Book Talks

I just gave a talk at my former synagogue about my first Harlequin romance, Home for the Challah Days.

There are so many awkward things in that sentence. It’s my former synagogue, and being there could have been uncomfortable. I was talking about romance books to women I’ve spent years with, and some of them asked “interesting” questions or were surprised by my sex scenes.

But it turned out perfectly okay. Walking in, I was immediately greeted by old friends who were happy to see me, and I, them. The women who were surprised by the sex scenes handled it well, although they were shocked when I told them my spice level isn’t really that high, all things considered—I’m probably a 3 on a 5-point scale. And although they hadn’t really thought of me as “Romance Author Jen,” everyone adjusted well, we had a good time, and they asked really thought-provoking questions. In fact, we spent so long talking about my writing process and road to publishing that book, why I write Jewish romance, and how I deal with antisemitism in the industry, that we never really got to talking about the book!

Despite the fact that I’ve never loved public speaking, I adore doing these talks. I love getting to know readers, finding common ground even when our reading tastes differ, and I love talking about the need to portray Jewish characters with joy and authenticity in romance.

So I’m curious, when you go to an author talk, what’s your favorite thing to hear?