nope.  It’s being flown over its map by the author, then kicked out of the plane and dropped down into it. 

Summer brings those precious moments you can lie on a beach towel or sit in a lawn chair and read (while the kids are playing in the sand and no one is asking for a snack).  For summer reading, I look for a book that makes me laugh or one that keeps me glued to the pages, gripped by the suspense. 

Now that I’m a mom with kids, I don’t want my suspense to give me nightmares about what could happen to my children.  I want the page-turning experience, the rush of excitement, the thrill of following twists and turns…but I want to know there’s a happy ending. 

That’s the beauty of romance and romantic suspense where I know I can count on an emotional thrill-ride, but one that leaves me feeling warm and glowing at the end, not devastated.