I was happy to be finally seeing the city I’d always wanted to visit – plus, the opportunity it could present for my career. I just wished it wasn’t something I had to do with Jake Richards. Someone it felt like would just ignore all light instead of trying to find it.

After we’d finished the wine, I headed home to Clapham. I shared a tiny, messy flat with three people I’d found online and whom I rarely saw or interacted with. It was all I could afford right now and it made me want to stay out as much as possible or hide in my room. So, I headed straight there once I got in. I changed into my pjs and curled up on my bed, pulling my laptop open in front of me. Then I googled the article that had put Jake’s career into crisis mode.

Readers are stupid for believing in happy ever afters. But I’m happy to take their money anyway.

His words still were a gut punch to my romantic heart.

There were thousands of angry comments on the page from fans of his books, shocked that he didn’t believe in the romance he wrote about. I searched the other articles about it and looked at the various headlines.

Has Jake Richards Destroyed His Bestselling Writing Career?

Why Write Romance If You Look Down On It?

Romance Books Are So Unrealistic, Even Authors Writing Them Don’t Believe In Them Any More.

I sighed when I saw that headline. Romance books were often treated like second-class citizens when it came to books being talked about in the press, Jake saying what he had about them had stoked that fire even more.

Then I went on Jake’s Instagram account and found the apology post that Hayley had helped him to draft after the article caused such a furore.

I was misquoted in that article and have contacted my lawyers about it. I’m sorry if any reader of my books has been hurt by the comments in it. I will always love being part of the romance book community.

Scoffing out loud, I put my phone down and laid back against my pillows. I knew that statement was bullshit. Jake had admitted to Hayley that what the journalist had overheard had been correct so they couldn’t contact lawyers but Hayley told him to lie. I hated that they had done that. It hadn’t helped much, though. Readers had still unfollowed his social media accounts in droves and his publisher was so far refusing to commit to a new contract. Somehow, Hayley had got him into this romance conference and this trip was clearly make or break.