In my books and in romance as a genre, there is a positive, uplifting feeling that leaves the reader with a sense of encouragement and hope for a brighter future - or a brighter present.

Macomber frames her work—and romance fiction more broadly—as intentionally restorative. The emphasis on a “positive, uplifting feeling” points to romance’s affective promise: readers may enter the story for escape, but leave with emotional replenishment. By pairing “brighter future” with “brighter present,” she suggests hope is not only deferred (a happy ending) but also immediate, arising from the reading experience itself—comfort, reassurance, and a renewed sense of possibility. The quote also functions as a defense of genre fiction, asserting that romance’s value lies in encouragement and emotional resilience rather than cynicism or despair.