It’s no secret: Romance novels are having a 21st-century moment. Walk into any bookstore, and you’ll see shelves upon shelves of brightly colored book covers promising meet-cutes, friends-to-lovers and summer beach-read fare. There’s a new season of Bridgerton. And authors such as Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros are topping best-seller lists with their fantasy romance titles.
Set aside any thoughts of heaving bosoms and tired tropes. More than ever, authors from diverse backgrounds and all walks of life are coming to the genre, offering a wider array of narratives about romance and sexuality than ever before.
Here are five Bay Area-based authors whose romance writing is inspired by local landscapes — and their own unique identities.
Addie Woolridge, San Mateo
Author Addie Woolridge used San Francisco’s Dolores Park as a location used in her romance novel, “Anatomy of a Meet Cute.” (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Addie Woolridge didn’t follow a traditional route to publishing fame. The classically trained opera singer grew up with a learning disability and struggled to read until she hit middle school. Years later, while working at a Los Angeles nonprofit, friends invited her to join a writer’s group. For months, she participated simply as a reader — and panicked when they asked her to share her writing. But that was the start.
Woolridge’s “The Checklist” debuted in 2021, followed by “The Bounce Back,” “Anatomy of a Meet Cute” and “The Homecoming War.” The first two books were set in Seattle, her hometown. The third takes place in San Francisco, with scenes unfolding at a fictional Mission Bay hospital, Dolores Park and Potrero Hill — chosen for its relative sunniness in the land of Karl the Fog. It’s a city that evokes romance.
“I absolutely see meet-cutes all over San Francisco,” she says.
As romance writing has become more diverse, and publishing has embraced both traditional and independent models, it has become easier for everyone to see themselves in the genre, she says, “It’s such a broad tent.”
Woolridge, who is Black, writes under her great-great-grandmother’s name, a nod to the first woman in her family emancipated from slavery.
“Her learning to read would have been criminalized, so when I became a writer, it felt like coming full circle,” Woolridge says. “For me, reading and writing romance is as much an act of self-determination and rebellion as it is an act of joy. I love that people can turn to the romance genre at the end of a hard day and feel seen, loved and comforted and (know) that they’re going to be okay.”
Read: “Anatomy of a Meet Cute” (Montlake Publishing, $17) and “The Checklist” (Montlake, $13)
Connect: Woolridge co-hosts Kiss and Tell, a literary salon for romance readers and writers that meets at 6:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at Books, Inc. in Alameda. Learn more about Woolridge at https://addiewoolridge.com/.
Favorite romantic spots: Dolores Park, Potrero Hill and ice cream parlors around San Francisco. In “Anatomy of a Meet Cute,” protagonist Sam goes on a movie-in-the-park date with her crush, and the two share a kiss at Dolores Park.
Evelyn Skye, Redwood City
Author Evelyn Skye visits Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, returning to the spot where she met her husband during a book talk in 2016. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Evelyn Skye has loved reading since she was a kid, staying up late turning pages under the covers. After studying Russian literature at Stanford, she headed to Harvard Law School. But during the six years she practiced as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer, she never quite felt like she fit in.
Skye was on maternity leave with her daughter when she started reading for fun again. The addictive pull of Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” books reminded her how much she had loved reading and writing in the first place. So she began writing again — at the library, while her parents babysat.
It wasn’t until her ninth manuscript that she found a publisher; that novel became “The Crown’s Game,” a young adult fantasy romance. Seven more books have followed since then. Skye recently returned from a book tour in France to celebrate “Damsel,” a fantasy adventure that upends romance tropes in its tale of a damsel who must rescue herself. Netflix released a film version of the book — starring Millie Bobby Brown, Robin Wright and Angela Bassett — in March.
The romance author felt a romantic spark of her own at Menlo Park’s Cafe Borrone, where her now-husband, Tom, had arrived early for their first date. By the time Tom left her book talk at Kepler’s next door, he was carrying a big bag of new purchases.
