She applied the “Page 99 Test” to her new book, Romance Is My Day Job: A Memoir of Finding Love at Last, and reported the following:In Romance Is My Day Job, I remark how the romance novels I edit never resemble my actual love life. In fact, I keep having one dating disaster after the next. On p. 99, upon meeting my online suitor Gunther face-to-face, I go wildly off course and decide to move closer to him, New York City. For six years, I’d been hiding in New Mexico, avoiding the traffic, the noise, and scary people. In a moment of holiday boredom, I befriended this stranger, who invites me back to the chaotic world I’d fled. New York—with all the pushiness, tiny apartments, and gum stains on the subway platforms--becomes my new comfort zone.Learn more about the book and author at Patience Bloom's website.
Sadly, I discover that adults fight. Conflict in a romance novel is way more fun, such as:
“How could you try to take over my father’s business and blackmail me into marrying you, you pig!” Louisa Toner-Cartridge tries to smack her boss, Lars Corporateraider, but he catches her delicate hand in midair.Real-life confrontations are uglier and there’s not as much “mouth crushing.” Right away, Gunther and I clash about my “father complex” and his wanting to drink a beer while in the hot tub (I find it doubly dehydrating). I’m chastised for ordering the vegetarian special in a fancy restaurant. The love affair with Gunther ends badly. On a positive note, he is the catalyst for my moving to New York City, a bold and fruitful decision. If I had stayed in New Mexico, a whole host of events never would have occurred: working for a romance publisher, spending additional time with my family, reconnecting with my future husband, and writing Romance Is My Day Job—which is out just in time for Valentine’s Day.
“Ah, but you like it.” Lars gazes down with his smoldering, dancing, coal-black eyes, then crushes his mouth to hers (crushing, it’s always crushing).
--Marshal Zeringue