Romance
Romance readers are the most loyal in publishing. Your manuscript deserves the read they'll give it.
Our romance editorial review is built around the specific craft demands of the genre — emotional arc, tension pacing, trope execution, and the payoff your readers came for. Not generic feedback dressed up with genre language.
What our editors look for in Romance
- 1
Emotional arc consistency
Does the internal journey of each lead develop across the full manuscript, or does emotional growth happen in bursts with long flat stretches in between?
- 2
Romantic tension escalation and pacing
Is the tension building, or does it plateau after the first act? We map the push-pull across the manuscript and flag where momentum is lost.
- 3
Trope execution — subverting vs. delivering
We assess whether the trope you've chosen is landing with readers who love it. If you're subverting, we assess whether the subversion is earning its payoff.
- 4
Dual POV coherence
Where dual POV is used, we assess whether each perspective has a genuinely distinct voice and whether the POV switches are serving the story or diffusing tension.
- 5
HEA/HFN setup and payoff
The ending has to be earned. We assess whether the emotional groundwork is laid for the resolution to land — and where it isn't, we tell you specifically what's missing.
Sub-genres we cover
Don't see your sub-genre? Submit anyway — we review all romance manuscripts.
“The tension between Mara and Cole is effectively established in the first three chapters, but it plateaus around Chapter 7 and doesn't meaningfully escalate again until the confrontation in Chapter 14. The middle section reads as episodic — scenes that confirm the attraction rather than complicate it. Consider what can go wrong between them in this stretch, not just what draws them together. The enemies-to-lovers arc requires the ‘enemies’ phase to have genuine stakes: at present, the reader likes them both too much too early for the resistance to feel credible.”
First Light
Results in 15–30 minutes
- Full romance-specific editorial review
- Senior Editor summary report
- Priority fix list
- Comp titles in your sub-genre
- 1 resubmission credit
Questions romance authors ask
What word count range does romance typically fall into?
Most romance novels run 70,000–100,000 words, though this varies by sub-genre. Contemporary romance tends to sit between 75k–90k. Dark romance and paranormal often run longer. Category romance (Harlequin-style) typically caps at 55,000–65,000. We work with manuscripts across the full range and will flag if your word count is likely to be a market issue.
Do you handle explicit content?
Yes. We review manuscripts across the full heat spectrum — from sweet/clean to explicit. Our editors assess explicit content on craft terms: does the intimacy scene serve the emotional arc, does it reveal character, is the tension earned? We don't editorially judge content choices.
Is a HEA or HFN required?
We assess market expectations, not impose them. Romance readers expect an emotionally satisfying resolution — whether that's a full HEA or a HFN depends on sub-genre conventions. We'll tell you what the market expectation is and whether your ending is meeting or subverting it. We won't tell you to rewrite an ending we personally prefer.
Do your editors actually understand tropes?
Yes. Our romance review is built around genre-specific craft criteria, not general fiction standards. We understand the difference between an enemies-to-lovers arc that earns the turn and one that rushes it, and between a forced proximity that generates real tension and one that's just a setup that gets forgotten.