All About Romantic Comedies

Authors, Editors & Booksellers Weigh In

By Mary Kay Andrews

Has anyone ever written more beloved romantic comedy movies than the late Nora Ephron, who was responsible for such iconic gems as “When Harry Met Sally,” “You’ve Got Mail,” and “Sleepless in Seattle”?

The world lost Nora in 2012, but fortunately for readers who love a genre that celebrates the funny as well as the romantic side of love, we’d argue that right now the literary landscape is positively blooming—and booming in what some are calling the golden age of the romantic comedy.

Tara Singh Carlson, Executive Editor at Putnam Books, (the first editor to have two books selected by the Reese Witherspoon Book Club) agrees. “It’s been a joy for me, as a reader, to have terrific rom-coms coming out almost every month now. It’s been the bulk of what I read for the last four years.”

Lauren Billings, one half of the New York Times bestselling duo writing as Christina Lauren (The Unhoneymooners, The Paradise Problem) said this: “I think the boom started in the pandemic, when people looked outside and felt like they had no idea how everything would go. Because romance promises their readers a happily ever after, the assurance and joy of romance resonated with readers. And now, things are arguably tense and uncertain, and I think romance continues to provide a safe space.”

Susan Kehoe, the owner of Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where stacks of these beach-worthy reads fly off the shelves all season long agrees, saying, “the real world is chaotic and messy right now. Rom-com readers are in search of escape, comfort, humor, predictability, and hope.”

Stephanie Skees, the Director of Events and Curated Collections at The Novel Neighbor in St. Louis echoes this sentiment. “I believe romance novels resonate so deeply with our customers because the genre allows readers to escape into a story with a happy ever after that simultaneously meets the moment while also finding themselves reflected on the page.”

Ah, but how to deliver such a tall order? And what, exactly, is the secret sauce to a memorable rom-com?

Whether editor Tara Singh Carlton is sizing up a manuscript with an eye to publishing it—or just as a reader—she says, “in general, I’m looking for a voice that I would follow anywhere, a love story that hooks my heart and gives me that glowy, golden feeling.”

For USA Today bestselling author Annabel Monaghan (Nora Goes Off Script, Summer Romance and the forthcoming It’s A Love Story) “the importance of the love relationship is matched by the importance of the characters’ personal growth during the story. I love a rom-com that dances on the surface of life in a lighthearted way and also digs into the complexities of being a person.”

I’d posit that unlike the “chick lit” novels of twenty years ago, readers today are more evolved. Sure, they still like to read about shoe shopping, fabulous locales, and the occasional ill-advised hook-up, but mostly they’re looking for characters with real-world problems.

Elinor Lipman, whose romantic comedy novels include Ms. Demeanor, The View from Penthouse B and the just-released Every Tom, Dick and Harry, outlined her rom-com wishlist. “I want it to be smart and very well-written. I like quirky but sympathetic characters, and I want them to behave reasonably on their way to finding love—the opposite of the women in Hallmark movies who are their own worst enemies.”

So, no adorable but too-stupid-to-live protagonists, please.

Lauren Billings agrees with that assessment. “Readers want characters that are both aspirational AND relatable.” She goes on to point out that, “romance is a genre that most commonly centers the female protagonist, and tells us that our interests, careers, efforts to balance all the things—and desires, are not only valid, but important!”

It’s not an easy formula to achieve, notes New York Times bestselling author Katherine Center, author of Things You Save In a Fire, The Rom-Commers and the forthcoming The Love Haters.

“Love stories are the hardest stories to write,” she posits. “It’s easy to scare people—or depress them, or fill them with ennui. It’s much much harder to delight people . . . but that’s exactly what a good love story is supposed to do: make you fall in love. It’s no easy feat. As a writer, you have to study it. Because love stories don’t work like other stories. Most genres build their structure on surprise and uncertainty to keep readers curious and hooked and turning pages. But romance doesn’t run on those things. Love stories run on a delicious, hopeful, rising feeling of anticipation—and until you’ve mastered how to create that feeling in your readers, you can’t write a great love story.”

Once a writer has the love story down, how do they bring the laughs? It’s a tricky proposition, these authors agree.

USA Today bestseller Colleen Oakley, author of The Invisible Husband of Frick Island, The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise, and Jane and Dan at the End of the World (out March 11) believes witty banter is key to the success of a rom-com. “It has to feel fresh and flirty and clever and oh, so flirtatious. But that’s hard, because—fresh! Humor often comes from the unexpected. It’s so easy as a writer to lean into the cliches of flirting and falling in love, but you have to dig deeper and surprise the reader to really make it work.”

And that’s a tall order, Annabel Monaghan points out. “It’s hard because the first funny thing you think of has usually been done before. I actually think the best humor, particularly in rom-coms, is born out of awkwardness, so I don’t strive as much to be funny as I do to make things as awkward as possible.”

“I don’t set out to be funny,” Elinor Lipman claims. “Often, it’s just my point of view, the way I see things. If I find myself trying to write a funny line, I cut it. ‘Tricky’ doesn’t really apply if it’s what comes naturally. The sentences add up to a story, then yikes—I’m described as a comedic writer. I’ll take it.”

Tara Singh Carlton sums it up well. “The best rom-coms are about so much more than love, like the best fiction of any genre or type, they’re wise about the human condition and reflect our humanity back to ourselves, but sharper and with better retorts than I could ever hope to utter in real life.”

