It Had to Be You
Susan Elizabeth Phillips · 1994
The romantic comedy that launched the American contemporary romance scene. Phoebe Somerville inheriting an NFL team and clashing with coach Dan Calebow. SEP writes with exceptional wit and genuine emotional depth; her heroines are complicated and her heroes have to work to deserve them. The gold standard of contemporary romance.
The case against
Read it in 1994 and Dan Calebow was a charming alpha; read it now and a head coach sexually pursuing the owner he openly disrespects feels like an HR file. Phoebe's bombshell act gets slut-shamed by half the cast before she's allowed depth, and the football itself is set dressing. The wit survives; the decade's sexual politics did not.
Romance · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
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