I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Romance Is My Day Job: A Memoir of Finding Love at Last by Patience BloomPublished by Dutton on February 6, 2014
Genres: Adult Memoir
Pages: 320
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
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Who knows the ins and outs of romance better than a Harlequin editor? A surprising and exhilarating look into Patience Bloom’s unexpected real-life love story.
At some point, we’ve all wished romance could be more like fiction. Patience Bloom certainly did, many times over. As a teen she fell in love with Harlequin novels and imagined her life would turn out just like the heroines’ on the page: That shy guy she had a crush on wouldn’t just take her out—he’d sweep her off her feet with witty banter, quiet charm, and a secret life as a rock star. Not exactly her reality, but Bloom kept reading books that fed her reveries.
Years later she moved to New York and found her dream job, editing romances for Harlequin. Every day, her romantic fantasies came true—on paper. Bloom became an expert when it came to fictional love stories, editing amazing books and learning everything she could about the romance business. But her dating life remained uninspired. She nearly gave up on love.
Then one day a real-life chance at romance made her wonder if what she’d been writing and editing all those years might be true. A Facebook message from a high school friend, Sam, sparked a relationship with more promise than she’d had in years. But Sam lived thousands of miles away—they hadn’t seen each other in more than twenty years. Was it worth the risk?
Finally, Bloom learned: Love and romance can conquer all.
First, many thanks to Dutton Publishing and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this. As most of my followers know, I rarely request books other than YA books from Edelweiss or Netgalley, so I’m very, very glad that I was approved. This book was perfect for me to read. I have loved reading memoirs that I felt some kind of connection with the person in the past. One year I read a ton of weight loss memoirs, and it really helped me as I was working on my own weight loss. Not sure if this memoir will really help me to find love, but it did make me feel a little better about myself knowing there was someone out there who was almost exactly like me in how they dealt with the men/boys in their life.
Patience is the name of the woman the book is about, she starts her story off at boarding school, high school basically. She seems to be about the same age as me, what with talking about Duran Duran and other things she was into during those years. What really stood out to me and made me smile knowingly as I read this book, was how any interaction with any guy made her start thinking of him in her future. What would their life be like, would they get married? What would their married life be like? I did all that, and still occasionally do when I get crushes on people. She did this all throughout her life, up until a certain point, when she was about the age I am now. I feel that I’m kind of moving to the direction of just realizing nothing will probably happen from meeting guys, just to let things go where they may, but I know that I’m not quite there.
She did a lot of online dating, while she lived in New York City, and while I didn’t read anything that she had the same issues I have with even getting started with it, I will let her experience guide me in how I do or do not choose to participate in that. I love that she has a job I would love to have, her final career, after teaching and being a secretary, was to work for Harlequin Romances, first reading the “slush” pile manuscripts, and then moving on and getting to have specific authors that she edited for each month or as they finished writing. I was a teacher, and finally this year moved on to be a high school librarian. Eventually I want to get back to the middle school level, but I’m almost positive this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I mean if there was any chance I could go work for a publisher like she does, I would be in heaven, but at my age, I think that’s not a possibility. Especially with living in Missouri.
I don’t feel like I’m doing justice to the book with this review. But there were so many things I just loved! In fact, there was one quote at the beginning of a section from a Sex and the City episode that I had just watched earlier on the day I read that bit!! Although she did get one thing wrong about the Sex and the City movie towards the end, it wasn’t a peacock feather that Carrie wore to her wedding, it was a bird. That’s even a funny line from the movie! This author sounds so much like me, and her love of authors, so much like me. I hope that maybe one day I can meet Patience Bloom, maybe I can even get my novel, (if I ever get it finished), into her slush pile at Harlequin. I wonder if she ever tried to publish the “Teacher’s Pet” novel she wrote, and I wonder if this book was the NaNoWriMo novel that she talks about in the memoir.
I don’t know what else to say, other than this was a memoir that probably many women my age can relate to. As a single 41 year old woman, it also gave me hope that maybe my Prince Charming is still out there. I can even think of one “popular” guy from my past that I would love to run into again. Believe me, I’ve done the googling and Facebook looking, but his name is such a common one that I have yet to find him. However I am now interested in looking once again. When I first read about the Sam guy at the dance who came over and kind of rescued Patience in high school, it reminded me of one guy I went to high school with. A great, sweet guy. One who passed away probably 10 years ago from cancer. It made me happy to read that there were probably many guys like that out there who could make a difference in other women’s lives.
So now, must decide, while I’ve rejoined Match.com, unlike Patience, I haven’t done anything other than the free site. Should I pay in order to actually have a chance to meet someone? This book leads me to think about it, even if it isn’t what worked out in the end for Patience. And also, I may end up buying this book, as I’d love to add it to my memoir shelf, as a book that I just love, and want to recommend and share with others.
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