This is very emotionally evident to readers and is the proven McNaught guarantee. By the end they’re still strong, but they’ve surrendered themselves entirely to the women they fell in love with. McNaught men begin as alphas, arrogant and a bit domineering. The kind of sentiment Judith and I are talking about is transformational, and it can be applied to any and all of her heroes. That you can find (literally) anywhere on the romance shelf. In this case, I don’t define sentiment as lovey-dovey, gushy-mushy stuff. Sentimentality has enabled us to civilize and soften the other half of the population of the planet.” Judith McNaught, Q&A with All About Romance, September 1990 “Reading or writing a romance novel constitutes a public declaration of sentimentality…women possess an inexhaustible abundance of determination and courage. Several things separate her from the competition, including the sophistication and intelligence of the writing, but the biggest difference between her and, say, most of the romances at Barnes & Noble can be summed up in one old-fashioned word: sentiment. They were unique then and are even more unique now. The works of McNaught were never mere bodice-rippers. She wrote a number of successful historical and modern romances, many of which appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List, dabbled brilliantly in suspense and crime driven plots, and even wrote a novel in support of adult literacy. If this decades old success were all she accomplished the vanishing act would be understood. Now 84% of the romance novels read are from that same “historical” sub-genre. Prior to Whitney, the 19th century was considered a big snooze and a feminist’s nightmare. Whitney, My Love, published in 1985 quite literally established the popular genre of historical romance. It all comes down to the difference between Judith McNaught and, to put it bluntly, everyone else. Why would any publisher fail to bring this romance author, one of the first to ever receive a multi-million dollar contract, back into the light? Why has The Sweetest Thing been abandoned to the black hole of Amazon pre-order, with a release date of – get this – December 2045?

As if her brand of romance, so different from current top sellers, is anathema to the romance industry. It’s as if McNaught’s return would rekindle a plague fire. While a perfectly understandable reason for the quiet may exist, no one is willing to tell. Simon & Schuster’s lack of concern for Judith McNaught’s audience, combined with my fruitless attempts to find words of news or praise about her, is, in a word, infuriating. Why would any publisher fail to bring this romance author, one of the first to ever receive a multi-million dollar contract, back into the light? My efforts were answered with a few occasions of blunt refusal and a lot of cryptic silence. I did everything short of drive to her hometown in Texas and yell her name out the car window. I reached out to McNaught’s publisher Simon & Schuster, to journalists who had interviewed McNaught shortly before the “release”, I even rooted names from her novels’ acknowledgements and contacted anyone I could find. A book that has been written and the legendary author who wrote it seem to have both disappeared.Īfter a patient and utterly polite six-month interval, I decided to investigate this phenomenon with all the vigor born of my adolescent reading habits. No apology or explanation to disappointed fans and, bizarrely, no confirmed release. Not only is there no book, there is no announcement of a book. It’s May 2019 and there is no book in sight.

The Sweetest Thing, a novel that apparently changed titles and plots a dozen times was, at last, formally announced with a release date of October 23rd, 2018.

Here’s how it happened:Ībout eight months ago Judith McNaught, mother of the historical romance, founder of my relationship dreams, announced her first book release in twelve years. The promise of another Judith McNaught novel and my belief in romance died in the same breath. Judith McNaught, Q&A with All About Romance, September 1990 …publishers began concentrating more on quantity than quality… Inevitably, the market became saturated, and – equally inevitably – disenchanted readers began expressing dissatisfaction with the quality of the books.

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