[A slightly different version of this piece was originally published on 22 May 2023 at the romance blog Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.]
 
Confession: I’m a little obsessed with both consent and romance. A couple years ago, I taught a course and gave several presentations on consent for fiction writers. As I spoke with participants and did research, I was amazed by just how many connections there are between consent and storytelling—especially in our genre, which is of course the best.
 
This essay shares a little of what I’ve learned about consent, how it’s connected to romance, and what diversity has to do with all that. And I am obviously honor-bound to share reading recs: At the end, you’ll find a list of romance novels that are super smart about consent and diversity, as well as links to some favorite resources on consent.

Welp. 2025, huh? It’s been … something.
 
But do you know what’s great? Contemporary genre fiction. I’m grateful and honored to have continued helping lots of wonderful writers this year, and also delighted to get to read for fun in a world where tenaciously joyful people write fiction even when things are (understatement) tough.
 
Here are 15 of the novels I really enjoyed this year—not published in 2025, that’s just when I happened to get around to them. I hope this list inspires you to further reading and joy, and I (always) welcome you to email me with authors and titles you think I should check out :)

Should a particular romance novel, novella, or story be written in the past or present tense? (Should romance in general be written in the past or present tense?) Well ...

Some romance writers know with absolute certainty that a particular story has to be told in the past tense or in the present tense. Some people only write in one or the other, in which case: Problem solved, carry on!

But a bunch of other people get really stuck on the question of the storytelling tense--when is the story being told? during or after the narrated events? Sometimes this is a stressful decision when a writer is just beginning to play with a sparkling new idea. Sometimes it comes up when someone's trying to get a handle on a draft that just does not feel right.
 
Here's my own (informed, yet personal) take on present vs. past tense for romance fiction: