Romance Is My Day Job

As an editor at Harlequin, Bloom’s life was filled with romance—brooding, chiseled heroes and beautiful, headstrong, virginal heroines “realizing they’re destined for each other.” She’s familiar with the formula, but wasn’t able to apply it to her own dating life—she jumps from one short-lived relationship to another. As Bloom describes in this mostly lighthearted memoir, when she reaches her 40s, fresh out of another unfulfilling relationship, she finally concludes that “romance doesn’t exist.” Then, via Facebook, Bloom reconnects with Sam, a high school acquaintance with whom she shared one dance at a winter formal back in 1984. Bloom and Sam, who’s now divorced and living in Israel, are soon swapping instant messages and making regular Skype dates. As their long-distance relationship blossoms and they make plans to meet up in person, Bloom realizes that this love story isn’t much like the ones in her beloved harlequins—in most ways, it’s better. Throughout her memoir, Bloom riffs on dozens of romance novel tropes with a practiced hand, and her painstaking analysis of the differences between romantic fiction and real life is undeniably poignant. Unfortunately, the real love story picks up far too late in the book, after numerous digressions that range from pedestrian to tonally erratic. (Feb.)