Call me sentimental as we rush headlong toward the holidays, but I just have to pay homage to two top authors for the way they use friends and family to create a whole world in their novels.
In my opinion, Julia Quinn and Nora Roberts have a knack for writing family, friends, and friends that become family. It’s not easy to juggle a large cast of perfectly flawed individuals and make us love all of them. Part of it is voice, part of it is talent, and part of it must simply be how these authors view the world.
Because the family connections and lifelong friendships are such an intricate part of the world building for these romance novels, I happily admit I’d love to spend Thanksgiving with Roberts’ ‘Connecticut Browns’ and the friends they’ve incorporated as family. And Christmas with Quinn’s Bridgerton clan would be amazing fun.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the holidays with my family, but as an only child I craved those noisy, happy, dinners and I adored it when we had extra guests at the table.
These two romance authors have a gift for making the reader feel a part of the banter in an historic England drawing room or a contemporary American parlor. They’ve mastered the ability to make the friends and family characters a vital framework for the world they build for each story’s respective hero and heroine.
It’s a point of consistency I feel leads to such die-hard reader loyalty. As a paranormal romance writer, these two authors are frequently part of my to-be-read stack when I’m ready to escape between writing my own paranormal romance novels. Naturally, as a writer, I analyze what I’m reading, so it goes without saying that excellent world building for any type of novel will make me smile. (and likely show up right here!)
Live the adventure!
