7 Signs Your Small Town Romance Was Written by Someone Who Grew Up There (And Is Still Processing It)
Some books feel credible from the jump, and you know you’re in strong hands. While some never quite ring true. Small town romance is much loved, but often faked. Here’s how to judge the small town cred of your next read.
1. The Town Has a Long Memory and a Short Fuse
Something happened in sophomore year. Everyone remembers. Everyone still brings it up. It was seventeen years ago. It will never die.
2. The Hero Left—and Is Mildly Traumatized About It
He didn’t “move away.” He escaped.
And yet. He misses the river. He misses Mrs. Kowalski’s cookies. He misses the drafty hockey arena.
It’s complicated. Like the town.
3. Family Trees Are Basically Spiderwebs
Everyone is related. Or dated. Or almost dated. Or dated someone who dated someone. The heroine’s best friend once kissed the hero’s cousin’s ex-wife’s brother.
No one is surprised.
4. There Is One Location That Carries extra Emotional Weight
The old brick high school. The quarry. The shuttered mill. The railroad trestle. Something bad happened there. Something good happened there. Maybe both.
5. Everybody Quietly Hates That one Family
You know which one. (“Oh. Them.”) Their house is also probably falling down, or else it’s a mansion. No middle ground.
6. Every Adult Is Either Overinvolved or Missing
Parents are:
Way too up in everyone’s business (There is always one mom who runs half the town by accident.)
Or emotionally absent since 1998. Again, there is no middle ground.
7. Leaving Isn’t Victory—Staying Isn’t Failure
The hero/heroine knows that both are hard choices. With trade-offs.
8. Nobody Ever Orders a Pizza For Delivery, Or Gets an Uber
Bitch please. Cook your own meal or starve. (Or visit the restaurant, but not on Mondays, it will be closed.) And you’re either driving or walking.
9. There can’t be a flower shop and a cupcake shop and an all night diner.
You might have ONE of these things, but then people will drive in from the next three towns to enjoy it.