Race and Romance

The novel blends social criticism with a traditional romance in order to redefine who readers see as being worthy of having their own special love story. The plot of the novel looks in many ways like a traditional romance: The heroine meets a handsome man, they feel an instant chemistry for one another, they begin a relationship. Towards the end, they face a crisis and nearly break up, but the handsome man makes a grand gesture and wins back the love of the heroine, and they live happily ever after. The plot is very simple, even, one might argue, formulaic, but the story is in the details.

Most romance novels that exist have historically featured white female leads, but Alexa is the heroine of this novel and she is also a black woman. Traditionally, black women have a small space in which they can...