“Romance isn’t gratuitous bodice ripping. […] romance isn’t about the fantasy of being wealthy or beautiful or even being tied to the bed. […] It’s about elevating stories of joy above stories of pain. It is about seeing yourself as the main character in a very interesting—or maybe even quiet—life that is entirely yours to control. It is, my friends, the fantasy of significance.”

This opening statement delivers what feels like the authors’ promulgation about the romance genre and what they believe it can do for readers. It is also a statement of theme, as the novel will continue to argue for the positive qualities of the romance genre.

“There’s a roadblock on the way to ‘I love you’ now, a NO ACCESS sign in my brain.”

This metaphor captures the writer’s block that Fizzy is feeling during her dating drought and lack of attraction, which she fears has impaired her ability to complete a romance novel. This points to The Power of Physical Attraction, one of the novel’s themes, and furnishes the internal conflict driving her character arc; she needs to experience romance to write convincingly about it.

“I could have lived this life with the two of them. It would have been platonic and passionless, yes, but stable and loving. I’d assumed there had to be something more out there, but really, it’s not like my love life is any more electric than it was when we were married.”

As a parallel to the previous chapter, which established Fizzy’s lack of love, this excerpt from Connor’s chapter reveals that he has a similar yearning for romance, even if he isn’t prioritizing that search. This similarity establishes that both protagonists are ready to discover and be affected by one another, setting them up as the romantic leads.