“I am an author, and I literally just had a meet cute in a bookstore where the guy’s buying books,” Skye recalls thinking. When the couple got engaged, Kepler’s Books had roses and Champagne ready to celebrate.
Soon after they married, Tom developed an extremely rare illness that ended up requiring a lung transplant and a long stay at Stanford Hospital. The challenging experience spurred Skye to think about soulmates, second chances and reincarnation.
“How do you live when you feel like your time is short?” she says. “But also live in the present? And find joy in all of these moments and be optimistic and live with hope and love?”
The result was another book, “The Hundred Loves of Juliet.”
Today, she says, the boundary between romance and fiction genres is narrower than ever. She credits popular author Emily Henry with driving a shift in the industry toward protagonists who are independent women in their 30s — characters who aren’t just finding themselves but are reflecting on the people they’ve become and who they want to be, all while finding love.
“Romance is not just about the ‘Fabio’ covers anymore,” Skye says. “And it’s not just rom coms.”
Read: “The Hundred Loves of Juliet” (Penguin Random House, $18) was released in paperback in May. “One Year Ago in Spain” (Penguin Random House, $18) lands in bookstores on July 30. Keep an eye out for a local connection: One of the characters is a Stanford professor. Learn more at https://evelynskye.com/.
Stream: “Damsel” is streaming on Netflix now.
Favorite romantic spots: You may not find romance at Kepler’s Books, but you’ll find books of every genre (including romance) at the Menlo Park bookshop, which opens daily at 10 a.m. at 1010 El Camino Real, Suite 100; www.keplers.com. Cafe Borrone, which opens at 7 a.m. Wednesday-Sunday, is next door; www.cafeborrone.com/.
Jasmine Guillory, Oakland
Best-selling Bay Area author Jasmine Guillory (Courtesy Jasmine Guillory)
Jasmine Guillory credits the pandemic with pushing the resurgence of reading — and romance novels specifically.
“People needed happy stories,” the former Oakland attorney-turned-best-selling novelist says. “We had so much stress and sadness and uncertainty, and romance novels were exactly what many of us needed. The thing about romance novels is that once you start reading them, you realize how much fun they are, and you never want to stop reading them.”
Guillory grew up in the Bay Area, as did her parents, and a key part of her mission as a writer is to tell stories about the joy and happiness of Black characters in ways that highlight California’s diverse communities.
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Romance is a diverse genre in many ways, she says. “There are romance stories for and about everyone. And I don’t just mean about different races and cultures and sexual orientations — though I do mean that! — but also the kinds of stories. There are romantic comedies, historical romance, literary romances, tearjerkers with happy endings, mysteries, thrillers and everything in between.”
Guillory’s best-selling novels have been praised by book reviewers, touted by celebrity book clubs and snatched up by book fans captivated by the strong, diverse characters, snappy dialogue and great plotting. Her California settings are part of the appeal, too, whether the action goes down at a Napa vineyard — where a Black winery owner discovers her McDreamy rendezvous of the night before is her newest hire — or a Dodgers baseball game, where a misguided bro somehow thinks proposing to his girlfriend of five months via scoreboard is a good idea.
Read: The Napa winery-set “Drunk on Love” (Penguin Random House, $17). Guillory’s “Beauty and the Beast”-inspired YA novel, “By the Book” (Hyperion, $16), is set at a Santa Barbara mansion. Sneak a peek at “Drop, Cover and Hold On” (Amazon Original Stories, free), a Bay Area-set short story about a Valentine’s Day earthquake, a bakery and a handsome but surly baker that launched in January; www.jasmineguillory.com.
Favorite romantic spots: San Francisco’s Dolores Park, the Berkeley Rose Garden and Napa Valley.
