By, Maya Rodale
It is a truth universally acknowledged that no one is more of an expert in love than romance authors. Whether it’s a dream date, the most seductive way to show affection or the most dramatic way to declare your feelings, romance novelists know how to set the scene for a truly authentic and emotional moment to make us all swoon. So in honor of Valentine’s Day, I asked some of my fellow authors to share the scenes that defined romance for them. The best part: There’s nothing here you can’t try at home.
Maya Rodale is a best-selling romance author.
Better at Weddings Than You
The romance of a simple back rub
There’s a scene in Mina Esguerra’s Better at Weddings Than You where the hero gives the heroine a back rub. Back rubs are typically romantic, but what makes this one amazing is that Daphne, the wedding-planner heroine, has just saved a ceremony from disaster, and she’s exhausted. Aaron, the hero, asks what he can do to help, and when she says she needs a back rub, he gives her exactly what she asks for. He thinks about all the ways that she has worked herself that day, and what he can do to make it better — and he does that and nothing more. It’s beautiful because he’s laser-focused on her and her needs.
— Courtney Milan, author of Hold Me