Perhaps one ingredient of what makes the rom-com genre so inviting is the community of readers (like you!) that adores them. As indie bookseller Stephanie Skees says, “The romance community is an incredibly welcoming and warm group of readers making it a really accessible genre to explore!”

So, here’s to writers, editors, and booksellers continuing to bring us these amazing romantic comedies! And here’s to readers — like all of us — who keep the community around these books so warm and welcoming!

How about you as readers? What do you look for in a rom-com? Do you have any recent or all-time favorites? Sound off in the comments!

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About the Contributors

MARY KAY ANDREWS is the New York Times bestselling author of 32 novels — including Summers at the Saint, Bright Lights, Big Christmas, The Homewreckers, The Santa Suit, The Newcomer, The High Tide Club, Hissy Fit, and Savannah Blues — and one cookbook, The Beach House Cookbook. A native of St. Petersburg, FL, she earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Georgia. After a 14-year career working as a reporter at newspapers including the Savannah Morning News, the Marietta Journal, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she spent the final ten years of her career, she left journalism in 1991 to write fiction. An intrepid treasure hunter whose favorite pastime is junking and fixing up old houses, she lives in Atlanta and Tybee Island, Georgia.

CHRISTINA LAUREN is the combined pen name of longtime writing partners and best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the New York Times, USA TODAY, and #1 internationally bestselling authors of the Beautiful and Wild Seasons series, Autoboyography, Love and Other Words, Roomies, Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, The Unhoneymooners, The Soulmate Equation, Something Wilder, The True Love Experiment, and The Paradise Problem.

ANNABEL MONAGHAN is the USA Today bestselling and Library Reads Hall of Fame author of Summer Romance, Same Time Next Summer, and Nora Goes Off Script, as well as two young adult novels and Does This Volvo Make My Butt Look Big?, a selection of laugh-out-loud columns that appeared in The Huffington Post, The Week, and The Rye Record. She lives in Connecticut with her family.

ELINOR LIPMAN is the award-winning author of sixteen books of fiction and nonfiction, including The Inn at Lake Devine, Isabel’s Bed, I Can’t Complain: (All Too) Personal Essays, On Turpentine Lane, Rachel to the Rescue, and Ms. Demeanor, a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Her first novel, Then She Found Me, was adapted into a film directed by and starring Helen Hunt, with Bette Midler, Colin Firth, and Matthew Broderick. Lipman was the 2011–12 Elizabeth Drew Professor of Creative Writing at Smith College and divides her time between Manhattan and the Hudson Valley.

KATHERINE CENTER is the New York Times bestselling author of over half a dozen books, including How to Walk Away, Things You Save in a Fire, and What You Wish For. Katherine writes laugh-and-cry books about how life knocks us down—and how we get back up. She’s been compared to both Jane Austen and Nora Ephron, and the Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” Her books have made countless Best-Of lists, including RealSimple’s Best Books of 2020, Amazon's Top 100 Books of 2019, Goodreads' Best Books of the Year, and many more. Bestselling author Emily Henry calls her summer 2022 book, The Bodyguard, “a shot of pure joy.” The movie adaptation of Katherine’s novel The Lost Husband (starring Josh Duhamel) hit #1 on Netflix, and her novel Happiness for Beginners is now a Netflix original starring Ellie Kemper. Katherine lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her husband, two kids, and their fluffy-but-fierce dog.

COLLEEN OAKLEY is the USA Today bestselling author of The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise, The Invisible Husband of Frick Island, You Were There Too, Close Enough to Touch, and Before I Go. Her books have been translated into more than twenty languages around the world and have won multiple awards including Georgia Author of the Year and the French Reader’s Prize. A former magazine editor for Women’s Health & Fitness and Marie Claire, Colleen lives in Atlanta with her husband, four children, three chickens, and a mutt named Baxter.

TARA SINGH CARLSON is an Executive Editor at Putnam. Her focus is on women’s fiction that hits that sweet spot between commercial and literary, including historical fiction, suspense, and contemporary women’s stories that are either wildly entertaining or filled with heart. She loves strong female characters that inspire. She has edited Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, the Today Show Read With Jenna pick The Family by Naomi Krupitsky, and Good Morning America Book Club pick Homeseeking by Karissa Chen. The first editor to have two books selected by the Reese Witherspoon Book Club, she has worked with celebrated and bestselling authors Lizzy Dent, Eve Chase, Annabel Monaghan, Nuala O’Connor, Jill Santopolo, Paige Toon, and Sara Weinman, among many others.

SUSAN KEHOE is the owner of Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, one of the nation’s top independent bookstores for nearly 50 years. The business was founded by the Crane family in 1975; long-time manager Susan Kehoe and her husband Matt purchased the store from the Cranes in 2020. Browseabout’s well-read, knowledgeable, friendly staff has welcomed 3 generations of families into their store. Browseabout is known for their vast selection of books for all ages (35,000+ titles), as well as a fantastic array of toys, stationery, and unique gifts.

STEPHANIE SKEES is the Director of Events and Curated Collections at The Novel Neighbor, a women-owned and operated independent bookstore in the Webster Groves neighborhood of St. Louis, MO. Opened in 2014 by Holland Saltsman, The Novel Neighbor is charming, unique and welcoming to all, selling new books of all genres, locally made art, and carefully curated gifts for avid readers of all ages. They host loads of in-store book clubs and book-themed gatherings and are known for their personalized Mystery Boxes and subscription service. The Novel Neighbor, along with its non-profit The Noble Neighbor, seeks to amplify historically marginalized voices and engage with equity and inclusion work in the St. Louis area and beyond.

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