Taleen Voskuni, San Francisco
Author Taleen Voskuni visits San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, a location used in her romance novel, “Sorry, Bro.” (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Taleen Voskuni began writing as a youngster in Redwood City, taking sheets of paper out of her family’s home printer so she could write stories on them. Writing, the UC Berkeley alum says, has always been a way to share aspects of her Armenian-American heritage and identity with readers, and both her books feature queer romances.
Published last year, her first novel, “Sorry, Bro,” is set within the Bay Area’s rich, colorful Armenian community as readers follow the hilarious, heartfelt travails of Nar, Voskuni’s not-quite-out bisexual protagonist, on the eve of a big cultural banquet that will bring together not only her entire extended family but her mother’s best Facebook-stalked, matchmaking targets — and Nar’s new wingwoman.
Much of the action is set in locations around the Bay Area, from the Peninsula to San Francisco’s Ocean Beach and the Conservatory of Flowers, site of a romantic reconciliation. “I love infusing a sense of place into my books,” she says. And the people and history of the Armenian diaspora come alive in its pages.
“‘Sorry, Bro’ is almost as much a history 101 crash course in Armenian history and culture, as it is a romance, to be really honest,” she says. “We don’t have a lot of lighthearted Armenian books. I’m happy to be this voice of Armenian joy. Writing about my heritage through that lens has been really fulfilling.”
The book is joyful and fun, but it also addresses some of the more conservative attitudes toward queerness within the Armenian community. It’s a story that aims to comfort, even if the story arc may not be true for everyone.
“You can be queer. You can be Armenian. You are valid. And maybe it can all work out — you could still have your family,” she says. “I know that’s not always the case, but I wanted to write a story where it was.”
Read: “Sorry, Bro” (Berkley-Penguin Random House, $17). Voskuni’s new novel, “Lavash at First Sight,” (Berkley-Penguin Random House, $18) was released in May; www.taleenvoskuni.com
Favorite romantic spots: San Francisco’s foggy Ocean Beach and the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.
Kris Kendall, Fremont
Cupertino native Kris Kendall comes to writing from a different angle as a prolific self-publishing novelist who writes one to two books per week. She started her career in technical writing before moving into advertising, corporate marketing and design. But her life took an interesting turn when she began reading the “Twilight” series and found her way into the world of fan fiction — as a reader. She wrote to authors who were self-publishing on platforms such as Wattpad, pointing out typos and offering suggestions and eventually launched an editing business for indie authors.
Fremont-based romance author Kris Kendall is a prolific indie publisher and editor who has set different book series in Menlo Park and Cupertino under different pen names. (Courtesy Kris Kendall)
The pandemic was a turning point in the indie and self-publishing space, Kendall says. While many industries struggled, people who had always wanted to write now had the time to get typing, and the ranks of readers swelled, too.
“I think (the pandemic) spurred interest in reading in general,” she says.
And after reading and editing so many indie books, Kendall decided to write one herself. And then another and another … Today, the Fremont resident writes under several pen names. She’s best known for the gay romance/erotica novels she writes as Aria Grace. Although the protagonists in these relatively short digital novels are men, the vast majority of readers are women. And Kendall’s Grace is prolific, with 171 novels listed on Amazon’s Goodreads site for that pen name alone.
Today, there are fewer obstacles than ever to self-publishing, Kendall says. You write the piece, pay for an editor, commission a cover and get the story out into the world. “Even if it’s just your passion project, it’s actually pretty easy to go for it,” Kendall says. “I’m publishing constantly.”
So what’s trending right now? Certainly romantasy — that’s romance plus fantasy — especially anything with dragons, Kendall says, and romances involving … billionaires.
Read: Kendall’s Fierce Salon trilogy — “Wash,” “Rinse” and “Repeat,” written under her Aspen Drake pen name — are set in downtown Menlo Park at an upscale salon. A mature YA trilogy, written under the name Kristina Renee, is based on her Cupertino high school and includes “Safer Outside,” “On the Outside” and “Coming Outside.”
Favorite romantic spot: Downtown Menlo Park.
