Romance Reader & Writer
About Me
I’m a Chicago-based writer with an MFA in fiction and a bachelor’s in creative writing. For a long time, I only wrote short stories and essays. In recent years, I’ve gained the patience and confidence to take on novels and I now focus on contemporary romance.
My Novel: The Backslide
I’m actively pitching my first novel, a steamy contemporary romance set in Chicago in the 2010s. The Backslide riffs on the classic love triangle, putting at its center a woman navigating the onset of Crohn’s disease amid her best friend’s engagement.
Fanfiction: The Notebook
A modern retelling of the 2004 film directed by Nick Cassavetes. My fanfiction, “First & Second Loves,” questions whether Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton were really right for each other and whether their volatile relationship would actually work. Lon Hammond, who is playful, funny, and endlessly supportive, gets more serious consideration as a love interest.
Read my blog post on what inspired me to write this fanficiton, or read the story on Wattpad.
Latest Romance Recommendations
by Abby Jimenez
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Quick Take: This was such delightful, sweet story that warmed my heart. I flew through this book in two days, which is really fast for me. There was so much I loved.
Favorite Quote: “You think it’s the big memories you should be chasing … But the small memories are the fabric of your life, the ones so inconsequential that you don’t even remember them. You just remember how you felt when you were making them.”
How to End a Love Story
by Yulin Kuang
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Quick Take: Loved! Incredibly heartfelt and moving. Kuang somehow managed to tackle heavy subjects with nuance and sensitivity, while also balancing them with humor, romance, and spice.
Favorite Quote: “I’d rather have a fraction of you than all of someone else.”
Great Big Beautiful Life
by Emily Henry
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Quick Take: This felt like classic Henry to me—same writing style with so many traces of her other books. It made me feel like I kind of know Henry a little bit now. It’s not my favorite of hers, but it was still compelling and I’ll definitely reread.
Favorite Quote: “When you love someone, you do anything to give them what they need. You unmake the world and build a new one.”
The Rose and the Yew Tree
by Mary Westmacott, aka Agatha Christie
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Quick Take: Absolutely stunning. A provocative meditation on life, love, worry, what it means to be a person in the world, and whether there are new possible ways to navigate it that we’d never considered.
Favorite Quote: “You really loved her. You loved her enough to leave her alone.”
Follow Me On Instagram
For more book recommendations, current reads, and writing updates, you can find me on Instagram: @melrosemance.
Melissa Rose 