But without me, there would be no David de Abyndon, no Christiana Fitzwaryn. You see, I introduced Madeline to romance novels and prior to her first sale was the only person except her agent who had read her books. I was also the first person she called when she got those rejection letters that are also a part of an unpublished writer's career. I thought that perhaps TRR's readers might be interested in discovering how an aspiring romance writer becomes a published romance writer from someone who has been through the whole process with one of her best friends. Of course, a writer doesn't decide to write romance unless she reads it.
Academics can be pretty snotty about books that actually have happy endings.
Now it happens that Madeline and I are both members of the same department. When she arrived twelve years ago, I was already a tenured full professor. We soon discovered that we were kindred spirits and became good friends. I gave her a novel by Roberta Gellis. I informed her that I certainly did and that it was great fun.